7 wonderful years

7 years ago today . . .

7 years
Ben and I have been married 7 years
7 long, wonderful, hard, beautiful years

8 years
I have known Ben 8 years
Longer than most anything else in my life

When I met Ben,
I was just in the process of letting God
straighten my life out.

I had hit the bottom.
What I was doing wasn't working
In fact, I was in a pit of really terrible choices,
and a lifestyle that was filled with shame.
I knew better.
I had given my life to God when I was a little girl
and had lived for Him all through till the end of high school.
During my senior year I started to make some choices
that were not consistent with the Christian life
I professed to lead.
The pit yawned wide, and I walked right in.
For 3 years I walked in darkness.

But God was there.
So many people who loved me were praying for me.
Ben had been friends with my brother for 2 years
And Ben had been praying for me for most of those 2 years.
Some really terrible events (mostly of my own making)
put me in a position where I was totally alone.
And I could clearly see
that I had to put God back at the top of my life.
I had to follow Him.

I was starting the process of renewing my relationship with Him
and with friends and family who I had pushed away,
when God allowed me to meet Ben.
Knowing him speeded my healing process.
He loved me.
He believed in me.
He could see the good that God intended for me,
and he gave me the courage and the trust to walk
in a healthy and right direction.

11 months after we met each other, we were married.
What a joyous day!

Our first year of marriage was hard.
Ben got laid off from his job the day after our honeymoon.
I was working through so many things -
so much baggage that I was carrying from those 3 years.
Ben stood by me.
He prayed for me.
He listened to me - to my words and my silences.
He held me when I cried.
He chased away the nightmares.
He helped me to smile.
He brought me bits of sunshine.
He taught me to laugh again.

We had been married almost 2 years and had moved 3 times
(Ben had been laid off from a second job) when Maddie was born.
And she was more sunshine. What fun to be a family of 3.
When Maddie was born, we were living in a cabin
in the northwoods
with no running water and wood heat.
It was not what I had ever envisioned. But it was good. And so cozy.
Every day was either sunny or snowing. It was so beautiful.
And we were us, just the three of us. In our cabin in the snow.

Eight months and a move later, I told Ben on Father's Day
that we were going to become a family of 4.
The area where we were living was not an easy place to live.
The economy is very strange.
We knew we needed to find a cheaper place to live.
So, we moved into a tiny place (2 rooms and a bathroom),
while we made plans to move to a new town.

At thirty weeks into my pregnancy, I went into labor.
The doctor managed to get it stopped.
I was put on very strict bedrest.
Ben did all the laundry.
He did lots of the cleaning.
I had to have help with Maddie every day.
Ben went to work every morning in the dark
and came home from work after dark.
The daylight hours were so short.
When he'd get home, he'd put on music,
all sorts of fun music, and he and Maddie
would dance and wrestle and laugh and play
while I watched my bits of sunshine.

Isaac was born early
and went to the NICU for 7 days.
Not long by most standards,
but long because we were 300 miles from home,
staying with Ben's cousins
(how we got there is another story for another day).

Ben, always my rock.

When Isaac was three months old,
we moved to the town we live in now.
We rented a place for 2 years.
Ben and my brother started a construction company together.
After caretaking a home for an acquaintance of ours,
we bought our own home 10 months ago.
Ben and I have been fixing it up together.

We have grown so much over the past 7 years.
As individuals.
As parents.
As friends.
As children of our Heavenly Father.
As partners.
As man and wife.