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My best friend in the world turned 42 this past Tuesday.
Each of us had a very long day of work that day. We met up at the end of it and everyone loaded up headed out to eat. That is a treat in and of it self -- but even more so on Tuesday because I paid to take Robert and the fam to go get seafood, which is Robert's favorite type of food.
Shelton ordered alligator and ate a big mound of it.
The rest of us ate normal seafood. We did other fun things that evening. 
In a nutshell, Robert said it was the best birthday ever and so I felt very happy about that. The children of course spent lots of time prior to the big day making gifts and cards.
The middle boys worked on a gift together. They carved a boat out of wood and made a sail out of clothe. They stained it and then wrote on the front of the boat, "Fishers of Men." They did a wonderful job - it now rests on Robert's side dresser in our room.
The boys test floated it in the bathtub. The boat apparently can be played with in the bathtub, so we were told, but it falls on it's side if you don't push it through the water a certain way.
The hugeness of all that could be written when I think of how God put Robert and I together... is well, still too long to write. Complicated, yet wonderful. And only Robert and I know the story. Only we know what really took place, and has taken place since...
There is not many months that pass that we don't find ourselves going through it all once again as we drift to sleep in the night. Sometimes the only way I think it will ever get passed on to the next generation is if somehow we record ourselves talking back and forth during these memory lane moments.
What an incredible 12 and half years it's been. Valley, mountain, valley, mountain and over and over again. Highs and lows... but praising God the highs have been so wonderful that the lows were recoverable, through the strength and grace of God.
My husband is as human as any man, human as me. I won't paint a perfect picture because he wouldn't want me to, though there was a day when that was the most important thing in his life to him: what others thought, painting perfect pictures to cover up the stains and imperfect canvas of his life and those closest to him.
What a changed man he is. This past year has been an amazing year for me to watch him and grow with him in our walk and relationship with Christ. It pretty much is hard for me to explain but I have just shook my head in amazement at times as I have seen God minister to me through him, seeing his humility and desire to know God like never before.
I even just shake my head now, in awe of God's miraculous power to change lives. Mine and his and many others.
I loved the man I married all those years ago, but the man I am married to now is so very, very different than the man I married then... and my heart pretty much cannot express yet at the same time cannot contain the love and the wonderment I feel for Robert.
What a great year we have had together this past year. I hope and pray for many, so many more together.
Side note in this midnight spare time post... One thing about being married to a man ten years older than I am... always makes me feel so young! I have a feeling that will come in handy when I really am old.
Things I am most thankful for in Robert this past year:
-his trust in God
-his acceptance and passionate love for me
-his devotion to prayer
-his enjoyment of our children and desire to spend time with them and know them well
-his tremendous work ethic
-his spontaneity
-his standing firm on what he believes
-his help and vision for the childrens' education
-his patience and gentleness
-his contentment
-his individuality, that he is like NO one I have ever known.
-his questioning of what he hears and seeking out what he believes and not just taking what he has been told to believe.
-his love of the outdoors
-his love of date nights with me~
-his running with me and encouragement in each and everyday as I do what I do
-his admission when he is wrong, his humility in wanting to always mature and grow in the Lord
Thanks Robert for seeking to live a life outside of yourself. Thanks for washing dishes with me. Thanks for making me tea before you leave for work if my throat is sore. Thank you for all your hugs. Thanks for always sitting so close in church, just because you want to - instead of placing all the children between us. Thanks for asking me for directions on how to get somewhere instead of aimlessly driving around and around...
Thank you for holding fast to what is right and true even when it hurts, when people don't understand, when you are lied about, talked about, or rejected. Thanks for your encouragement to do the same. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for being loyal. Thank you for being devoted to our marriage 100%.
Thanks for telling me about my typos and spelling errors on my blog, even if it is several days after I've posted it public. Thanks for reading it just because you like to. Thanks for liking my photography. Thanks for watching the children so I can have quiet time now and then.
Thanks for the amazing appreciation you give me for being the mom when I return from my quiet time out.
Thanks for thinking my creativeness and strange interests and ideas are cool. Thanks for calling me all day long while you and I are apart. Thanks for working SO hard for all of us. Thanks for not giving up.
I am so grateful to have celebrated your 42nd with you. I am thankful to have you as my best friend in the whole world. I love how when we are together we feel so young and full and completed and in love. I have this feeling those feelings will still be there and even more so when we are 82 and 72.
It's a gift that can't really be measured: to live life in love.
Happy Birthday.
a. ann~
P.S. Itty can do pig-tails now. Here she is the other day after I did them for her. She was rather proud about it, eh?
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| | Posted 11/6/2009 12:50 AM - 788 Views - 72 eProps - 43 comments
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That video in your previous post is the biggest hit in our house right now, especially for my 3 and 6 year old sisters. They *love* it. When my mom was putting my little sister Missy down for a nap yesterday, she wanted my mom to tickle her just like you did Lakelyn. So cute. Lakelyn is adorable. I can see resemblances of many of your children in her. Thanks for encouraging me! 
Dear Robert, Best and happy Birthday man. Van Harte Gefeliciteerd met uw 42e verjaardag. Wij wensen u heel mooie en gelukkige jaren in uw gezin in goede gezondheid en kracht. Many congratulations on your 42e birthday. We are wishing you many more beautiful and happy years in your family in good health and strength.
Keep good looking, for such a lady as Alyssa Ann can easily wear you out....( she forgot to mention that you are still a good looking man in spite of your age....sorry, I am much older myself, so is my Beloved....hahaha forgive )
Bless you in All
Godeliva van Ariadone