10 Years!

I did not know Gina was the woman I would marry the first time I met her. In fact, that did not become clear to me for a few years. I've written about this before, so I won't bog this post down with the details. However, the more I got to know Gina, the more I knew she was the person I would spend the rest of my life with.

I will admit, getting married was a shock to the comfortable little world I had created for myself. I was 31, teaching school and coaching, and basically hanging out with my buddies from high school every weekend. Life was simple and I had pretty unambitious goals for myself. As you can imagine, Gina came into my life and shook things up quite a bit. She's passionate and ambitious. She sets goals and works tenaciously to complete them. She says what is on her mind and is relentless when it comes to standing up for what is right and true. Oh, and she is wicked smart. Some of these traits I share with Gina (OK, maybe one or two), but as I said, I was comfortable.

Our first few years of marriage brought a lot of changes. We got a dog, changed jobs, sold our house, moved across the country, started graduate school, welcomed twins into the world, graduated, sold another house, moved again twice before settling here in Texas, and continued to change jobs and houses once we arrived. Each change has brought stress into our lives but somehow made us stronger and closer than ever.

With all of the changes, some things have not changed. Our faith in God and His son Jesus Christ has remained a constant through all these years. We know that his grace and love is sufficient to sustain us through all life's challenges and victories. More than mere provision, God continues to use us to share His love with others. We have been blessed with faculty positions at TCU where we can influence and mentor the next generation of nurses and teachers. Most importantly, we have been blessed with the opportunity to raise Sam and Nate. We are continually amazed at the amazing, compassionate, insightful, intelligent young men they are becoming. They are learning to love each other, the friends, and the Lord. Of all the experiences we've had during the last ten years, raising boys has been the most special.

After 10 years, I can still say with no hesitation that I love Gina more than I did on November 22, 2003. For this 31-year old, set-in-his-ways, comfortable bachelor, I have to say I hit a home run. I cannot wait to see what the next 10 years has in store. I am eager to see who the boys become as they grow and mature. I am eager to see who we become as we join hands and experience life together, married, husband and wife.

You can see some photos from our weekend at The Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas in our photo album.