Love is what makes a family...

I am so thankful that it is finally WARM outside!! I love sunshine, flowers, kids playing outside, yes, even the Tennessee "tropical" storms... Every year for the last few, around this time, I get vivid flashbacks to 4 years ago, the butterflies driving down the street thinking of this guy I just met... everything is more exciting in the spring... I flashback to the thoughts "I think I could marry this one..." then I remember 3 years ago how the butterflies were building even more "I can't believe I'm getting married in a few weeks!" I still have those butterflies driving home... I still can't believe such a great guy picked me... I'm so glad that the weather can remind me of how blessed I am in so many ways - but especially to be married to the love of my life and to have such a wonderful man to come home to every night...

I'm a big advocate for family. I'm a huge advocate for marriage. I think with a lot of relationships these days, people just have no interest in really putting in the work. They realize that the relationship isn't going to be easy, so they quit. I'm not a quitter. I don't give up on much in life. Here's the deal with relationships though: they're a two way street. Let's say Ryan and I have an argument. I can explain my side of things, I can talk, yell, cry, whatever, but if he's not willing to communicate with me and work it out, we can't. This isn't about Ryan though. Over the last 3 years, we have worked really hard to talk about things - even the things we don't want to. The things that cause conflict. The things we deeply disagree about. By talking about these things, we don't necessarily change each other's minds, but we do understand where each other is coming from. We find a way to connect through our disagreements and, whe...

So, family. Here's what I think of with family - people who forgive you when you're stupid. People who know how to hurt your feelings most efficiently - and then how to make up for it equally as easy. Family to me aren't just people I am related to by blood (or by marriage!) they are people who understand me on a deeper level, people I am connected to in bigger ways. I am close to my blood-related traditional family, I've worked through some pretty big issues with several of them and feel like the bonds go deeper than just "I might need an organ transplant from you someday..." My older brothers were all married before I was old enough to know any difference, and their wives are as much family to me as they (and their kids) are. I remember my oldest sisters getting married - I liked their husbands so it was fine as far as I was concerned. When my closest (in location and age) brother got married, I was a little upset - I LOVE his wife, it wasn't that at all...

My heart is breaking over divorce this week. There are so many couples that seems so pefect on the outside that are falling apart inside. How many more of my friends am I going to see break up? Statistcs say a LOT - especially if Ryan and I are in the small percentage that don't!! It's devistating to me. I think that as married people we need to help our married friends fight for their marriages! I know since I've been married that there have been - and will be more - times that I have needed a comforting word that everything would work out, a different perspective about what's going on and most importantly a friend to pray with. I want to be that kind of friend. I know my marriage is worth fighting for. I know my husband does too. We are proactive about fighting for it before we ever feel like we need to. We have a non-negotiable date night and try to make time every day to talk to each other. We laugh together. We work on projects together and make plans for future va...