9

i'm still in bed as he kisses me goodbye in the morning on his way to work. he takes an extra 30 seconds to massage my leg muscles because he knows that although pregnancy has been more of a joy than anything, the leg and back pain can effect everything.

he collects his employees from the driveway and he's off to whichever job has been on the calendar waiting for him. he works hard. he's meticulous, honest, faithful. his customers know this too because 22 years later, it's the same. 

he washes the sheets at least once/week without fail - because he sleeps better on clean sheets - and it's a gift to me too.

though he told me long ago that it is the one thing that he hates more than anything, i find him cleaning the dishes, emptying + loading the dishwasher some evenings after we eat together. 

sometimes he finds me just watching him from across the room, lately he doesn't notice because he's too busy. 

at least once every few weeks i say 'i can't believe we're married" because it's surreal to be married to your best friend... when we get laughing about something and we can't stop, or we start dreaming about a project in the yard, weekend plans with the (not-so-)little one, painting a room, building a dresser, narrowing down a list of potential baby names. 

when you get to do life with another human, one who shares your desire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to learn more gradually with each passing day to make it the default to lay down your life for the other person, can it be anything but joy? 

even in the moments where eye-to-eye doesn't come easily, where it is apparent that sometimes great minds think very differently, and that can be a good thing too, when iron sharpens iron, even the differences are received as blessing. because they get us somewhere. always sharpening, always growing us together. 

he works hard for us. he doesn't complain about much, but when he does, he usually lets me laugh because i think everything he does is funny. 

while he painted the baby's room, i read an old journal i found where i wrote prayers for him - not knowing who he would be. i was embarrassed because i wrote these in my mid-20's, all wordy and theological as you would expect from a bible college graduate. but it was stunning to see some of the accuracy of the words that i prayed for him then - for joy, to know the love and nearness of God. i prayed for him knowing he'd have 3 things: a deep love for God, a compassionate love for people (and for me), and the best sense of humor. 

and i look back now, so beyond grateful that God wrote our stories to come to this time in history, because He knew we would point each other to Him and life together would be joy.

it's been almost 9 months married to this one and i wouldn't change one bit of our stories. thankful for you joel ryan ♥️