JON ALLEN

Well Monday was another big day for Jess and I… our 7^th anniversary. I really can’t believe it has been that long. In some ways it feel like we blinked and it was gone, in other ways it feels to us like we have been together forever. I know some people would look at 7 years and think that is just the beginning and while it may be, to us it is a significant milestone. Seven is a hinge year. Most statistics that we have heard say that (aside from perhaps the first year) the seventh year is the hardest on a marriage. Not sure why that is, but Jess and I can say with certainty that it was true for us. Not that we had any major setbacks or any relationship ending knock-down-drag-outs, but simply because our relationship was tested beyond what it had been before. With the addition of a second child and the birth of a new campus, both of which have grown beyond our expectations, our relationship has been under tremendous stress (by the way, I don’t care what anyone may think, two kids is not double the work! One plus one does not equal two), however the stress has not ultimately pulled us apart, but rather together. I feel as close to Jess right now as I ever have in our life together. We owe every bit of that to God. If He hadn’t taught us and modeled for us the importance of sacrifice, humility, grace and love, we wouldn’t have made it through… but He did. Because of year seven I know that if He keeps us around that long, we will see year seventy.