22 Reasons Why I Love My Husband

Today Steve and I have been married for 22 years. Wow. Some days it doesn't seem like even 5 years. The husband of my youth has become the husband of my middle age. For those of you who do not know him, this is a quote that describes him perfectly: "He was like an axman at work in a tangled thicket, cutting and cutting at the brush and the vines and the low limbs, trying to mkae room for a full swing." And I love him. Here are just a few reasons why (reasons that some of you will think are entirely too sappy - my apologies):

1. He fit one of my favorite Anne of Green Gables quotes: "I wouldn't marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't."

2. He loves Jesus more than me, and he isn't afraid to remind me of this.

3. He has given me Victoria - and she has his creative mind and gifted use of words.

4. He gave me Esther - and she has his sense of independence and drive and "I won't take no for an answer" attitude.

5. He gave me Isaac - Steve chose the name long before he was born - it means laughter and Isaac has brought laughter to our lives every day along with being a miniature version of his dad.

6. His IQ is one point higher than mine - and he has used it to his advantage every day of our marriage!

7. I am his standard of beauty... which is possibly the most amazing blessing that God has given us.

8. He keeps me busy.

9. He still tells me that someday I will be able to visit Base Camp on Mount Everest - even though he knows that is physically impossible for me.

10. He understands my need to dream about owning land and a barn - and 5 horses and 5 cows and 5 chickens.

11. He is a gentle man. "The gentleness I knew in him seemed to be calling out, and it was a gentleness in me that answered. That gentleness, calling and answering, giving and taking, brought us together. It brought us into the room of love. It made our place clear around us." - Wendell Berry

12. He is the adventurous one and I am the cautious one.

"The heart can think of no devotion

Greater than being shore to ocean
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition." - Robert Frost

13. He makes me feel safe.

14. He pushes me to feel unsafe.

15. We have grown into adults together - he is part of the reason that I am the person that I am today.

16. He is quick to apologize.

17. He is a humble man who leads me well.

18. He sacrifices himself for me daily.

19. He loves the Word of God - and this reminds me of my father.

20. He still rides his skateboard to work.

21. He loves to take me for drives that lead to nowhere.

22. He is my other half - we are one."That she was his half, she had no doubt at all. He needed her. At times she knew with a joyous ache that she completed him, just as she knew with the same joy that she needed him and he completed her. How beautiful a thing it was, she thought, to be a half, to be completed by such another half!" -Wendell Berry

"This, though I be the feeblest of God's host,

The sorriest sheep Chirst shepherds with His crook.

Yet while I love my God the most, I deem

That I can never love you over-mcuh;

I love Him more, so let me love you too;

Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such

I cannot love you if I love not Him,

I cannot love Him, if I love not you.

-Christina Rosetti

I am grateful to God for the blessing of Steve.