This is what I believe to be the first ever picture of us. Wow – I can’t believe I’m sharing this. We were so young. My how we have changed!
During the first couple of years of our relationship it was on again/off again. It wasn’t what I would call smooth. But we were in high school the first year and Thomas was gone at the end of the summer after we graduated.
He went to bootcamp, then school, then California from where he deployed to Iraq almost immediately. Things have been “on again” since shortly after he completed his school in the military. We did not get married until he was a little over halfway done with his military commitment so we had a long-distance relationship for a while.
Once we were married I moved to California. In fact today is also the date we made it to California. Actually, it was late on the 4th but the 5th was when I woke up in California and really saw it. That was 6 years ago. California was a lot of fun. We met a lot of people, made a lot of friends. I love that sites like facebook allow you to stay in contact so easily with friends so far away! I worked while in California and survived a deployment there by myself. I actually enjoyed the time alone – I surely missed my husband but that was the first time in my life that I lived alone and since I knew it would come to an end I enjoyed it. I was a homebody. Boots was the only child we had at the time and we just hung out whenever I wasn’t at work.
We moved back to NC from California in 2007. We had built a house during the last few months we were in California. We were able to move in our house just a couple of months after we returned to NC. This was a time of transition. Obviously the move was a big deal, purchasing our first home, finding jobs, etc. We both began working within one month of moving back here. That was such a blessing because we really needed jobs.
The biggest thing that happened for us in our relationship occurred just a couple of weeks after we returned to NC in 2007. Thomas and I were both saved by the grace of God when we were younger but we knew we weren’t putting God first in our lives. Not by a long shot. We weren’t doing anything bad but were weren’t honoring God either. That sort of existence felt lonely and meaningless. We had talked about going to church in California but I was afraid of how many churches there were and how different they all were. I didn’t have the drive to weed through it all to find anything so I didn’t try. This is something I regret big time! Upon returning, we began going to the church Thomas had grown up in. We attended for nearly two years before we decided it was time to move on. There wasn’t anything to get involved in and we were ready to serve.
We found ourselves at our current church two years ago and we became involved in the youth ministry almost immediately. My life has changed tremendously since getting involved in the church. And our marriage has grown greatly. Life has meaning! =) I’m just so blessed to have such an amazing man to share in my journey and share in his journey and grow together with. As a recent message at our church described we are RICH!
I’m so happy to look back on how far we have come and know that it’s getting better all of the time! I can say there has been a lot more “on again” than off. =)
~Amber
YAY!!! I loved learning more about you guys!!!!
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