happy birthday to my husband

today i am thankful for my husband. today he turns 26 years old. i have known his since he was 15 years old. we met in april of 2001. it was spring break and we were both on a florida spring break trip called "the rocking chairs tour" with our youth group. 

our first picture ever together on the spring break trip

i knew from the day i met him that he was going to be a huge part of my life. i was young but God literally told me on that trip that i was going to be with B.A. forever. i know it sounds crazy. it was crazy. i actually wrote B.A. a note on that trip explaining to him that we were meant to be together and that i loved him. ya, i had only known him for a few days, and he liked every other girl that was on the trip. we went on our first date on may 4, 2001 to my high school junior.senior prom dance. we danced, we kissed for the first time, and i never looked back. 

may 4, 2001 dance

we officially were boyfriend and girlfriend june 17, 2001. after a few bumps, detours, cliffs, and crashes in the road (i'll have to write about those later) 6 years later on june 8, 2007 we got married. i kinda got ahead of myself b/c i was really going to write about all that on our anniversary, but oh well. 

so why did i like B.A. so much? well i was a little overly obsessed. i thought he was so hot. he was different than any other west michigan tall dutch boys that i had seen before. his dark skin, curly hair, and outgoing personality was so unique to my world. i was really shy then but totally loved God. i was looking to God for everything, and then i met B.A. i had never had a boyfriend before. i was still insecure. i never thought a good looking muscular curly haired dark athletic smooth talking guy like B.A. would ever like a girl like me. but he says what attracted him to me was my love for God and of course my persistence (well maybe). after that trip, i called and called and called and called him every day until he answered and we would talk every night for hours. because i was in love with God (still am) i wanted him to know everything i knew about God. he was a baby Christian at the time and was eager to learn and see God working. we spent a lot of time with our friends at youth group, it was our home. we also took long drives and spent time sharing things about God and we even prayed together  regularly early on in that first year of dating. remember how i said God told me that B.A. was the 'one'? well that word from the Lord has always stuck with me and carried me through some of the hard times in our relationship. B.A. wasn't quite ready to settle down at age 16 like i wanted and now, looking back it makes perfect sense. we were really young. 

but God has always been the center of our relationship (and when we didn't have Him in our relationship we fell apart). we both messed up and continue to mess up a lot, but we see God working in each other and in our life together. God is the glue that always holds us together. without Him in this relationship we are selfish, ugly, full of expectations, impatient, unkind, greedy, jealous, deceitful, and much more. we fail without God. i have learned so much from my husband of the character and heart of God. i have learned how to be a servant, how to trust God for everything, that nothing is impossible with God, how to be in the world but not of the world, how to love others, how to get over myself, how life is full of choices that need to be made, and so much more. i am eager to see God move in our marriage and in our family. i am truly blessed to call B.A. my husband.