Nine Years and Going Strong

Today marks nine years that Dale and I have been married. In some respects it seems like only yesterday that we stood at the altar saying our vows and in other ways it seems like a lifetime. We have shared 3 homes together, been pregnant 4 times and have 3 beautiful children. We've been in 3 pastorates and have said goodbye to beloved friends at two churches. We've come back home to where we started as a married couple although we left with only the two of us and we came back with a family.

As we have struggled at times in our marriage and I've watched others with similar or harder struggles I've often wondered how it would have felt standing at the altar knowing what "for better or worse", "for richer and poorer" and "in sickness and health" would really mean in our lives. Would I have had the courage to take the step into committing myself to stand by my husband through these trying times? As I stood there making a lifelong commitment I had no way to know that my greatest sorrows and joys were yet to come - the loss of our first baby and the subsequent birth of our three children.

As the years have past my love for Dale has deepened more than I ever thought possible. He has proven himself to be the man of character that I knew him to be when we dated and first married. Dale is such a wonderful father to our children and we are so blessed because of him. So, for better or worse, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except right here beside Dale Benson! Thank you for nine wonderful years and I look forward to the next nine!