Friday, May 16, 2008

10th anniversary!

Wow - I can't believe it's been 10 years!!! Sometimes it seems like only yesterday and other times, it seems like we've been together a lifetime. I honestly can't remember what it was like to NOT be married to Aaron. We have melded out lives into one life so seamlessly that even our memories seem weird without the other one.

A lot has happened to us in 10 short years. I'll recap the highlights:

1998 - married after 8 months of dating (with one big breakup) and 6 months of being engaged. Pastored the Jr. High Youth Group at Cornerstone. Went on a mission trip 3 weeks after our wedding.

1999 - Got "Nash", our beagle puppy on our 1 year anniversary. Decided to move to Texas to start a church with Pastor John & Melissa. Not long after, we found out we were pregnant with our first baby! Moved to Texas in November of that year - I was about 4.5 months pregnant.

2000 - Started Hope Fellowship - had our first service in January... our grand opening service on Palm Sunday. On Easter morning at 5:33am, I had Abbey, our first baby! We lived on a farm out in the middle of nowhere in a farmhouse Aaron's grandfather built. It was rough, but we had some good memories there! When Abbey was 5 months old, we moved into Frisco to be closer to the church.

2001 - Found out we were pregnant again! Went through Sept. 11th with the rest of the world...

2002 - Gave birth to Luke on the first day of Spring!

2003 - Felt God moving us back to TN to resume our pastoral duties at Cornerstone. A few weeks after making the decision to move, we found out we were pregnant with Lincoln!!! We moved to Hendersonville with an almost 3 yr old, a 1 yr old, and me 9 weeks pregnant. In September, Aaron's father passed away. 3 weeks later, his grandmother, Ama, passed away. About a week after that, Lincoln was born, very very ill. Lincoln was in and out of the hospital for the next 5 months. Abbey was 3.5 and Luke was 1.5.

2004 - We tried to breathe in and out while Aaron pastored a large youth group and Lincoln recovered and Abbey and Luke grew.

2005 - Left Cornerstone to start Sumner Life in Gallatin! We had been married almost 7 years - had 3 kids and had pastored at 3 churches. Whew. In August of this year, my father passed away. Abbey started kindergarten.

2006 - I don't even remember this year. What happened? We pastored Sumner Life and raised our kids! Seriously, that's all I remember. Oh! My brother got married and Aaron's mom moved to Hendersonville, just down the road from us to help us with the kids. Oh, and we lost our youth pastor amidst much controversy. But, we gained David and Margie - thank you, Jesus.

2007 - Another year of raising 3 beautiful kids and pastoring a church-plant. Luke started kindergarten. At the end of the year, my mom had quadruple-bypass heart surgery.

2008 - And here we are! We merged with the Hope Center Fellowship in February after 1 short month of "negotiations", ha ha. Luke just turned 6 - Abbey just turned 8 - Lincoln is 4.5. Aaron and I have been married for 10 years! It's been a wild, wonderful ride... and I look forward to the rest of it.

I love you, Aaron! I can't imagine my life without you!!!
(I'll try to add some wedding pictures later!)

3 comments:

Margie said...

I am so excited David and I made your 10 year breakdown!!!! Ha. It is so strange when you look at life in this way - to see how God moved you from one place to the next. I'm so glad though that you all will ALWAYS be a part of our story and vise vera! We love you guys. We need to be closer! Maybe another marriage retreat or something similar this year!

Mary said...

Happy Anniversary Beth and Aaron! God has been good to you!

Mark Lunsford said...

I still remember the day that Aaron and I were sitting in Las Palmas and he said, "I think I might ask Beth out, do you think that's a good idea?" I said, "Yeah, that's a good idea, but you don't have a chance!" HA, HA!! Turns out I was wrong, who'da thunk it. :) Congratulations!!!!