Six years...really?

Six years ago we had this little party. I got all dressed up and so did Hubby. Sometimes I think it seems like yesterday - not six years ago. But then, like everyone says, I look at all the stuff that has filled those six years and I say "Only six years?"

Six years ago I didn't know we would fall in love with our little town. I didn't know we would find a church home as near and dear to us as the one we have. We have, in so many ways, built our lives around our church activities. And the gifts we have been given in return have been so great - so much more than I could have ever expected or dreamed. My church is the reason I sing. I have sort of always liked to sing, but it made me so stinkin' nervous that I really really dreaded doing it for other people. I would get physically sick for weeks before one tiny little song for special music. It took me a year to sing at Faith. I did. My life changed a bit that day - though I didn't know it then. I found a group of people who gave me the courage to keep singing - they gave me such encouragement that I would sing at the drop of the hat. God gave me music, Faith gave me love of music. Hubby, too, has made great friendships and found lots of opportunities to use his gifts in service. We love going to church. We look forward to going to church. What an unforeseen gift.

Six years ago we really didn't have much of a plan for a family. It was something that would happen "later". At some point in 2003 we decided we would start trying to have a baby. We didn't realize the test we would face. Years of disappointments followed. The day our first baby died was the day our hearts broke. And months later, when we were least expecting it, a new heartbeat began its soft thump thump thump. We surrounded little Reagan with prayer and hope every day of her life. And the day she arrived, screaming the announcement of her presence, we looked into a tiny face and knew that even in all our trials and heartaches, God was so faithful. We knew every tear we shed, heartbroken ones and happy ones, He caught and held in His nail-pierced hands. Reagan has certainly changed our lives, bringing more joy, laughter, love and wonder to our home. Sometimes Hubby and I stand by her crib and stare at her. What a precious gift.

Six years ago I married this guy who said he loved me. I saw glimpses of it then, but didn't know really what it meant. They were words he spoke, roses on a table, little emails he typed. But in six years, I have seen his words. Certainly, it was in the way he held me the day we miscarried, it was in his eyes as he looked at our daughter, it was in his words when he encouraged my singing. But more than that, it was in every load of laundry he did for me, every day he worked to provide for us, the countless times he smiled at me, the little everyday things he probably thinks I never noticed.

What a gift he is to me.