LOVE YOUR SPOUSE CHALLENGE

There has been this "Love Your Spouse Challenge" going around on Facebook and I thought I would share my thoughts on it. The challenge was to post photos with your spouse for seven days and tag 2 people each day to keep the Celebration of Love going and to promote marriage.

I think it's great!!! It gives you a chance to:
*Promote a healthy marriage.
*Recall some of your most fond memories with your spouse.
*Brag about your spouse.
*Build up your spouse.
*Talk highly about your marriage.
*Reminisce a little.

I love seeing everyone's posts and the memories that they are choosing to share. I love that it highlights marriage! It highlights people talking highly about their spouse and their marriage. There is so much negativity right now in the world and among people, I feel like this is something worth getting on Facebook for!

As I was doing this "challenge", a couple things caught my attention. I noticed some people saying that they didn't have time for this. I know we are all busy, I know we have a million things going on, and I know Facebook is not/should not be the focus of our day. BUT, your spouse is worth it! I'd say you don't have the time not to! I know it's hard to commit to something for 7 days, but honestly, it's only 7 days! And who cares if you forget a day...give yourself a little grace. Just pick it back up the day after you forgot!

I also realize marriage is not always smiles and sunsets, but your marriage IS worth talking highly of! I will always remember this quote from the movie Just Married - "You never see the hard days in a photo album, but those are the ones that get you from one happy snap shot to the next." Some might say that these photos and this challenge are portraying a false picture of what marriage is. I disagree. Social media can do that, but I also think the pictures people share are genuine to how they feel in that moment. I think we can all agree that no one has it all figured out. I post things because I want to highlight the great things going on in life and because I love my family and want to share. When I'm going through struggles or hard times, I have a close group of friends/family that I talk to and choose to share this information with because I know they will give me sound advice. There is never a right time to bash your spouse, there is a right time to talk to someone about struggles or hard times for the sake of growing! I don't want to air my dirty laundry to the world and get the worlds opinion, because most worldly advice is not healthy or what is truly best for my marriage. So, I choose to post the happy times!

All of this to say...I was challenged to promote marriage and I did it! Trevor and I don't have it all figured out, but we do have a marriage built on a solid foundation, so I am confident that we can tackle anything together! And that is worth sharing!

Here are the seven photos I chose and why...

This was the start of it all! This was taken April 17th, 2010...the day that Trevor got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. 

This was one of our engagement photos. It was taken in Holland, MI, which is one of my favorite places. I have gone there since I was a little girl. The first time Trevor came with my family we had this really neat evening where we were on the beach playing frisbee just having an amazing time, and for some reason we both just knew this was it...we were going to be each others other half. This photo was taken exactly 6 years ago! 

College was such an amazing time for both of us. We have a LOVE for OSU and a LOVE for Greek Life.  Some of the most memorable experiences in college came from Date Parties. They were seriously so much fun! I'm so glad I got to experience them with the person I will experience forever with! This was probably our favorite date party - Mathletes and Athletes!

I absolutely LOVED my job in Branson. It was seriously the BEST job...well, besides being a mommy! :) Not many people know that Trevor and I actually worked together at Silver Dollar City. We got married in June of 2011 and Trevor lived with me in Branson after that until he started work at EY in August of that year back in Tulsa. He didn't want to sit at home doing nothing, so my boss got him a job 2 days a week outside the Saloon theatre (which is where I worked). I had a feeling then that it wouldn't be our last time working together!...hello Armor Accounting! 

The 5th day of this challenge fell on a Sunday, so what better picture to post than a picture at CHURCH! We LOVE our church, we love our lifegroup and we love what both of these things have done for our marriage! We want everyone to experience this, so this is the photo I chose for the day. I absolutely love that Trevor is the spiritual leader in our home. He truly inspires me each and every day. If I'm being transparent here, this is NOT where our marriage started. We didn't go to church until we were married for about a year and we really didn't get actively involved in the church until we were married for about 2 and a half years. It is never too late! We are totally different people from where we started and I am so thankful that we changed together and we accepted each others growth and transformation. Growing up, family would always say that your marriage needed to be built on Christ and I didn't really know what that meant at first. Although we survived the first few years without him, we are totally and completely in awe of what he has done in and through us. We would not have the marriage we have today without the love of Jesus!

Trevor and I love to travel. It's at the top of our list to do every year. We put a good chunk of our money aside to save up for vacations because it is a priority to us. This was taken in South Carolina which was one of our favorite trips. I can't really pinpoint why, but I feel like we grew so much closer during this trip.

This was taken last fall break (October of 2015). This is the day we randomly bought a Harley. We decided over fall break to have a "staycation" and do things around Tulsa that we've never done. That statement couldn't have been any truer! We are not usually spur-of-the-moment people, nor do we make irrational decisions very often, but this day was different. I love those spontaneous moments that creep in our lives! It keeps us on our toes! This was also the day we got pregnant! Ha! 

Well, there you have it! LOVE YOUR SPOUSE CHALLENGE!
I have loved reading everyone's posts on this! What a way to promote marriage and add some positivity on Facebook! Now my challenge is for you to not only post on Facebook these great memories, but talk to your spouse about them and why you chose those photos and those memories to share!