Robert and Dawn

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!

Robert and I have been sweethearts for a VERY long time!!  It's hard to imagine that this May we will have known each other for 40 years!!!!!!  Right from the beginning I liked how he walked and how he talked.  I loved the twinkle in his eye.  I admired his sharp mind; his quick wit; and how he was a natural leader. He's an amazing man of God and I am sooo blessed to be a part of his life in a VERY significant way.  I am honored to be his wife!

We had a rough spell, though, around 8 years of marriage.  In fact we were separated for 4 months while we worked on the traumas we each had suffered in our growing up years. I had to get to work on recovering from incest and he had to focus on how alcoholism had damaged him. 

I had taken our 18 month old daughter to live in Bismarck where I had found a counselor who specialized in incest recovery.  Robert stayed home and worked on ending his partnership in the family farm.  As the recovery started to work, I saw how the incest I lived through had affected our marriage.  I began to see that Robert wasn't the enemy, just because he was a male, like those who had molested me for 7 years.  He had nothing to do with that whatsoever!!!

Our 8th anniversary came during the separation and Robert made it very memorable for our little family.  Robert drove 4 hours to take me to our most favorite restaurant and later to a Steve Green concert while a friend watched our little girl.

I will always remember the tears flowing down both of our cheeks as Steve and his wife sang CHERISH THE TREASURE!  How close we had come to throwing away our marriage, due to outside pressures, when we loved each other immensely!

 God used that song to remind us of our love for each other!!  In fact, this song sung that night as we pondered the future of our marriage, quite possibly saved our marriage from divorce!  This is super significant as I ponder that, had Robert and I ended our marriage then, our 2 sons would never have been born.  THEY WOULD NOT EXIST!

I share this song with the hopes that all sweethearts everywhere will remember how much they love each other.  Marriage is a gift from God and spouses are treasures beyond compare!! 

I love you sweetie!!!

Dawn