HAPPY 20 YEARS TO US

Y’all, we made it to 20 years!! Whoop, whoop!! Thank ya, Jesus!!!!!!!!!!
We are in complete shock that we have been married for two decades. We are getting old, y’all. And, Mike has officially been taking care of me longer than my parents. What!!! This is seriously Un-stinking-believable!!!!!!!

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“A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.”

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real talk:

How God brought two completely different people together blows my mind daily!!!! Mike got a little offended recently when I said, “We have nothing, not even one thing, in common!!”, which is somewhat of an exaggeration. We just don’t think alike at all which is big part of either having things in common or not. We do both love Jesus, love being parents, love to help people, love to laugh, and love to travel. We just go about doing all of those things VERY, VERY differently. And, ya know what, that is totally okay.

That is definitely something that I have learned over these last two decades. I use to take our opposite personalities/characteristics and beat myself up. Now, I realize that I am not suppose to be Mike, and he is not suppose to be me. Duh!!! And, iron sharpens iron, baby!!!!! Jesus has a sense of humor!!!!! So, I wanted to let y’all hear a little from my better half!!

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So, here is some fun facts and some advice from us:

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1) what is your first, first memory of us??
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Mike: Your eyes and your confidence when we first meet at my best friend’s wedding ceremony.
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Me: first memory, gosh, I always go back to us meeting at our friend’s wedding. I remember being completely nervous every second of the entire night, and I was rocking my lavender suit and my maroon lipstick. On the other hand, you were handsome and completely confident. You were rocking a Velcro watch with your tuxedo {haaaaaa, I’ll never, ever forget that}, and also, you were dancing like a crazy man on the dance floor.

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2) what is your favorite memory of us??
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Mike: Favorite memory would be parasailing in the Bahamas, and believe it or not, taking our 20 year anniversary pictures in the VW bus.
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Me: My favorite memory of us is when we finally decided to become parents. I remember sitting at the table at Chili’s in Gonzales, Louisiana. My stomach was in knots, my eyes wanted to burst out in tears, and my heart was full of an array of emotions. But, I really wanted to surprise you so I had to keep my composure. I slipped a card over to you. You began to read it, and bam, you noticed the ultrasound picture of our Bella growing in my womb. Tears and more tears!!!! It has to be my favorite memory. And, my second, third and fourth favorite memories of us are Gideon, Creed and Abram.

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3) what do like best about me after 20 years??
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Mike: Your playfulness and your commitment to Jesus and to yourself and to our marriage.
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Me: Ahhh, what is there not to like?! Haaaaaaaaa!! Okay, I’ll get serious again. What I have always admired and respected about you is your stability, consistency and faithfulness. I never have to question your love for me or your commitment to me. You show it every single day, and you express it in words and in actions. And, as a type A and strong willed guy, you really are teachable. You are willing to say that you are wrong, and you are sensitive to my feelings!! I LOVE that about you.
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4) what do you like best about our marriage/our life?? 
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Mike: Our desire to continue to know one another, enjoy each other, and count on each other.
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Me: We both keep Jesus at the center of our relationship. We wouldn’t have made it this far without Him!! And, we have FUN!!! We laugh a lot!! We enjoy each other!!! And, we love to go on dates and travel too!! Jesus knew what He was doing when He brought our hearts together!!
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5) what advice do you give others who are just starting out?? 
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Mike: Talk about everything. Resolve conflict as fast as possible. Die to yourself.
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Me: Be humble and be gracious!!! The greatest enemy to love is your pride. So much confusion and friction could be avoided if we know how to swallow our pride!! Pride makes one incapable of true love, and entitlement issues will rule your marriage!! Pray for grace to keep your mouth shut when it needs to be shut!! Pray for grace to love them regardless of what your feelings are saying. Also, share how things make you FEEL, but don’t make jabs at the other person!! Being humble and gracious will help y’all solve so many little hiccups that come along the way. After 20 years, this has been a game changer!!

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Funny story:

So, y’all, we don’t have it all together, and our marriage is going to look wayyyyyy different than your marriage or my neighbor’s marriage. And, guess what???? That’s totally okay. It’s actually cool. Alright, I’m going to get to the juicy part.

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Since our 2nd anniversary, I have been telling Mike that he would have to take me back to Venice, Italy on our 20th anniversary because he didn’t take me on a gondola ride. Y’all, he said that it was too expensive {only $40.. smh}!!! Well, the Lord blessed Mike since he has faithfully been saving for this anniversary trip for a few years. My dad and mom want to take us to Europe in the fall. So, Mike had a little kiss from heaven since he has been loving me so well.

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So, we are just going to Nashville for a few days to celebrate!!
So, tag along with us on IG!! We have so many cools things to do on our itinerary which I’m in charge of now!! We learned that he gets stressed out with travel planning so it’s better that I do all of that! Haaaaaa! Who would have ever thunk it! Mike is cringing right now after reading those last two sentences!! I got it, baby!!

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“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”

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“Marriages are like fingerprints; each one is different and each one is beautiful.”

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“The difference between an ordinary marriage and an extraordinary marriage is in giving just a little ‘extra’ every day, as often as possible, for as long as we both shall live.”

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Photos by Jen Menard