2.27.2009

Happy 25th Anniversary!

On Wednesday—wait, I need to go back! OK, on Tuesday the fourth of February, Mama and Papa left for two weeks in Hawaii to celebrate—oh no, I really must go back further….On February 25, 1984, two young people united their hearts together and became mister and missus. Yes, my parents! How amazing it is to me to think of God bringing them together at a young age, and then gradually and patiently growing them through the years. They were Christians when they were married, but they had no inkling of the path that God would take them on: moving them hundreds of miles away from their family in Spokane, WA; allowing Mom to become a stay-at-home wife and mother; leading them to home school their children; then leading them to give their family size to him and having six (gasp!) children; and, the newest adventure, starting their own church with a few other families which necessarily requires Papa to preach and become an elder. My Mom often says that if God had shown her this path that she is on at the beginning of her marriage, she would have turned around and run the other direction! This is not because she does not love her life right now, but rather because she recognizes how far God has led her in twenty-five years and praises Him for His mercy, patience, and promise that He will never require more of us than we are able to do at the moment.
All of this brings me to Tuesday the fourth, when my parents left for a beautiful two-week vacation in Hawaii. This year is my grandparent’s fiftieth anniversary, so they graciously gifted Mama and Papa with airfare, car rental, and lodging so that all four of them could celebrate together in Hawaii. Lauren and I held down the fort for two weeks and had a blast, although sleep was always a little scarce between homeschooling our siblings, making meals, keeping the house clean, doing college classes, practicing violin and piano, teaching violin and piano, and getting ready for a symphony concert. It was awesome to be reunited with our parents after two weeks and then, this past Wednesday, to celebrate their “real” 25th wedding anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Mama and Papa! You both are the inspiration for us for when we get married. You have shown us that marriage does include a whole lot of love, kisses, looks, massages, and hand-holding. But you’ve also been transparent and shown us that marriage has to include tears, vomiting children, disagreements, service, and sacrifice. If our marriages are anything like yours, we will consider ourselves blessed. So, again, Happy Anniversary—and may the next twenty-five years be even better than the first.

Note: All the scenery pictures are from Hawaii, courtesy of Mama! The night picture is lava flowing from the mountain, hitting the ocean, and splashing everywhere.

10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful story! what a great blessing for your parents to be able to have such a wonderful vacation, and to celebrate with their parents too! :)
    ~Please give them our best wishes and congratulations!

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  2. Hey Girls!!

    I was just over at Jasmine's blog and noticed a familiar face in the "followers" box (Lauren)!!! I said to myself, "I never knew they had a blog"....I see I wasn't TOTALLY out of the loop though, so that's nice.

    I look forward to listening/watching the youtube video and reading this post on your parents! As well as all the other posts you two are yet to make. :)

    How've you both been? I know I owe one of you a letter...every weekend I promise myself I'll write it. Perhaps it'll be this one!

    Take care!

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  3. Thanks! It was a blessing for them, and we enjoyed having refreshed parents (and of course the macadamia nuts and beautiful hawaiian jewelry ;-)! I will pass on your kind wishes.

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  4. Hello Lauren and Mikaela! We were excited to see that you started a blog! I really like the title. Do you know the story of little Georgia Willis "shining in her corner"? If you don't, I'll email it to you- I think you'd like it. It is really sweet and made us especially like this hymn! Well, I look forward to checking back herein the future! God bless your day!!

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  5. Hey Everyone!
    Victoria--my last comment was in response to Jacqueline, not you, so that's why it doesn't make sense in the context of your comment. ;-)Aren't blogs great for keeping in touch (especially when certin someones like me forget to write...)? We found yours as well, so we'll be commenting on that.
    Jenny--thanks for your sweet words. I've never heard of the story you mentioned; please email it to me! I'd love to read it (perhaps it will be a future blog post ;-).
    And Ruthie--we're so glad that the title and theme made sense to someone other than us. ;-) That is sometimes a problem...

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  6. Blog Revision:
    Please note that I revised a small part of the entry to say this:
    "My Mom often says that if God had shown her this path that she is on at the beginning of her marriage, she would have turned around and run the other direction! This is not because she does not love her life right now, but rather because she recognizes how far God has led her in twenty-five years and praises Him for His mercy, patience, and promise that He will never require more of us than we are able to do at the moment."
    I just didn't want anyone to think that Mom means she is scared or intimidated by her life right now. ;-) She is, of course, speaking of her younger, less mature self. ;-)

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  7. Great Blog girls. May the Lord use it to glorify Himself & further advance his kingdom! I did have the tiniest bit of a comment though on your last post! :-) When I say the comment of how if God would've shown me back then (25 years ago), where He were to have me today, I would run the other direction. Well, the context that I say that in is that God only expects baby steps from us and only takes us as far as we can handle. He doesn't expect more from us than what we can handle. Little by little. Growth comes in stages and not all at once. In other words, he doesn't ask that we go from baby Christian to Homeschool, have 6 kids and start a new church along with all the other convictions he's given us in the course of a few weeks. Praise the Lord He is patient with us and and doesn't push us. And PTL that in looking back, our stepping out and continuing to take those little baby steps in faith, in obedience over time can lead us miles from where we were 25 years ago. Miles from where that little boy and little girl were years ago. And, as Mikaela already pointed out, it's not that I don't like my life but rather that my immature little girl self of 25 years ago would've been scared if I had been given a crystal ball and been able to see where the Lord would have me 25 years from then. "How would I get there? Looks too hard. Too this, too that." PTL he doesn't give us a crystal ball, but instead just asks us to trust in Him. I just need to take his out stretched hand, ready to lead me to the next step of where he has for me next. I just heard on the radio the other day Ravi Zacharias on his program. One of the things he said that sort of summarizes this is, we sing..Day by day, Moment by moment, I need thee every hour. The greatest lesssons in life are learned not in finding short cuts, but by traversing the distance, and you'll lose some of the important lessons in life if your always a shortcut person. God takes us one day at a time to teach us lifes lessons. Life is a journey. And I praise the Lord that he is ever so patient with me.
    I love you both so much...Mama

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  8. Love ya' Mom! Thanks for the clarifying words; I think you wrote a blog post, though. ;-) I sense a guest post sometime in the future...;-)

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  9. olá... bacana o blog! gostei muito!
    parabens... sempre q puder... olhem o meu e deem um paupite!!
    tabom?
    uma grande abraço!!!

    susan

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  10. olá...
    muito bom, o blog de vocês!
    gostei muito, parabens...
    sempre que puder olhar o meu blog, passe por lá e de uma sugestão ou sei lá...
    beijão e um grande abraço!!

    susan ádna

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