tell me again why we are waiting so long???

we've had a lot of people ask us that: why are you waiting until february? in fact, we probably ask each other that same question at least once a week. it seems so simple. fall in love, get married. we wish it was so simple....
we have both been in less than perfect relationships. we have both been responsible for our actions in failed marriages. neither one of us wants to repeat the same mistakes. we want to give ourselves every opportunity to have a godly, strong marriage. so we are waiting. we are spending this time getting to know each other on a much deeper level - knowing that we have made a commitment to each other. from time to time a situation comes up that throws us off the 'love wagon'. he responds a certain way, i respond a certain way - both in ways that are reflective of past behaviours; and we realize we are coming to this marriage with baggage, some of it stuff we thought we had dealt with; and in theory we had, but when faced with the same scenerio in real life with a real life person - the theory goes out the window. but we are commited to working through the crap. we are commited to each other and to God. we believe He has brought us together so we are relying on Him and His word to teach us better ways to communicate, respond, and love.
the wait is worth what we will gain as a couple. and no, we are not expecting life to be perfect after February 10. that will only be the first day of the rest of our journey together.
so we wait and learn and love.