My Momventure: Describe the Relationship With Your Spouse

Ben and I met when we were 15 years old at our church youth group. I was friends with his sister first, and didn’t even know they were brother and sister for about a month-you know how teenagers are! I should note that they have a much closer relationship now.

He was one of those guys who didn’t care what other people thought about him. Some of his friends were what some people might have viewed as "different", but Ben has always taken time to know people before he judged them. If you've never had a chocolate milk drinking contest, you're not hanging out with the right people (you boys know who you are!) We were friends for a long time before we started dating.

Ben asked me out on December 30^th. The first time we held hands, we were watching “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman”. Our first kiss was on Easter, after a trip to a Mexican orphanage with our youth group.

We’ve overcome big hurdles. When we started dating, we lived in different towns and only saw each other on the weekends. Being in different grades, Ben left for college in Boise when I was a senior in high school. In college, Ben went to Army basic training in Missouri (or Misery as he called it), for 3 months where I only received about 10 or less phone calls and some letters, which I still have to this day. And then in our 4^th(?) year of marriage he left for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. These things have made us a strong couple. It was so difficult but we made it!

Even though we’ve been together since we were teenagers, we are constantly trying to communicate and work on our relationship. It’s important to keep getting to know each other. Each day is work and I love it. And now we have this amazing baby boy and I am so glad we share him and have added “parent” to our list of jobs. Ben is my best friend and I couldn’t imagine being married to anyone else. I love you Benjamin!