Happy Father's Day...

First of all, Happy Father's Day to anyone reading this post who is a father; you are all amazing men!

But I really wanted to write this post to all the young women (or even not so young) reading it who aren't married yet but would love to meet the right man and be married. Today is Father's Day, and I spent the day with my husband. I fixed him a fantastic lunch, and we just spent time together, talking about our life, our children, our dreams, etc. All 4 of our children are grown, and they all called him to say Happy Father's Day, but they don't live with us anymore. And he doesn't have a dad to call anymore since he passed away seven years ago. I call my dad and take a gift over, but I've found the last few years (since he's lost both parents) that Father's Day has become about spending time loving on this man who is the amazing father of our children. Ladies, find a good man, a godly man, a man who puts others before himself. At the end of the day, it's not about how much money he has or how handsome or charming he is. You want a man who can confidently say, "I've got this!" What is 'this?' Anything that life throws at you. My husband, the father of our four children, is this man, and I am so thankful for him. I know no matter what comes in life, he's got it.

This picture on this blog is one of my favorites. It's the day of our daughter's wedding, and he accidentally ran into her while she was taking pictures, which is why he is in a rain jacket, board shorts, and boots. He was working hard to make her day special for her. And when he saw her, he was utterly overcome with emotion and in tears... she was an absolute vision of beauty. But, what you can't see in the picture is that he was dirty from working in the mud and was afraid to touch her because he didn't want to mess up her dress.

We had every detail of the wedding worked out. But sometimes, life throws curve balls. One week before the wedding, his mom died. But we had a wedding to throw and didn't have time to grieve. And then the morning of the wedding, we woke up to a forecast of 100% rain... not sprinkles, or occasional showers (like it had predicted!) BUT buckets and buckets of rain! Since we had only planned for an outdoor wedding under a canopy of beautiful fairy lights (which, by the way, the wind completely tore apart the night before!), we had to make a major adjustment fast. So, at 4:30 in the morning, my husband, who had barely slept all night, told me that we would have to have the reception in the house! My question... whose house!?! OURS! Can we even fit 80-90 people inside my house!?! Originally the count had been close to 200, but covid happened, and we had cancelation after cancelation that week. Steve told me we could move out all the furniture and have the reception in the house, and it would be great. Really!?! But then again, he's always able to say with absolute confidence, "I've got this!"

So, we moved all of the furniture out of the main rooms of our house... and when I say all, I mean ALL (even the drapes needed to come down)! Steve, our sons, all of the bridesmaids, and my two day-of-coordinators moved it all to our bedrooms! Then everyone moved all of the reception things into our house!! We had to scratch all of our plans and literally wing it the rest of the night! BUT amid all the chaos, this wedding was, as I said, the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to! The buckets of rain held just long enough to have the ceremony in the orchard just like my daughter wanted. And all of the raindrops and umbrellas made for stunning pictures.

My husband truly is amazing! He selflessly poured his heart into making this a beautiful day for Nicole & Zach! For him, this day was all about making her dreams come true. He was working outside, getting things ready even while guests were arriving. In fact, he took a shower 20 minutes before she was due to walk down the aisle. Every precious minute before that was spent not only telling his girl, "I've got this!" but being a living, tangible picture of "I've got this!" The wedding was stunning, the food excellent, and the love from everyone for us and our daughter and new son (❤) was overwhelming!! Nothing went according to plan at this wedding. And yet, everything went so much better than planned. Love and joy were contagious and felt by everyone there. And really, when you strip away all the outer packaging of the wedding that we planned...the decor, the food, the drinks, etc....that was all we truly wanted!!

Steve loves his family so well! We are all better versions of ourselves because of his selfless love. So ladies, find a selfless man. A man who will say, "I've got this," and will focus on making your dreams come true. He's a rare man for sure! I do realize how blessed I am. I know men like him don't come along every day. But honestly, he's worth the wait. My love and admiration for this man continues to grow and grow.