My Marriage is of Legal Driving Age

Cathie and I celebrate sixteen years of marriage today. We met through Youth for Christ, a high school youth group, and we dated throughout college. We were married by the Trent Bushnell, the head of YFC after Cathie graduated from MSU and I still had a year left of school. After we got married, Trent and his wife Patsy took Cathie and I through this set of videos by Gary Smalley called Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships. These videos were amazing and really helped set us on a course to have a fantastic marriage.

We lived in 400 square feet of married housing on campus and then in an apartment before moving to Novi for a new job once I'd graduated from State. We went through some tough stuff in the first years, including a series of miscarriages. One of the big things in both of our lives was getting connected with Crossroads Church (where we still go) almost 14 years ago.

I've married my best friend in the whole world. People don't realize that Cathie has a similar (yet slightly more mature) sense of humor to mine. She just has a much better filter. Cathie has an amazing wisdom and common sense that complements my complete lacking in both areas. She happens to also be a smoking hot woman who I still lust after even 16 years into our marriage. Cathie has also learned to be a tiny bit less stubborn since we've been married (progress is measured in nano-stubborns).

One of the most memorable gifts I've ever gotten for Cathie had great intentions behind it. I had heard this guy named Ken Medima at a Youth Specialties conference since these songs. He would right them custom, on the spot and they were awesome. He had a service where as a gift, you could fill out a form and he would write a song about that person. While I was waiting for the song, I'd put together a slideshow of pictures on a DVD all set to plug this in. I got the song a couple days before Christmas and it was, um, well.... Let me put it this way... My family still laughs about the song and actually dug it out not too long ago and we all laughed hard about it. I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

Both of our parents have been fantastic role models in what great marriages look like and what it means to stick together through thick and thin. I can't believe how quickly it's all flown by. Three kids and two houses. One dog. Three cats. One guinea pig. A bunch of gold fish.

Cathie is the woman of my dreams. I thank God every day for her.

On a side note, it's no surprise that Cathie was the first to wish me a happy anniversary. Also no surprise that she finished it with an "oh yeah, I was first!"