Twenty One

Our wedding anniversary was at the end of August. Twenty one years of marriage. It has felt about ten years instead even with disagreements and arguments along the way.

We're just two imperfect people being intentional in our relationship. Forgiving one another when we get on each other's nerves. We're a work in progress but then again we all are ... ultimately, we're on the same team with God at our center.

Flowers. Such a lovely gesture and a way to my heart.

This year we spent our anniversary along the Oregon coast. The Oregon coast is so beautiful that we love to visit whenever we can.
We had lunch at Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria. We just can't drive past without stopping for some fish and chips, their tartar sauce is delicious!

After we ate we drove the twenty minutes to Cannon Beach. As you know, it's a favorite place to hang out at. And given that we're in the PNW one has to get all the vitamin D as one can get before the cloudy skies return.

Jacob is everything a best friend should be and I am very grateful and thankful for his love and support. He's been my rock during the most painful times in my life. I thank God for sending this man to be my husband. I pray God continues His work in me so that I can be the best person/wife/mother that I was destined to be ... so I can continue to serve and minister to my loved ones with wisdom and compassion.

Our anniversary also marks the day that Reagan's tiny little heart stopped beating (8-26-16). This day was and will forever be bittersweet. It's been one year since we heard those two awful words, no heartbeat. Reagan is very much loved and thought of every single day (along with baby Lincoln). Riley still brings him up often and during his nighttime prayers, they pray for both Reagan and Lincoln. 

I am thankful for these twenty one years of marriage that God has blessed us with. I'm thankful for the life that I have. I'm thankful for my blessings and the thorn that keeps me close to Christ. I can see how having suffered anxiety and depression has changed my life for the better but I can't see the good from losing Reagan and Lincoln ... not yet at least.
All I can do is trust in His plan for my life and hope that this oppression that I sometimes feel will begin to dissipate.

And the God of all grace, who called you to His

eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little

while, will Himself restore you and make you 

strong, firm and steadfast.

1 Peter 5:10 niv