One year in Marriage...

It's hard to believe that a year ago today Jessica and I got married. We have gone through so much doing our first year of marriage and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to experience it with.
We first experienced a great week in the Western Carri bean for our Honeymoon and then came back to live in a small apartment.  We then got to experience driving to Knoxville for Jessica to take her nursing boards that she passed and then got her first job as a RN.  We then bought our first house, which was a total God thing and we are so blessed to have the house and land that we live in.  We then experienced our first semester being a married couple in ministry.  It was a change from the past 10 years of ministry, but it was really cool to have her here as my partner and to be there with so much support.  Neither of us would have ever known that God was preparing us for the biggest thing in our life so far.  I will never forget the night/morning of December 1, 2008, when I got a call from my dad telling me that my brother, who was my best man, had died at the age of 23.  I can remember Jessica screaming in the other room as she ran to answer the home phone, where my sister called and told her.   Jessica had only been part of the family for a couple months, but she did a great job along with Josh (Amy's fiance) help our family during that next week.  We then found out a month later that Jessica was pregnant.  And then a couple months later, Jessica had a miscarriage.  It was the second toughest thing we had to deal with in less than a year.   But with God's help, and our faith, we made it through it all.  Including me starting on my Master's in Christian Education in my pursuit of becoming a deacon in the Methodist Church.
A year ago, I would never dreamed the things we would have gone through.  But having our marriage built on God, we made it and we are stronger today than we were a year ago.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.  “They are plans
for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”
(Jeremiah 29:11).