Anniversaries | 234 Years of Marriage

Marriage is not for the weak. 

If anyone has been married for more than a hot second I'm sure you can say AMEN to that statement and give me a little hand-raise hallelujah.

Go ahead. 

Now, I'm still a marital newbie in the grand scheme of things. Greg and I are going on five years this fall... while it's milestone-ish, at least in the way we categorize milestones, it really is a drop in the bucket in comparison.

August is a really big marriage-reflection month for me because three couples in our family celebrate anniversaries all in one week and it is a chance to thank the Lord for His continued goodness and blessing on the marriages that surround Greg and I.

These anniversaries just cumulated this past week: 

Greg's parents on August 13th.
My sister and her husband also on August 13th.
My parents on August 15th.

So most recently, on Saturday of this past weekend my parents celebrated 40 years of marriage.

F O R T Y years!
That's four decades.
I mean... really, that's a long time. 
It was the 70s.
Gerald Ford was president on their wedding day.
My dad had a mustache for crying out loud and wore a white suite.
I mean... look at these two:

Lookin' good mom and dad!

I have only been around for 32 of those years but the gratitude and joy that I have in my heart that here at 32 years old I can congratulate them on forty years of marriage is immense.

truthfully... 39 years was just as exciting and celebration-worthy but... for some reason when it comes to anniversaries we like to make the fives the big deal. Not sure why that is, but I'll play along.

We will indeed be celebrating my parents and their 40 years of commitment to each other. 
We have a number of events planned including dinner with the family, Hershey Park with the family and then Broadway for just the two of them!

I am honored to get to celebrate them on their 40th year.
I am thankful that I get to celebrate them and this accomplishment.
I am humbled to watch so many marriages within our family stand firm through trials, temptations and joys, not the least of which is theirs.

Congratulations, you studs! 

This week causes some serious reflection as I think on Greg and my families and the examples of marriage God has given us. Generations of people who chose to see it through the hardest of times and have seen the abundant blessing that has brought. 

Here are just a few

My mom's parents were married 60 years when they passed away.

Greg's grandparents are celebrating 66 years

Greg's parents just celebrated 38 years last week.

My sister and her husband just celebrated 10 years

My brother and his wife will celebrate 14 years in October

My sister-in-law Kate and her husband are coming up on their FIRST anniversary! (yay!)

Greg and I will be hitting our 5th anniversary in October.
And of course my parents are now celebrating 40 years.

That is no easy task. Lest we make light of what that combined 234 years of marital commitment truly is.

Those numbers represent years of choosing to say "yes", both to God and to one another.
Years of choosing love when it wasn't necessarily felt.
Years of long, hard days and exhausting nights.
Years of adventures and new experiences.
Years of job changes, job struggles and job losses.
Years of children: both obedient and disobedient, both honoring and wayward.
Years of homes, vacations and memories made.
Years of sickness, health and everything in between.
Years of faith and doubt.
Years of dream-chasing and duty fulfilling... sometimes at the expense of dreams.
Years of fights and arguments that lead to forgiveness and restoration.
One special day... turned to weeks, turned to months, turned to years.
Which turned to families... big, beautiful families!

A few years back before 1 more boy and 3 more girls came into the world!

It truly brings tears to my eyes.

No really... the keyboard is damp over here. 

When God said that the two shall become one he knew full well what that meant.
Though I'm pretty sure none of us truly did.
But in 1, 5, 10, 14, 38, 60, 66 and 40 years... the lessons are taught and learning happens... and continues to happen daily.

I am thankful for these couples; three generations deep, for their faithful prayer, for the example they set and for the desire they have for their children and grandchildren to know the Lord and live a life that honors him. 

That, my dear friends, is a heritage of faith along with a heritage of commitment. And this mama's heart swells to know Lucy has that heritage to look to as she grows.

God did that.
Because in our sin, we can not.

So to those couples I just want to say:

  Thank you. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your prayer. Thank you for your faith. Thank you for your example. Thank you for not trying to be perfect. Thank you for having struggles and difficulties so that when I do too I know I'm not alone and that there is hope and restoration if I choose it. Thank you for pointing me towards Christ in your words and your actions. Thank you for the ability to also pass this to my children. I am eternally thankful to you and to God for this blessing. 

**All professionally taken / "good" photos in this post are credited to: Jurina Photography