Seven Year Anniversary

On Sunday, Aaron and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. We spent the day, inside our cozy little apartment, caring for our three unwell kids. Aaron watched some football and I read and browsed around on Pinterest (do people still use Pinterest?) I also had a lot of time to think and reflect on these past seven years. When I got married, I had this idea in my mind that our wedding day was the start of my happily ever after. I thought I would live every day in a state of matrimony bliss. However, our new life together didn't start out as perfectly as I imagined. In fact, it was the hardest, saddest, and most stressful time of my life. Aaron and I just weren't in sync. I was surprised when we made it to our first wedding anniversary, even more shocked we made it to our second. There were many discussions about ending it and parting our separate ways but we never ended up going through with it. Somewhere, deep down we both felt a mutual love and respect for each other. We both wanted to raise our children in a home where mother and father were present.
In the military, Aaron and I had ample opportunities to be apart from one another. During these times apart you live by one of two sayings, the first is out of sight out of mind or the second which is distance makes the heart grow stronger. Fortunately, for us, distance definitely made our hearts grow stronger. Over the next three years we learnt that marriage was work . . . . a lot of work. It also involved a lot of patience forgiveness, understanding, listening, and service. There were still plenty of bumps in the road, but we managed get over them together.
I learnt to lean on and rely on my father in heaven for strength, comfort, and guidance. I became an independent, strong, and confident woman because I knew, no matter what happened, that I was a daughter of my Heavenly Father and that He loved me!

Now, seven years and three kids later, I can honestly say that I am living my happily ever after. I am once again married to the man of my dreams. He works hard to provide us with a good and happy life. I fell in love with Aaron's sense of humor, he was and still is the funniest person I have ever met. He keeps me laughing everyday even when I don't want to. He is way more handsome then when we first met (guys tend to get more handsome as time goes on which isn't fair.) He is still that smart, caring, and strong man that I fell in love with all those years ago. He has been my rock and my protector. Life without him just wouldn't be much fun. I am so happy that we made it through those hard years, and built a stronger foundation for our marriage. There will still be bumps along the way, but I know that together we can cruise right over them. We are truly living our dream one day at a time.