HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! 18 YEARS TODAY!

Photo Credit: CharlieBarker on 2/11/12

Today I celebrate 18 years of marriage with my husband, Kurt.  As we celebrate this wonderful day, I am reminded of the gift of marriage.  It is such a beautiful and sacred covenant that can only be summed up in one word, Love.  It is a true test to the endless boundaries of love because it encompasses all things.  Being able to love someone on their best days but also on their worst days.  Loving each other when you agree and disagree on things.  I have learned so many valuable lessons about love and am so thankful to be able to share my life with Kurt.  The road has not always been easy but because of our commitment to each other, we are celebrating 18 years of marriage.  I am so blessed to have him and our beautiful family.
So on this special day, I want to take a moment and share this "Blessing for a Marriage".  This is to all of you who are married and for all of you who will be getting married!

BLESSING FOR A MARRIAGE  by James Dillet Freeman 

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.

May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.

If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. 

May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. 
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

Here's to another 18 + years!

Much Love,

Cindy Stonehouse