MARRIAGE MONDAY

e-Mom over at Chrysalis (http://www.chrysaliscom.blogspot.com/) hosts Marriage Monday, and what a precious, thought-provoking meme this is! I love to participate when I have the chance. She hosts this meme once a month, usually on the first Monday of the month. This month was an exception because of the holiday on last Monday. Visit her blog. You don't want to miss out. Even if you don't participate in Marriage Monday, this is a great blog to add to your blog roll and visit often. I've grown to love this blog and I check in as often as I can. Anyway, e-Mom's theme for this month is WHY ROMANCE MATTERS, and she asks this:

What tones down the tension, and tunes up the tenderness? How do you encourage your husband to open up and share his feelings? We want to know.

Here's my two cents worth:

It is just painfully obvious that men and women are wired different. Study after study proves that men love to have their wives share their physical bodies with them and fulfill their sexual needs. That's intimacy and romance to them. Women on the other hand, are usually just as satisfied, if not more so, with sweet, tender touch and closeness as they would be with sex. I know for me that's the case, although I enjoy my husband in relations both ways mentioned here.

I love to feel his tender touch. His hands are strong and they make me feel safe and secure. They physically tell me that he cares. I like to feel his body next to mine when we sit or lay down next to each other. I love the closeness and warmth. That would be enough for me. If I asked him, though I don't need to, that would NOT be enough for my dear, sweet husband.

I've figured out that all things in marriage, to make it successful that is, have to be learned. I mean we can have the natural tendency to be ourselves, but does that fill the need of the other person? Not always. Think about it. I'm a natural nurturer and I like to feel taken care of as well. My husband is a natural provider and he likes to be taken care of, but not necessarily in the ways that I do. If my husband were to just provide though, and not give me any attention, cuddle me, say the right words, affirm my duties and actions, and all the things that make me "tick" as a wife, I would feel neglected. On the flip side of that same coin, if I didn't purposely try and figure out then carry out what made my husband function and "tick," he would surely feel neglected also. I guess I'm saying that we should purposely, by many available means, try and figure out what pleases, helps, and satisfies the other person. We need to study the wiring of the other person and seek to connect and make things work. Doing this doesn't benefit one person, but both. Wouldn't you be more willing to do things for your husband (not by feelings of sheer duty and/or obedience) if you felt satisfied intimately and romantically? Wouldn't he perform or function better towards you if his needs were taken care of? Probably so, in a healthy relationship anyway. Submission to God and His words by both people, will always make the relationship work.

Romance does matter. My husband is an exception, I believe, when it comes to a man being naturally romantic. I don't mean creatively romantic. I mean intimacy-based romance. He is such a sweet man. He really fulfills my needs for touch, the right way, at the right times. He is thoughtful of me, kind to me, fills in the gaps for me when I physically can't do something for whatever reason, rubs my feet, opens my doors, pulls my seat out, gives me looks and stares that assures me that he has eyes for me, and much much more. For all the things I may temporarily moan and groan about, there is much more that he does right. For that I'm, truly grateful. This fills my female needs. While I would obey God and try, with His enabling me, to do the things that a wife should do, even if he didn't give me romance and intimacy, him doing so makes it that much easier for me to function and perform the way I should. God placed the need for intimacy within us women, and we shouldn't have those needs neglected or deny that they are there and need to be filled. When we're single, God takes care of these needs. He is our Comforter and Provider and Friend. If He decides to give us a husband, HE allows the husband to now fill those needs, although we should recognize that no human being alive could fill our needs as completely and rightly as God can.

I encourage my husband to open up and share his feelings with me as well as keep up the good work when it comes to intimacy and romance by meeting his needs. I believe that he would just be this way (romantic) anyway, but he would surely become discouraged if I were not to respond to his needs. While it's unrealistic to say that my husband is romantic and perfectly intimate 100% of the time, this is truly the way he is most of the time,...but, when he doesn't feel like talking or being creative in the relationship to keep "the fires burning," I give him ideas, I tell him what I would like to have happen, I try to be mindful of being consistent about filling his needs, we go to marriage retreats, we read books, we get ideas from other couples, we pray more than anything, and we read, read, read the Word of God.

One of the most romantic times in my marriage was when my husband and I were having a rather heated conversation about something I can't remember anymore, but I know that I was strongly disagreeing. We were dressed for a really formal occasion and had already gone to the function but had no time to go change before my son's soccer game, so we went the way we were. He in a nice suit and I in a beautiful dress of chiffon, satin, lace, a sheer wrap about my shoulders, and semi-high, strappy heels. When we arrived at the soccer game, I jumped out of the car first and headed to the field, assuming that he was close behind me. Big mistake! He literally ALWAYS opens my door for me, no matter what. He was very insulted. He doesn't care whether we disagree or not, he loves being the gentleman and having no one take that privilege from him. He leaned against the car and watched me saunter off, high stepping and moving quickly with an attitudinous "switch" in my walk. It was a little windy so I pulled my wrap (or shawl, depending on where you're from) close to me, cocked my head upward, and kept moving toward the field. Suddenly, I stopped and turned around and realized he wasn't behind me, and I started looking for him. When I looked back a distance, I could see he was leaning against the car, smiling no less!! What was he smiling about, I wondered!! This was certainly NOT a "smiling kind of moment," at least not in my opinion. I had to decide whether to go on to the field with my apparent attitude, or go back to the car. Of course, the sinful nature in me said to just go on to the field. He'll eventually make his way over. He's a big boy, besides, I'm not giving in to his little antics! Ha!! Yeah, right!! I walked back over to the car and he stands there, shaking his head and smiling harder. I got close enough to ask him what exactly he was smiling about, and he proceeds to say this: "I've never seen a more beautiful angry woman in my life. I watched you walk away and I love what attitude, in that dress, with those shoes look like. I wasn't turned off at all. Just the opposite. I wasn't angry anymore, I was capsized. You are beautiful, no matter how you feel. I can't stay angry or disagreeable with you. Come here." I came closer and well...he kissed me and walked me over, arm in arm to the field, staring at me the whole time, reminding me of how beautiful he thought I was. I will never forget this.

I hope you enjoyed this post today. There are more though. If you visit e-Mom at the link above, you can share in the romantic moments of others who participated this month. You can see why they think romance is important. I hope that your marriage is romantic, and if it's not, I hope you and your hubby find ways to make it so. It's worth every moment you put into it.

I share this picture a lot, but it's one of my favorites of us, and he had been being romantic towards me right before this picture was taken.

JULY'S MARRIAGE MONDAY

E-mom at Chrysalis has invited us again, this first Monday of the month, to join her in discussing all things marriage. Let me let her explain it better:

July: Open Topic
I'd like to invite you to share your own thoughts on marriage too. Please join us for Marriage Monday on July 7, 2008. Our community of Marriage Monday bloggers is a diverse group of joyful, Godly women. We are young, old, seasoned, and newlywed.
This month our topic is wide open, so write your heart out. Feel free to discuss Christian marriage from any angle you deem relevant and God-honoring.
After you leave your link, consider taking some time to visit the other participants. You'll be blessed!

I was prompted to talk about the "covenant,"--the actual word itself, and the other one we sometimes interchange with it, you know,..."commitment." Please consider my heart, thoughts, convictions, and study concerning this, below.

What’s the difference between a covenant or promise and commitment? Is there a difference? To God there is. Let’s look at these words in relation to marriage. Tell me how your outlook has changed, if any, in the end.

Hubby and I decided that we would make a marriage covenant, rather than a commitment. We even had The Covenant Marriage of Honey and Hubby written on the invitations. It was important to us to convey that message, like it was important for us to have a Christian wedding where Christ was the head and where we spoke of what His Word said about marriage. We also wanted to show the parallel between our marriage and Christ and His bride, the church. So why was our choice of words ‘covenant?’

Commitment is defined in Webster in context as a pledge to do something; dedication to a long-term course of action; engagement; involvement. It sounds good doesn’t it? What would be wrong with using this word? Nothing really, except for the fact that while it sounds good and has good intentions at its root, it can be broken. Some people, in fact, think nothing of breaking a commitment if things don’t quite work out the way they wanted them too. Oh, they mean well. Don’t we all? But, have you ever had someone break a commitment to you? How can this happen? God is a God of assurance and sovereignty. His Word is concrete, unlike the definition of commitment alluding to something you may wholeheartedly want to do and may even say you’re going to do, but there are no real guarantees. What’s the difference then, as asked before, between commitment and a covenant and/or a promise? Can covenants be broken? The real answer is, because of our sin nature, anything, yes including a covenant, can be broken (See also Numbers 30:1-16). But at its core, this was never meant to be, and when you did break a vow or covenant, not just anybody involved could do it, and there were severe consequences when or if one did. If we took the words (covenant and promise) seriously, there would be a distinct difference and reaction to the meaning of these words versus the other. Promise is defined as an oral or written AGREEMENT to do or not to do something; a VOW; something promised. Webster defines a covenant as a BINDING and solemn agreement to do or to keep from doing a specified thing; compact; a formal, SEALED contract; theologically, the promise made by God to humanity and the relationship it established, as described in the BIBLE. Do you notice a difference yet?

God honored and took seriously covenants and His promises in the Bible. He honored covenants in the Old Testament and His promises throughout it. Ecclesiastes 5:4-6B (NIV) says “When you make a vow to God (or before God), do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.” The NLT version says “So when you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to Him. It is better to say nothing than to promise something that you don’t follow through on. In such cases, your mouth is making you sin.” That’s serious business. If it hasn’t been quite that serious to you before now, make it that serious. PLAN beforehand to obey God and follow through. Plan to never break your promises before Him and the person you’re vowing to. (Check your Bible’s concordance to see how vow was used as a noun and verb.)

One of the covenants God made in Genesis about never flooding the earth again still holds strong till this day. And we expect that, since He is God and He can’t lie or go back on His promises, that this covenant will never be broken. God also made a covenant with Abraham about his son Isaac, that Isaac would be the son of the promise (the line from which the Messiah would come). The covenant was kept and His promise came to fruition as the Bible clearly spells out. These are very important instances in Biblical history, in our history as well. There are many more instances of God making a covenant or man making a covenant with another man. It was expected that when God made a covenant, it was something that He was BOUND to do, that it was a “done deal.” People knew God could be trusted, that He WOULD follow through.

If we are to model our Lord, shouldn’t we do our best to not just make commitments, but make covenants that we have no intention of breaking? We should be asking God for whatever it takes to keep a covenant and make it just as real in our lives as it is with Him. We should go into our marriages or wedlock (a compact, pledge; an offering or gift—hmmm, this seems to be similar to a covenant, don’t you think?) with the intention of not only never getting out of it or even thinking of that, but telling ourselves that getting out of it is not possible. It needs to be something we honor with the same seriousness and completeness as God did His. Can we do that? We’re not God. Obviously not, but a covenant can be made between two people who’ve made this promise before God, and your commitment to the covenant is honored by God who, if He is the head, can BIND and SEAL this agreement. We CAN stay married for a lifetime. We can, and we MUST. We must be a unified and Godly testimony, by living out our covenants, to lost or dying marriages wherever we go.

Satan has fed marriages in our world lies. “It’ll never work out. You’ve got too many problems.” “He’s not like you thought he would be. Just leave.” “She’s not as nice as when you first met her. You don’t have to put up with that.” “The grass is greener on the other side. Trust me.” “Too many years with the same person is boring. You’re not the type for that.” “If you just do this or that, they’ll never find out. Listen to me.” The lies and the list go on and on. These lies are marriage destroyers. Remember though, covenants can’t be broken (or shouldn’t be) so what do you do when you’re bombarded with lies? Hold on to the promise that you made. Recognize a lie when you hear it. Go to God’s Word to see what the Designer of Covenants and Marriage has to say about these things. Ask Him to help you honor and obey His Word. Get to know the God of covenants and promises intimately. See what these things truly meant to Him. Trust Him because we can’t trust our flesh. Find ways to honor your mate and start afresh every day. Pray for yourself and your spouse daily. Seek any help you need in aiding you in keeping your promise. Ask God to drive out the voice of the enemy (the hater of marriages and a covenant-breaker himself) and replace that voice with His voice and truth.

Let me end this by saying that I was once in marriages that God had not put together. Although I didn’t want to be responsible for being the covenant breaker in either case, I was responsible for not waiting on the Lord and His choice for me so that keeping a covenant would have been easier and aided by God. I know the difference now, thank God. He is a God of second, third, fourth, a million chances. When I finally received gratefully God’s choice for me, I wanted and was ready to make a covenant. We both made the choice to not let divorce or separation be an option. We don’t want the threat or possibility of that. We want to model Christ and His marriage to the church in our marriage. God loves the church. He gave Himself for it. What more of a sacrifice can one make for another? God, help us all be covenant keepers.

Be abundantly blessed in your marriage today and for the rest of your lives!

MARRIAGE MONDAY--Our Wedding Day

For all of my regular readers, first-timers, and meme visitors: Like last month, I will be taking the first Monday of every month now, and for just that Monday only, changing my Mommy Monday theme to Marriage Monday. Celebrating marriage--how awesome an opportunity is that?!! So we're going to be doing this once a month indefinitely. Won't you join me? Then, we'll return the following Mondays to our "regularly scheduled program." So keep coming back!! Now, here's details on Marriage Monday:

Dear sister in Christ,

Just a friendly reminder that this Monday at Chrysalis our topic for the Marriage Monday meme will be, "Our Wedding Day."

Here's your opportunity to share the exciting details of your wedding. (Don't worry if you weren't a June bride—we were married in October!)If you've already told your story in an earlier blog post, tell us about your... • wedding reception• honeymoon• wedding vows• funny anecdote • important anniversary

Use Your Creativity

Suffice to say, you can tell your story any way you want! And please feel free to make up your own title to go with your piece. In lieu of prose, you might consider creating a...• slide show• song• poem• video clip • podcast

Bring A Friend
Blessings,

e-Mom @ Chrysalis
http://chrysaliscom.blogspot.com/

Now, on with the show! I even chose periwinkle font color, because that was my main wedding color! Hey, what can I say? I do what I can! I thought I'd pick out some of my favorite color pictures that I could easily load. I have way more pictures than you'll see here, and some I'd love for you to view, but it would take me too long to copy them, etc. These were already on the computer. After the pictures, I thought I'd write a neat little poem, so watch for that after the pictures. I sincerely hope that the pictures will speak for themselves, though, for the most part. My day was and still is a major blessing!!

Okay, since it's taking Blogger forever, at least on my end, to upload my pictures, I'm going to go ahead and entertain (ha!) you by writing my poem, publishing what I have so far, and then coming back and adding the rest of the pictures. You'll have to come back and see me more than once then. Is that okay? Just put me in faves today and you'll save yourself some time (you can delete me later:). I hope I can share pictures with you that will be well worth the return.

COVENANT KEEPERS

K & M heard from on high

"It is your time. Here's why:

I have plans for you two,

To honor and worship Me in all that you do.

The two of you shall be one flesh.

Your separate lives you will mesh.

This union is of me, you see."

So then K & M thought of periwinkle, hydrangeas, and icing of buttercream.

It was a long-awaited dream

Of friends, fru-fru babies, flower girls, and usher boys,

Candles, invites, teacups, and toys.

It all came together by prayer and many pennies.

June 24th 2006 came, and there was anticipation 'a-plenties.'

Our guests came from near and far

And were dressed up to par

For the most glorious occasion yet.

Most eyes would be wet

At ceremony's end

Because of the blessed blend

Of two families.

(God, help us please!!)

"I do! I do!" "You may kiss the bride."

K & M beamed with pride!

We did it, and God was our primary witness.

With His approval, we couldn't miss.

He glorified Himself and gifted us with each other.

There is no other

God and mate for us.

Lord, once again, you scored a 10 plus!

We left the church doors for the final day's celebration.

Yea, it's time for the reception!

We feasted on Low Country Boil and fruit,

Homemade wedding punch and other things to boot!

K & M almost missed eating themselves.

Thankfully, we had food hidden on the refrigerator shelves.

Then we greeted, thanked, danced, and made merry

Like some do when they take vows and marry.

As you can see, we took pictures galore.

Oh, these aren't all. Carefully tucked away, there's more.

There are so many more details to our special day and story,

But I'll end by mentioning the Hope and Glory

We have in dear Friend Jesus Christ,

Whose very self will suffice

To keep our covenant and promises intact,

And whose Holy Spirit will show us how to act,

So that the most important thing will happen--He'll be lifted high!

May this happen til we meet Him in the sky!

"Help us be lifelong Covenant Keepers dear Lord.

Help us to all stay on one accord.

Bless our children to do the same.

This we pray in Jesus' precious, Holy name."

I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by, and thank you e-Mom for having Marriage Monday. I really love participating and reading the stories (and being encouraged by others). God bless all of our marriages!!

MARRIAGE MONDAY (1ST EDITION)

Make room, my precious readers, for a new addition to our Mondays. Usually, you know I have Mommy Mondays as my own theme every Monday, but I found this wonderful blog http://www.chrysaliscom.blogspot.com/ that does Marriage Monday once a month. This is such a wonderful feature on her blog, and she invites others whom are interested and want to share, to join in. I loved it enough to join in right away. It's been a blessing to me to read the posts on her blog site. So, just once a month, we will cut into our regularly scheduled program (Mommy Mondays) and join in the warmth and fellowship at Chrysalis and celebrate that gift called marriage. Look out below for our first installation. The theme this month: THE CRAZY WAY WE MET

Below is a snippet of what e-mom at Chrysalis wanted us to do. You can join in too!!

Call for Submissions: Would you like to share your experience in marriage with other Christian women? Our community of Marriage Monday bloggers is a diverse group of joyful, Godly women. We are young, old, seasoned, and newlywed. And we’d love to hear from you! You're invited to join us for Marriage Monday on May 5, 2008.
Easy Guidelines: The Marriage Monday meme meets here at Chrysalis the first Monday of every month. Similar to a group writing project or blog Carnival, bloggers post their thoughts on specific topic, and then link up here. Afterward, participants enjoy visiting as many other linkers as they have time for.
Your Courtship Story: Our topic this Monday will be, "The Crazy Way We Met." Here's your opportunity to share the dramatic (or dull) opening moments of your dating relationship. Remember, the details of your story may be ancient history to you, but to us—it's news!Please tell your story any way you want. You could even create a photo essay, or a song or poem. The idea is to reflect on how God moved to bring the two of you together to share the greatest adventure of your lives: marriage.
Please Bring A Friend.

Now I can share with you OUR story.

I was a single mom working two jobs supporting my family when I met my blessing. I worked at the Christian school my children attended to pay their tuition, and I worked the evening job to pay bills. The evening job is where I met my husband.

God had His hand in this from the very beginning. I wasn't looking for anyone in my life. It was full enough with children, work, church, and extended family. I had been hurt a lot in the past, and though God had healed my wounds, I wasn't about to take the chance in letting someone inflict another one possibly. I protected my healing very well. Besides, He had made me so content alone. He had provided my every need, and I didn't need anyone else. I wasn't against men, I just didn't need them necessarily, because God was so good to me. He filled every void in my life. A good place to be right? Well yes and no. It is good to be comfortable with yourself, it is good that you recognize that God is your ever-present priest, provider, and protector, yes, these things and more are all good, but, I didn't hold myself in a position where if God wanted to give me what He thought I should have next on my journey, I would accept it. I had gotten too comfortable, not leaving myself flexible where God could operate even the more. After all, what else did I need? I didn't even want anything else except a house of my own (we were renting) for the children and friends from church to be able to come over and fellowship. God had other plans.

My usual shift was 4pm to 12am. For a few days this month though, something unusual happened. My co-worker needed off of her day shift (she rarely needed off) and knew that I would be happy to take her shift and find a sub for mine so that I could get off a lot earlier and go home to spend more waking hours with my kids. Her shift was 8-4. Yeah for me!! I was to get off early for a few days (I think it ended up being around 3-4 days). Well, little did I know that a man had been assigned to come in during this day shift months prior, from the local police dept., to pick up and drop off regular employee and sensitive information to and from two detectives that now had offices in our building. Everyone during the day shift knew him, but he was a complete surprise to me. Apparently, since he knew everyone, when he saw me, I was a complete surprise to him.

He comes in the first day of my temporary, new shift, going about his normal routine: stopping at the front desk (where I would be working when I finally walked in) and signing in, stopping there briefly to speak to everyone, going upstairs to the detectives mailboxes, coming back down to chat briefly again, then...I come across the street, ready to enter the building. I didn't know he had been watching me cross the street. This would have been the time that he was supposed to be delivering mail upstairs. Well, for some reason, he decided that it wasn't quite time to go upstairs yet:). BTW, my husband had been and still is an ordained pastor, was single (obviously), raising his daughter by himself after his ex-wife had left him years prior, and had been praying that if the Lord intended for him to fall in love again and get married, to let him know it and make it clear.

I entered the building and everyone stopped talking. What I didn't know until later is that they stopped talking and were staring at him stare at me, because, he is a major talker and if he stops talking, turns and stares, everyone wants to know what had to have gotten this man's attention. I walked in and felt that feeling that you have when you know that everyone is looking at you. You start seeing if you have toilet paper sticking out of your pants (I had on denim capris), if your shirt is inside out (I had on a Memphis Is Famous For... t-shirt), if you've got gum stringing from under your shoes (I had on white, leather Keds), or if your hair is all messed up or something (I had a really short, layered, feathery cut that I liked on me). Wonder if I remember what I was wearing that day:)

I rounded the desk where I would be sitting, and he had already asked someone, "Who is she?" They kindly responded, "She is one of two single, Christian women we have working here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Is that obvious or what?!! He smiled (biggest, prettiest, widest smile you've ever seen!!), spoke to me, shook my hand, and proceeded to finally go upstairs. On his way up, he stops halfway and reads the back of my shirt, which had "Memphis" on it. The crowd from downstairs had dissipated by then and he had gotten up enough courage to make conversation. "I see you have Memphis on your t-shirt. I've never been there, but I'd like to go. Are you from Memphis?" Me: "Yes, I am," trying to keep the conversation short you know. Remember I wasn't looking for anyone and I wasn't about to fall for anyone either.

After a little small talk, he went about his business and finally came back down. He asked, "Why haven't I seen you here before? I come in everyday. I'm used to seeing someone else at this desk." I explained to him about the temporary switch and he ended the conversation with some brief sentence and a smile and then left. "Very nice to meet you Ms. Memphis," he says. That was it until the next day. He says to me later that as hard as he tried on his own that night, and as hard as he tried to pray me away if God didn't want me in his mind, I just wouldn't go anywhere. How precious!!

Well, he continued to make small talk each day that he saw me for the next few days. He would add a little more to the conversation, though I still wasn't adding much back. I would answer his questions politely, but I tried not to make my answers too interesting so that I wouldn't be indirectly inviting him to stick around. Yes, I noticed eventually that he was a very clean-cut, polite, Godly, handsome, sensitive, thoughtful, funny man, but I wasn't trying to; I wasn't going to let that on, and it wasn't going to affect me because again, I wasn't looking for this. Plus, God had not made it clear that this is what He wanted for me. At this point, I probably was not going to let God make this clear to me, although I was open for Him to show me any and everything else.

I eventually went on vacation for a couple of weeks after these brief, day shift days were over. My family from Memphis had come, and I was ready to relax and enjoy them. Hubby-to-be wasn't giving up though. There was no "out of sight, out of mind" for him. He simply could not get away from the thoughts and images of this Godly woman who seemed very distant, but nice, polite, straight-forward, no-nonsense, motherly, caring, and, in his own mind and eyes, so beautiful! To this day I tell the man he needs more than reading glasses if he thought that, but hey, who am I to try and change his perception. This is the only time that him living in a lie works for me:).

With lots of "behind the scene" help and work, he and the "conduit" co-worker of mine worked on getting my phone numbers and him some more "nerve" to call me while on vacation. I thought they had lost their minds!! In his defense, he kept telling her that he didn't want to do that. She convinced him eventually, otherwise. Poor guy. I practically chewed him out (in a "righteous" sort of way, of course:)) for having the nerve to disturb me while on vacation. But, for whatever reason, I talked to him for TWO hours that evening on the phone. I was completely shocked and taken aback, and so was my visiting mother and sister. They knew me well, and they knew that this was highly unusual.

We started talking regularly on the phone, because he would not be seeing me on the day shift anymore. I chose to stay "closed" and "hard to get," but God started to do an amazing work in me that started to chip away at my walls. Let me tell you, I did not like it. I had never resisted an obvious work God was trying to do in me before, at least not to this degree and not consciously. I just knew I had to be fooling myself, and that I needed to quickly get over this. Closing myself off was quite easy for me. I was doing a good job. Well, I was. But, God is stronger. He continued to reveal things to me, assure me, show me, comfort me, show me that He would still be my everything, despite the fact that he was bringing into my life this man (whom, by the way, I was slowly falling in love with--Oh my word!!--not me!!). He had to show me His reasons and then, He presented hubby to me as a gift, the icing on the cake that He had already been providing me the whole time. He showed me how hubby would fit in my life and why. God was my everything, and for the things he wanted me to have and experience for the rest of my life, hubby was how and whom it would happen through. He knew I needed a husband for the fulfillment of His plans for the rest of my life, and He knew my husband needed a wife for the plans He had for his life. God knows EVERYTHING AND IS SO PERFECT, plain and simple!!

We finally got engaged after a few months and set our wedding date to June 24th, 2006. The rest, my dears, is history. For we know the plans God has for us...

The pictures above (because I tried to put them below, but that didn't work, plus, I'm still new to this blogging thing and don't know what I'm doing!) are from beginning to end: a later and "staged" picture of how we met at my workplace, engagement picture or a proposal picture, and a wedding and reception picture. I don't know how to enhance photos so, you get what you get...SORRY! Enjoy, and it's been nice recalling this story. Probably not as interesting as some, but it's ours nonetheless.

I am grateful to God for this gift of a husband I have. God, thank you for knowing what I need when I need it. Keep being God in my life. That's just as it should be.

I forgot to mention that by September of the same year that I got married, I no longer worked at the place where I met my husband. God had me there by divine appointment because I had been at my workplace 3 years, learned a lot of stuff I would need later, met my husband on a shift I had never worked before in those 3 years, and then God called me home to be a full-time SAHM and wife. I left in September knowing that God had had me in that place just long enough to meet my husband and then move on. How cool is that?!!