FAMILY: Celebrating Turning 30

Yesterday was my sweet husband's 30th birthday.
Yes, my husband is younger than me, by almost 2 years.
But we are a good match. A little over a month ago we celebrated 6 years of marriage. And we have now been together about 7 1/2 years.
 
I am a blessed woman. I married a wonderful, hardworking, caring, compassionate, serving man. He doesn't like celebrating his birthday. He will tell you all he did was come into the world. It is his parents who deserve praise, and that is what he did yesterday via Facebook.

This is who he is. He cares more about others than himself. That is why he does all that he does. He lives a life serving others, shining the light of Christ, and drawing others to God. He lives out his faith in all that he does.

It sometimes take a pivot point to make one realize how amazing and wonderful a person is. In your heart you think you know, but then you find out how much more they are. In the past few weeks my husband and I have been drawing closer to each other. Having the conversations we should have been having all along. Now don't get me wrong, we were talking, but we have gone deeper now. We have finally reached the point where we are being completely open: what hurts we have, what we don't want to talk about (& why), what can be done about the hurts and the not wanting to talks, our dreams, our fears, our reservations. We are staying up late, during the week, laying side-by-side just talking.

It reminds me (& him) of when we were first together. Staying up late, not fretting about having to get up the next morning for work with no where near enough sleep. We do talk throughout our day via text & messenger, but those are flirty thoughts, and daily how you doings. We are doing better at saving the deeper stuff for in person, when you can read the person's emotions, see their body cues, and facial expressions. This way nothing is lost in what is being said.

Our pivot was realizing that I was lonely for a close friend, a girlfriend. I have my best friend who lives in Pennsylvania. But, while I can pick up the phone and call or text, its not like we can arrange a girls night out. Now my husband is not trying to fill this part of my life. I can turn to him, I can trust in him, but he is a man and I am a woman. Women need other women. Men need other men. And so he has encouraged me to reach out to others, in fact he has reached out to others to have them reach out to me - to "fix" this issue. And it's not like I don't know over 100 women - I have women I see weekly at church & in choir, and the cooking club I am apart of tries to meet semi regularly. But these relationships don't always go deeper then the surface. I am looking for someone who I can talk theology, coffee, parenting, marriage, and life with in person.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is willing to help me with this. He has shown grace, love, mercy, and understanding. Throughout this experience I have come to see the love of Christ in my husband. Ladies, if you ever see this in your husband you will be humbled. I thought I had an idea of how much God loved me. But having the love of Christ come upon me through my husband has drawn me closer to God in my faith, has re-stirred up a passion for life, and has me feeling more like I used to. I pretty much had a come to Jesus moment - and I am not the same. And I am thankful!

We have never really "celebrated" my husband's birthday. He just doesn't care to. But, he turned 30! That is a milestone, and by golly all of us in the family said we were going to celebrate. So tomorrow night we are going to have a get together, child free. When we went on our honeymoon in San Antonio, we stumbled across a Brazilian Steakhouse - he fell in love! Well when we went back to San Antonio earlier this year, we found the place again (on purpose!). And while there I realized they have one here in our area. So the reservations have been made, the baby sitter arranged, and tomorrow night we are going to eat some amazing food with the people who are near and dear to us. And with all the changes in our lives that seem to be happening - his 30's are going to be AMAZING!