Thirteen Years

Today is our thirteen year anniversary.  I cannot believe we have been together this long and tonight we have had fun listening to some of the music that my brother sang at our wedding.  Listen to the above song (ignore the odd video) but this is the song that we danced to for our first dance.  My brother sang and his friend Brett played the guitar. I still tear up thinking about that sweet moment when we were dancing and my knee was swollen and throbbing.

If you do not know the reception knee incident that resulted in our wedding night being spent in the ER, stay tuned and I will chronicle that funny story another day. Our wedding was wonderful and truly the happiest day of my life except for being in so much pain that I could not eat or drink any of the wonderful food that we had planned for months.  Seriously I felt like a beautiful princess meeting her prince charming that night:)

Moving along.... tonight we celebrated our anniversary by going out to eat with our three kiddos in tow.  That is how we roll in this house and we would not want it any other way.  Mike is not perfect, I am not perfect, nor is our marriage, but we do love each other and we have our Jesus.

I could choke up thinking how naiive we were when we said those vows.  The last thirteen years have been wonderful but certainly not smooth sailing.  Our first born had/has severe allergies and now asthma that has been a whirlwind of nebulizers, inhalers, and prednisone.  We had a child with a disability that we were not expecting and then eight years later he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.  Our sweet little unexpected princess scared us to death on the day of her delivery by turning blue several times. 

Tonight; however, I am thankful that God blessed me with a man who is loyal and true to his word.  He carries this family in so many ways and tonight I am thankful that despite the unexpected detours of our marriage, we have held  onto each other and clung to our Jesus. 

When the doctor shared with us the news that David had Down Syndrome Mike was not at the hospital with me.  I had to call him on his cell phone between Orange county and Charlottesville.  Anyone familiar with that area knows that eight years ago cell coverage was spotty in that area.  I called him and I said "honey they think the baby has Down Syndrome" and the line cut out. 

Twenty minutes later he walked into the hospital room and he grabbed my face covered with tears and he said "God blessed us with this baby because you are such a wonderful mother and He knew that you would do a great job with him."  I am a blessed woman to have Mike  Robinson in my life. 

Just a year ago I once again had to make a hard call to my man about that same little boy.  Mike met the ambulance at UVA because he was in Williamsburg.  He was there way before we were and he paced the ER waiting on that ambulance with his wife and boy in it.  I remember they were moving us through the ER so fast and I stopped the wonderful people and opened the door to the lobby of the waiting room and yelled for him out of desperation.  I just needed to see him.  Our marriage is not perfect but he is my strength.

I pray for many more years together in marriage.  I feel that God has done amazing work in our marriage and I praise Him for bringing us closer together and towards Him.  Thank you Mike for thirteen years.  I am proud of the Godly man you are, for the examples you set for our children, and it melts my heart to see you play babies with our girl.  God has big plans for you Mike Robinson and I am thankful I am along for the ride.  Forever and always.