6 Years!

June 3, 2006-June 3, 2012 = 6 Years of marriage to my amazing husband. I can't believe it has been that long, yet sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. We have had a roller coaster of 6 years with many trials and some triumphs. I would venture to say that some of these trials are likely to be the most difficult of our lives and yet we are still standing and standing strong. I don't know what tomorrow holds, no one does, but I know that I don't want to face it without Jonathan by my side. I have to say, marriage isn't easy. It takes work and commitment but the result is totally worth the effort.

We got married in between my 2nd and 3rd year of medical school, just before I took step 1 of my medical school exam. Not necessarily the best decision I've ever made :) but it worked out just fine. I also chose to give up a scholarship that was paying for my medical school by getting married (love makes you do crazy things). 1 year later we were in a major car accident where our Ford Explorer got totaled on the highway but we walked away with only minor injuries. This left us with one vehicle when we needed two and living on my husbands not so great income. We decided to move in with my parents for my 4th year of medical school so we could save money and use the money that should be paying for rent to help pay for a car payment (the other cars were already paid off). Living with your parents when you are an adult and married is interesting to say the least. Part of that year, and a little of the year before that, I was gone for 4-6 weeks at a time for my medical school rotations. I was working a lot of hours and so was Jonathan. I was interviewing for my residency in pediatrics that fall and winter. In the summer of 2008 we packed our belongings and moved 2 1/2 hours away from everyone we knew and loved. We left our church, jobs, family and friends. The first 2 1/2 months that we lived in this new town Jonathan still lived in Dallas because his job hadn't transferred yet. I was working 80 hrs a week and we hardly saw each other. When he finally moved to Temple with me in August I was so excited. At the end of August my mom became very sick and was in the ICU on a ventilator for 2 weeks. I left my residency and stayed most of those 2 weeks in Dallas by her bedside while Jonathan stayed in Temple so he could work in Austin. The fall of 2008 is also when we decided we would start trying to have a baby. I finished my intern year of pediatric residency in spring of 2009 and life kept moving on. In the fall of 2009 Jonathan hurt is back at work and was placed on disability. He was then told he couldn't return to work in that field. Without a college degree and only having done mostly manual labor in the past finding a new job was proving difficult. Then God stepped in, again, and provided work, albeit a little unconventional. A friend from my residency needed a new nanny for her almost 1 year old daughter. She hired Jonathan and he became a manny :). We still take care of that little girl over 2 years later. Spring of 2010 is also when we started infertility treatments. Summer of 2010 I became chief resident, started applying for foster care, continued infertility, and kept working 80hrs a week. Yes, I know, I'm crazy. Spring of 2011 I graduated from residency and we moved into a nicer, slightly larger home (out of the ghetto). Residents don't make much money. I started the job I have now, that I love. In the fall of 2011 Jonathan started going back to college, we got pregnant, and we still had foster kids. Spring of 2012 we said goodbye to our Grant, said goodbye to our foster kids of 13 months, and here we are.

I am so proud of where we are. We have been parents to 8 foster kids and 1 biological child. I have finished residency with the support of my husband and now I am supporting him as he pursues his degree in teaching. We have made friends and learned a great deal about life. I pray that the next 60 years are just as full of God's blessings and that we continue to lean on Him.

Jonathan,
You are the love of my life. I am so amazed that God would give such a wonderful man to me to be my husband. You are the best daddy and husband in the world. I am so glad that I have you to stand by my side through everything. I can't wait to see what God does with our lives over the next year. I love you mi amor!