14 Years!

Last week Chad and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.



Emily had an out-of-town friend here for the week and so we had decided ahead of time to put off going out on an "Anniversary Date" until we didn't have so much going on. Chad had to be in Newport Beach for work. I had 4 teenage girls (Em and 3 friends) and 2 more girls (Meg and Abbey) and a trip to the mall.



We decided to meet in our room at 8:00 pm for some time alone. Sometimes it's hard to remember that we are not just mom and dad, housekeeper and electrician, cook and accountant, nurse and playmate, taxi driver and financier, but that we are also husband and wife.



By the time the day was done, and we finally did get to our room together it was 9:30 pm. We were tired and out of gas. We laughed a little about how it had been "just another" day around our house.

C: "I'm sure there are a lot of couples who don't make a big
deal on their anniversary sometimes."
S: "I'm sure that there are plenty of couples who make sure that they make their anniversaries a big deal every year."

But then he said something else.

He said that there were a lot of couples who never make it to 14 years.



He is right of course. How sad. I can't imagine the havoc and pain and chaos that some families endure because of divorce.

It was nice to realize that just because we didn't make a big deal on the day of our anniversary doesn't mean that we aren't committed to each other. It doesn't mean that our relationship isn't a priority. Both of us would rather give ourselves the benefit of being flexible in a sometimes hectic life.



So we talked about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the last 14 years. Obviously there were the births of our children, but how about things like buying our first home, and now our second. We went on some great vacations, we were able to send our kids to Christian school for many more years that we'd even hoped. We moved back to Southern California to be near our family. And we talked about how even our lowlights aren't really that low and there have only been a couple.



We decided that we're a good team. We work well together and our strengths and weaknesses balance each other out.



I am so thankful to the Lord for the husband and father that Chad is to me and the girls. He is a blessing in our lives and he gives so much of himself to and for us.

Here's to the next 14 years...

(Oh, and by the way, we did get to go on that date...)