Happy 5th Anniversary Mallory and David

Today is another special day (see June 4th blog) in the Mitchell family.  Mallory and David celebrate  their 5th anniversary. Wow.  That's all I can say.

As a noted (at least by me) parenting expert, I predicted the day I met David this relationship would never work.  David was the starting high school QB, Mallory couldn't spell the word football.  David went to West Point to QB.  Mallory went to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech.  "A long distance relationship will never work" I muttered to my wife.  David graduated from West Point and Mallory graduated from North Texas.  They were talking about getting married. "No way" I said to myself because my wife stopped listening to me. I grew up in the Army and I knew Mallory could never survive the times of loneliness, war, terror, worry, politics, military red tape and moving from one command post to another. 

They still got married.  

After the honeymoon, he left for 9 months of Ranger school.  Shortly after that, He left for a fun-filled year in Iraq. They missed virtually every holiday, birthday and anniversary because of two years of separation.  Skype was their friend. They've moved from New Jersey to Colorado Springs (not bad) to Lawton, OK (bad as it gets).  But Mallory survived,  growing stronger in the process.  She stayed on base by herself instead of moving home.  She was determined to make the military her ministry, attend grad school to get her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and wait  for her husband to come home. 

She and David have the strongest military marriage possible, which is light years stronger than a civilian marriage.  Mallory loves God, her country and the men and women (especially) who sacrifice their marriages for you and I.  I've learned so much about marriage just by watching them from a distance.  I am so thankful they are physically closer (I know it's Lawton, Ok.) and we can see them more.  David is going to Captains school (even though he has been a Captain for two years), they have one more year of military commitment and who knows what's down the road for them.  Mallory is busy counseling families.  She reminds me of my parenting issues from time to time.  They chase around a crazy dog named Nala. They are committed to the local church and God's call on their lives. One day, they will be great parents.  

I am so thankful that Mallory and David continue to prove me wrong every day.  We love David and thank God for him.  What doesn't seem probable is when God does His best work.   

Happy Anniversary guys!