28 years and couting

After 6 months and 1 day my parents decided to go down to the court house in Vernon, Alabama and make a vow to love each other for the rest of their lives. My dad was stationed at the base in Columbus, Mississippi where my mom was born and raised. He wasn't a christian, he wasn't the perfect guy that would have completed a "christian checklist" but my dad was perfect for my mother. She was madly in love with him and he couldn't live a day without her in his life. Three years later I was born. My mother was a mother that any little girl would dream of and to my dad...I completed his world. He was the kind of dad that actually took the time to make sure I knew I was loved. My dad would read to me, take me fishing, help me with my homework. I've heard that when I was a baby I would sleep on his chest on the couch and he said that he can still remember me breathing on him and how warm I was. He was the dad that went on field trips at school. I was his little buddy. I knew I was loved. 

My parents always told each other they loved each other and they were always so affectionate. My mother put my dad first and my dad put my mother first. My mom always said she married her best friend. 

8 years after they married, I was five at the time, my dad was transferred to England. The 3 of us packed up and moved to a place where we didn't know anyone. I think that's why the 3 of us are so close...we only had each other to count on then. Four years later my dad was transferred to Homestead, Florida. Six weeks after being there we were hit by hurricane Andrew and pretty much lost everything we had. 

As I look back at the devastating time we went through as a family I think of how wonderful God's plan was. After the hurricane my dad was transferred to Cocoa Beach, Florida. My parents just "happend" to meet a member of the church. After 15 years of marriage, my mother came back to the Lord and my dad was baptized. 

You see this was huge...not only had my mother married the love of her life, over years he became everything of a "christian checklist." 

I will never forget what my mother told me. She said, I married your dad because I knew where his heart was.  

He makes all things beautiful in His time. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Since the day my parents promised to love each other for the rest of their lives, 28 years has past. As their proud daughter, I can honestly say, my parents are still madly in love with each other. They are a true example of what I feel God had in mind when he created marriage. It's not a job or a duty or a chore or a position. It's a passtionate love for, a desire, it's an overwheling thought that life on earth could not and would not ever be the same. True love in a marriage doesn't come by chance...It's patiently waiting for the love of your life, the person God made just for you. Because if God created marriage, in His time he will allow soul mates to meet. 

My parents are two of the the most loyal christians I know. Not because they are present at every service or because they study their Bibles like a Bible scholar. I know it because thier hearts are as pure as gold. They love God. Their relationship with God is not a job or duty or a chore or a postion. Their love for God is a passionate love, a desire, it's an overwhelming thought that life on earth could not and would not ever be the same. 

I am so blessed to call them my mother and father. 

 

Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil you have labored under the sun. 

- Ecclesiastes 9:9