My Covenant and Denbigh's Hair

I was looking through some old pictures of me and my man and I thought y'all might need to see his hair over our years of life together. I would also like to applaud the Lord Jesus for holding things together. We have had a lot to overcome as a couple and Jesus is so faithful. I can testify if you ever need anyone to talk to. 

Back to my man's hair. So. You can watch it change and see the styling products he used and the tools he had over the years. And he's going to kill me for this post. But, let me tell y'all one thing. I have a couple of great weapons in my being married arsenal. The first is of course, Jesus and the gospel He preaches deep into my heart every day. Second is basic human kindness. Speak to and about your spouse with great care. If we are guarding a covenant, we should act like it's important enough to lavish love on. The third thing is to laugh. We have approximately forty billion little inside jokes. I mean some things could really suck the life out of you if you didn't laugh at them. Choose to laugh. Make fun. Tease about things that don't hurt the other person. Secretly my man loves the hair attention because HE IS A DIVA!! You should see all the dressing room selfies he sends me (and he should thank God right now that I am not putting them on the interwebs). Four views of one pair of pants. You guys. You should also see him try to do the Running man. He makes me giggle so. Hip Hop artist he is not. 

We are still learning. We have made great friends who are hard core fantastic. We have loved and lost babies. We have been slandered and hurt by the church and we have found solace in her.  I think we are best friends and I also think we are still learning about what this thing is all about.

Bathing it in prayer. Covering it with laughter.

I love this man and his coiffure.

 The first baby God lent to us outside of the womb.

 This girl and this old house we bought have taught me some serious humility. 

 Then, one year we had matching hairstyles. Um, this almost did me in. It's just not okay to match hair. We also had matching bags (purses!) one year, but we don't talk about that.

 And so we learned to laugh and love through the hardest and most blessed of days.

day after 

day... 

 We lost people we love and learned to celebrate through pain.

 We prayed over and he married many people. 

Sometimes we go to Tastee Freeze so we can sing about Jack and Diane together. 

Here's a little ditty about Jack and Diane...outside the Tastee Freeze...

We have adopted, loved, toured with, and helped raise bookoos of adult people. Like these...

 and this one...

 and we made more babies ...

 and helped people learn to get along...

 and we made more babies...

 and we adopted more people . . .

 and more people. . .

 and all my man's dreams came true when someone gave him what I refer to as his "girlfriend"...

 and we have been blessed to share the best memories...

 with the best people...

 and created some of the best days...

 and we adopted more people...

 and his hair has stood up through it all...

 even through adopting Fritz :) ...

 and these two wildcats...

 and we cared for some of God's best things...

and we have longstanding relationships that are a testament to God's goodness...

all the way back to when God spoke to my heart to marry him while reading Ephesians long ago. We think God's call is a draw to the easy road, but in reality, it's something we can remember when we face so much in this life. He calls us to war for another human being, to seek the best and most beautiful things in them, to remind them of their best selves. Covenant is a battle because it is holy. It is sacred. It is precious. Ode to a man who is kind and a God who is always good.

Your hair looks real, real good, baby.

(There are many more precious friends I did not have photos of, but you know you are loved).

Happy Anniversary, Denbigh Shay Cherry.