Today is a day worthy of celebration in my book. It’s my husband’s birthday. This is the 17th birthday that I have been by his side to celebrate with him. I know that I am biased, but I am a blessed wife. Otis is an amazing guy. Looking back at our stories and how God brought us together, its a humbling thing. To know without a doubt that this is the man that God wrote into my love story, makes me so very thankful.
This is the guy that is everything to me.
He has seen me at my best and at my worst.
He has stood by my side in the midst of drama that would have sent others running.
He has been the target of my undeserved frustration…don’t we all tend to take things out on the people that we are closest to.
We have learned how to budget and manage money together…and the struggles that come along with that.
We have had dream vehicles and then others that were clunkers.
He has seen me at my smallest and at my heaviest and never once asked or suggested that I change.
He has always been supportive of me.
He values family time. I see many dad’s that do not. They work and then they value their “unwind” time. This is a huge blessing to me.
He wants and values my opinion on things and we work together as a great team if I do say so myself.
He holds me together and uplifts me when I am at my limit and falling apart.
He listens to my frustrations and allows me to vent.
We have been through jobs that we hate. To now have the blessing of serving in this ministry is his dream come true, and it makes it that much sweeter to stand and serve beside him.
He exhibits such a contageous passion and energy.
He is an amazing father to our children. A-MA-ZING!!!
He has loved me unconditionally through every up and down that we have ever faced.
He inspires me to be constantly reaching for more in my personal devotion and prayer time.
He lets me nap. 🙂
He puts up with the bazillion lists that I tend to write for everything.
He has never once made me feel not good enough.
He is a hard worker. He is not a pastor that doesn’t answer his phone after office hours (unfortunately, they do exist). This ministry is his calling, not his job and it is evident in the way he prioritizes. He is making an impact on our community and I am proud of the time and devotion that he puts in. It is such a humbling moment when teenagers approach him at restaurants or grocery stores and stop to say hi or shake his hand. These are teenagers that I have never seen before…teenagers that do not attend our youth group. As soon as they walk away, I’ll ask who they were and he will tell me that they come to bible study at one of the schools or they are a part of the football team that he works with. I pray that he never doubts the impact that the little things add up to make.

When I was a teenager, there were certain couples that I looked up to their type of marriage and the relationship that they had. I used to pray that I would one day have a marriage like that. Well, my marriage is so much better than any of those! I pray that in a day and time when good marriages are not the common thing, that we might set an example and show students that marriages can last and be amazing.

I hope that he never doubts how truly, madly, and deeply that I am in love with him. I hope that he knows that he is prayed over daily. I pray that God continues to give him crazy, big dreams and that we get to watch them unfold in our lives. I pray that he has the best day ever today on his birthday.

I am a better person because of him.

“…I found him whom my soul loves…” – Song of Solomon 3:4