The 9th Year
We've been married eight years today.
We first met 10 years ago through our church when she and a friend signed up to volunteer on a NeighborLink project I was leading. I remember standing in an old abandoned theatre being renovated and being surprised by the reality that I was going to get to meet and spend time with this beautiful girl that I'd noticed across the walkway for months but not had the courage to say hello to.
That first project led to many opportunities over the course of a few months to meet out on service projects, which provided a great way to get to know each other. We still joke about the first project we went to assess after we met. My office at the time was just across the street from her apartment and she invited me over for dinner before we went to check out the project. We've since determined that move was pretty forward of her, but it was one of the first things that really attracted me to her beyond the initial feelings of attraction. Those chicken enchiladas were likely the best enchiladas I've ever had.
We look back and recognize the things that connected us are the same things that fuel our lives together now. We're passionate about loving others the best we can through service, vocation, and trying to be a good "neighbor."
A lot has happened since those early days. We've traveled, we've served, we've bought a house, and we've supported each other through the normal challenges of marriage and becoming grownups. We have three beautiful children that bring us immense joy, lots of frustration, and more work than possible to keep up with, but we can't imagine it any other way. Marriage has truly been about each of us transforming more into the people God always wanted us to become, which in turn better loves the other.
We've got a lot of marriage to go and I'm sure a lot more fun and heartache to come, but we're taking a moment to remember the brilliance that is Andrew & Michelle. The H-Train is and always will be the best thing I've done with my life yet.
Looking forward to what this ninth year has in store for us.
