Happy 1st Anniversary, Cammie & Trey!

August 15, 2009

Cammie & Trey,

One year ago we witnessed your vows as husband and wife. We watched as you began your life together as a married couple. We stood by as Trey went off to basic training and then we prepared for your baby boy. We joined in your celebration over the birth of Gavin James and helped prepare you for the new roles of motherhood and fatherhood. We said goodbye again as Trey returned to training after a short leave home to see his firstborn. We rejoiced over Trey’s graduation and prepared for his upcoming deployment. We laughed, we cried, we said goodbye once again.

Time has flown by faster than I could’ve imagined. In one year you have taken on so many new roles. You’ve lived in separate continents. You’ve fought battles abroad and at home. Newlyweds living a world apart. I’ve watched you both struggle and stumble. Through frustration and heartache you’ve pushed through. You’ve fought your own private battles. Soon you will prepare for Trey’s return home. First, for leave, then for his return from deployment. Adjustments will have to be made. You’ll learn what it’s like to live as husband and wife again under the same roof. You’ll prepare for your future, make decisions regarding your education and your first home together as man and wife. AND baby.

If you weren’t feeling overwhelmed before you read all of that you likely are now. My heart has ached as I’ve watched you both struggle over the past year. Broken over my own advice or lack thereof, I’ve cried before God and repented for not praying enough and for acting before praying. But it’s one thing to make mistakes, another to refuse to learn from them.

It’s enough that society doesn’t rally for marriage. Add to that a marriage started with the many challenges you both have faced. Hopefully you both know by now that marriage truly takes three.  Determine to make Him first both individually and as a couple. Read the instruction manual FIRST. It will save you both a lot of heartache. It’s always better to learn from the mistakes of others than from your own mistakes. But mistakes will be made. So learn from them!

I love the wisdom of our Pastor: be determined to out-bless each other and you are sure to have a great marriage. Be humble before the Lord and allow Him to work in you and through you. His Principles cannot fail if we choose to apply them.  I pray this will be a year of tremendous blessing and peace for you.

Know that I love you. That your families love you. I pray that together, we will stand firmly on His Word behind you both. Last week I had a chilling reminder that this life will soon pass as I watched a friend bury her firstborn son. As I cried and prayed and cried some more and then prayed some more, I thought about how fleeting life is. And I pray that we will embrace it together and become a united front for both of you.

On your upcoming leave may you rejoice over this past year’s memories.  Laugh together as you reflect on some of them . . . like Trey wearing “holey” jeans in preparation for Holy Matrimony.  And may your battles be few . . . especially between Gavin and his Aunt Sophie.

I love you both.  More than Diet Coke.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:28, 31