A truly beautiful evening.

This past Friday, May 13 was our five-year wedding anniversary.  Wow, those five years FLEW by!  A few months ago as we saw the date of our anniversary approaching, we thought about doing something special for it. Perhaps an anniversary trip this summer to someplace exotic? I love hot sand and clear blue water. But when everything "went down" in April, all we really wanted to do was to renew our vows and to spend time with our closest friends and family.  We successfully accomplished both of those things. 

At Little Point Sable Church in Shelby, we said our original vows, made new vows together, and recommitted to loving each other and supporting each other through the best of times, the worst of times, and sang songs of worship to our loving God.  It was a beautiful evening, and far more emotional than I ever expected it to be.

I'd like to take a few minutes to tell the world why I love my husband and I'm going to use a few references from the renewal ceremony.  One of the things that our pastor originally charged me with five years ago was to respect Ryan for who he is and all he will add to my life.  I can't even describe how much Ryan has added to my life.  I feel like God truly designed us to fit together perfectly as a couple.  All of my weaknesses seem to have a counterpart in Ryan's strengths.  He supports me as a wife, as a teacher, as a mother.  He encourages me, he rebukes me lovingly when it's needed, and he makes me laugh all the time.

One of the other things that Bob said in our ceremony, is that Ryan is more a man of God now than he was five years ago.  I can tell you with insider's knowledge, this is entirely true.  When I married Ryan, I respected him a lot as my brother in Christ.  Now I respect him even more tremendously.  One of the things that people have asked me is whether or not Ryan's "public" persona (on this blog or in the emails we send or the Facebook statuses he posts) is the same person that he is in private.  I can assure you, absolutely he is.  Throughout the last six and a half weeks, I have seen Ryan have more moments of fear and despair than I have ever before, but I think that's a normal reaction when one is told that they have serious cancer.  But not for one second have I seen his faith waver.  Not even one millisecond.  This is who he is.  Strong.  God-honoring.  Encouraging.  Thoughtful. Deep.  I consider myself to be the most privileged girl to be married to him, because he encourages and inspires me in my own walk with the Lord.  He is a great example of what a spiritual leader looks like, in his workplace, in his home, and to his friends.  He's not perfect, no sir.  He has faults that I'm acutely aware of!  But he's perfect for me.  Thank you Lord for creating him, and for bringing us together!

So by now, I'm sure that some of you may think that I'm being slightly hyperbolic, but this is how I feel about my husband.  I respect the heck out of him, more and more all the time as I watch his reaction to incredibly difficult circumstances.  I love you, Ryan.  Here is to five wonderful years, and God willing - many more.