love

Today is my husband’s birthday!

And since he is a man worthy to be celebrated, I’m dedicating an entire blog post to talking about him.

Let me tell you…I have an amazing husband. I’m not just saying that to make him sound good, but literally, he is amazing. I feel like somehow he came across this magical book full of husband-ly knowledge and he has the whole thing memorized and somehow I married him and am now perpetually blessed with the goodness of all that he is. I tell him that it should be a requirement that every single guy has to go out for a camping weekend with him before they get married so he can give a crash course on what it means to be a good husband, because he lives it and if every husband were as dedicated and faithful to his wife and family as he is, this world would be a much better place.

I’ve spent the last three years of my life with him, and it just gets better every year. In those years, he has become my best friend…and he is so much fun! If you know him, you know that he cares so deeply for people. Relationships are his priority, and I have learned so much from him in that area. He listens and hears people’s heart. He is so unaffected by status or popularity, and I can truly say of him that he is a man after God’s own heart. He’s a man of humility, but also a man of great strength and passion. He loves to have a good time and his belly laugh is one of the best sounds in the world. He weeps with those who weep and I’ve never seen him treat someone else’s pain or sorrow casually.

In the past year, I’ve seen him become a father, and he walks in that role with such purpose and design that it takes my breath away sometimes. He loves our little girl so tenderly, so fully. He makes her eyes light up the way that no one else can, and she already loves her daddy. I love the way he makes sure to kiss her on the cheek every morning before leaving for work, and how he makes time to sit on the floor and play her with every evening.

Babe, I’ve spent the last three of your twenty-eight years with you, and I hope and pray that I get a hundred more of those years! Every year is going to be better than the last, and it’s an incredible honor to be by your side as your wife for the rest of our days. xoxo

Photo credit: Lyndsi Photography

I love being married.

I’ve been a wife for two and a half years now, and it has literally been the best two and a half years of my life. Ben and I don’t have a perfect marriage, but we have a good one. We are friends and we enjoy being together and we laugh together and make spending time together a priority. Honestly, my husband is the main reason that “the honeymoon hasn’t ended” for us…he hasn’t stopped pursuing me and dating me and loving me from the first day of our marriage. He has practiced such intentionality in keeping our relationship alive and connected, and for that, I am extremely thankful.

During the past two+ years of being married, I’ve learned much, changed much, grown much. If you don’t change, learn, and grow after getting married, you’ll have problems. It’s just the nature of marriage and it’s how you take two lives and meld them together as one. You have to be willing to change if you want to have a great marriage. We are both passionate about marriage, and not just our own, but other marriages as well. We want to thrive in our relationship and we love to see other marriages thrive as well! We always notice when older couples still hold hands and enjoy each other after years of being together, and it inspires us to do all that we can today to make the rest of our life together a joyful experience.

No one really asked for it, but if you did want to know my best marriage advice, it would be this: repent.

Repent.

Say you are sorry. And mean it!

Beyond the date nights and conversations over coffee and quiet evenings sitting on the couch together, the thing that has kept our relationship thriving is repentance. We’ve asked for forgiveness from each other for some of the littlest things. And sometimes it’s even things that the other person didn’t even think about or didn’t even feel hurt by….a harsh tone of voice, little nuances, sarcasm with a message behind me.

A few months ago, Ben offered to help load the dishwasher one evening after supper and I guess I wasn’t in the mood for help or something because I snappily told him “I got it!” It was a small thing, but it kept bugging me as the night went on. I’ve learned that if I feel that gentle conviction in my heart to repent and make something right with Ben, I need to just do it. No matter how small or inconsequential the issue might have been…no matter if he even felt hurt or not…just do it! I went to him later that evening and apologized for the way I responded…he hadn’t even thought about it! But I knew my own heart and I knew that I was wrong for treating him like I did. I apologized, he forgave me, we kissed (best part of making up, right?!), and it was all made right.

So there you have it…my best marriage advice.
Repent to each other.
Say you are sorry.
Forgive.

What about you: what would you say is the most important thing in your own marriage relationship to staying connected and thriving?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!