Stranded. In a good way.

I recently heard a guy speaking on marriage. "Rekindle the flame" or something like that. He said to look deep into your spouse's eyes and remember why you fell in love.

I thought for a moment and do you know the first thing that came to mind? I remember my spouse's forearms. New love requires nothing deep. It takes off like a forest fire from a spark. And my spark was a tanned, muscled forearm as it flexed one early springs day 9 years back. He was shifting through the gears while driving his pick-up truck and I was mesmerized. There may have been drool dripping off the side of my lip. That drool could be why it took him 4 months to ask me out. I would have followed him to the moon and my only knowledge of him was that he made me feel all ooy-gooy and he could skillfully drive a large standard transmission vehicle.

I wrote out our love story last year. If you missed it and have positively nothing better to do for the next hour, you may link back (is your Motivated Mom Check-list complete?):

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV


Part V

After a summer of fun flirtation, 2 months of dating, and a 4 month engagement, we pledged our forevers to eachother.

We had NO IDEA what we were getting into.

While I still think his forearms are sexy and strong, my love for him is so much deeper now. It better be. I think the marriage guru had it a bit off when he encouraged couples to think back to the beginning. The love we've nurtured over the last 8 years comes from enduring the hard times, embracing the fantastic moments, skipping, walking, and/or crawling through each day together. Ask me about love during the last 8 years and I think of more than the physical:


he encourages my gifts and spoils me. I wouldn't know the first thing about photography without him.

mows the lawn after working a long day and enjoys it.

teaches our tiny babies to wrestle. No wonder he always gets the first laugh.

wakes up in the middle of the night to check on the baby.

is completely blind to my physical flaws.

helps me change my non-physical flaws with kindness.

is wowed by God every day and is thankful for our blessings.

cleans the kitchen.

makes waffles for his girls.

is okay with peanut butter and jelly for a meal.

thinks I make the best peanut butter and jelly ever. I challenge you to a bake off. Or would it be a sandwich off?

not to mention all the providing and hard work he does on a daily basis.


The 22nd is our anniversary. Woohoo! I put together a video of pictures of love over the last 8 years. I enjoy this song by Matthew Price (my brother-in-law, Paul, is drumming for him now). "Stranded" is not about love being all roses, but about having fun in the midst of real life.

And that's us. Making paradise out of one day at a time...