August 14, 2015
I first met Carrie and Peter on the other side of the camera. I attended a workshop by Amy and Jordan in Phoenix this past March, and these two beautiful people were our models! Soon after they were in front of our cameras, they switched gears and attended the remainder of the workshop as a husband and wife photographer team. Though I adore their photography and can relate to their husband and wife team, what I’ve enjoyed most about them since we met is how open they are about their marriage, their parenting, their joy and their frustrations. I respect how authentic they are with such a passion for Jesus at the center of their family.
Because marriage has been the focus of my new Featured Fridays series, I wanted them to share their wisdom on the blog. Having 8 years under their belt, they have more to share than Jordan and I and are able to articulate their journey so well. Marriage is truly a blessing, a refining tool, an adventure and a fun commitment. They share their heart for marriage so beautifully and encouragingly.
I’m happy to have them featured today! Their story is shared below!
“As the sun peeked through the windows, I rolled over and began to open my eyes. There he was. My husband. Twelve hours earlier we had gotten married followed by a night of dancing and celebrating. I stared at him as he slept, thinking, “holy cow, that’s my husband!” Loving him was easy.
As the honeymoon came to an end, we boarded our flight home to start the every day. Life as husband and wife. Being young, we had plenty of people warn us that the first year could be pretty hard and to be prepared to work at it. So we waited for it. And waited. And waited. And finally when it didn’t show up we cheersed to our first year and went on our way.
You see life with Peter was sweet. It wasn’t complicated. It wasn’t strict or rigid. It was home. We stayed up late watching our favorite TV series. We went to Taco Bell at 2am. We laughed, we argued, we wrestled, we learned. We sang “even though we ain’t got money I’m so in love with you honey” as we walked hand in hand to the apartment office to drop off our rent that we scraped together with scholarship money and a part time job.
For us, the first several years of marriage were pretty simple. It was just us. Our needs, desires and hopes. We fought from time to time but never long or deep enough to question if we wanted to stick it out. It was a season of life that “you make loving you easy” could have been playing in the background and we both would have been tapping our feet with the beat.
Fast forward a few years. Throw a few kids in the mix. As well as a new business venture, a promotion at work, house projects, business deadlines and three growing, loud and energetic little girls. Whoa! Life went from simple to world spinning crazy in what felt like a blink of an eye.
We both recognized that this was a perfect time for our marriage to take a back seat to the busy lives we were leading. After all, the kids need to be fed, played with, invested in, and loved. Not to mention the growing business needs attention and the new position at work takes more diligence and energy.
And yet, God in His overwhelming grace and love, gently reminded us that he was with us. That our marriage was his. That loving each other well and putting our marriage back in focus was a choice. That loving each other well was a choice. A choice that he alone gave us the strength to make and he alone gave us the ability to execute.
And so, all praise and glory to God, we continue to make the choice to love each other every day. Continuing to prank one another, pursue one another and be passionate about one another. Because when life gets crazy, busy, and hectic….well we just think there ain’t no better time to run in the arms of your spouse and like two kids running through a splash pad for the first time say “1,2,3 goocooooooooooo!” Because together, you are so much greater than apart.
-Carrie Zimmer
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