Thirteen Years

Thirteen years ago today, I married the most wonderful man. I had no idea back then, how much joy he would bring into my life. I want to tell you some of the things that I respect and adore about him.

For most of the time I have known him, Robb has either worked two jobs or has held a full time job and been a student....with excellent grades or major promotions. And yet, he always ALWAYS puts his family first. I know that if I really need him, he would drop anything to be with me.

He designed my engagement ring and then earned it by shoveling snow. He wouldn't give it to me until it was paid for...which is why he was the only guy on campus begging for one more good storm in March!

In our first church, he found out a little boy in our neighborhood didn't have a coat and said we should get him one. We did. That little boy and his sister ended up going to camp and meeting Jesus.

In our second church, a girl in our youth group was hurt and in trouble. He went and just sat with her at court one day. She was a very shy girl. A beautiful, smart, lovely person emerged over the years....and funny too! She is happily married now and doing well in life. Knowing that she had a friend there that day helped her get through some tough times.

One Christmas, he earned extra money and bought me a piano. And sneaked it inside with the help of a bunch of guys from church in the middle of the night without waking me or the children. It remains one of the best things he ever pulled off.

In our third church, he spear-headed the work of providing childcare when our community built a large wooden playground in the town park. It was through that work that we met Donna and became foster parents and had Charleigh placed with us. And oh, yeah, he ran hundreds of hours of activity for the community kids!

When we found out we were going to have Vinny, He cried. Not just tears, but full on blubbering. It was nice of him to be so excited when my bad math brought him a lot of extra responsibility in the middle of moving to a new ministry. He was never anything but excited and happy and helped me to accept a pregnancy that I wasn't ready for at all.

When Mattie and Calvin were born, he never let go of my hand. I can't even remember for how many hours that was.

When he had his kidney removed, he was back in the pulpit after just 10 days because he didn't want the church to have to pay somebody else to fill the pulpit. Have you ever seen a nephrectomy scar? It is 8 inches long.

He has handled more situations over the years that would have left me in the fetal position than I can even tell you about. He's carried people's secrets and hurts and problems with so much wisdom, I am constantly amazed by him. I think of one particular funeral he did with such grace and tenderness: a woman with four children. During a C-section for her last baby, she went into a coma and remained that way for over 25 years. The baby never knew her mother. It was such a heartbreaking funeral, but he handle it with such comforting tenderness.

He has always since the day I met him, acted like an adult. All joking aside, I was never married to an immature man-child, still playing around with toys and games. He thinks, acts, and garners the respect of being a man. I used to blanch when he called our professors by their first names, but it has served him well not to be intimidated by older people. Respectful, yes, but never intimidated or fearful.

He knows when to let me talk and when to firmly tell me to get myself in hand. That's a pretty amazing thing when you think about it. It makes me feel so safe knowing that my husband won't let me make a total idiot of myself with my emotions.

When he is wrong, he admits it and asks for forgiveness. To me, to the children, to other people. I love this about him. And when somebody asks for forgiveness, he forgives....no if's, and's, or but's.

I could go on and on, but these are just a few things that I thought of while lying next to him last night in the middle of the night. I'm a lucky, lucky girl to be married to such a good man.

I love you, Robb.