Love Is In The Air 09/09/20

Summit Lake State Park, New Castle, Indiana

But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’  ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” ~ Mark 10:6-9

Today is our 42^nd Anniversary!  How blessed we’ve been to have our Heavenly Father instrumental in our marriage from the very beginning!  People sometimes ask how we’ve managed a happy, healthy marital relationship for so many years, and truthfully, the simple answer is because we both place God first, spouse second, and family third.  Everything else falls in line behind God’s perfect design.

As I was contemplating what to post this year, I ran across the following that came from Pinterest. Make sure you follow the ‘directions’ when reading it.  😊

What Society Teaches About Marriage:

(read top to bottom)

Modern day marriages don’t last

That’s why

You should only look out for #1

It is foolish to think that

You can live happily ever after

By giving your all

To build up your man

Take whatever measures are necessary

To maintain your autonomy

Don’t worry about trying

To give 100%

Always remember instead

That marriage is a 50-50 proposition

Don’t believe for a minute

Your husband will respond in kind

If you treat him with respect

That’s a lie

Being a submissive wife makes you a doormat

I don’t believe that

Marriage is worth the sacrifice

What Christianity Teaches About Marriage:

(read bottom to top)

Isn’t that great? And so true!

So what’s our story?  From my perspective?  Well, we first met when we were five years old.  It’s true!  Our parents attended the same church.  We started dating after I pretty much unintentionally threw myself at him when we were 16.  Our church youth group was hosting a fundraiser called a rock-a-thon.  It works like a walk-a-thon, only we sat in rocking chairs for 24 hours.  When I arrived, there were a few boys already set up, and it turned out that I spent the next 24 hours on the ‘boys’ side of the room (only because that’s how it ended up), sitting next to Blaine.  The adorable, humorous redhead with the funny fisherman’s hat that he never seemed to take off.  Although looking back, he must have removed it to shower, because it was pretty skuzzy looking.  😊

Anyway, at one of our breaks, I walked outside with him, and before we went back in, he took his hat off and put it on my head!  I was positively giddy!  We attended different schools – he went to Green and I went to Lake, so we only saw each other outside of school, but we remained giddy and attached at the hip as much as possible until our senior year, when I started feeling like I needed room to be my independent self.  So I broke up with him.  He went into a tailspin.  My mother tried to talk to us.  I was set in my decision.

But all that changed when my Mom announced shortly after my 1977 graduation, that she wanted to take me to McDonalds for lunch.  Now you have to understand that we never, ever went out to eat.  And certainly not without my two younger brothers!  I was all in!

Only, we didn’t head in the direction of McDonalds.  I was confused.  And then we pulled onto Blaine’s street, and she said, “I have a gift for Blaine I need to drop off.”  Oh for cryin’ out loud!  Really?  Fine!  Of course, I didn’t say any of those things out loud, that would’ve been disrespectful, but I sure thought them.  And probably more.

We went inside, and there was Blaine, along with a bunch of other people, including his new girl.  I was uncomfortable, not because of the girl, but because of the break up.  It must have been cool that day in June, because we had coats that were taken to a back bedroom and deposited.  And my mother sat down.  Ugh!

But when she was finally ready to leave, Blaine walked us back to get our coats, and he kissed me goodbye.

You know all those cartoons that show fireworks, etc.?  That’s what it was like!  Exactly like that! 

We’ve been together ever since.  (Thanks, Mom!!)  Obviously, my mom was happy about the reconciliation, but Blaine’s parents weren’t so sure.  Not surprising.  I hurt their little boy.  I’d feel exactly the same.  But, our dating resumed . . . . .

. . . . . and the wedding was planned for September 9, 1978. 

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We acquired a cat, and then a dog. Five years into the marriage, we had our first son and two years after that, our second. 

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We’ve had ups and downs, including a house fire, church changes, job changes, various and asundry injuries and surgeries, family dramas, and all the normal life things everyone goes through, but the main thing that’s continued to change for the better, is our love for the Lord, and learning how to serve and obey and love Him, each other, and others better every year.  Also, we don’t just love each other, we like each other! (99% of the time anyway. 😊)  And we rarely let the other person goad us into an arugument.  We have disagreements, yes, but not arguments.  We know when to bite our tongue and discern if something’s worth further discussion, or just let it go.  We are so very blessed!
This is Blaine here, DITTO!!

Since there’s not a lot to do around this area if you don’t have a motorized boat and fishing poles, we just hung out around home until dinner time.

We chose Amazing Joe’s for this year’s anniversary dinner.  The food and service were both pretty amazing!  The menu said my ribeye steak would be ‘the best you’ve ever had’, and it was right up there alongside Longhorn’s, so that’s pretty amazing.  Blaine’s dinner was execellent as well.  And they had patio seating.  Can’t ask for better than that.

Except, as we were attempting to walk off some of our dinner, we stumbled upon this really nice “Park” setting! 

Happy Anniversary to us!