Dancing in the Minefields

A few weeks back, late one night, after the kids were in bed, my honey and were dancing in the dark to this amazing song... DANCING IN THE MINEFIELDS by Andrew Peterson. (I have to add here that one of my first heart thumping... I really like this guys moments, was when Greg asked me to dance at a costume dance my sophomore year of college:)

I have to say Andrew Peterson is one of my all time favorite artists...very folksy... such a great story teller...and absolutely hilarious in concert.

As I sit through my husband leading he Love an Respect Bible class at church on Wednesday nights... really I fall more in love with the guy! Now I will never be one to sugar coat our relationship and pretend that our life is perfect... it is far from the Perfect that I think that the Lord would desire...(and it really can get under my skin when someone candy coats things and makes it seem like everything in life is peaches... maybe that is how their lives are.... but ours certainly isn't.... and honestly I have seen some of those "perfect lives"completely come crashing to the ground)

I pray that this song ministers to your heart and helps you appreciate the loved ones you have in your life.

The following are just some of the reasons I love my husband so much and some of the minefields we have danced through in the for better and for worse of the last 17+ years...

2 1/2 months after we started dating Greg was diagnosed with cancer... His faith was SO SO strong... I remember his parents telling me that when he went into surgery, he wrote on a paper notebook, "I CAN NOT LOSE!" He was too choked up to say it, but he knew if he didn't make it through surgery he would wake up with the Lord, and if he did make it, well then he would have more days to live out here on earth... He has an unshakable faith, even in life's harshest times... still does

He is so humble and a true peacemaker... when he very unfairly lost a job... I was ready to raise some serious heck... I wanted him to write a letter to the board of directors. I wanted the truth to be told. Not Greg, he didn't want to keep a record of wrongs, he knew the Lord would take care of that in the long run.

He lovingly walked with me through some times struggling with infertility and always encouraged me to hang on... He knew I had dreamt of being a mommy ever since I was a little girl...

He has helped lead our family through 5 different and some very difficult moves.

He has been so supportive, way more so than I ever could have imagined or thought when our son Samuel died. Truly, he never questions the tears that still come. He validates my longings and missing of my boy. As much as my mommy heart grieves so differently than his daddy heart does... he never judges and just wants to let me get it off my chest or to get me whatever I might need at the time to help me. He has gone above the call of duty OVER AND OVER AGAIN on this one, and know he will continue to.

He has walked through miscarriage, and the loss of a perspective adopted child, Joel.

Shoot, he puts up with me... I know there are times that I am not the easiest to live with... I am just being real! I would love to say that life with me is a bowl of cherries, but I know that wouldn't be completely true:)

He was a rock during a very up in the air, ever changing adoption of our sweet Hope Jubilee.

He was willing and on board with adopting our sweet 7 embryos... one of which is safely growing in my womb... Praise God!

I remember when were engaged talking about having 4 kids... who would have thought we would have 6 and another on the way, and Greg has been so along for this ride the Lord has brought us on.

There have been times of incredible joy, fun, laughs and amazement... and many times of incredible sadness and trials. But through it all there isn't anyone else I would want to be dancing through these minefields with... no one but him.

As we see marriages all around us falling apart, and I am not lying... I can think of 5 just off the top of my head...It is so obvious that the devil is roaring around looking for someone, looking for marriages to devour.

I am so very thankful that Greg is in it for the long haul... So thankful that he knows it will be a lot of work to navigate the minefields from the past and the ones in our future and he is willing to do that work. He knows we need the Lord's guidance every step of the way...we can't do it on our own... we really aren't capable of not messing things up on our own... We are 2 imperfect people joined as one:) We are a marriage of 3... Him... God... and me:)

I look so forward to weathering the storms with him... they are sure to continue to come as we walk through this life. I can't wait to grow old and wrinkly with him if that is the Lord's will for us... I pray that it is...

Now I am off to take my honey out on a date (Thank the Lord for kids who are old enough to finally babysit...yay Louis! ) and then I think later after the kids are in bed... we will crank up the music, not too loud of course:) and do some dancing:)

Enjoy the song... don't forget to hit the pause button on my play list on the side!