The First Twenty

A couple of days ago, Kellie and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary. The night of that milestone anniversary, after many commitments that day, we managed to sneak off to our favorite little Italian restaurant around the corner from our house and had a very nice, quiet dinner together. Great food, great company. Actually, it was the perfect evening for an otherwise typically busy family weekday.

Twenty years of marriage. For us, it's hard to believe. Honestly, it seems like just yesterday that we had that beautiful ceremony in her parents' backyard by their brand new pool. I'll never forget that night. Wow, we were just kids. Well, at least Kellie was! And now, twenty years later, we have two wonderful teenagers, a semi-trustworthy dog, and we both look forward to what the next twenty years of marriage will bring. We hope to grow even closer together, we wonder what our kids will be like when they're all grown up with their own families (no hurry on that), and we look forward to grandchildren in the future (again, plenty of time on that). Meanwhile, over the next twenty years, Kellie and I believe we will be more invested in other marriages than we ever have been before....and we look forward to that, too. Serving marriages always does so much for our own relationship and it's a real joy.

Anyway, to further celebrate our twentieth, Kellie and I are going to enjoy another one of our overnight stays at a nice hotel in downtown Houston. You may recall that we try to do this at least four times a year (thanks to http://www.priceline.com/). But since I also happen to be officiating a wedding downtown this weekend of some precious new friends of ours, Kellie and I decided to just go ahead and enjoy the entire weekend in the heart of our hometown. Why not? After all, Houston really does have much to offer after the summer heat dies down. We're anticipating a fun time together.

I don't know what I did to get such a wonderful wife in Kellie. I certainly didn't deserve her--not by any stretch of the imagination. But, for some reason, because of His great mercy, God loves me--a whole lot! And He knew a long time ago just what I needed in a life mate--and so He brought me Kellie. Honestly, over the years, there have been one or two times that I have forgotten what a diamond she is. But usually it doesn't take long for me to be reminded of how very excellent life is with her. I couldn't be happier. I only hope to be worthy of her love for another twenty years. I suppose it will take twenty more years of a whole lot of prayer to try to get me that way!