Happy Birthday Adam!!

No, this is not Adam writing to or about himself, it’s his wife, Christine. I am posting this one day early due to the fact that we must get up at 3am tomorrow to drive to the Ft. Lauderdale airport – Brody and I are taking to the air to visit family and friends in North Carolina.

This is our 4th year of celebrating his birthday together, and I am so amazed at where our life has taken us. I always knew that as we grew closer together in marriage, I would grow to love Adam more, and that our catalog of memories would of course grow as well. What I have valued the most, though, is how much he has taught me in the process. I have learned from him how to be more patient, more loving, how to sail -and I love it, how to receive positive criticism, how to embrace the day – not to dwell in the muck, the power of a smile, that laughter truly is the best medicine, and that at the end of the day, the fact that we are together is the most important thing. With Adam, life never ceases to be an adventure, something he told me the afternoon he proposed to me, not in so many words. Well, that has proven to be true, and although I have fought it just about every step of the way, his adventures have taught me a lot about myself, I am stronger and smarter for them all, and we are closer as a result.

We have both had the blessed opportunity to be each other’s rocks in the midst of tough times, and through these growing times, he has given me the strength to keep going, and has encouraged me every step of the way. I thank God all the time for giving me this life with Adam, and not only to be able to walk side by side with him, but also to benefit from all he has experienced before I was ever in the picture.

When you meet a man after God’s heart, that is a blessing, when you are friends with one, even more so. When you have the privelege to be married to such a man, there is true honor in that. God is trusting me with his precious child, and that says a lot.

So, I am truly grateful for Adam, and thank God for creating such a great guy, and I love Adam so much for letting me hang out with him for the next 50 years.

Adam, I thank you for 3 great years of you loving me so well, and for all you have given me of yourself. You are an amazing husband and father, and I am so glad we are experiencing all of this together. You are such an example of true faith, humility, and love. Thank you, and happy birthday, babe. I love you with all that I have in this heart of mine!

“There are many times that I feel the presence of the Lord as I lay in bed at night praying quietly to him, or am taken away by a sunset and the brilliant colors it casts into the evening sky, or am quieted by the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees in the afternoon, or I cannot help but smile with a renewed sense of life when I see how at dawn the sun rays dance through the mist of the morning and glimmer atop the leaves. At times like these the glimpses of the glory of our Creator fills my heart so full that I cannot even imagine the joy of seeing heaven itself. My most enjoyable and real moments of intimacy with the Lord have been in peaceful solitude. But I am learning now that the Lord has only just begun to show me the vastness of this mysterious love. For He has not only first given me new life in Him and many moments of shared love alone with Him, but now He has also given me a beautiful friendship with another one of his children as a means of showing His love. A child that is so dearly loved and cherished by Him. One who he knows from head to toe, such that He knows every thought in his mind, every word he will speak. One who was created uniquely for good works that our great God has prepared already for him. One whose desire runs so deep within his soul to know his Savior that he will travel to the edge of all that he knows to experience the power of the relationship all the more intensely. A child whose relationship with the Lord is so close that his heart beats with the very life that the Holy Spirit gives him. A child whose smile will melt my heart in a second, and whose passion to go beyond life as we have defined it makes my heart race with excitement. A child whose embrace is strong and comforting. A child who knows the love of his Father so intimately that he loves to share that love, he cannot help but share that love. A child who will fight anything that hinders his total commitment to the Source of all that he is, and all that he longs to be. God’s love radiates from within him in such a way that my heart hurts it is so overwhelmed with experiencing and sharing in this love. And it is at these times that I realize how vast this love is that our Father wants to give to us. It is at these times I feel so loved by Him for showing this love for me through this beautiful child of His. It is at these times that I want nothing more than to give all I have to this child and for us together to worship our great and loving God.”