This week Adam and I celebrated out 11 year of marriage. I have heard that the hardest years on a marriage are the 1st, 7th, and 11th year. I don’t know if this is true or more of a wives tale, but in all honesty, we have never had a “hard year”, whether during those years or other ones. It occurred to me the other day as to maybe why: for each of those years, (1st, 7th, 11th) I was pregnant during most of the year. I got pregnant 3 months into our marriage and Maacah was born 2 weeks before our 1st anniversary. In our 7th year, I was pregnant with Nathaniel for the last 8 months of that year. And now, I am pregnant with this little one for the 1st 8 months of it. So there you go, my sage advice: be pregnant during those supposed rough years and you’ll be fine! 
( I am totally kidding, by the way.)
We went to a very nice wedding on Saturday, March 5. we go to a lot of weddings, but this one was extra special because they are sweet friends and we actually got to go as guests! The grooms family come from the Mennonite church, which believe (as we do) that children are blessing from God and don’t use any types of birth control. So there were many children there (the groom is also the baby of 9 children) for our children to play with. When it was time to leave, I saw that Maacah was quite upset. I asked her why and she said that she didn’t want to leave Steven. I saw her give him a hug (keep in mind that this is the girl who has no use for “romantic” things or ideas. She had also just met this boy). I was very proud of myself for not laughing at her tears, for I think that wouldn’t have gone over well. It’s not that I’m insensitive to her feelings, it’s just that…well, coming from her it was funny. At 10 years old, just fresh being so, she has her first crush! (I might add that the boy was actually a nice looking boy, taking after his father, and a nephew to our friend the groom)
We had some friends stay with us at the last minute who were coming from afar to attend the wedding. They had never stayed here before, but with it being the mother, 1 daughter and 2 sons (she has 9 children), it wasn’t much of a scramble. We have a fairly large house anyway, and the 2 boys, ages 6 & 8, slept comfortably in the boys room. The mother and daughter slept in the girls room, with Damaris in our room in the play pen and our girls down stairs in the living room on the sofa bed. Before she left, she was talking about the troubles in her marriage. I have met her husband once or twice before, so I couldn’t really give her any advice ~ for which I’m not sure she was looking for or was just wanting a place to vent. I know enough about people to know that there is always more to the story than one side of it. Plus, from talking with her and observing her, I know there is more to her actions then what she is telling. She is really distressed about it, as would most people be, and it is something that I will defiantly pray about.
I get many of these stories and woes from women. I don’t know why, but it’s always been as if there is a invisible “counselor” written on my forehead. I get the most personal stories from people I hardly know; things that they say they don’t share with most people. Even when I was in school, I’ve just been a magnet for people to talk to. My mom is like this as well. People just seem to know instinctively that they can share things with me (for I’m not a gossiping person) and they feel comfortable with me. That’s my guess, anyway. It’s at times like these, when I here about marriage troubles, that I am so grateful for the marriage that Adam and I have! He strives to be a Godly man, putting God first then his family second, never making his job more important than us, and has always treated me with respect and love. Just as a husband is commanded to do in the Bible,
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25
Yes indeed. I am very, very grateful. Not just for myself, but also for our children. My sons will get a very good example of how to treat their future wives. And my daughters will get a very good example of how they should be treated by their future husbands. Hopefully, I am giving them just as good as an example as their father. I suppose time will tell with that one.
Jennifer