the last 8 years....

Yesterday, Scotty and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!!!! I don't know about every other married person, but every year when my anniversary comes around I think back about all the ups and downs and how we made it through another year. Commitment, loyalty, faith, love, forgiveness, hope, optimism--I have grown so much in all those areas the last 8 years.......

Year 1 was marked by tragedy. My sister's fiancee was killed by a drunk driver as he traveled home after our wedding. My first week of marriage was spent not on a honeymoon but grieving with my sister and attending a tragic funeral. As I had been so busy making wedding plans and prepping for the big day, I had not been doing all the things I needed to in order to stay spiritually strong. So I was hit hard by this. Really hard. My faith was hit like never before. Thus began the worst summer of my life.

By year 2 I had lost hope of ever having a really happy marriage. I was committed to marriage and to God, even more than I was committed to Scotty, so I just kept going. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9)--that's what kept me going. I was still struggling in my faith but somehow I had hope enough that God's ways would lead to greater happiness in the end than the world's ways, so I just hung on.

Year 3 was turned around by the Book of Mormon and the promise of a living prophet. Near the end of July 2005, I read these words from Gordon B. Hinckley: "I offer a challenge to...reread the Book of Mormon...before the end of this year. Without reservation I promise you that...there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." We did it. We have never fought since.

By year 4, we were on the up. I had hope and was learning how to love, really love, when it was hardest. That kind of love brought us optimism and happiness. We felt our marriage was solid for the first time and felt it would last through the long haul.

During year 5, I worked my first full-time teaching job. The job was really 3 in 1 so you can imagine how overwhelming the task. I had felt for some time that I was born to be a teacher, but because I was under the constant weight of there-is-no-possible-way-to-fulfill-my-job-requirements, I really couldn't be myself in the classroom, which meant I couldn't really make a difference the way I otherwise could've. For the first time in my life, the desire to become a mother was born. I wanted it more than I wanted to be a teacher. I don't know if it was the nature of the job or just my time, but I wanted to be a mother more than anything.

And so, in year 6, we made the most beautiful of decisions--to bring a child into our family and home. Our first miracle, Parker Carl Arrington, was born on April 21, 2008. He has blessed our lives and our marriage in every way.

Year 7 brought to our marriage the greatest test of forgiveness yet. Tragic though it was, I was spiritually strong enough at the time that my faith wasn't shaken in the least. Instead, it became stronger--stronger than it had ever been--and instead of dissolving our marriage, we became stronger and more united than ever before. Christ's power to heal and forgive is unsurpassed. The depth of His love is magnificent.

Year 8, this last year, has been full of blessings. We are expecting our second child--a girl!--later this year. Scotty is in nursing school and loving it. Parker is 3 now and is as full of love and sweetness as ever. He always tells me how much he loves Jesus. Man, do I too. I would be nothing without Him. And my marriage wouldn't have stood a chance.

So here we are--set to begin another year. As we were finishing up dinner last night I had this split-second flash of vision in my head. Although it lasted less than a second it seemed, my spirit knew its significance: This is going to be a good year.