Today I celebrate six years with my husband Ben.

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 1Corinthians 13

Today I celebrate six years with my husband Ben. It is amazing at how much we have been through in such a short time of marriage, and how much we have grown and changed.  I love the Message translation of the love chapter, there is not a characteristic of love listed that Ben has not shown me in our marriage.

I am so thankful to have found someone who has loved me through so many growing years. Seeing my heart even when I haven’t always produced the fruit, he has always seen the strength in me even when I could not see it in myself. He is the eternal optimist, and is always encouraging of anything I see in life, even when I can not see it for myself.  Where others see half a glass, he sees a glass that has room for more!

He has taught me so much. Like how sometimes silence is better than empty words, and actions speak the loudest. He has given me the freedom to be me, and I think that is what I admire the most about him. He has loved me where, and for who, I am. This has only made me want to be the best wife, mother, and friend I could be. It has also been a lesson I have learned to apply in every other relationship in my life.

I have seen him grow as well. I have watched  him go from someone who keeps to himself and hardly prayed in public, to stopping and praying with someone in the middle of his work day no matter how busy, because he doesn’t see the point in promising to do it later when he could do it right then. Ben is one of those you would say is a quiet mystery. A friend of mine says “when Ben talks, you better listen”. He has earned the respect of those who know him, but none more than myself and my girls.  I love you Ben, thank you for the past six years, and for many, many more!