For my husband.

I write about a lot of different things on this blog: teaching, traveling, CrossFit, rambles...but this one, this one is for my husband.

I fell in love with Justin just shortly after we started dating. It was a sweet, young love. We've been dating for almost 8 years now. Yes, we're married, but we're still dating.

When you pray for your husband, you don't really know where to start. You want the cliche things, but when you're only 18, you really don't know what you want in your heart. You never know what you really need. I never thought I would meet my husband so young, but God did. We got married at the young age of 21 and 23. I had just graduated and Justin came back from his first year in Abu Dhabi. Looking back on it now, we were just two kids standing up in front of 250 people saying our vows that we wrote to each other. And it was the best decision I have ever made. There is not one single day where I regret it. Sure, some days I want to slap that boy silly, but there are more days when I can't hug him hard enough. 

The man that I married four and a half years ago is very different than the man I'm married to today. And I couldn't be more proud of it. I have watched him evolve and change and grow as a man in Christ. I have watched him lift more pounds, say more prayers, stand taller, fold laundry, and love those who don't ask. I have seen him dedicate himself to a sport that goes deep into his soul. I have seen him fall in love with a country that is very different from our own. I have seen him laugh until he cries. I have seen him get annoyed. I have seen him get angry. I have seen him protect those he loves. I have seen him try to mend broken relationships. I have seen the disappointment on his face when his hours, days, weeks, and months of hard work get thrown to the wayside from a 3 second moment. I have felt his pain. I have wiped away the tears. I have made him laugh. I have been a proud wife.

My husband is my once in a lifetime love. He is the one I will wake up next to, kiss, have children with, cook dinner with, own a business with, for all the days of my life. Love is a choice, you see.  Love is putting someone else's needs before yours. It means doing the dishes when you don't want to. It means saying sorry when you want to be right. It means taking responsibility when you just want to be your own person. It means loving that person, day in, day out, through all their flaws and imperfections. And with that, not reminding them of those imperfections and flaws. My husband is that for me. He stands up for me. He thinks highly of me. He supports me. He hugs me. He holds my hand. He prays with me. He prays for me. He is a leader in our home.

He is a hard worker. He is passionate. He is stubborn. He is independent. He is sensitive.

He is everything that God created him to be for me. 

I am so glad Justin chose me on that crisp January day. And I am so blessed to walk side by side with him throughout our lives. 

I love you, Justin.

Marriage is hard.

I have a wonderful husband. I'd like to think of myself as a wonderful wife. But marriage is hard. There are so many articles and blogs going around that explain the ways to keep your marriage strong,  25 ways to spice up date night, and 15 things you should be doing in your marriage and most of these articles and blogs have some good meaning to them, most of them show the importance of marriage. But marriage is still hard.

When you stood in front of whomever you did, said the vows you created, or didn't, it was a big moment in time. Not just because you might change your name, not just because you now wear shiny bling on your fingers, and not just because you had a wedding. It was a big moment in time because now you have become accountable to someone other than yourself. You have vowed to this person that you will love them, take care of them, and most importantly put their needs in front of your own. And this last one is why marriage is so hard.

Putting another's needs before your own has turned out to be a lot tougher than when you said it on your wedding day. It's actually so tough, that people came up with this thing called divorce. It's where the vows and promises you once made, don't matter anymore. Did you know that almost 50% of marriages end in divorce? Are you kidding me? That is just sad. This article has some good stats and percentages if you want to look.
All in all, marriage is hard. It takes work. But when you work at it and put your spouse before yourself, good things happen. When you think about how your actions effect someone else and their feelings, you might act differently. When have you ever done something nice for someone and not felt good inside after? You're happy, your spouse is happy.
God has called us to love one another. "A new command I give you: Love one another. as I have loved you, so you must love another." John 13:34 We are here to love. Our families, friends, enemies, and strangers, we are here to love them. Imagine a world where we loved people. Imagine a marriage that was built on love.
Marriage is hard. Loving is easy. Justin and I learn daily how to love each other in different ways. We are both so different in ways we show love, but that's what makes it special. He shows me love in ways I would've never thought of, and I get to see deep into his heart. We have in no way perfected the "art" of marriage, but he knows in order to have a happy life, he needs a happy wife we know in order to have a happy marriage, we need to love each other as God loved us. Simple.
In the words of my friends from DC Talk, "I don't care what you say, I don't care what you heard. Love. Love. Love is a verb."

God bless!