My Beloved is Mine and I am His......

20 years ago.......

It was 20 years ago today that Dwayne and I were married. We started the journey towards becoming ONE. I am not sure at that time ,20 years ago, that I fully grasped the idea of becoming one but now 20 years later I have a bit more insight as to what that really means.

We didn't start out like most who have a long dating history or who have grown up in familiar surroundings. No we came from different parts of the world the North and South. Now there have been a few battles in our marriage and I would have to say that some of them were a result of our differences :) namely him being from the north :). Hee hee.... no not really. While we did come from different parts of the states we had somethings incommon. Some of those were our desire to love and cherish eachother and to serve the Lord. We had a common vision of what Marriage would look like for us and while we realized some of those things were unrealistic we grew to a better understanding of what would work for us.

We have had our bumps and vallies along the way and I'm sure at times we have thought "what the heck have I done" both thinking that about the other. :) But because of our covenant with God to remain married until Death due us part we have lasted these 20 years. We've struggled through the births of our kids seperated, spent a year without one another while Dwayne served his country, walked through multiple surgeries by one anothers sides, come close to losing our second born son, having to spend countless hours talking on the phone sperated for the sake of ministry, survived floods and fires, threat of wars and the list could go on.

Here we are today- 20 Years Later! What a journey!

The mountain tops have been AMAZING! We have been so blessed as a couple and have 3 wonderful kids. Our life wouldn't be complete without them and what they have brought to our marriage, is nothing short of the greatest Gifts God could have given us. We have traveled the world next to eachother. Seen miracles, signs and wonders that few have seen but many would hope to see. We have shared in the blessing of seeing unreached peoples become reached, walked many a beach, seen beautiful sun rises and sun sets, hiked mountains, seen wild life that some wait days if not weeks and years to see, ( the white wolf in Yellow stone), with every Crisis and every Joy we have learned something new about the other.

Dwayne, My Beloved~ I love you and thank the Lord for you. I am so richly blessed to have a husband who desires to seek the Lord, who loves his children and zealously guards and watches over them, who makes me laugh just at the sound of a giggle from you, who shares words of wisdom which cause me to stop and think or causes me to struggle to understand how that will impact us, who is my fluffy teddy bear whom I absolutely love to snuggle with and enjoy so much the warmth of your touch, who leads his family in the things of the Lord, who is faithful and trustworthy.... Gosh I could go on and on...

I just want to say I hope the past 20 years have been as much of a blessing to you as they have been to me!

I love you and Look forward to the next 20~

Yours Always,

Melissa