2012
Summer, 2012, is where our family’s story began. Daniel graduated as an LPN and, with his career set, his next objective was finding a wife. Ironically, we had met walking down the aisle as groomsman and bridesmaid just 3 years before.
With only one year left of nursing school, I can’t say I was easiest catch….but before I knew it Daniel had flown from Ohio to Florida to meet my family and began solidifying our relationship.
Sipping blueberry wine, sitting up on the roof of my childhood home, we built the foundational blocks of what has since become a thriving, challenging, and unbelievably fulfilling partnership.
He became my Anchor and I his Sunflower.
Looking back now, it still baffles me how much we have changed as individuals since these pictures were snapped. Our relationship, as is often the case, exemplified the epitome of opposites attracting. Our lessons in finding the Peace we needed to Progress started early for us, but even those tense moments I wouldn’t trade for the world.
”The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” - Proverbs
It was our contrasting views form the start that required us to learn how to trust the process of our own refinement. Despite our best efforts as single people, in so many ways we were still self-centered, insecure, and boastful.
We learned that deepening levels of love are what drive a person to endure so much more sanctification than they would otherwise tolerate. Our love for each other brought the first wave of this reality to our experience.
Little did we know that our hearts would find room for even more love in the coming years. With each new addition we’ve brought to our family these principles have only intensified. In my own life, from my husband down through each of our 4 children, each wave of expanding love has been used profoundly to challenge and change my heart for the better.
