Our First Tree

It was just over a year ago, when my friend Sheila would deliver her wedding gift to us.  I have to say that it was one of the most thoughtful, and meaningful, gifts that I have ever recieved.  And little did Caleb and I know then how impactful it would be in the year ahead.

You see, before we got married, Sheila prayed and asked God for a verse that would be our theme verse for our marriage.  Through a random series of events, she felt led to give us the verse found in Jeremiah 17:8. 

"They will be like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." 

It wasn't until months later, that this made more sense to me.  

I have already expanded upon our story many times, of how hard our marriage has been health-wise (and therefore financially too) our first year of marriage.  Each week, for many months, seemed to get worse and worse.  The low point was the week of Christmas.  Caleb has a couple hundred cc units drained from his knee, the flare-ups went to his toes and looked like they were breaking them from within...and I had my surgery.  It must have been quite the sight to look at us at my follow-up appointments..me with a tube sticking out of my throat, bandages, totally swollen, and bruised...pushing Caleb in a wheelchair. 

Those were the times when I looked at that verse and had to choose faith.  It was during those heated times, when it felt like it was a prolonged stretch of drought, that we needed to keep on keeping on.  We needed to choose to believe God would get us through, and to keep reaching towards God to keep us alive and thriving. 

Then January came.  We had no clue going into it that this month would be any different.  In fact, I was trying to emotionally and mentally come to terms with whether or not I would be the one to provide for us if Caleb continued to go downhill as it looked like he may.  We had no clue.

It was the first weekend in January that, following our church service, that our church family circled around us and prayed for us.  Since that day, Caleb has not had a single flare-up.

Now, we didn't know that was the case that Sunday.  In fact, we walked away and I was probably more fearful to hope in that, to be honest.  I didn't want to be disappointed. 

Later that week, since he had so much trouble walking, he tripped over his pant leg and twisted his knee.  In the months past, if he just took a centimeter of a wrong move with each step he could flare.  So, twisting his knee should have put him out.

I will never forget that day.  I was home for the first day by myself since my surgery.  When he told me what happened I literally felt my stomach sink.  The feeling was literally physical.  But I turned on worship music and prayed.  A couple hours later, I would call Caleb and tell him that I didn't think he would flare.  Which if you know how concerned I can get is a miracle in itself.  I told him I felt like God was giving me assurance, for the first time in months, that he would be okay.  And guess what?!  He was!

Because of the prayers earlier that week, and the doctor changing his meds temporarily (which is a way of God answering prayer using medicine), Caleb didn't flare!  It was a miracle!

He got home, and as we thanked God, I told Caleb what I had been asking God all day.  I had been telling God I wanted to build and "monument" to represent the trial God brought us through this year.  You see, in the Old Testament, people would built monuments to rememember when God met them somewhere, or to remind them what God did for them.  And I never wanted to forget God's deliverance for us.  So, after asking God all day what that should look like in our lives, I felt like He told me to plant a tree.  Just like the verse talks about.  And each time in our marriage, when God delivers us through a trial, we will plant a tree.

So this weekend, we planted our first tree as a married couple!

Our friends, Rick and Steph, live on a dairy farm out in the country.  So Saturday morning they had us over for the most amazing breakfast.  We are talking steak, eggs, tons of fruit, etc!  Caleb was more than trilled and such a happy man! :)

Then we went outside to plant an apple tree.  Little did we how smart we were to ask them if we could do it at their place!  Rick has planted many fruit trees at their house.  They had the perfect place for it, even with a drip line to water it!  And since Caleb still isn't quite strong enough to use a shovel, Rick even did the work for us! haha! :)  We are just soooo thankful to them!

Being out at their house was such a fun time.  We loved spending time with their family...wow, their little kiddos made Caleb want to have kids! They are an amazing family.  And we are blessed that they are our friends.  They, along with our other family at Hillside, have meant the world to us this year.

Caleb has been saying he is thankful for summer to be here.  And it was even more symbolic that the day we planted our tree, seemed to be the first really hot day of our year.  He has said this last fall is when he fell.  The winter was during the time when he was down.  All spring he has been healing and getting better slowly.  And summer we expect him to really come back to full strength. 

We left their house at peace.  The drive home was beautiful.  The sun was shining, the wind was blowing through our windows, we held hands as we listened to country music.

And we are expectant.  And as the tree grows, we are hopeful.  And we never want to forget.  When our future kids grow up we want to take them back there, to play with Rick and Steph's kids.  And we will tell them that our first year of marriage was scary.  But God was with us.  We gained our strength and life from Him.  He provided friends to help us, and He loved us through them.  He provided in miraculous ways for us financially.  And when the church family prayed, the flare-ups stopped.  What an awesome God!  And we will tell our future kids one day, that we are so thankful that the trials brought Caleb and I closer to each other.  We needed to link arms and be teammates through this last year.  We trust each other, and God, more a result.

So bring on the summer...we are ready for it!  (And as the sun shines, we pray we will never forget!)