Eleven

This weekend, we celebrated eleven years of marriage. Most of our time is focused on our three little ones at home and our little one across the world, ministry and day-to-day life.

I would have never envisioned life at eleven years to be this. Some of it has been harder, some of it has been easier, but all of it has been more beautiful than I could have scripted. Our first years, we dealt with trauma and change, loss, unknown, parenting, infertility, adoption, children with special needs and financial loss. Challenges I would have done anything to avoid have grown incredible depth and beauty.

I am so grateful for the ways we have learned to laugh. We laugh at things that in our first year would have more likely bred irritation and distance. The greatest gift is our growing ability to speak the Gospel into hard places. In the midst of our fertility journey and adoption, Paul began to remind me, "Our greatest problem isn't that we can't have another baby or that this adoption might not work out. Our greatest problem is separation from God and Jesus has overcome that. and is redeeming everything else" That is the kind of truth we need, moment by moment, reorienting our hearts.

I'm so grateful for the incredible gift of the Gospel and how it transforms our joy and sorrow, the gift of laughter and all of the moments that have filled these last eleven years. Just getting started 💕