Seventeen years and a day.

We have been married seventeen years and one day. Truthfully, it feels more like a day than seventeen years. I can say with great enthusiasm that there have been far more good days than bad, far more laughter than tears, and far more surreal moments than either of us expected!

I remember....
My nineteen year old bride's horror as she sat down to pay our bills for the first time only to discover that we had been billed for water. "Water?!? We pay for WATER?!?!" And in Gas City, Kansas, of all places....

I remember....
My own realization that our first 'ministry position' was quickly going the way of the square wheel and we needed to pack up and move on.

I remember....
A hike in the Badlands of North Dakota involved a staredown between us and a large rattlesnake.

I remember....
The day Jackson was born to the sound of cheers in the hallway where half of our youth group had gathered despite the glaring looks from the nursing staff.

I remember....
The waffles I was eating when I broke the news to Kelsey that "I think we ought to plant a church..." and she ran to get her journal to show me she'd written the same thing days before.

I remember....
Kelsey asking "Have you ever heard of this church in Pensacola?"

I remember....
Bringing Grayson home from the hospital in a limo, courtesey of some friends...and the limo driver having great difficulty negotiating our steep East Tennessee driveway without tearing the exhaust system off of his ride.

I remember....
Returning from Boston to find Kelsey in the church parking lot, telling me that the sale of the house had fallen through (after we'd signed a lease on a condo).

I remember....
Holding her hand by the side of my dad's hospital bed as we watched his heart rate steadily drop until the alarms began to buzz.

I remember....
Too few years later, when we went through the same thing with both of her parents within a hundred day window.

I remember....
Kelsey returning from Nashville to tell me "There's this guy named Lou Engle...and he's got this event called The CallDC, and it's the same time as this weird thing called Burning Man."

I remember....
Kelsey sitting on the bed looking at material from IHOP and weeping as the Lord told her "You were made to do this..."

I remember....
Staring into space after I realized that I'd agreed to name our unborn son "Zion".

I remember....
Kelsey doing 90% of the work of packing our home in Pods, while I was consumed with running SOS right before we left for KC.

I remember....
Last year's anniversary dinner on the rooftop patio of the Hotel Washington, overlooking the White House.

I remember....
A whole lotta good. Happy anniversary, Kelsey.