Married 8 Years-To my Best Friend!

Eight years ago we said our "I dos" in front of our friends and family and four-month-old daughter. Three children and about ten moves later, we are STILL best friends and growing deeper in our relationship and love for each other with every tick of the clock!

Only God can be credited for a love that grows, not diminishes, during stress (of which we have had nothing but since we've been married). Our love has lasted through me throwing hot chicken 'n' stars soup at Travis in a fit of rage (which he dodged) to him walking out the door during many-a-conversation when our communication hits a brick wall and, in our selfishness, our conversation is going nowhere.

Though we are guilty for not spending enough time with each other WITHOUT KIDS TAGGING ALONG, we have managed to stay passionately in love and fiercely loyal to one another through and despite the rigorous and exhausting time demands of raising four children, Travis working hard to support us and me home schooling the kids. The fact is that raising children, working hard and providing the kids' education are all activities that have kind of refined our love for each other.

Travis and I had a particularly enjoyable time together during our family trip to Colorado recently. We shed some tears in communicating more than a couple of times, I'll admit. We were forced to be together more than we are ever ABLE to be at home, which helped (but was admittedly emotionally taxing at first). Our time with each other is so very limited each day, due to Travis's commute and providing the kids' basic needs, that we both kind of just get set in our own routines and (dare I say?) become inflexible in our opinions or how we want to do things? Hehe.

Sitting in a car for hours upon hours kind of forced us to "talk it out," instead of hitting the emotional brick wall in our conversations and dropping it. We HAD to bring what we "dropped" back up and talk through it so we didn't have a miserable vacation. Our vacation that started out as being a real challenge to our communication ended up to be a real renewing re-softening time for both our hearts toward each other.

Attending our friends' wedding was a wonderful reminder of God's love for us and our love for each other, along with the fact that we had a wonderful time just getting away from the daily grind (even if the kids were still with us) was refreshing.

My favorite part of being married to Travis is that he dreams big, he encourages me to dream big, and we dream big together, because he knows that with God ANYTHING is possible! Dreaming dreams together, sharing them with God, and watching God creatively move in ways we're not even creative enough to think up, makes the bond of our marriage even stronger.

Those of you reading this know Travis and I are a dangerous combination. Both of us are like crazy ticking time bombs most of the time. We get these extreme wild ideas that we just won't let go of, with no one knowing what will happen next! We are also both very outspoken and passionate. Thankfully, Travis somehow trusts and understands my crazy and I trust and understand his crazy, so it all works out. Bet you can't even imagine how passionate we can be when we put our dreams together. Wink, wink! I can't explain it better than that (which is a horrible explanation). What I can say is that we KNOW it is safe to dream big and act crazy within the safety of the love and friendship we have with each other through God.

Here's to many more years of Travis and Jae craziness. I love you, Baby!