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Marybeth Hancher

Marybeth Hancher

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Decade

August 18, 2020

On my ten year wedding anniversary. (August 7, 2020)

I cannot translate us into words;
our intimacy will always
transcend our skin.

mch


The other night before bed, my husband said something to me that was so beautiful. We had been torn apart with pain after losing another of our beloved fur sons, and while each of us grieves separately and in our own way, we still have the capacity, the strength, to set aside our personal pain to dive in with the other when we’re needed. We band together while still finding ways to respect each others space, timing, and tears. I need to talk, Dana needs to think. He zigs, I zag. But, in the end, we still land on the same path.

Our conversations are sacred; they belong to no one but us. But his last line before he held me close in bed that night, tears running down both of our faces, was this:
“Thank you, Marybeth. Thank you for suffering with me.”


You won’t hear that in wedding vows. It’s not pretty enough. It’s a little too honest. We celebrate the joys of marriage, yes. In a good great relationship, there will be much joy. But in time, after the wedding gifts have been unwrapped, after the dust settles, that is where true intimacy has the ability to take center stage. There, during the trials of life and moments of diagnoses, disasters, despairs, and even death, we can find a closeness and connection that is deeper than our skin.

I pray you have that.
I pray you can find that.


Dana, when you asked, “Will you marry me?” I know the layers beneath that question. You were asking—

Do you want to tread this trail of highs and lows in the same way I only want to walk it with you? Do you trust holding hands and taking this life-hike with me? Do you know that even though we won’t have a trail map to warn us when the terrain gets rough, you’ll still want to be with me knowing it’s worth the adventure simply because we’re doing it together? Will you let me love you the way you were meant to be loved, a way no one else has loved you before? Will you be open and vulnerable alongside me as we learn and grow, messing up and starting over? Do you want to walk as an us the same way I do? And when we make it to the shoreline and the waves crash around us, will you laugh with me and jump the water or dive in, hand in hand, arms out, bodies intertwined? Will you stay there beside me, wrapped around me, fighting the current until we either drown together or resurface stronger? I’m in if you’re in.


I’m in. Of course, I’m in. I’ve been here for ten years, and I’ll remain here forever— fingers wrapped, rings touching, yes?
Yes.
XO, MB

in Marriage

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Marybeth

Family Storyteller + Illustrator here to support you & your creativity. Thanks for joining me!
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I anticipate December being our best homeschool mo I anticipate December being our best homeschool month yet. Kinda easy when the curriculum is adorable & fun and the activities are endless! ❤️Last night as I was planning the week, I came across a shop on Etsy called @noahsschoolhouse that has the cutest little Nativity Story set with character study cards, word scramble activities, a booklet with the story that includes questions and a glossary, and more. It’s going to be so sweet to get this out each day as we learn.I laminated them so we can use dry erase markers to dig in a little more. Today she underlined every time we came across a name so we can study the people first. (We learned all the times in the Bible the angel Gabriel appeared to someone with a message from God, along with his name meaning so that was fun to talk about.) Next I’ll have her underline some of the places and events to study those, too.Our copywork includes Christmas songs and verses. We’ve got poems and lessons to learn about how others celebrate Christmas across the globe. She gets to practice for her little church performance which will be so cute to see! We’ll be making decorations and baking and calling it math & science and being ok with that. 😉 Like I said, it’s gonna be a great month. 🎄Fellow home-teacher-moms… what are your plans? 🥰
❤️ Thanksgiving 2024 🦃 I’m so happy my pa ❤️ Thanksgiving 2024 🦃 I’m so happy my parents could join us this year! I loooove hosting Thanksgiving & I actually really enjoy the many hours (or days 😆) of prepping and baking and creating the very best dinner I can serve the people I love… in the prettiest way possible. This year, Dana spatchcocked the turkey (which freaked Natasha out when she saw what looked like him performing a very sloppy CPR on the bird 😂) and it turned out great! I realized we no longer had the charcuterie board we once had, so Dana said, “Give me 20 minutes” and emerged from his woodshop with a fine slab of cherry wood and the most beautiful peacock shaped handles to adorn it. (Matches all the other peacock decor in our house. 😍) It’s funny how we’re typically not fancy people until I host a dinner night, then suddenly it’s all table runners & cloth napkins. But even if all we had that evening was canned corn and the cranberry sauce that never loses the shape of the can eaten on cheap paper plates in the middle of my living room… well, that also would have been enough. I have been blessed in abundance my entire life, not necessarily in riches but always in love. On Thanksgiving and every day, I am so grateful! ❤️I hope you all had a lovely one, too! 🥰
“Then if my people who are called by my name wil “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14Humble. Pray. Turn. Seek. Heal. ❤️
We prayed. We voted. We wait. “As for me and my We prayed. We voted. We wait.“As for me and my house…”No matter the outcome, we serve the Lord & we trust Him.Your will be done, God. ❤️
Every second I get to spend with my sweet Natasha Every second I get to spend with my sweet Natasha is a gift like no other. She is growing quickly, and while I may feel sentimental and a little sad at times about how fast childhood goes, I’ll never be sad about seeing the beautiful, intelligent, Jesus loving, cat cuddling big kid she’s becoming. She gives the most heartfelt handmade gifts, draws the cutest and funniest pictures, asks the best questions, plays the silliest games, has the wildest imagination, feels everything deeply, is the very best little sister to Nadia, and makes friends everywhere she goes. I couldn’t be more proud to be her mother! So on her 6th birthday, we’ll eat cake, decorate with all things unicorns, and Dana and I will (as we do every birthday) end the night smiling, maybe a little teary eyed, and feeling unbelievably thankful that we were given the best gift of all. Raising this girl is such a joy!Happy birthday, my darling Tashie! ❤️
The other day I posted a story asking if anyone wa The other day I posted a story asking if anyone wanted to form a bookclub of sorts and read this with me… I didn’t anticipate that @lisabevere would share it to her own stories and that I’d receive a big YES from more than my local friends! 🙌🏻 Truthfully, I was really only thinking of my church sisters since I don’t necessarily hang out on social media much these days 🫣, but the Lord is pressing it on my heart to go for it and take the lead because this is a battle both near and far, and we have to fight it together. So for those that didn’t see my story, if you’d like to join a small group of females ready to fight the good fight to take back the identity God has given us since the beginning— grab this book! Let’s kick off next week. Read at your own pace but plan to discuss about 3 chapters each week (the chapters aren’t long but man are they powerful!). I’ll share some posts here on IG to get us talking, but if there is any interest in a Facebook group for easier (and more!) discussion, I’d be happy to make one of those, too. Share your thoughts on that, will ya? ⬇️
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