Reflections on 15 Years of Marriage

On Saturday, November 25, 2006, as the first-responder vehicles part of the Thanksgiving parade proceeded on the street just outside First Baptist Church, I married Lauren Elizabeth Duff in Hillsboro, Ohio and she took my last name. I had just turned 20 and Lauren was 19.

At the end of July 2007 the Lord blessed us with our first son. Josiah David was born at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

Near the end of June 2008, our second son Elihu James was born, also at Miami Valley Hospital.

At the end of December 2009, our third son Solomon Emmanuel was born at home in Jamestown, Ohio in the wee hours of the morning. The midwives were late to our planned homebirth. So we delivered him on our own the day before New Year’s Eve.

In 2010 Lauren and I found out we were pregnant again. But we decided to keep the news to ourselves for a while. Our hearts broke when Lauren miscarried, and we wrestled for a long time after with whether we had cared too much what people would say about our being pregnant again so soon after Solomon.

May 2011 our fourth son Daniel Joseph was born at home in Hillsboro, Ohio. On the encouragement of the midwives, since we had done so well with our first unassisted homebirth, I delivered Daniel as well – on Star Wars Day, no less.

After 5-years of marriage, in July 2012, Lauren and our four boys followed me out West and we moved into our rental home in the countryside north of Glendive, Montana – my hometown. I had just landed a job as a lease operator with ConocoPhillips and started my career in Oil and Gas. Our nearest neighbor was 5-miles away as the crow flies.

Near the end of September 2013, our daughter Evelyn Grace was born at home with the help of a very dear midwife Lauren had found in the area.

In April 2014 we bought and moved into our first home in Sidney, Montana.

December 2015, our fifth son Enoch Theophilus was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Miles City. We had hoped and planned for another homebirth with the assistance of a midwife, but were relieved all the same that everything worked out.

October 2016, I decided to leave my first Oil and Gas job with ConocoPhillips to explore other options.

January 2017, I started a new venture with Zedi and worked my way into Automation by the end of the year.

Toward the end of May 2018, our sixth son John Lazarus was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Miles City, Montana. Once again, we had hoped and planned for a homebirth, but the Lord had other plans.

Approaching 13-years of marriage at the beginning of September 2019, Lauren and I moved our family to Greeley, Colorado as I took a job with Sterling Energy. After seven years in remote Eastern Montana, our primary driver was a prayer for better access to resources for healthcare and education. God has answered that prayer richly thus far.

Twice in 2020 – once in February and a second time in June – we suffered two miscarriages. The first Lauren learned at the ultrasound was an ectopic; the second was a miscarriage at home. Again, our hearts broke.

November 2021, Lauren and I got away to a cabin in the mountains, just the two of us, for three days and two nights to celebrate my 35th birthday, our 15th wedding anniversary, and the landing of a new job with Eagle Automation.

By God’s grace, we have come a long ways, and are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us from here on – particularly with an eighth child and seventh son due January 2022. His name is Andrew Matthias. 

This is our story so far.

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