Broken Together

Have you heard the Casting Crowns song-Broken Together?

It is amazing.

The first time I heard it I was in tears-like less than 30 seconds in, bawling.

It basically sums up the relationship I have with my husband.

We've been through so much in our almost 8 years and the past few weeks have been really rough.

Thankfully, we know we have God on our side.

We know that through His grace alone we make it through each day.

I get so much comfort from that, it is unreal.

We are two broken, imperfect people, trying to survive the daily grind.

How do you do that? How do you get past flaws?  How do you move past hurts? How do you parent, and love, and work, and just be with another flawed human being?

The only way is with God.

That is the only way healing is possible.

It is the only way you can move past hurts together.

It's the only way there can be peace in your heart after feeling so broken.

I am not naive though.  I know there are some things that people just can't get over.  I understand that sometimes when a marriage ends, it's for good, solid reasons.

Our marriage has been challenged from day one, but we have always had the same goal.

We also have two fantastic kids that make us stop and think rationally before making rash decisions based on our emotions in the moment.

I am so thankful for the cover that God has put on me and my heart, or I know we would not still be standing as a couple today.

And I am thankful that my husband is the man that he is.

He is kind.  He is gentle.  He has always been receptive to our conversations and our goals to better ourselves both in and out of our marriage.  He is a great dad.  He has a huge heart.  He is genuine.

I just wish he could see all of that in himself as easily as I do.

So, I will continue to pray for him and his heart.

I will continue to pray for my own heart.

We will continue to try together.

We are broken together.

And it's beautiful.

Watch the music video of the song here.

My baby is 3.

My how time flies.

I know that is super cliche, but it's true.

Especially when you start talking about your own children.

My son turned 3 in October.  And that makes me feel old. Maybe not old, but just kind of sad in a way.  My baby, my last and final born child is 3.  No more babies for us.  And then it just makes me realize how quickly the years with my daughter have gone and it's hard to even think about my son being that old!(She's only 7.)

The good thing is, that while a huge part of me was bummer that we were officially moving out of the baby stage, another  part of me is ecstatic.

I am getting my freedom back.

That may sound terrible, but any mom will tell you the same thing.

When you find that great babysitter, and your kids are old enough for you to feel comfortable leaving them with someone, and you can actually do things with your spouse on a regular basis, it is absolutely liberating.

I am so happy to be in the season of life that we are in.  I love watching our kids grow and learn every day. I am thrilled to see that after surviving the early years of child rearing, that we are well on our way to having some truly great little kids to hang out with every day.

So I guess my message to those with really small kids is this:

It does get better(in some ways) and different in a lot of ways.  You'll regain some of yourself back along with more scheduled time with your spouse.  You will feel like a whole person again.  You will get to sleep through the night.  You will enjoy every second those sweet little faces are with you because time truly does fly.