Happy 35th Birthday to the Captain of our Team

I met my husband, Kevin, three weeks after he turned 19.  Our lives were forever intertwined from that day forward.  It is an incredible gift to have spent all of these years together.  Yesterday I started digging through my bin from the college days.  The kids thought the pictures of their mom and dad were hilarious... mostly I would have to agree.  I kept looking and thinking "there must be more pictures in here somewhere." There are very few pictures of our first years together.  But we met in a different time.  A time when we didn't carry a cell phone, or a even a camera, around with us every where we went.  We had millions of amazing moments that were enjoyed without being documented anywhere except in our hearts.  It took me about ten tries to explain to my eight year old the negative strips he found in the box.  I still don't know if he totally gets what they are for.  I did find this picture above of Kevin from around the time we first started dating.  There is a part of my mind that always pictures him just like this, no matter how old we get.

What was the reason for the rummaging through old memories?  Today the most incredibly man I ever met turns 35.  After the children were asleep last night Kevin and I spent the evening going through that box of letters and pictures, taking that trip down memory lane and laughing so hard we couldn't breath. There is a stack of printed emails from those early years in the box. The very first email he ever sent me was titled, "Hey Woman!".  I must have been bitten by the love bug because I can remember reading and then rereading to all of my friends that email trying to decode what he must have meant by every single word.  Reading it again after all these years it just made me laugh and we have grown so much since those days.

We knew pretty much from the moment we met that this was something that we wanted to last for the rest of our lives.  But passion met reality and he was determined that we would both finish college before we got married... not only that but he made a commitment to save sex for our wedding day, a day that didn't come until four years later.  A commitment that he held up because of his love for me and even more his love for being obedient to God.  There were many times I would have thrown that commitment out the window, but this young man of character would just send me home.  He wasn't perfect and neither was our relationship, but God opened my eyes to see Kevin's heart and whispered to my soul that Kevin's passion for Jesus was only going to grow as the years went by.

Strength.  Commitment.  Love.  Honor.  Wisdom.  Loyalty.  When I think of him these are the words that come to my mind.   He is a the steady anchor to my wild emotions and the constant reminder in my live of  God's unconditional love.  He has seen me at my absolute worst and stuck through the good, bad and the ugly.  When life is crazy just being around him calms my soul.  I cannot even begin to imagine life without my best friend and soul mate, he makes my life make sense.  We still have so much fun together and he helps to turn even the hardest situations into a great adventure.  He is an incredible man and I am forever grateful that God allowed Kevin's heart to be knit to my own.  The past 16 years have brought so many crazy adventures including the addition of four little people.  Four little people who get the joy of having an amazing father.  My heart swells every time I see him with our kids.  He is such a great daddy!

“Being soaked alone is cold. Being soaked with your best friend is an adventure.” ― Emily Wing

Happy Birthday to my partner in adventure.... here's to many more!!