17 years........

Saturday was our 17th wedding anniversary.

It always causes me to contemplate how fast time flies when our family celebrates a milestone.

I met Dave when I was 15.  Our "story" is somewhat legendary in our circles of friends, and we have a very long history together and apart.  Maybe sometime I'll do a series of blogs about our history.

But today, I want to post about some of the things I love about my husband.  Although we have been married for 17 years, I chose 22 things I love about him because I have loved him for 22 years.  Sometimes it seems that I have loved this man from the time before the Lord scattered the stars, or at least from before my birth.  He is intertwined in my soul and my heart.  So, here goes.

• I love that he is so incredibly clean.  He is well kept and always neatly dressed. Even when he is out doing farm chores, his shirt is tucked in and a belt on. He keeps himself clean shaven too.
• I love that he was the first person to make me really laugh, I mean, a real belly laugh.  He is corny and loveably dweeby!!
• I love it that he calls our girls "honey".
• I love that he is extremely organized.
• I love it that he prays with the kids and tucks them in each and every night, and tickles them and makes them laugh.
• I love that he knows how to do a whole bunch of things.  He's a bit of a jack-of-all-trades.
• I love how he tirelessly researches a purchase (no matter what it is) before we make it and that he always buys the best.  I love that he is not careless with his money, ever.
• I love that he has his finger on the heartbeat of so many issues that could potentially impact Christians and our family, both for the better and for the worse.
• I love that he goes to work 6 days a week, 10-11 hours a day, and then commutes 80 minutes round trip without so much as a whine or complaint,  so that I can stay home with our children.
• I love his determination and enthusiasm to learn new things from the very best teachers.
• I love that he genuinely cares so much about our friends and how he is always lifting them up in prayer.
• I love that he is so willing to allow the Lord to sanctify and refine him.
• I love how he is willing to stand up publicly for what is right and how he never takes any "trash" from anyone, and how he is willing to fight against tyranny and Godlessness.
• I love how he makes our bed for me every single night.
• I love how he wants to keep himself healthy and that he cares about our health too.
• I love how he always wants to do things as a family.  He never likes to be away from us for too long.
• I love that he wants to have Family Time every night, whether it's singing together at the piano or watching a movie or reading out loud together.
• I love how he's always telling me that "no cookin' is as good as Mama's!"
• I love how steadfast he is when it comes to finishing a project and how, when he's in the 11th Hour, when it's the Home Stretch, he's going to finish it and make sure it's absolutely perfect, even when it means staying up all night long to see it through.
• I love how he waves to me every morning as he's going down the long driveway heading to work.
• I love how he always wanted a big family, even when he was a boy, and how he wants to have as many children as God will grant us.
• I love how he's always been right there, totally involved, even at the "Business End" through each and every one of our labors and births, even when it meant seeing me lose quarts of blood, and almost die, even when it has meant saying Goodbye Till Heaven.  I love how he has taken care of me through some very, very difficult and long recoveries.

Most of this list was not very hard for me to come up with.  I have so, so many reasons to love this man that God saw fit to bless me with.  I have been learning, through our first 12 years of "Hell", to our last 5 years of joy and near-bliss, to meditate on the things that I love about him.  Recently, I have started doing this, and let me tell you, it makes the few things that drive me nuts look puny in comparison!

I have one more thing to add: I am constantly amazed and totally thunderstruck and taken aback at the depth of the music which God gave to this man's soul.  Even though I've heard his stuff millions of times, it still amazes me and I look at him in awe each time I hear his music.  He is truly talented and beyond any shadow of a doubt enormously gifted by our Abba Father.  Just weeks after we got together back in 1988 he played the concert grand piano at our church, and I sat there totally absorbed and in reverence and wonderment at what flowed from his fingers.  I can tell you with clarity that that is the moment when I began to love him and I knew I was going to marry this man.

I'm so grateful and thankful to still be with this man.  I know women who would give their closet full of treasured high heels to snag him.  But he's mine and he's got it goin' on and ladies, I'm keepin' him!!