I am not very talented with the written word.  So you will have to bear with me as I write this.  I would prefer it be full of wonderful sounding words.  But instead, it will just be filled with simple words for a wonderful man.

    I am married to an outstanding man.  He is not perfect (a characteristic which I am all too eager to point out), but he is so very perfect for me.

   Steve is a good-looking man.  Here he sits waiting for his bride on his wedding day over 11 years ago.  He is such a handsome man.  I fell head-over-heels for him and his dreamy eyes and his winning smile.   I suppose you could say next to him I no longer looked like the wall-flower I felt I always was, but I was instantly transformed into an attractive and winsome woman.

    Steve has marvelous qualities.  They are qualities that truly compliment me.  I have become so much more easy-going because of him.  In the early days of our marriage I spent a lot of time worrying about anything and everything.  If something wasn’t entirely under my control or wasn’t going as I had planned I easily found myself stressed and in an uproar.  But over the years, Steve’s influence on me has greatly affected my behavior towards things that are beyond my control.  Even events that “appear” to be in my control no longer take me captive and control me with frustration, worry and stress.

    Steve is an excellent daddy.  He loves his children and finds such joy in them.  Here he is reading bedtime stories to our three boys.  They rapture in his attention and always enjoy one-on-one daddy time.  As they grow up, I have no doubt that some of the words that they will speak to me as well as to Steve will be the most precious words, “I want to be like daddy.”

    Steve is kind.  Many times he does things around the house that I fail to acknowledge, like emptying out the dishwasher, or making the bed, or doing the laundry, or vacuuming the floors, or dusting the furniture, or washing the windows, or doing the dishes, or mopping the floors.  But he does them from time to time and what woman could ever complain about that?

   Steve is thoughtful.  When I’ve needed a break and have had an opportunity to go out “with the girls” (most often my mom and sister), Steve is willing to let me go.  He has allowed me the little bit of freedom to get the needed rest and time of rejuvenation that I need to make it through another day with four children (three of them being three years old and younger)!  Speaking of thoughtful, do you want to know what he gave me for my birthday this past year?  A night’s stay alone in an area hotel with a Jacuzzi tub!

     Steve is a support to me!  Through many of my endeavors (crazy and not-so-crazy), Steve has stood by me (or was it behind me).  Whether it was homeschooling, cloth diapering, trying all sorts of crazy recipes, frugal shopping, or any myriad of other ideas, he remained loyal to me and supportive of me.  *He has changed his fair share of dirty cloth diapers—and even washed a few.*  The most encouraging and supportive thing Steve has done for me was his willingness to be there for me while I birthed our fourth child, our first daughter, via a homebirth VBAC after 3 previous c-sections.  It was a very rough road that we traveled over this last pregnancy that ended in the glorious birth of our daughter in May, and the labor and delivery were anything but easy.  But Steve was there with me the entire way!

    Steve is my husband and friend.  He is my confident and my support.  He is my helpmeet and my leader.  He is my joy and my love.  He is my partner in this fantastic life God has given me to travel.  Without Steve, it would be a much less enjoyable and much rockier journey!