My Love

I only have love.  I love my husband so much.  He has done so much for me.  He has been a very supportive husband, especially when I wanted to go to school.  He encouraged me when I was at my weakest and thought I couldn't finish because I had failed my first test.  He told me, you can do it Mari, you're almost done.  I know you can do it.  Joel has encouraged me during the hardest of times and I admire him for that. He has been a very loving and caring husband and father.  The children adore him and they obey him out of respectful fear.  Joel is good at whatever he puts his mind to.  I love him.  I only have love for him, I have no other words to describe what I feel for Joel.  I only have love.

Joel is my best friend.  We spent the last 7 years of our lives together.  We have gone through many ups and downs.  We have pushed through many hard times, but throughout everything, we have held hands and got through the worst of storms together.  He is my best friend.  We laugh, we play, we watch movies together.  Most of my favourite memories in life are with Joel.  I used to think that I was in love when I was 7 years old.  Because of Joel, I know what real love is.  He loves me, and I love him.

My sister said that everything begins and ends with God.  We love because He first loved us.  I know what love is and I know how to love because I know that God loves me.  I love Joel because God loves me.  I love him no matter what happens because God loves me unconditionally.

I am not perfect and I make a lot of mistakes in life, but Joel is the first one to tell me when I am doing something wrong.  I don't take criticism lightly, he knows that.  But when Joel says something to me, I do fight back, but I listen and I learn.  I am stubborn.  I am very stubborn and I like to do things in a certain way.  Joel is the only person that could tell me, Mari, you need to do this this way.  Yes, I would fight back, but I knew he was right.  Joel was usually right a lot of the time.  It took a lot of time for me to learn how to submit as a wife, but because I loved and respected Joel so much as a husband, I was able to submit as a wife.  I do have my faults.  I like clothes piles.  I love clothes piles.  Joel was never a fan of my clothes piles. I also didn't like doing laundry.  I hated folding.  Joel was always best at the folding because of his Old Navy expertise.  I did help sometimes!!  I bet Joel hated folding laundry too, but he did it for me.  I love him for that.

I also hated doing dishes.  I get these rashes on my hands if I do them too much and then they start bleeding.  Joel always did the dinner dishes.  I would do the predinner dishes! But he would do the dinner dishes.  I loved him for that too.

I love spending time with him.  That's something I would constantly crave as a wife.  With our busy lives, Joel's 14 hour shifts, and me being in work and school, and doing homework and working from home, and taking care of the kiddos, and prepping dinner for Joel, our lives were busy.  It did become a routine, but there were the random days where we would get to spend time together, and I treasured every moment.  Joel always knew how to make me laugh.  He never not made me laugh.  He is one of the people that did make me laugh.  I'm not very easily amused.  Just by Joel.

In a marriage we both had to sacrifice so much of our needs and wants for the kids.  That's what happens when you get married young.  We had to sacrifice parts of our lives so that we could be good parents for the children.  I never thought I was missing out on much.  Joel made me so happy.  My kids made me happy.  Seeing them grow up and change, learn how to talk and walk and count, it's such a blessing.  My kids are the result of mine and Joel's love for each other.  And they are so loving, because me and Joel were so loving to each other.

Marriage is hard.  It's about two people learning how to become one.  Me and Joel are not going to always be one hundred percent in love.  There will be a lot of fights.  Big ones and small ones, but as long as we keep our love for the Lord the center of our marriage, I know that we can fight out the worst of the storms.

Everything begins and ends with God.  I will love Joel forever.  He is a wonderful father, a wonderful husband and a very loving man.  He is my heart and He is my forever.  My only love.  My love.