Ingenue Mom

A friend of mine asked me last night what marriage advice I had to offer if someone was getting married or new to marriage. It didn't take me long to come up with my answer because this is something I think about a lot and have thought about a lot over the years. I thought maybe I'd share my thoughts here. My biggest piece of advice would be to allow love to look different at different stages . Love always starts with the romantic, giddy stage. But it grows and changes over time and I think we have to be willing to flow with that change. There will be days or even seasons where love looks more like friendship, more like partnership, even sometimes like roommates. Working to develop your relationship beyond the lovey-dovey, romanticized phase will prove beneficial over the course of your marriage.  It's also important to allow yourself the freedom to not fear the sucky stages . And also to not deny them. As much as I didn't want them to come, the crappy stag...

10 years ago I was barely 20 years old. I see 20 year olds now and they seem like babies. I can’t imagine what people thought when I told them I was getting married. At the time, it felt so easy. I love him. He makes me want to be a better person. I feel grounded in the peace he brings to my life. To me, it wasn’t even a question. This was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. 10 years is a blessing. You have a partner, a friend, a lover, a confidante. Walking through life together is an extraordinary gift. Through laughter, joy, passion and adventure, we have loved and loved deeply. We have gone from two fresh-faced kids who quit their jobs to tour with his band to become parents of two girls. Our days are filled with princess gowns, Pinkalicious and shoes of every color and style. I still love to curl up and talk about our day, our ideas, our future. Marriage is truly a blessing. 10 years is a challenge. We have cried as hard as we have laughed. Th...

Anybody interested in some of my thoughts on marriage? I guest posted over at Single Mom in the South today!! Here's a sneak peek: Marriage is hard. I’ll be the first to say it. It is also one of the most rewarding & wonderful things in the world, but it takes work . The truth is that loving someone is an active thing that involves choice every day. Those mushy in-love newlywed feelings fade & if there is nothing there to sustain the marriage beyond that, then trouble is waiting. I made the incredibly risky decision to marry very young. I was 20 years old. My husband was 24. I am now almost 26 and we will celebrate our 6th anniversary in October. While this in no way makes me an expert on marriage, it does mean that due to the decision to marry young, I believe we encountered a lot of difficulty very early in our marriage. It has taken a lot of prayer, discussion & humility to come out on the other end at a point where we now are parents & homeowners...