Our 10 Years Wedding Anniversary: Part 1

Yesterday, was a very special day. Exactly 10 years ago yesterday, Jonny and I got married...

Since it was a work day, we didn't do much to celebrate. But Jonny surprised me with these beautiful red flowers, a lovely card and breakfast in bed - coffee and a heart-shaped cookie he baked himself from scratch :-).

I decided to mark the occasion, by honoring him through a speech, given in front of other couples from our Church (we meet with them most Thursday nights). Jonny was surprised and very touched. A friend video-taped it for us and since it has so much meaning, I thought I would share it with you too. You can watch the video below, or read the transcript at the bottom - or do both! :-)

Tomorrow, Saturday, we will be celebrating more...

Speech given at marrieds meeting at Curt’s house on the night of our 10th anniversary, to honor my dear husband.


Exactly 10 years ago today, on July 15th 2000, we got married. Today, I want to honor you, my dear husband, in front of the other married couples from our Church family.

You were 22 years old and I was 23 when we got married. We had already been together for 7 years, since the age of 15, when you “asked me to go out with you”. We had already been through a lot together: we finished challenging high school years in Singapore, then we moved to England for college, got used to being foreigners together in London - a big, unknown city; moved homes often; completed our undergraduate degrees; started our graduate degrees, and the list goes on…

But since we got married, we have been through a lot more together. One of the most special memories is that I had the privilege of seeing you give your life to Christ, a year after we got married. And, just as God had told me not long after my conversion about 3 years earlier, we were baptized together in November of 2001. It was amazing to see you go from complete unbelief (I remember you used to say: “God? I’m perfectly fine the way I am, I don’t need to believe in God”) to believing wholeheartedly in the risen Lord. And to see the growth in your faith over the last 9 years, your love for Jesus, your knowledge of his Word, your passion for theology, is truly an awe-inspiring miracle and proof of the truth and power of the Gospel.

In 2003 we had the courage to leave what we had grown used to, living in England, and move to a new country together, to a place where we practically knew no one. It was God-ordained; today we can see there was a purpose in us moving here. But it was not for the worldly reasons that we desired at the time: great jobs, better weather (sunlight and hot long summers), bigger homes, central heating and air-conditioning, big fridges, and other American conveniences. No, it was for the purpose of our growth and to know and depend on Jesus more.

The last 7 years living here have not been easy. Yes, we have had wonderfully blessed moments and seasons, but overall, they have been difficult. Adjusting to a new culture; being far away from family and friends; having to make new friends and experiencing loneliness; your post-doc at Hopkins required a lot of perseverance on your part and even after 6 years, your main project didn’t really succeed; a lot of time apart from each other in the first 4 years due to my work’s travel requirements, and other challenges… The hardest of all, of course, was losing our first precious son, Jonathan David at the beginning of 2007. At least 2 years of our lives here were marked by grief.

But you know what is so amazing about all of this? Is that due to all that we have been through together, especially all the difficulties, my love for you has just grown stronger and deeper. And this is a true blessing from God. You have remained faithful – to God, to me and to our children. You have a servant’s heart, always looking to serve your family and expecting nothing in return. You have demonstrated strength, a steadfast love that I did not know you possessed when we first got married. I will never forget, for example, how for months, literally for months, during Jonathan David’s pregnancy, you held me every night as I cried to sleep – you were always present, always loving, always kind, always patient.

Today, I look at you with different eyes than I did the day we got married, for now I truly know the man I married: a God-fearing, faithful, loving, caring, tender, self-sacrificing, strong and solid man. I am so blessed to be married to you, to be the woman that God chose to be by your side and go through all of life with you. And not only are you the most wonderful husband, you are an amazing father. Jonathan David and Daniel are so blessed to have you as their father. I believe Jonathan David felt the depth of your love in the few hours we had with him; I remember how you looked at him and held him tenderly. And Daniel, he feels so happy and safe by your side; he knows his Papai is a special man. He is so blessed to have you as a role-model and this brings me such joy.

Jonny, today on the day of our wedding anniversary, may you know how much I love you. Words cannot describe how strongly I feel for you, but I hope that by honoring you today with what I have said, you have felt some of this love. I look forward to the rest of our lives together and all that God has planned for us to go through. We have learned more recently that what makes life really special are treasuring the everyday, little moments of life. So let’s continue to acknowledge, enjoy and be grateful for every single little moment that God blesses us with.

I have to end by thanking God, our Lord Jesus, for you. For you are who you are, because of Him. All the qualities I just described about you are of the Servant King, and are evidences of God’s Spirit working in and through you.

Thank you Lord for my husband. Thank you for saving him, for bringing us together at a young age, for blessing our marriage of 10 years, and for showing Your love and presence through all that he is. I pray that our marriage would continue to go stronger and our love for one another deeper. Most importantly, I pray that he would continue to grow in knowing You and be used to touch the lives of many others, for Your glory. Amen.