Happy Birthday Erica!

Erica,

Today officially marks 8 years of birthdays celebrated together as a married couple! And since your FAVORITE number is 8, you are turning 28, and we are getting ready to enter our 8th year of marriage this should pretty much be the happiest birthday yet! I love how genuinely excited you get when you come across things in life that include your favorite digit, so to honor your birthday, I wanted to list 8 things I absolutely LOVE and appreciate about you for your special day.

1. Since the very beginning of our on and off flirtatious days together, I’ve always known that the little things mean the most to you. I love how excited you have always gotten over the smallest acts or gifts of kindness and how much you appreciate the detail in everything. This has led me to give some pretty strange gifts – like the year I was in college in Texas and you were back home in Arizona and I sent you a package with a license plate and some socks. To some this would seem like the strangest gift, but I knew how much you loved my old license plate and that you enjoyed fluffy, warm, fun socks in the winter, so to us it just made sense.

2. I love how you tolerate my tapping habit. It’s one of the downsides of being married to a musician, and although you frequently give me ‘the look’ to stop, I also notice and appreciate all the times you muster up the strength to let me tap away on the steering wheel. Maybe the small things mean a lot to both of us after all! 😉

3. Not only are you the best wife a man could hope for, I have absolutely adored watching you as we entered parenthood together. You are the sweetest most patient momma a kid could ask for. Our kids don’t recognize it yet, and maybe they never will fully understand all of the self sacrifice you unselfishly pour out over them. I mean it only takes about an hour into a date night before you start talking about and missing our kids – and I just love the love you have for them.
4. You are the lover of all things relating to surprises! It seems like my eternally fleeting goal is to somehow completely surprise you – and that’s a BIG problem! For someone who not only loves to be surprised but also loves to give surprises, you sure do have a funny way of figuring out anything I have every tried to plan. I think the closest I have ever gotten to genuinely surprising you was for your birthday trip up to Mt. Hood skiing at Timberline last year, but you eventually admitted you even had a hunch that was going to happen!! Just wait – one of these days you will have your full fledged surprise, no matter how long it takes me… if only I were better at keeping secrets!

5. You are one committed lady. You commit yourself 100% to anything you are involved with. You are committed to our marriage, to our kids, to your family, and most importantly to God. Your commitment and love for God is such an admirable trait about you. You have many times been the one in our relationship to bring us back to reprioritize and center ourselves where we need to be. I love watching you operate out of the gifts and talents He has given you, and watching you commit everything you do to Him.

6. I love that we both share a common problem, but probably a little more you than me…our affinity for sugar. I love that I can always count on finding some sort of candy around the house no matter what. Or how you still buy it but do your best to hide it when I’m on a health kick! We can hardly ever walk past a Fuzziwig’s Candy Shop without stopping in to treat ourselves every time – with or without the kids!

7. October 13th, 2006 will forever be a special day for me. Literally years of pursuing you finally paid off on that night when we had our first kiss! I love that I was and am your first and only kiss. And let’s be honest – you made me work for it! It may not have been the most romantic setting in the parking lot of my brother’s apartment complex, but in that moment, you literally made my world stand still, just as you have every time you’ve kissed me since.

8. I love that although we love nice things and seeing fun, big houses (and maybe even daydream about living in one someday) your heart is all about giving. If I had a nickel for every time you felt compelled to do something for someone else, well, I might be able to buy you that big house by now! You give more than you receive and then wish you could give more. I admire that about you. You have a big, BIG heart and it shows to everyone who knows you. You make me a better person for it, and for that I am grateful.

So there you have it babe, my top 8 favorite things about you. I hope this year is amazing for you, and that God helps us continue to see our dreams come true. Happy 28th Birthday to the love of my life!!

 (Photo Credit: Ike & Tash)