A Knight's Tale

     Tomorrow will be mine and hubby's fourth wedding anniversary. It's incredibly hard to believe that four years have come and gone. In some ways, it feels like there's no way we've been married for four years. In other ways, it feels like we've been together a lot longer than four years. For instance, I never would have imagined that after only four years I would have a two year old and an almost one year old. On the other hand, I do not feel old enough to have a two year old, an almost one year old, and to have been married for four years.

     Our love story is not your typical love story.  You know, love at first sight and falling head over heels. Side note: I have never understood "falling in love" or "falling head over heels". Love isn't a mud puddle that you fall head over heels and splat into, but maybe that's just me. Anyways, ours was not love at first sight, it was "eh" at first sight, and then, I don't remember how or why, but one day we did start talking and then a little over a year later we got married.

     There you have it, "Eh" at first sight turned into marriage and two babies. Through it all, though, my hubby has been my knight in shining armor. When we met, my family lived in Florida where my dad was pastoring, but I had moved back to Alabama and I was living with my old youth pastor, his wife, and their daughter. After "eh" turned into a friendship and possibly something more, my knight in shining armor went and asked permission to date me from my youth pastor and my dad. These days, not many guys even ask the father's permission to marry a girl, much less to date her; and then on top of that to ask two people for permission would probably be out of the question for most guys.

     We hadn't been dating for very long before my knight in shining armor came to my rescue. You see, I was quite poor and I had some debt. So between gas, food, and paying off debt, I didn't have a lot of extra money for anything else. I had a little pay as you go phone that was like a half step above a flip phone. I pretty much used that phone to talk to my mom and that was it... until we started dating. Well, using up my minutes and only being able to call at certain times got really old fast, so my knight decided to rescue me from the stone age and buy me my first smart phone. Needless to say, at this point we knew we were getting married. Nothing like a phone contract for a commitment!

     Six months after we started dating, my knight proposed. Again, he went and got permission before he asked. Sometimes I still wonder how we ended up where we are, especially considering my dad's initial answer was "no" 😲 . After my dad gave permission, my knight set it all up for me to come visit his family since he was going to be there for a hunting trip.  Then on opening day of gun season, after hunting of course, we went out to dinner with his family and some friends. After dinner, he disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back he had my parents on Skype. He asked me to stand up, he got down on one knee, and popped the question. I was so shocked, and I believe at one point someone asked "wait, did she ever actually say 'yes' ? ".

       Two months after we got engaged, my knight came to my rescue again. I had wrecked my car and like I said before, I was quite poor. There was absolutely zero money or credit for a car. For a week I stayed with a friend and she gave me rides to and from work so that I wouldn't lose my job. During that time, my knight went searching and bought me a car! Yes, we were engaged, but we weren't married yet and he did not have to buy that car for me, but he did.

     Four months later we were married, 

and for four years now my knight in shining armor has been coming to my rescue and keeping me in complete awe of him. It's not just the big things that make him my knight, but the little things too. Like taking the kids when they are both crying so that I can have some time. Or the time that he helped me wash out the puked in car seat in the hotel bath tub (That one was just yesterday, by the way). Or all the work that he does every day to provide for our family and to get us to the field that God has called us to. My hubby truly is an amazing man and he's above and beyond anything that I ever could have asked for.

     Right now my knight is fending off the kids so that I can finish writing, but I wanted to end with this question. What are some things that you appreciate about your knight?