Our 11th Anniversary...A Day Early

This afternoon, hubby and I are going away, just the two of us, to celebrate our 11th anniversary!  It's been way too long, as in 6 years too long, since we've been away for a few days by ourselves. During our time away we've decided to totally "unplug", as in no iPhones, laptops, iPad, or anything.  So, that's why this post is a day early so I don't even have to think about violating our little rule. =)

Here we are on our wedding day 11 years ago (you know, before digital was in and so all our pics are on film!)......

...and here we are 11 years later!

{This man gets more handsome every year =) }

And here we are with 4 kids!

At our wedding my sister-in-law, Ruth, sang the Prayer of Consecration by Mac Lynch.  These are the words to the chorus....

Lord we consecrate this moment,

Lord we consecrate this hour,

Lord we trust you for the future,

Ever step by thee empowered,

Every goal has been surrendered,

Every hope and fond desire,

Take our humble heart,

Purify each part,

Set our only life on fire.

Looking back through our 11 years of marriage, the Lord has truly taken what was our prayer from the beginning, and made it a reality.

Steven and I married young....well, young for nowadays.  We were 18, almost 19.  And there's just something about marrying young and all the maturing and growing that you do together that I think perhaps people who are much older miss out on. 

But marriage, even though it is full of so much happiness (at least ours is and I hope yours is too!) isn't all about being happy. Yes, marriage is wonderful, but really it's about bringing glory to God.  When two very different people learn how to selflessly love each other, help and serve one another, forgive and overcome faults and weaknesses, God is glorified.  Through the challenges and the big learning curves, the Lord slowly changes us to look more like Him.

I did something similar last year, but here's a random little summary of our journey over the last 11 years in numbers:  

6 moves
2 homes bought
1 home sold
2 college degrees earned

14 months unemployed (Steven)
8 years in full time ministry

6 years as home-school parents

145 days in the hospital with our children

3 open heart surgeries (for our daughter)
4 happy little people here with us
2 miscarriages
0...times I've ever regretted becoming Mrs. Steven Chambers =)

And every year that passes, by God's grace, our marriage just gets better and better.  And for some reason, it seems that after we hit that decade mark last year it got really good.  =)

I'm incredibly thankful for the man God chose for me...I tell him often that I couldn't imagine a better traveling buddy for this journey of life.  I love growing old with my best friend. =)