So, today is Jonathan and my anniversary. We have been married for 16 years. That sounds like such a long time to me. I think back to all those years ago, when I was so young. We got married in my parents front room by Jonathan's bishop and were sealed in the Salt Lake temple 2 years later. I don't think either of us realized the ride that was in store for us. The Lord has truly blessed our lives so tremendously. I have a husband who loves Jesus Christ. He stands up for what is right and true, even if it is not the popular thing to say or do. He is a good man, who has the desire to be better. He loves me and our children. I am blessed with a great companion and am glad that we have been able to grow up together and have 4 beautiful children together. I look forward to staying by his side for another 16 years, to becoming mission companions together and even grandparents. I love him very much and feel so blessed that he is my husband.
10 years ago
10 comments:
the new ward is good. not the same as the kolob 6th. but i like it. i think i am in the hobble creek west stake.. 2nd ward. i dont know for sure though. happy anniversary! did you have a good christmas?
Congratulations on 16 years, that is AMAZING! That means when I met you it had only been 4. Wow, time flies. I remember seeing the video of your wedding, fun times! Thanks for your comment on my blog, I am glad you found me! Merry Christmas by the way, tell your little family hi for me!
I remember the wedding. You WERE so young. I am glad that you and Jonathan have grown in your relationship. Each year can get better and better if we work at it. Love you both. Congratulations!
I remember going through the worst fog encounter to get to your wedding reception that night...congratulations on the journey progress thus far
I even made it to your wedding! I still remember being there. Happy Anniversary!!! We love you both!!
Timmy and I are hoping to make it to our 5 year anniversary! HAha! Nah:) we will make it. Congratulations tho! It really is a huge accomplishment!!!!!!
I really appreciated having the opportunity to read these reflections on your wedding to Jonathan. I am glad to know that even though the original wedding was not in the temple, that you set your sights on the temple early on, and that you were able to be sealed together relatively early in your marriage. You were so young when you started out. I am glad that whatever difficulties you have faced together, that you have been able to work through them and build a wonderful life together.
It is particularly meaningful for me to know that you and Jonathan are planning to serve a mission together when you are able to. Learning that you and Jon were planning to get married is still a vivid memory for me, because it was part of what for me was a very powerful spiritual experience that I have reflected on many times over the years. The day that I learned that Jonathan Bond would not be serving his mission was also the day that I received the spiritual confirmation that I had been seeking over my own mission plans.
I first heard about your engagement to Jonathan from Bro. Heap, our seminary teacher a couple of weeks after Jon and I graduated from High School. I stopped by the building to say good-bye, and he told me. He didn't share details and I didn't ask for them. I just went into the empty seminary classroom to think. Jonathan and I weren't close friends growing up, but I had always liked and respected him and considered him to be one one of the neatest guys that I had the privilege to know. Jon had been the Seminary class president, and done a wonderful job in filling that calling. I had assumed that he was planning to serve a mission, and I thought he would be wonderful missionary. Jonathan was my friend, and I naturally hoped that you would be happy in your lives together, but my first reactions in learning about your engagement were sadness and concern. The thought of Jonathan not serving a mission made me want to cry. I couldn't imagine him giving that up unless there were some good reason for it, but no matter what that reason might be, it seemed like you and Jonathan were both on a path that would inevitably contain a great deal of hardship and pain. I wanted to help, but I didn't know how. While I was sitting there in that empty seminary classroom, an incredible feeling of peace came over me. I felt the Savior's love for me, and I got some taste of just how much the Savior loved Jonathan and Melanie. Even if I couldn't be there to help in the years to come, He would be. I decided that I would give Jonathan a papercutting of the Savior, as a way of telling him that I cared about him and reminding him of the Friend that would always be there for him, no matter what the future might hold. My feeling's over Jonathan's "lost mission" also brought home to me just how important my own dreams of serving a mission were to me. Sometimes girls that want to serve missions are given a confusing message. My mother had served a mission, and that has been one one my greatest dreams since I was a little girl, but people at church kept telling me that it was wrong for me to plan to serve a mission. I was supposed to be looking for a husband! I liked to think that maybe Jared Langston, my long distance boyfriend, might grow into the sort of person that I would want to marry someday, but he was still 16, no rush there. The though of having the Seminary Class President not serving a mission did bother me, because it was an important leadership position. Maybe the Lord had given Jonathan that position precisely because in His infinite wisdom, He knew that serving in that position would help to give Jonathan the important priesthood leadership experience that he needed to raise his family. Perhaps my position, as Validictorian of our graduating class, was also an important leadership. As a girl, I didn't have the same priesthood obligation to serve a mission that Jonathan did. Maybe my choice to voluntarily choose to serve a mission because it was the greatest desire of my heart could help to fill that gap. Anyway, as I considered all these things, I knew. Even though it would be another three years before I, as a woman, would be eligible to serve, I knew deep down in my bones that someday I would serve a mission, and I did. It is wonderful to me that you, as another woman, have that same dream and I hope with all my heart that someday your dream of serving a mission comes true, too.
I am also glad that I got a chance to grow up with my husband. We wrote letters to each other for six and a half years until we were both home from our respective missions and ready for marriage. Even though our connection was through letters, I never felt truly alone during the years of waiting to serve my mission, and a got the chance to make some wonderful friends in the mean time. Jared and I may have started our family five years later that you did, but we both have wonderful families, now. You and Jonathan have already weathered many of the parenting chalenges that we have yet to face. I am sure that you have gained a great deal of wisdom in the process, and I hope that if we are friends that there are things that we can all learn from one another. Sorry that this comment is sooo long, but there were a few things in it that I have wanted to share for a long time.
If there are any portions of these comments which you would prefer not to publish, that is fine with me. I just wanted to share my feelings with you, and this blog is the only way that I have to do that right now.
I forgot to mention in my other very lengthy comments, that I think that it is totally cool that Jared and I share the exact same anniversary as you and Jonathan, except that our wedding was five years later in the Mesa, Arizona temple.
That is a special temple for our family because five out of the six girls in our family were married there. Shannon has also had the two children that she and B.J. adopted sealed to them in that temple, too, so it is special for that reason as well. Shannon was also able to give birth to Hannah, their little miracle baby, this year, too--another reason for rejoicing.
Anyway, I think it is especially fun to share our anniversary with you guys, because I always liked having my birthday right next to Jonathan's when we were growing up. I can always remember when Jonathan's birthday is because I know that he is exactly one day older than me. Now, I will be able to remember when your anniversary is, too.
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