A very special day.

Today is one of the most important days of the year for me. More important that the birthdays of my children and my anniversary. Without today, those other days would not have been possible. Today is the birthday of my bride. She turns 40 and I've had the honor and privilege to spend about a third of those years with her. They've been the best years of my life, and they only get better and better.

Maria is everything I had hoped for in a wife and many things I wouldn't have thought to ask for. When I first met her, at a super bowl party in 1992, I was intrigued by her and hung on her every word. In the coming weeks, I looked for excuses to spend time with her. We had out first date the following February first and by mid March we were dating steadily. I knew right away that she was the one for me, she required a little convincing. We were engaged on Halloween that year and married the following February.

It was her passion for life that drew me in. She wants to experience life to the full and she tackles everything with zeal. I was amazed at her, and still am. I'm a laid back guy, content to sit in my chair and watch TV, no matter what's on. The world and all its wonders could be marching by my door and I would miss it for reruns of Friends. Maria has plans and dreams and she won't be denied and I love that about her. She calls me to do more and experience more. I can't do more than one thing at a time without loosing my sanity, and she takes on multiple projects at once and does them all well. She has opened me up to a whole new world.

She's an amazing servant in our church. She's famous for her home made note cards, which she gives to nearly every woman in the church on their birthday (she's making some as I type this). She's the first to volunteer to help a family that needs a meal or something else. And she isn't content to just ship off a pot of spaghetti, but making sure there are bread sticks, salad and brownies too. Did I mention that she's an incredible cook? In 11.5 years of marriage I can count the bad meals on one hand (not counting the ones I've made).

Most encouraging to me is that she has stood behind me in everything. When I took a job in Detroit during our engagement, she followed without complaint. When I said I wanted to come to Columbus on the mission team for our church, she backed me up despite the fact we had no savings and no job prospects in the Buckeye state. In the past year and a half, while I was going through a sort of crisis in my faith, she listened and supported me as I tried to find my way. And when I got the lame brained idea to have a meet of Ohio members of Odyclub, she drove an hour with me to meet with strangers about a minivan (Now that's devotion!)

Our girls are turning into amazing women because of the amazing love of their mother. She's absolutely committed to them, toting them to dance lessons and school activities, volunteering in each of their classrooms and staying home to make sure that they are being influenced more by us (her really) than anyone else. She reads the Bible to them every morning before school and it shows in their own love for God.

She's an avid scrapbooker, having put the last several years of our lives together into an amazing series of a dozen and a half albums. The irony there is that she's sparsely represented, usually behind the camera taking the shots. She's one of the leaders (On the 'house blessing team' I think) at The Old Front Porch a scrapbooking, crafting and homemaking site. She's also a frequent lurker here, so watch yourself. :-)

She's amazing and I am truly blessed to have her in my life. I love you, Maria, Happy birthday.