All I Ever Needed....

Last night I finally started on a pinterest project I've been waiting patiently for weeks to find the time to do.  I'm using canvas' and putting the lyrics to the song we danced our first dance to as husband and wife on them.

(The above photo is in the early stages of me starting on it so please forgive the bubbles :) )

While I was looking up the song lyrics I was trying to go back and remember why on earth that was our song; which is "All I Ever Needed" by Bret Michaels.  For the life of me I honestly could not remember why it was.  We obviously really liked the song otherwise we wouldn't have chose it, but I couldn't think of a super sentimental reason why we did.  As I was typing up the lyrics though something hit me.  This song is totally and completely 100% us at the moment.  I honestly don't think I could have chose a better song to describe the past 3 1/2 years of our marriage.  I won't bore you with the lyrics to the whole song, but here is the chorus:

We didn't need fortune we didn't need fame
Just a little shelter from the rain
Your hand to hold on to
When times got tough you pulled me through
We didn't need a castle made of stone
Just you there as I grow old
Your heart to hold on to
All I ever needed was you

 

Now of course when you first see those lyrics and hear them as a 21 year old totally head over heels in love with the man of her dreams you definitely want those words to be true.  You like to think you don't need fortune or a castle for your marriage to last but honestly how true is that of marriages in todays world? So many of our generation is getting married on the feeling of love but honest to goodness doesn't know or think that it involves a lot of work every day at it.  Or depending on how they were raised think that hey, if it doesn't work I can always get divorced.  I can think of a few people I know that got married in their early twenties and before they even hit 30 they were divorced.  It breaks my heart how easily a marriage is thrown away sometimes.  I don't believe that all of the sudden you can wake up one day and decide you don't love the person you are waking up next to anymore.  I do believe that if the marriage isn't given the attention it needs and deserves that couples will eventually lose hope that things will ever be the same again.  

Travis and I obviously have not been marriage a long time.  We haven't even hit the 5 year mark yet, but believe me when I say we have definitely hit some bumps in the road.  As I looked over this song once again and looked back to the day when I was all dolled up and at my best dancing with a sparkle in my eye for a man I could now call mine, I thought of all we have done in our short 3 1/2 years of marriage.  I especially thought of all that happened in the past 11 months.  In the past 11 months we had a beautiful baby girl and I chose to quit my steady income job.  Those 2 things alone put a stress on a marriage.  Not only have we had to figure out how we were gonna live on a low budget, but we've also had to figure out how to find time for this whole marriage thing when there is a little girl that badly needs our attention more.  We went through the stage of thinking our house is just way too small for our family of 3, we've had stresses with money every now and then, and we've of course had some disagreements every now and then but you know what? As I was looking over those lyrics again it all hit me at once.  May sound odd but it was like the Lord needed me to do this project to remember something.  We don't need all the money in the world, we don't need a big castle.  All we need is each and to know that no matter what comes at us, I will be by Trav's side to help him through it and he will do the same for me.  We can live in this house for as long as it takes and be busting at the seams, and as long as our kids feel the love busting at the seams as well that's OK. 

Therefore I am so extremely excited to get this project done and to display this reminder proudly in our bedroom.  I would even encourage the rest of you to do the same.  Doesn't have to be the same project of course, but do something visual that you will see everyday to remind you of those little things.  Remind you that as a husband and wife you can face anything that comes at you.  But above all, also remember that Christ also needs to be involved. :) 

-Chrissy

(As a side note, I'm pretty pumped Travis and I are taking the time to go on a little getaway by ourselves without the little one.  Friday just can't come soon enough!)