One year down, 59 more to go!

If I live to be 92, then I have 59 more years of marriage. And I can't wait! This has been an incredible year for me. What I have believed about marriage has been shown to be true this past year: marriage really is an incredible laboratory where God gives you the chance to learn to love someone as Christ loves this world: practicing forgiveness every day...and cultivating the fruits of the spirit...joy, peace, patience, kindness, love, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It has been an incredible year of learning how to be myself, how to let Troy be himself, giving thanks for all the ways we are so incredibly human and savoring those moments when my heart wells up in ways I never thought were possible for people like me who have a hard time trusting.

As this day of celebration comes to an end, I can't help but also remember the amazing friends who coached me through this life transition....to those incredible women who walked me through the range of emotions, encouraged me to step out and risk loving, and pushed me to forgive myself and forgive others...I say thank you!

And, as this picture shows, Sarah has always been a wonderful blessing in our lives. She even attended the wedding...not the honeymoon though (they would eat her in China!). Sarah is a curious dog, very aware of her surroundings and sensitive to human emotion. One of our favorite Sarah memories...About 3 months before we were engaged, in a very difficult conversation that couples have before they decide to get married when all the cards are put on the table, in the heat of the moment, Sarah jumped on my sofa, standing right between us and began to pee. She had never before, and to this day has not, done such an outright act of disobedience. But she achieved her goal: we had to work together on this little crisis and somehow in the working, we realized that we had just gotten stuck in our heads. Sarah pulled us back to the best place from which to live this life: in the present moment. Good dog, Sarah!