Lived, Loved, Laughed With...for A Long Time

Today I rejoice with my parents, Acey and Linda as they celebrate 38 years of marriage!

Mom, that's 13,870 days and nights to be exact!

I love everything about my parents.

To others they're Acey and Linda.

To my sister and my husband and I they're Mom and Dad.

To my kids they're Grandma and Grandpa.
To my granddaughter on her way they'll be whatever she calls them.

To many foster children they're Mama and Papa.

To God they are His delight.

If for any reason they would've called it quits in their marriage, it would've been during my late teenage years. Sometime in my early teen years I grew to hate these two people. I constantly threatened them with a move across the county as I schemed to move to Florida from Nebraska immediately after high school as they would just roll their eyes at their jobless, no car of her own, broke daughter. Needless to say, there were no palm trees in their basement which is where I lived until my 20's.

I was a rebel with literally no cause and continually wreaked unnecessary havoc in their home with the selfish choices I made that effected everyone within arms length. I was just impossible. Their love child gone bad. A child that makes a couple wish they would've never met.

I was an ungrateful creep on the vacations they took us on every year which is why to this day my Mom will not travel more than 1 hour away from home with me. I've been forgiven, but my actions never forgotten as her stroll down memory lane always takes her down the highway traveling with her teenager from hell.

It wasn't until I was older that the feelings of hatred I felt toward my parents finally dissolved and my feelings of appreciation and love tucked deep inside my heart

re-surfaced.

As a little girl I'd stand on top of the love of my life's work boots as he led me around while I held on tight to his hands. As a mom of two and a new bride, I again held on to my first love's hands. He led me around the dance floor as I apologized to how I treated him and my Mom for so many years.

Funny how when you have kids of your own the way you look at your parents is through different glasses. Suddenly the wisdom they offered to their troubled teen doesn't seem so stupid to their adult child striving to grow up.

The first family vacation Gene and I took with our kids was to Florida. I remember how excited I was while planning every detail of the trip and then it hit me. I called my Mom and told her how sorry I was for all the trips I ruined. My parents always took us to the neatest places and I'd always protest having to go. Feeling kidnapped, I would make it my mission to inflict misery upon my fellow travelers.

It just made me sad because as an adult, I finally understood the sacrifice, time, planning, and money it takes to travel with a family to the next town let alone a different state. She assured me I ruined nothing but my chances of getting to travel anywhere with them ever again.

In life.

Last fall when we found out of our teenage daughter's pregnancy, these two people comforted, cried with, prayed over, laughed with and loved my little girl. Now I know how they felt when I got pregnant at 19. I now know the emotions they felt. From heartache to joy, from anger to hope, from feeling a closeness to God to pressing against His holy chest like my life depended on it. From normal life to welcoming new life. From dreaming for my daughter to dreaming for two. From passive prayers to passionate prayers.

When times get tough in my marriage I've learned from the best to stick it out and depend on God. When finances are tough, I've learned to keep tithing and depend on God. When my kids do things that rock my world, I know to depend on God. When I take a beating from the demands of life and want to walk away from the people I love the most

it's God I depend on.

I have learned so much from my Mom and Dad.

I've learned to...

fight for my marriage in the middle of a fight

love hard instead of hardly love

stay on the narrow path when the wide one looks appealing.

I've watched as they...

rode off on their Harley's together

kissed and hugged

laughed and cried.

I've listened when...

they've laughed together until it hurts

she's lovingly called him "Mr. Man"

they've prayed together.

I've seen reality when...

they've sought the Perfect God in an unperfect world

Dad traveled and Mom never worried if he was cheating

they did let the sun go down on their anger.

They've allowed me to see 38 years of love, laughter, faithfulness, trials, tears, anger, forgiveness, friendship, heartache, healing hearts, support of the other's dreams, devotion to each other and most importantly I've seen a couple that deeply loves the Lord.

Mom and Dad, thank you for showing me what to expect in marriage and motherhood. Thank you for always being there for me and for still being there for me. Thank you for loving me when I was unloveable. Thank you for faithfully serving God in the ministry of foster care even when your hearts have been ripped out when kids leave after loving them for 2 years. Thank you for how you love my husband and our kids.

I thank you for never throwing in the towel on "Acey and Linda" when leaving and buying a new set of towels would have been so much easier. Thank you for showing me what "for better or for worse" looks like. Thank you for accepting Jesus into your life and never stopping your chase of Him. Thank you for putting Jesus above one other.

Thank you for giving me a desire to be with my man for 38 years.

I love you both.

Happy Anniversary.

Love,

Lelia