Ahhh… it feels good to be writing a Gratituesday post again, and today’s post will be centered all around my hubby. We celebrated our 5th anniversary in September, and I’m actually a few weeks behind on writing this post – for a few reasons:
1) I didn’t know where I wanted to actually post it (I have too many blogs).
2) Allan and I have been having a really rough time lately (not with each other (much), but with external pressures), and while I’ve been grateful a LOT, I’ve also been a bit whiny too.
3) It’s hard to put into words how really thankful I am for Allan, and for our five years together… so all these “words” have been milling around in my head in a jumbled sort of way.
I finally settled #1 by realizing that the best place to post a Gratituesday post about my husband and our marriage/anniversary was here at BellaJoy.com. After all, that’s “who” I was when he and I met on churchofchristsingles.com.
It feels like FOREVER ago, even though it’s only been about six years since VegasVik and Bellajoy met each other in a chat room, and found common ground in web design and silly banter.
Neither of us took each other seriously at first because, well, he was in Vegas, and I was in Nebraska. And neither of us had any intentions of moving.
God had other plans… and five years ago last August, I found myself moving to “sin city”.
To say it’s been an easy five years would be one big fat lie. It’s actually been an incredibly HARD five years. As soon as the wedding was over, we were dealing with a pregnancy and a whole host of health issues and emotions and everything else associated with that. The first year and a half of our marriage is pretty much a blur. The only thing I DO remember with perfect clarity is how hard Allan worked to keep us all going. He cooked, he cleaned, he shopped, he did laundry, he cared for Samuel when I couldn’t. We had regular help from his parents, and my mom when she could be here… but all the struggles on a day to day basis…there were almost entirely on Allan’s shoulders.
Lil Allan was born a preemie, but God is so good, and he was healthy and OK from almost day one. After we got through the newborn months, we had a pretty good year between the time lil Allan was six months old and 18 months old… and then I was pregnant again. (Yes, we wanted to do it again, even though everyone thought we were crazy… we wanted a GIRL)!
This time around, there were TWO kids to take care of, and while the pregnancy wasn’t quite as scary (we’d done it once before, which helped), I still had plenty of health issues, and Allan again picked up the slack.
Martha’s pregnancy went full term, and she arrived healthy. We thought everything was ok, but I was actually not doing well at all. My blood pressure was bad for six months before we realized the problem, and I’m still dealing with the effects of all that today. (She was/is totally worth it…)
Just like any couple with children, we’ve had a lot of pressures on us these last five years… all the normal baby/toddler/potty training/parenting/discipline/there’s three of them, and one of me/mom might go crazy if she doesn’t get an hour to herself times…
Throughout all this… the pregnancies, the illness, the stress, the church issues, the relationship challenges, family drama, the happy and the sad, Allan has been a rock. He’s dealt with emotions and hormones and craziness… and he’s kept on loving and cherishing me.
Allan has taught me to be stronger, tougher, more confident, and more faithful. He’s helped me persevere… lean on God more… and pray more. He encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone, and to serve God and my fellow Christians in ways I would probably have never done without him. He’s been patient with me when I wanted to rebel (oh wow, am I rebellious sometimes), and he’s held me while I cried over injustice, false accusation, and just overall heartache. He has been unwilling to let me “throw in the towel” during some really tough spiritual times, and I know he has prayed for me every day (probably ten times a day lately). He’s been such a good example and leader, a good father and step-father.
Oh, lest you think Allan is perfect – he’s not. He drives me insane some days with his joking and weisenheimer-ness (it’s a word, yes it is). He doesn’t have enough respect for the clock, and is way too laid back sometimes (Ok, so maybe *I’m* just too uptight). He is SO stubborn (mostly a good thing, but sometimes not), and I never win an argument because he’s just too dang smart. There are plenty of times I want to throw things at him… but…
I love him.
I respect him.
I adore him.
He is truly my Prince, and I’m so… so… SO thankful for him!
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