I tend to be a fairly punctual person. Showing up on time, or even a bit early, is something I think I got from my dad. Appointments, visiting friends, catching a plane. I arrive with time to spare. Somehow, this practice of punctuality did not apply to life’s milestone moments: I did not pursue my fine arts writing degree until I was 27. I didn’t meet my husband until I was 34. I didn’t have my first baby until I was 40. And, well, I still haven’t really figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

But for right now, I am a mama of two sweet little girls who are 4 {Chloe} and 6 {Brigid} and who put me through the paces of growth in my faith and my self-control on a daily basis (sometimes, moment to moment). They also tend to keep me young. And tired. And joy-filled. Even if I don’t always realize it in the moment.

And I am a wife to David, one amazingly talented composer and music lover. We started a conversation in June, 2000 and we continue aspects of that still. He challenges me in many ways. He encourages me in many more. He prays for me and he chooses to love me no matter what.

And for right now, I am a writer. A blogger here and a writer of novels and plays at my dining room table. Or in my favorite rocking chair in the living room. Or at the local coffee house. I’ve dabbled. I’ve queried. I’ve doubted.

But now, I write. I create the stories that my mind sees and hears and cannot ignore. And I blog.

I started this blogging journey on January 1, 2011 {at a no-longer-working URL} as Love in Marriage and as a challenge to myself to find at least one reason each day why I loved my husband. It was a wonderfully successful journey. And then, I wasn’t quite sure where to go from there. But I wasn’t quite ready to call it quits in encouraging others in choosing to love their spouses. To be a quiet voice that whispers to the hearts of men and women that love is a choice. It is always a choice.

This idea – that love is a choice – has been tested often. But never did I imagine the ways it would be tested. Especially recently. When challenges come. When vows strain and break. When fallible spouses hurt each other. Those are the times when the choice matters. That is when we get to choose whether we will love our spouse no matter what.

As for me. I do. And so this blog remains a testimony to love, to marriage, to relationship and to faith.