Merciful Marriage: Building a Home and a Heritage

Twelve years ago today she took my name.  Long before we would even talk about buying land or moving off-grid we were just a pair of wide-eyed fools with a very, very loose understanding of what it meant to love.  In the era of TV trays and 2 seater cars we were laying the foundation for this life.  There are moments in the noise and clamor of our lives now when I pan back and see that we are becoming the type of family that I had probably been afraid to even hope we would.

Growing up we were a Christmas and Easter kind of Christian family until my folks divorced.  I remember buddies who's parents were active in the church.  To me then, those were 'those church kids' that seemed to know all the songs and always seemed at home surrounded by the extended church family and loved closely by their own.  A few weeks ago during the weekly worship service I looked down the row to see my 4 kids and their 2 friends from church sandwiched between Natalie and me.  As the girls sang all the songs and we did our best to keep the boys under control (read: at least in the same row of seats and preferably not army crawling under the ladies dress in front of us) I realized that we had, in fact, become one of those families that I looked up to as a boy.  Now I'm experienced enough to know that real families are, in fact, real.  I know it's not always meadows of flowers and giggling.  Natalie and I have been known to clear the pipes from time to time but that certainly happens less on this side of 12 years than it did in the early days.

More often than not these days we find ourselves outnumbered by these crazy children and simply too tired to fight amongst ourselves.  Our energy is spent reminding folks to keep their feet off the kitchen table and to shut the bloody doors.  But in between door shutting sermons we seem to find ourselves snuggled up as a family watching Little House on the Prairie or Star Wars (yeah, we cover the whole gamut).  The bible is more than just something we keep on the shelf here.  Most days start or end with the family gathered around it looking for either guidance or correction.  I know that at any time I can holler out 'family group' and the kids know to rally up in a circle for prayer.  It's a rare day that doesn't start with a warm breakfast and a family group before I head to the office.  And that is, in and of itself, a testament to God's mercy in our lives.

This is the good life.  It's because of the good wife.  She motivates me to become more than I would have even been without her.  We've come a long way from that frozen December morning in Amish country, Ohio.  We press on, laughing and holding hands, occasionally reaching back to slap her on the butt and smile.