So, 9 years ago we said "I do" and I moved from VA to TN, (Tommy was in the Air Force and stationed at Fort Cambell, KY) to be with the man of my dreams and start our life together. I just found a picture the other day of Tommy carrying me over the "threshold" to our new 1 bedroom apartment (after driving the 12 hours to get there). We started with nothing, but we had each other and we had God, so we felt like we had everything. I have to say, our years there were crucial and life changing for us and for our marriage. We were married in August 2001...and then September 11th happened...which changed everything. Tommy, being in the military, was soon deployed to Afghanistan that February. Whoa. Here I was, 19 years old, newly married, and now alone in a new place. I had a job and I was going to school, but that wasn't enough to keep me there. I decided to go home and be with my family while Tommy would be deployed for an unknown number of months. It ended up being 3, instead of the 6 they had anticipated. I remember those times of deployments and at times it was torturous and at the same time it also seemed to help create a foundation for our marriage that "if we can make it through this, we can make it through anything". In our time there, we found a great church, where our friends became like family and we bought our first home there, in KY, and we got our first dog, Sugar (which we still have today :) ). Tommy deployed again a year later to Iraq. This time, I stayed since we had established roots and relationships there and it had become "home". Tommy came home and bought his first Harley. (He took of advantage of the deployment situation...He came home and of course I was like "you can have anything you want!" lol). We joined a motorcycle club, which we miss to this day the experiences and relationships we had. So, we spent our first 4 1/2 years married there, at Fort Campbell (KY/TN). I had no idea how crucial this time would be for establishing the foundation for our marriage. It's amazing how close we became, having only each other, to depend on, run to, and experience life with. We made relationships there that we would have for a lifetime. What a time of learning for us!
When Tommy was discharged from the Air Force in December of 2004, we made the move back to Virginia (a U-haul, car-in tow, a truck, a motorcycle, and a dog) :). We moved back to Virginia to be apart of a church plant that our previous youth pastor was launching there. In our time there we were close to family and were able to establish relationships with old and new friends. We bought our second house, and started our family. In December 2005, I finished my bachelors degree in Business Management, from Austin Peay State University. We had our first son, Brodie, in October of 2006. In February 2007, I quit my job in banking to be a stay at home mom. Tommy changed jobs 3 times, but all in the area of training military in some area of combatives or shooting. In July, 2008, God told us to move to Las Vegas, to be apart of a church plant, to reach people far from Him. We experienced a loss like none other when we experienced the loss of our 2nd child mid pregnancy, at 17 weeks along, in November 2008. We then had our son, Tristan, in October of 2009. In May 2010 Tommy graduated from Regent University with his bachelors degree in Religious Studies and we moved our family across the country to Las Vegas to help start Verve and do a church planting "residency" for approximately 2 years.
As I look back I never could have tried to imagine all that we would have experienced and where we would be 9 years into our marriage. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with Tommy to go through this journey of life with. I can't imagine not having him by my side. He knows me like no other and loves me anyway. He loves me in ways that I feel I don't deserve. I respect and admire him more than any other man I've ever known. I'm a better me because of him. Our boys our so blessed to have a real man of God as an example to follow and to raise them to be warriors for Him. I love you Tommy and I'm thankful beyond words that for the years I've had with you and I'm excited about the years we have ahead of us, as we grow old together. :)
Man, I started this post to tell you about our night our for our anniversary, now I have to do another post to tell you about that! lol :)
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