Eight Years as Us

Sometime shortly before 7:00 CDT this evening, Lissa and I will have been married for exactly eight years! They have been eight crazy, amazing, scary, challenging, wonderful years. We left everything and everyone we knew in western New York to go to Dallas with nothing but jobs and dreams. (At least we had the jobs!) We struggled to find a church home where we both felt comfortable yet challenged to grow, and we were richly blessed.  We bought our first house.  We went on a mission trip to Serbia.  We had Brennan.  We became debt free except for the house.  We were trained as financial counselors.  We grew in faith — in ways we never could have imagined — together.  (Still so much growth to do!)

This past year or so has been especially trying...and rewarding.  We heeded God's call to again leave everything and everyone we knew in Dallas to go to Nashville and truly serve God in my work, something I had been praying about for years: work that matters.  We worked (and worked and worked ...) on the house to prepare it for a sale.  We packed up everything and moved it to Nashville, uprooting our entire little family and throwing ourselves into chaos.

This year has been unbelievably hard.  We have struggled, disagreed, worked tirelessly, argued, cried, prayed, and, at times, cracked.  But, through it all, we did it together, with God's provision, guidance, and grace.  There is no one else I would want — or who would have been able — to have shared this time with me.

I love you, Lis!