An Open Letter to My Husband

     I have the heart knowledge that I married the best man I have ever known, but sometimes my brain forgets. 

     Complaining has to be one of the laziest pastime's in existence. It takes no effort or skill to look around and see reasons to be disappointed. We might be able to claim cleverness in the way we deliver the zinger part of the time, but we are lazy all of the time if we choose to express dissatisfaction rather than gratitude.

     As strife has increased in my life, I have slipped into a mindset of resentfulness. I have decided not to offer up any explanations or justifications in this paragraph. The characteristics of our humanity comes with pros and cons. This one is a con; that wrong thinking leads me to so say wrong and do wrong. Therefore, I leave here an open letter to my husband where I offer repentance and appreciation.

"Kevin, recently, I could have afforded you more credit than I gave. The lists of your 

admirable qualities and acts of kindness are extensive, yet I can easily summarize them. 

You have loved me well. Since the beginning of 'us', you have been a constant source of 

comfort and strength; even when I was undeserving. Whether we are relaxing under the 

warmth of a brilliant sun, or navigating through a fierce storm on a dark night, I am 

grateful that you are by my side guiding and supporting me. For who you are and all that  

you do, I honour you. I love you."

Did you know that it's "My Husband is Awesome" day?!

                          

I love blogs. Particularly blogs written by women. More so, blogs written by Christian women. Call me biased, I don't care, I love them. Ladies, if you have spare time to kill on the internet (I know you do because we all make time for it), check out some blogs. Don't know where to start? Just ask me! There are so many sisters in Christ out there who have the mission to encourage, teach, and lead by example when it comes to the roles of Wife and Momma. Today, I am linking up with Jessica Bowman from Bohemian Bowmans who is one of my new favourites. She and her family have moved up to B.C. from the States and I think we should give them a warm Canadian welcome. Even if some of us may live 4,050 km away! She has declared it "My Husband is Awesome Day" and has challenged wives to list the ways that their husband is...well...awesome! So here it goes!

1. Kevin knows how much God loves him. That may seem like an odd place to start because most Christians know God loves them, but, truthfully, I rebut that not all necessarily have the scope of how much they are loved. The Holy Spirit has used Kevin to teach me many great things and to challenge old belief systems that are man-made, not God-inspired. Every day (sometimes more than once), Kevin will say, "Who is the one who Jesus loves?" That is my cue to say ME! He puts more emphasis on the Father's love for me than that of his own. Which leads me to the second thing...
2. Kevin loves me. He expresses and demonstrates his love to me all the time. I sometimes whine that he doesn't say it enough. Or I might pout if he doesn't immediately respond when I tell him that I love him. That is insecurity talking; insecurity that is slowly fading, I am happy to say! Kevin is always building me up through his love.
3. Kevin compliments me. I never knew my Mom's dad, so I cherish every story of Mr. James that I can get my ears near. Mom told me that after every meal, Grandpa would boast about my Grandma, "Florence, that was the best supper I ever had!" It was either the best chicken, best roast beef, best dessert, etc. Well Kevin is a compliment-boaster, too! "That is best chicken!" "These are my new favourite potatoes!" It goes beyond cooking, too. No matter what pair of pants or shirt I put on, he always says, "When did you get that? I have never seen that on you before." Even though he has. "Those are my new favourite pants on you!" "That is my new favourite top. Wear it as much as possible!" To someone like me, who has dealt with insecurities on my physique going back to early childhood, this means the world to me. To be found captivating does my feminine heart good (even when I am feeling fat and frumpy!). In everything and everywhere, Kevin is always declaring things his "new favourites." One to #4!
4. Kevin knows how to stay positive. As I said before, Kevin loves to declare his "new favourites!" With each new restaurant we eat at, trail we explore, or bench we sit on, it is always "our new favourite place!" I love his ever-evolving enthusiasm. Now, is he positive 24/7? no... I can't fathom anyone being so, but maybe that is pessimistic of me. But even when Kevin has his slumps into the dumps, it is usually temporary. Give him a few minutes of silence, and he will come back to the topic or situation and recant what ever negative comment he has made. I am a naturally sarcastic person, so it is easy for me to be negative. Kevin leads by example and it encourages me to guard my thoughts and comments and search for the positive instead of celebrating the negative.

I have listed just four, but there are many many more! These are my favourites. These are some of my awesome husband's attributes that make me miss him while he is gone and giddy as a girl when he comes home.

Now it's your turn, ladies! Whether you are wives or widows, if you have an awesome husband, go on and give him some public credit! List a few things on your blog! Don't have a blog, add a comment to this post or on facebook or twitter. And most importantly, share them with the awesome husband in question!

Want to hear some other women boast of their husband? Click on the "My Husband is Awesome" header at the top of the post and it will link you back to the Bohemian Bowmans:My Husband is Awesome

Let's give thanks to the Lord for all of His blessings!

Also linked-up with....
 

Anniversary: Allow me to be sentimental

Is it sad that the first thing that pops into my head, as I begin, is Barry Manilow's voice singing, "Looks like we made it...."?! Yeah, it is actually bad seeing how it is a song about ex-lovers! I have to say though, that one line captures the theme of today.

July 30th, 2011. I logged into Christian Cafe and found a message waiting for me from this guy. Subject heading: "Hey Cutie!" I still remember the butterflies. After ten free trial days of sifting through very odd characters, this one was cute and appeared normal. (haha. I'll behave!). You can't always put too much stock in "gut feelings," but I did have a really good feeling about this guy. As always, I like it when I'm right! 

Neither of us were a paying member. My trial was set to expire that day (within a few hours, in fact) and Kevin had just received an e-mail for three free more days on the site. He was going to go to his parents that evening and ignore the e-mail, but through prompting of the Spirit, he logged on and found me. Let me say again, this window of opportunity was literally there for only a few hours and if he had waited 'till the next day, it would have been too late. God is good.

July 31st, 2011. The e-mailing began.  "I have to say when I first seen your profile the first thing I noticed is how beautiful of a smile you had," he wrote. Flattery does have it's impact...! Even though we had messaged each other twice and had never met, he invited me to be his guest at his best friend's wedding a week before the event! I declined because I couldn't see this going over very well with the bride! After a few more e-mails, we had a date set by the end of the day.

And it is a year ago today that Kevin and I met up at the Beer Store in the Eastgate parking lot! lol. I was nervous; I can't deny it. When I saw that he was better looking than his picture,  I thought I might be out of my league. Nerves and anxieties aside, as soon as I got in to his little Mazda that creaked like a canoe on the river, I felt an incredible peace. The worries were gone and I felt as comfortable as if I had known him for years. Kevin made a crack about some dude riding by on a bike wearing a Dora backpack (Oh Hamilton) and we were laughing and chatting.

We didn't make note of the day we called ourselves "official," so we go by August 2nd as the beginning of us. Neither of us have ever been in a relationship that even came close to a year, so this is pretty special. As much as a year can seem long, it isn't a long time at all. It's a grain of sand on the beach that we plan to walk on for the rest of our lives. It's our first milestone. Our first anniversary. I would like to tell my husband, Kevin, that I am so glad God made us a match and that we are going to have an incredible 2nd year together under God's grace and favour.

2 months

Married at 5 months

1 year together, 7 months married