Grateful Heart

Thank you all so much for traveling through 100 months of memories over the last few days. I know the posts were long and picture-laden, but I adored writing them. I loved looking back over our almost eight and a half years of marriage in such a purposeful way. 

It had never before stood out to me that different parts of our life together have had such specific purposes. There have been seasons of establishing, seasons of fun, seasons of pain, seasons of serving, seasons of teaching, and more, of course. 

Yesterday we went for a walk together, since we're keeping one eye on the forecast and it appears Indiana is about to briefly forget that spring has sprung. We walked all over Grabill, pausing to appreciate buds popping out on trees throughout town, holding hands as we made our way down the sidewalk, and talking about the this-and-that of life right now. Even something as simple as that made me so very grateful. It made me remember all those long, long walks through the IWU campus, where I held my stack of prayer cards tightly and prayed over a someday-husband, someday-marriage, and someday-life. 

The night before last, Ryan stretched out on our bed to play with Braeya while I folded and put away the last of the laundry. We talked while he rolled the dryer ball back and forth with Braeya, and I remembered days of yore when I thought even double the laundry wouldn't be so bad if it meant I got to share my home and life with someone. (And that was a correct assumption on my part.)

It's not lost to me that we'll celebrate our 100 months in the very city where our promise of life together began. Back when he proposed, we thought we'd be moving to this city and continuing on with our established careers. We figured I'd do radio forever and he was a lifer for health care. We looked at so many houses online and wondered which of them would be ours.

And here we are, 100 months later, just outside the city we imagined, working a career together that neither of us would have imagined. And those houses all went to other families, but we're happy as can be in our apartment - which is something else we never would have imagined. 

I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the answers to prayers that came in a yes form. I'm grateful for the answers to prayer that came in a NO form. 

And I'm grateful for Ryan. He makes life so much fun. He is a great listener. He's a fabulous conversationalist. He knows how to do pretty much everything. He has amazing vision and is a confident and steady leader in our home. 

These one hundred months have been a joy. Thank you, Ryan! I love you!