10 Years of Marriage....

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 10 years already! Unfortunatly, we couldn't find a sitter to watch the kids that night, but I was OK with it in the end because I caught Jadyn's plague and wasn't feeling well at all.

We ended up taking the day off of work to do a backward's celebration...breakfast & a movie. We went to IHOP (gotta love that place!) and then went to see TAKEN (super movie by the way). The kids had a 1/2 day, so we hurried home to be with them. That night, we ordered dinner after the kids went to bed and watched Fireproof. If you haven't seen it...you should. The acting was pretty cheesy, but the storyline is great, and really reinforces how important FAITH and RELIGION are in a sucessful marriage. We both really enjoyed it.

Even more astonishing than realizing 10 years have FLOWN by is the amalgamation of what we've been through in those 10 years.

On the day I said "I do" I became a mother to a very shy, withdrawn 7 year old. He hated me for solidifying the fact that his parents would never again be a couple. He hated me because I loved him. He hated me because he was taken from his mother...and I was NOT his mother.

But I loved him...

Throughout the past 10 years, I constantly struggled with the shy boy who had grown to become an angry teenager. We were put through such unimagineable tests of strength, devotion, courage, teamwork, and love...and some days I wasn't sure if I could face another day. Some days were better than others, but some days, the heartache that we felt consumed our lives like a black cloud omiting any ray of hope.

Through the past 10 years, my husband became so much more to me than just a husband. He was my confidant, my support, my best friend, my lover, my strength, my confortor, and my reason to keep trying.

In addition to my never-ending attempts to gain the love and trust of my step-son, I also became the mother to 3 of my own kids, who are, in a word, EVERYTHING to me. Through our 10 years of marriage, we have survived a 5 year custody battle, poverty, a cross-country move, career changes, our children's births, family deaths, fighting, loving, 4 inter-state moves, 3 house purchases, and everything else God has seemed fit to throw our way. For each trial...each tribulation...I am thankful. I love my husband so much more than on the day we said our vows. He is a better man for all that we have been through, and I like to believe that I too have grown.

I am blessed.

I am loved.

I am happy.

In celebration of 10 very hard years and blissful anticipation of 50 more...Happy Anniversary my love.