From Discovery to Breakthrough!

1999 in all its glory! The story of our love was only just beginning. We were in Michigan and Tim was meeting my family for the first time. My Dad said, "if you have any questions...just ask them." So Tim asked him if he could marry me while they were out picking up some food just the two of them. A few days later Tim would propose to me with a song while we were sitting on the floor of my Grammy's living room.

9 months later we got married on July 22, 2000...apparently Tim was only 15 years old! But he was cute and our wedding was perfect thanks to a lot of friends and family and help to make a really simple wedding fly! I may or may not have called home on this night in tears...apparently my health education was insufficient!

We got away for a night this past weekend to celebrate 11 years! Thanks Matt, Sarah, and Holly. We did a fun exercise. We went through each year and remembered the significant things and then named each year based on those things. 

 Year 1 was called: The Year of Discovery. We had a lot of fights. We had to learn how to fight without getting blisters on the bottom of your feet from fleeing without shoes in the summer heat. 

Since these pictures are pre-digital...I couldn't find any pictures before 2002. But we figured it all out and Annie was born a few months after this picture was taken.
Year 2: "Becoming One". We bought this sweet house together and fixed it up and learned how to work together.

This would end our ability to take pictures of anything BUT Annie!
Year 3, is forever logged in our hearts as Growing in Love. We got our precious Annie. The most beautiful gift we will ever receive. Learning how to die to our horrible selfish selves. Learning about God as our Father and what that really means.

Year 4: Fulfilling Dreams...I was becoming a Mom something I had wanted to be since I was 4 years old.  Tim was a Bible teacher and a soccer coach. We were so happy with our little life and finally feeling a little fulfilled. We were still longing for more and had a deep desire for overseas...but quite FULL with life as new parents.

Year 5: Hearing God

During this year God spoke through Tim while he was asleep and told me "It's time for us to go." It was one of those moments where you just know it's God. Shortly thereafter we moved from Kentucky to Georgia. 

 We got a new house, started a new job working at the church with the college group and had TOBY! Our gift of God's goodness!

 Year 6: Learning Grace

Then life started really getting crazy. Suddenly we had 3 kids, an amazing job, a small group that taught us endless lessons on life and God's grace. We were perfectly happy exactly where we were.

 Our house was perfect for 2.5 children. Our job was amazing for us. We could use all our gifts and talents to work with the college group.

 I look back on these pictures of 3 really little kids and I just remember how tiring it was. I was exhausted...but I guess you just can't stop at that point. You have to keep going. We were doing our best. But that's just it. WE were doing our best. We had somehow started relying more on ourselves and less on God. We didn't even realize it. That's the scary part.

 Year 7: Being Called

We had just gotten home from Passion in this picture. God just spoke to Tim and said, "Move to Iraq." Do we look a little dazed??? Why God would speak to us when we were barely giving him the time of day...I will never know. But I am so thankful. That moment FOREVER changed the direction of our lives. We were so sad to leave our home and amazing friends in Georgia.

But moving to Texas was an awesome adventure. This is days after we got there...HOT, SWEATY, TIRED, CONFUSED, GRUMPY...I could go on. It took a little adjusting. But we had that one moment of being called and we clung to it.

 Year 8: Learning the Love of God

We started learning this when we got married, then got a double dose as parents and then got completely head over heels immersed in it during Elevate. Here's the deepest secret we learned during this year....SPEND TIME WITH JESUS EVERY DAY! Not sure how we didn't figure this out before year 8...but sadly we wasted many years saying, "I'm too busy."

Year 9: Remodeled!

We were the new and improved us this year...but things got a little shaky and apparently a little heavy....somewhere in there we put on weight and there was no new baby to show for it. We headed into 24:14 a little frazzled and fried...but fortunately we kept to the new secret and spent time with Jesus and he got us through buying an old house, remodeling it, living with friends and going through one of the lowest seasons in our marriage.

 Year 10: For Better or Worse!

Iraq or Bust! This is our 9th anniversary celebrated at the top of the mountain overlooking Iraq a couple months after arriving. We were so glad to finally be there, but overwhelmed with everything being completely new and different. From language to team. We were in it though...for better or for worse. We had identified in the last few years the ugliest thing about us...not the extra weight we brought with us to Iraq...that fortunately slipped off in the heat. What clung to us was worse...I'm gonna say it...but I am not proud of it. I hate it. Because we still haven't gotten rid of it. It is foul. ANGER. There I said it. That is the single ugliest thing about us. It has permeated us and especially our parenting. It rose its ugly head this year in particular...but we started meeting it head on. Usually one of us was angry and the other wasn't. Good and bad. The non-angry one can prevent the angry one from doing something regrettable, but the angry one gets angrier...especially when told...you are angry. But we got down on our knees and continue to be...crying out to God. Break this OFF of us. Break it off of our kids! We already see it in them. But we will conquer it. We will fight it with prayer!

 Year 11: Choosing Joy

Our team leaders left and suddenly we were the leaders. Sputtering for air, always late, very incompetent, incomplete...but we had a choice. I am not saying we made the right choice every time. But we are learning and choosing JOY! I refuse to be a glass half-empty person. I refuse to look at what I don't have. I want to be known as someone who looks at the positive. This is an on-going thing. But now I am half crazy and start declaring these things out loud. At first I felt like a fool, but now I love going around after something hard happens saying, "I am happy. I choose joy." Sometimes through clenched teeth. 

 10 years of marriage here...

 Year 12: Breakthrough

We are declaring this one early on. We feel God spoke this to us in our time. This will be the year of breakthrough for us personally, for our marriage, our parenting...see you later Anger, our prayer life and for KURDISTAN! 

Yes and Amen!

 It is so amazing to be married to someone who gets me. He sees me and understands me. He knows I have anger and have a hard time choosing joy...but he loves me. I see him...I know he is a grump and has a hard time keeping on...but I love him. This is the year of breakthrough. It's already started, junk is already falling off and we are already seeing victory in anger, family past stuff, and our prayer life. The best thing is the ground is shaking here in Kurdistan. Things are happening, people are getting stirred up... This is going to be an amazing year!