It's His Birthday

7 years ago I became a camp counselor. I didn't go there with any high hopes but the morning that I loaded my '95 Maxima and left home my mom said "I'm praying you find your husband this summer". When the Bible says that "the prayers of a righteous man availeth much" it should've included righteous moms too, because that's exactly what happened. I met a handful of guys every day and with each new face also came the thought: "is he the one?" We were getting ready for our first week of campers when I was given a project of preparing signs. I think that's the first that I remember him. He was "the artist", so obviously he was in charge of the art work. :) He was funny and had the cutest freckles. I never sensed a morsel of ego in his personality and that attracted me. I was headed to Walmart with a group of girls and he asked that we pick him up something. Weird, I thought, but also really excited because I knew that just gave me another excuse to talk to him again. We slowly started talking more. At the beginning of the summer my parents said that any out-of-town counselors were more than welcome to crash at our place for the weekend or just for a home cooked meal. I decided it would be fun to invite some people over for lunch on Sunday. I asked him first, because that was truthfully my only motive for inviting anyone over. If he couldn't make it, then why bother inviting anyone else??? :) He seemed excited, so I invited 7 more people. Unbeknownst to me, word got out fast. That Sunday my parents ended up feeding 24 camp staff members. :) I remember them frantically defrosting extra meat from the basement freezer. My mom and sister knew that I was sort'f interested in someone and I was sure to point and mouth the words "that's him!!!" when he walked in the door. Our friendship progressed from there. I still have piles and piles of hand written notes. He is the one who introduced me to Oswald Chambers and the NASB Bible. It was remarkable to me that there could be one person who could talk passionately about God, soccer, art, and me, all at the same time! The 4th of July was drawing near and he was throwing hints around about how much he'd love to drive my car. I came up with the brilliant idea that he could drive some of us to see fireworks. That was the night I fell. Hard. He was just so stinkin' cute. And tan. And afterwards in an effort to not lose each other in the hoards of people he grabbed my hand. Be still my soul! It was LATE when we got back to camp. I was exhausted and still had to head home to repack my bags for a new week of campers. I called home and said "Hey dad. Remember when you said friends were welcome to crash with us for the weekend? Well....do you mind if I bring a friend home?" He said "sure Meg. What's her name?" "Um. Well. Hmm. Dad? Remember that guy....???" :) Seth was able to drive me and my exhausted self home. He told me to wake him up in the morning before we needed to head back to camp. WHAT!? I'd never woken a guy up in my life. He had no idea what he was asking of me. I debated asking him whether or not he slept in anything but his underwear but decided that it probably wasn't an appropriate question to ask "just a friend". I think that's when our friendship became more obvious to others. He started spending every weekend at our house and my dad quickly came to the conclusion that he talked too much and was too confidant. :) The pistol that met him at the door didn't even scare him. We spent a short weekend in NYC. That's a whole other post. Trust me. But it did end up with our first kiss while being locked in a hotel lobby before my parents had to drive up to rescue us because we had lost the car keys. See what I mean? A.Whole.Other.Post. When my dad found out he didn't hunt or fish and was a student at Bob Jones he literally asked Seth if he was gay. What an afternoon that was! One Sunday afternoon I had told Seth I needed some family time, so he stayed back at camp. My dad met me in our home office to ask where I thought our relationship was going. With tears streaming down my face I told him that this was the one. He wasn't so sure. He said "but Meg, you've said that before". "No dad. This is WAY different." I knew I had his blessing. I could just feel it. Little did I know that this was the last conversation I would ever have with him on this earth. Early Monday morning he came in to my bedroom to give me a hug before leaving for work. That was our last hug. I had a good week with my campers before hearing the news that he had been killed in a plane crash early Friday morning. Seth came in right after I had been told. He was planning on asking for my dad's approval the very next day. I really don't know how I survived that time without Seth. He continued to stay the weekends with us, even though I never returned to camp as a counselor. We would stay up until 4am. I tried to explain to him how my heart was literally hurting. I just remember night after night of sobbing in his arms. We officially became a couple on August 9th. After 8 months of a long distance relationship, he popped the question and I said yes! We were married 8 months later during a candlelit ceremony in December. Boy was it hard marrying someone who I had only dated long distance! There was so much to work through. So much adjusting. I became pregnant 8 months later, and then again 16 months after that, and then again 15 months after that. At least that part of our relationship was going well. :) Hehehe. Today is his birthday. He's 28. To be honest, I never imagined that married life would be this hard. I quickly found out how selfish I am. I also quickly found out that my assumption of marrying a perfect person was not a reality. :) I am thankful that my mom was praying. I'm thankful he still has his cute freckles. He is humble with his accomplishments, and honest about his failures. He rubs my feet almost every night and is the first one out of bed if one of the children has a bad dream. He never smells bad. Ever. EVER. He's a lot smarter than I am. (but I have much more common sense. hehe...) He is a family man through and through and will allow work to suffer if he knows we need him more. He wants me to stay home with our children, and allows me to financially. He never allows me to hang up the phone if we're having a fight and always reminds me that we never know when our last goodbye will be. It scares me to death when he gets on a plane. Or drives to work. Or walks to the mailbox. :) I can't imagine losing him. And even though we have our moments and our doubts, I would fight like a mama grizzly bear to save our marriage. I have. And I will continue to. I don't know why God blessed me with this man. I certainly don't deserve him, but am so incredibly thankful that he was His plan for me. Happy birthday, babe!