our story ~ reader's digest version

here's the guy i've been talking about....... 33 years.
i love double numbers, don't you?

we met at a garbage company (omg) (almost 2 years before the 33). he sold trucks (18 wheelers...yikes) to a garbage company and i worked at that garbage company's corporate offices.

we met. we dated. we married.
we had three daughters ~ kate, mollie and emily.

that sounds so tidy. it wasn't so tidy. it never is. for anyone. or for alot of us.
i know that now.

when two broken people marry (and we're all a little broken to some degree or other) they have no idea what's ahead. when those two people have a quasi-relationship with God then things are going to get dicey. the funny thing is that God doesn't rush in and say "hey, wait a minute, I'm over here! here I am! don't do it that way, listen to Me!"

what i've learned the hard way is that we have to do what we have to do until we don't have to do it anymore. until we give up and say "God, i need You. tag, You're it." it's taken my whole long-legged life to get here.
i'm not proud of that statement.

we've been through a lot. a whole lot. but it all seems like a blur now. that's what God can do! He's in the business! that's His area of expertise! He's a "life changer". He's changed my life 360 degrees (i'm kidding...that's an inside family joke). how 'bout a 180? actually how 'bout a 160 or a 170...i still have a lot to learn!

when each of us, bill and i, began to let God open our eyes (at different times, of course...that would've been way too easy) and allowed Him to show us about ourselves, instead of looking at each other ~ then the dance changed, the music started again and life has become a brand new thing.

we have to ask Him. ask Him to come in and sit with us and teach us and be with us. we have to want Him more than we want our own way. we have to see ourselves as we really are not how we think we are.
because we're blind until we let Him in.

honestly, i would have preferred for this wisdom to have come to me a very long time ago. it would've saved us from a lot of pain. but then i wouldn't be who i am right now. i can't go back. so i go forward with joy and peace that only God can give and how grateful i am that He is such a generous giver of love and mercy and grace!

bill is this to me ~ perfect!

{start watching to see how many men - young or old, married or on a date - open the car door for their ladies? (ahhh....but how many girls stand by their side of the car and wait for their guy to open the door? we'll talk about that later!) (they're teachable, girls!)} bill has opened the door for me every single time for 33 + almost 2 years!!

and there's alot more to be said of the man i call "b".
i'll tell you later, gator. ;)

i thank God everyday for having a crush on me....and bill !

the feeling is mutual.

wink.