forty-seven years later

My husband highlighted a verse in his Bible years ago and wrote my name next to it. Proverbs 12:4--"An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones." The big question for me has always been "so which one am I?" And I'm not joking on this one, I'm capable of causing a mess. But he is an optimist and declares that I'm the former not the latter. That's just his way, willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Forty-seven years ago today, the LORD put him here on this planet. And I am the recipient of the greatest blessings because of that. To recognize him on his special day I'm posting something I wrote about him on Father's Day on my facebook notes. He is a man who stands firm.

-Twenty years ago I was a newly wed who honestly didn't know what I was doing even being married. I certainly did not have the maturity to choose a good man to be my husband or to be the father of my children. That's not where my mind was. My mind was struggling with just learning to be grown up! Fortunately, there is One whose way is so far above mine. He put a sweet man right where he needed to be so we could find each other and be together. I have had such a great vantage point in watching the making of an incredible man. He would have to be incredible to tolerate living with me. That was not a task for any other man! But it's Preach the father that I've watched over the years and seen the transformation in. Preach did like a lot of dads. When Jake, our first, was born, he would always help with baths and diapers. But what was most amazing about him was his attitude. Always up. Never tired of dealing with a baby or the very hormonal mother of the baby. Patience was just his character so it didn't really matter if he had read the parenting books or not, his character was more help to me than any advice from a book could have been. As the years passed, we both saw the huge responsibility of steering our kids in the right direction. Emily came then Luke and by this time we had chosen to teach our children at home. This may seem like it wouldn't be such a difficult choice to some, but this sweet man grew up in a county where homeschooling was not a popular thing to consider at the time and that year we were just moving back there. He's a Baker County Wildcat graduate and people out here are very supportive of their schools so this went against the grain in a big way. He didn't blink though. When he listened to my concerns and prayed about it, he agreed and we began a different way of living, but a good one! He's handled most of the problems we've faced the same way, listening and prayer. When our fourth, Ethan, was born, he was delivered by c-section. The doctor stood over me with Preach right there and said a couple of times "are you sure you don't want me to take care of some things while I've got you opened up, I'm right here and can do it with no problem?" I told him no, something just didn't feel good about doing that right then even though we didn't plan to have more children. Preach didn't blink again, didn't even ask me to consider it since he knew I didn't feel comfortable with that. He never made jokes about having enough or being finished. He's always been glad when we found out any of the kids were on their way. He's the one who comforted me for the first two weeks after we found out Lily was coming, big surprise there! He is so thankful for his "five arrows" and has sacrificed a lot for them without complaining. He is an avid hunter who hardly gets to hunt. A man who enjoys watching news and sports, but has given up his t.v. because the influence on the kids was questionable. He is still learning how to parent just like me, but he knows what his responsibility is: To guide all these little ones in the right direction. A lot of dads carry pictures of their kids around, but we have five kids who are all walking pictures of their daddy in some way. Jake has his dad's easy going nature. It makes him great to work with. Emily has his confidence. Someone could come up and say something insulting to her and she wouldn't think of taking it personally, it just doesn't bother her. (Being incredibly sensitive, I still don't understand that one!) But that's how her daddy is. Luke has his daddy's heart to know the Lord. He's so intrigued by the Bible and wants to follow it, a lot of that is from Preach. Ethan has his daddy's freedom. Nothing inhibits him, he's just free to be. And then there's Lily. She's still young, but if you're around her for just a few seconds, you'll see Preach when she smiles. His ear to ear smile is right on her face.-

As we get older, Preach's expressions of love to me have resembled more and more the love of Christ for His church. As to the verse he labeled with my name, I have one that reminds me of him also and it follows.

Psalm 1:3--"He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he does shall prosper."