25 Years Ago Today We Were Married!!

August 17th, 1985 at 7:00pm, I married Jonathan Bruce Alcorn and we began our exciting life journey! When my son called this morning to give us his anniversary wishes, he asked if it felt like 25 years. As I reflect on that, in some ways it seems like just yesterday and in other ways not so much. Especially as I look back at old pictures and take a stroll through memory lane I am reminded of all the blessings, joys and love we have shared together. When you pile each beautiful memory on top of the next one, you know it has to have been quite a while as there are so many. God has truly caused our cup to overflow with His love, mercy and goodness!! We also praise God for the wonderfully supportive family we both have. 

I awoke today to find several (25 to be exact) little notes from my husband placed in various locations around the house. Each one was held in place with a piece of chocolate and had endearing terms and phrases on them. :) He made a special attempt to put them next to things I would use or need this morning. I had found each one by 7:00 am by just simply going about my morning routine. He is so very thoughtful! Creative surprises like this one are common for our relationship and I value the time and energy he puts into making my days special.

 We also found this arrangement waiting for us on the dining room table this morning. I must tell you about this special 25th anniversary sugar and creamer. It belonged to my grandparents who had been married 72 years before Grandma passed away over a year ago. While going through Grandma's things, my daughters found this set and decided to keep it with plans to give it back to us today. It was filled with chocolate and surrounded with flowers our youngest daughter had picked from the garden early this morning. A special treasure indeed! 

Let me tell you about my amazing husband! I so appreciate all that he is and does. We met in March of 1984 at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana on the steps of the library after I had gone in and out of the library 3 times hoping to ACCIDENTLY run into him. ( I wish you could see me smiling as I type) We dated about for about a month before he asked me if I only wanted to date him. Back then we called it "going steady". 

I had wanted to do a year of volunteer work and I left for Florida to work at a shelter home for abused and neglected children in August, 1984. Jon was working at Wendy's and finishing his senior year in college. While apart, we called once a week and wrote each other often. Today, with words like email, texting, posting and updating being the most common forms of communication, I may need to explain what I mean by "wrote each other" - we started with a piece of paper, a pencil or pen, an envelope and a stamp. Then, in our own handwriting we penned out our thoughts for each other, events of the day, happenings in our families, work and school. We shared with each other our plans and dreams for the future. We talked about ways God was working in our hearts and lives. I longed for each phone call and those letters are still very precious to me today.

We were engaged in March, 1985 when I came home for a week of vacation. We had spent the day together and ended our evening on a walk around Winona Lake. Jon had built a small bonfire in the pit behind Beyer Home. This was also the place we had had our first kiss. Jon sang me his song for me,"Just like me" by Sweet Comfort band and asked me to marry him.

We were married less than four months later, moved to Argos where Jon is a teacher. We soon began building our family. We have a son and 3 daughters. My husband is a great Dad and has always been very helpful around the house. He truly has servants heart and purposefully does things to benefit those around him.

We often talk about how we have enjoyed each stage of parenting our children. Of course, some stages were more fun than others! Jon has helped to set a Godly tone in our home. Our relationship the Lord is very important to us and we have tried to implement biblical principles into daily life when teaching the kids how to make good choices.

 I thank God for bringing Jon into my life! I am so grateful to be his wife and to have had the privilege of raising our kids together. He a faithful, dedicated, hardworking and generous man and my life is truly blessed by knowing him.

I trust we can have at least another 25 years doing life together in the future.

 

Happy Anniversary, honey!