8 years!!!! Sorry it's a LONG one!

If you are not a Gassid, Maulsby, Horn, or Boggs, you probably will not want to read this super long post! This is mainly for Jaaf and I and for when we print out the blog at the end of the year.

So last week Jaaf and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Sometimes it seems like we've been married for 80 years, (in a good way), and sometimes it seems like we are newly weds! It is amazing to look back on the past 8 years and see where God has brought us, what He has taught us, and how we have grown in our marriage. Jaaf and I are far from perfect, but as each year goes by, the Lord deepens our love for each other to the point that we can both truly say that we love each other more now than we did the day we got married. God has brought us through some hard times in our life.

He was our provider when we lost our job and had to move in with my parents with a 3 week old baby. We were scared and unsure of what the Lord had in store for us. It was so easy to take our eyes off of Him and focus on our situation, but God always drew us back to Him and we had to let go and let Him take control

He was our strength when we had to deal with a colicy baby that turned into a chronic ear infection baby that turned into night terror baby that turned into not getting more than an hour of sleep at a time for 13 months!!! Jaaf and I would take shifts of 3 hours so that we could both get atleast 3 hours of consecutive sleep! There were so many times during that year that our situation could of broken us, but it brought us closer to each other. During the hours of Jaxson screaming his head off, I would pray and seek the Lord! I begged and pleaded with Him many times for a good night sleep, but it took a little bit longer than I had hoped for. Looking back, that time was precious time that I had to rely only on the Strength of the Lord to get me through each day. God used Jaaf to help me and encourage me during that time. I don't know why we even tried for another baby after being sleep deprived for so long! =)

God was our friend as we moved to a different state away from everyone and everything that we had ever known. There were many times of loneliness, but He was ever so present to encourage me and reveal Himself to me. It is because of that time away from friends and family that God showed me that I was too comfortable in my group of friends in Edmond and that my purpose on this earth is not to be comfortable but to be reaching out to as many people as I can for Him.

God was our SUSTAINER as we had to go through a very hard time while both of our mothers were sick and going through treatment. It was a time of heart ache watching our mothers be in pain and so sick. But, the Lord Sustained us. Our hearts were heavy and it was hard not to think of anything else but our moms being sick, but the Lord brought us through that time and we relied on each other and had to encourage and pray for each other during that hard time.

God again was our Provider as we lost another job and felt betrayed by a co-worker. We were devastated and hurt badly. But we were reminded of how the Lord was faithful to provide a job for us earlier in our marriage, so we had confidence that He was going to provide and that we had to choose daily to give it over to Him. It was a time in our marriage that we had to encourage each other when the other one would start to worry. God was faithful to our prayers and brought us back to our family and provided a job. But we would come back changed, knowing that God would be able to use us in a familiar place.

God is our constant strength and ever present right now as Jaaf has to travel a lot. He gives us both the strength we need during our time away from each other, and as many marriages can fade away from each other when you spend a lot of time apart, ours has been strengthened.

God has blessed us with the three most beautiful baby boys in this world!! What an incredible gift they areaz! His love is all over my boys cute little faces, and I am constantly reminded of God's goodness and love when I look at my precious baby boys!

Through all of our trials and joys there is ONE thing that is constant, and that is Christ! He is the foundation of our marriage and our family. I know we are human and there is always a chance that one of us will fail and that we will go through times of not liking each other so much, and that is why I believe there is one thing that we should ALL be doing everyday for our marriages!! PRAY! Through all of our years I have prayed for our marriage, it started those first couple of years as just a generic prayer for our marriage and a prayer for Jaaf here and there. As each trial or new phase in our life the Lord gently brought me to my knees and taught me how to pray. And now I am constantly on my knees praying and pleading with the Lord to put a hedge of protection around Jaaf and I and our marriage. This world we live in is not so pleasing and there are opportunities daily to screw things up, it is almost too easy in the world we live in to mess up! That is why I feel so strongly about praying for protection over your marriage. The Lord has taught me to be specific in my prayers so that I can say without a doubt that He was the one who answered my prayer, not to give myself any glory for it. Again, we are not perfect and we have been through the trenches together, but I just want to give God all the glory for being ever so present and faithful in our marriage and for giving me such an incredible husband who prays for me as much as I pray for him.

I love you Jaaf and can't wait to see what God does in the years to come!!