Gratitude Early In The Game...

So it dawned on me before I get too far into all this (and I'm still trying to remember I should be writing on this daily...I promise it will get better next week when school starts and a semblance of schedule and life comes back to the house) that I need to give gratitude where it needs to be given (I'm sounding a bit like Jason Mraz...yes, all my friends who are Mraz fans, I can hear you laughing...)

So I have this husband who is one for the books. K is my high school sweetheart, we've been together since I was 14 years old. I actually met him for the first time when I was eight and our church was helping their church build their new sanctuary. We grew up together in school activities, spent our high school years traveling Texas and the country showing animals with my mom and his parents, and went to college together. We married shortly after he graduated from school with his bachelor's, and it's been full speed since....

When I said yes to marrying him (which, BTW I planned my own surprise engagement party--I thought it was for his birthday party!) I went back home that night with my mom so I could show my friends at home and my church family on Sunday morning my ring. Laying in bed that night, I prayed that God would let me know that this was THE ONE for me...it was one of my first physical/true connections with God moments, and I knew right then I had met my soulmate with approval from THE one who mattered most.

I've known since the beginning that K was the one for me. In fact, my friend who I rode with to feed animals before school every morning told me the day of our first date that I was going to marry this boy...I shushed her and told her she was crazy...with a smile. He has always been my rock, the person I could turn to for support, for comfort, for tough love (and he's given plenty.) He is generous, he is kind, he is the leader of our household--and I have NO issues saying that because unlike most we've both read the scripture out of Ephesians, but read the WHOLE scripture IN CONTEXT and we're in a partnership here...such a blessing...

He is the father I longed for him to be for our kiddo. As I didn't have an example growing up of what a father should be like, I knew that the man I married would be the antithesis of what I had as a child in that role. Watching K and our son together is a thing of pure joy, a total blessing in my life.

And oh my goodness, let me tell you how FUNNY he is--a very dry humor funny most of the time, but a very personal/inside joke kind of funny...it's that kind of funny that you only get with someone you know SO WELL for SO LONG that others think you're nuts...but it really is hysterical funny to you. The backbone of our humor falls completely on quoting movies/tv shows/music to one another. It's annoying to a fault to the outside world--we drive his mother psychotic when we get on a roll, she just shakes her head at us like we're nuts. It's backfiring on us now with our kiddo as he repeats everything back, and not always in the right settings or in the right context....yep, having two smartass parents will do that for ya...

But I can gush on more than you care to read, but to the point.....with this journey I've been on so far to discover who I am inside, as well as who I am on the outside, K has been there every step of the way. He's been a support, my biggest cheerleader and again a source of tough love doled out when needed (more than I wish...) He has been an example of hard work--he is in the process of training for his first sprint triathalon! So it's been such a Godsend to be able to have someone who understands, someone to commerserate with in the morning after hellaciously hot workouts, someone to push me a little further when I don't think I can. He's running races with me, he's pushing me out of bed when I don't want to get up, he's giving me smiles when it's all I needed.

So this is a huge thanks to my support, my love....my cup runneth over...