Mi Amor es 30!!!

It's only appropriate to shamelessly brag about your husband on special occasions and I think a 30th birthday counts as one of those special occasions.  I'm so thankful that 12 years ago you came into my life and changed it forever.  I love that we got married young, started a family young, and have struggled through life together as we have grown up together.  I love you deeply and love this life we have together.  I truly thank God for you every day.
For your 30th birthday, 30 reasons I love you :)  Love you all the way to Heaven birthday boy!


1.  Your a down right Hottie with a capital H! (Remember it's okay to brag it's your birthday!)

From the strapping young buck I married...

to the gorgeous 30 year old man you are, you are hot and there's no way around it!

2.  You are quite hilarious and never miss a chance to make others laugh.  It's never a dull moment when your around, laughter and smiles fill our house because of you.  In fact even in inappropriate settings I can count on you to make a joke under your breath and make me laugh out loud :)  I truly love laughing with you.

Ace Ventura's appearance at Tour da Fat was all time and just one of many characters you occasionally bust out :)

3.   You are one of the most humble men I have ever met.  I love that you are quick to genuinely shift focus from yourself to someone else or something else to get out of the spotlight.  Your awesomeness doesn't go unnoticed by me though :)

4.  I love your adventurous spirit and where it leads us in life.  Let's be honest, 90% of the reason we are in Costa Rica right now is because you just couldn't wait any longer :)  You push me to embrace life a little more each day, I love that you bring that out in me.

Where your plans to move to Costa Rica all started!!  I'm glad we took the plunge :)

5.  Your a life long learner.  I am inspired by your constant desire to learn more in life, especially in your career.  I am so proud of how you have followed your artistic ability and created a job that you love and are amazing at.  It encourages me to follow my heart where God leads me.

6. I truly love how Honest you are, even in the tiniest things.  You create safety, trustworthiness, and authentic relationships with people in part because of your gentle honesty.

7.  That you play guitar!  I always say you won me over when we were dating with your guitar, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the reasons you win me over every day :)  Your never hotter than when your behind a guitar!

From serenading me when we first got married with your boy band when we would fight, to watching you play at weddings I love when you sing and strum a guitar :)  Feel free to serenade me any time!

8.  From the time I have met you have been unrelenting Persistant in things you want or believe in.  Including your pursuit of me :)  I have watched you pursue your dreams and goals through hardships, trials, and discouragements; yet you never give up on the things you really believe in.  What a great example for Gentry!

9.  Speaking of Gentry, you are a Great Dad.  You take every opportunity to laugh with him, play with him, love him, guide him, but more than that, you allow Gentry to follow his young little heart to be who God has designed him to be.  You quickly examine your own motives and heart when parenting is pushing your patience, and humbly admit when your wrong.  I treasure the times I have heard you ask Gentry for forgiveness, again what a great example for him to see how to love your children.  I hope someday we have more kiddos that get to call you dad :)

Gentry has always wanted to be just like you from his white Buff hat, to wearing a suit when you did, he loves  being just like dad :)

You have never been a sideline dad, you are always with Gentry in the midst of fun :)

10.  I recently heard you tell someone "Do it.  Do what you love. Follow God, and do what you love"  You are always so Encouraging to those around you and are the first to inspire others to follow their passions and dreams.  I have experienced this first hand and appreciate it more than you will ever know.

Encouraging G on his first day of kindergarten as he cried uncontrollably walking into his class :(

Encouraging me after we left as I cried uncontrollably after leaving my baby at school!!!

11.  I love that you are Young at Heart .  No matter where we are, a playful lightness radiates from you.   Your always up for playing, a game, an activity, and living life to the fullest.  Since we have moved to Jaco I feel like your inner beach boy has awaken and you are even more young at heart than before!  You make life so much fun!

Who's really having more fun here?

Again, who's having more fun here?

12. Leaving your pregnant wife to fight for the freedom of others is nothing short of Courageous.  You rarely speak of your time in Iraq partly because of your humbleness, but partly because few will ever understand the experience of literally risking your life everyday for people you don't even know, for a cause that not everyone agrees with, against true evilness.  I admire you for your sacrifice and am so grateful for all you gave.  Moral Courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition which you showed overseas by not engaging in any unnecessary measures in a war zone.  you were very wise in what you exposed yourself to and ultimately protected yourself from the emotional trauma that has haunted to so many.  Beyond your time overseas I have watched again and again as your exercise moral courage in a very unmoral world.  I find peace in knowing I can trust you to be courageous in whatever trial our family faces.

What a sweet day for our family!!

13.  Those beautiful baby blue eyes!  Your cute smile and twinkly blue eyes got nearly every project deadline extended in college.  Who can say no to those eyes?  Certainly not me!!

I love those blue eyes!!

14.  You are my biggest fan.  Whether it was dropping the bombshell of starting Grad school in a couple of months, starting a new job, contemplating when and if to have more kids, working in Costa Rica, dreaming about what if's, you have always been the one to say go for it.  I have always known if there was something I felt passionate about, you would jump on board simply because it's me.  I am a blessed wife.

15.  Your are also Gentry's biggest fan.  "Gentry will learn to love who he is and not care what others think of him.  We should consider it a blessing that he knows what he likes"  Wise words from you years ago when I was wanting to tame Gentry's style one day before pre-school.  Not only have you always been supportive but you have encouraged him and stood behind him as he navigates through childhood.

16.  Your a surfer boy :)  You tan, on a board, smiling, loving life...what's not to love?

17.  Your consistant desire to grow in your relationship with God!  Even in hard times in life and when you have struggled, you have always desired to grow and know God more.  You are quick to turn back from selfish ways and seek where you went wrong.  I am daily encouraged by your relentless striving towards Christ.  You don't put on a facade that you are perfect but instead humbly embrace the reality of your falleness and desperately try again daily.  You are great depiction of what it looks like to authentically walk with God.  I admire your heart for the Lord.

18.  Your a Dreamer!  The only thing more refreshing than listening to you dream about life, is how you allow others to dream about life.  Dreaming is something that gives us hope for a new tomorrow. You are so great at drawing out the dreams and aspirations in myself, Gentry, and others, because you yourself are great at dreaming about the future.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your dreams!

19.  Not only do you sing, but your really good at it!

20.  Your always up for a good kiss session!  TMI?  Maybe but I really love that after almost 10 years of marriage your always up for a little make-out session just cause you like kissing me.  Reminds me of all those butterfly feelings I had when we were dating, and I hope we never loose that cause I think it keeps our young love alive.

21.  You are a man full of Faithfulness.  Your walk with God, your marriage, your relationship with Gentry, and your friendships all exhibit your faithfulness.  You are faithful to love and support those around you with no strings attached.    

22.  You are always the first to ask for forgiveness.  I'm outing myself on this one, but I am constantly aware of your readiness to ask for forgiveness in our marriage, even when my devil horns are in plain view!  Your ability to humbly do this time and time again is literally a huge reason we are so in love and happily married almost 10 years later.  I hope someday you can say the same for me, and I'm so sorry I have fallen short in this area.

23.  You are the first to forgive.  In the off chance that I do actually ask for your forgiveness,  I can't tell you how powerful it is when you instantly say you forgive me, kiss me on the forehead, and move on.  Again I pray that someday you can say the same for me.  

24.  Genuine!  What you see is what you get.  While you are kind and loving, you don't shy away from addressing conflict and  promoting authenticity in your relationships.  We live in the facebook world of  and can have surfacey meaningless relationships everyday, yet you value getting to actually know people and engage with them personally.  You appreciate living real life with people, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and aren't afraid to get messy if needed.  Thanks for valuing our humanness.

25.  Your an Artist!  Random but I absolutely adore how you bite the side of your cheek and stink your tongue out just a little bit when you are drawing ;)  I also adore that Gentry does the same exact thing when he is drawing!  Seriously the cutest thing ever :)

26.  I will never get tired of your Hopeless Romantic gestures of loving me.  You know I'm as girl as they come and treasure being romanced.  In all 10 years you have never stopped doing the things that helped make me fall in love with you as a 17 year old girl.  Flowers, dates, sweet notes left around the house, little surprises, thoughtful gifts, or just telling me I'm beautiful like you did this morning after my sweaty walk on the beach with MP with no make-up, crazy hair, and work out clothes.  You are the love of my life and remind me constantly of that by your sweet gestures.

 

27.  You have a unique sense of style and have the ability to pull off crazy colors, retro glasses, crazy long hair, full beards, clean cut and shaven, GQ, backwards hat and jeans, soldier boy, and everything in between.  Basically you rock whatever you pull out of the closet that day.  I think it's because you don't really care, and are confident in just being you.  Whether it's your bright pink board shorts with your long hair and beard, or a button up collard shirt with short hair and your afternoon shadow, you look spankin awesome!  Our sweet little boy follows in your footsteps :)

Looking hot in your fedora and sunglasses

Do we really wonder why he bust out with fashion statements like this?

28.  Appreciation for the simple life!  I jokingly call you penny pincher, cause in all reality you are, and yet I am learning (emphasis on the learning) to appreciate the fact you really don't need much to make you happy.  I'm thankful you don't need to spend tons of money on yourself to enjoy life.  You are very content in life without filling it up with materialistic junk...I really do appreciate that even if I do call you penny pincher :)

29.  You whistle while you work.  Actually you whistle while you do everything!  You have passed on your whistling ability to Gentry and I have come to love hearing the upbeat happy whistling in the background of life.  You both do it so much you don't even notice that you do, which is really endearing to watch you both.  I think it's a sign of the Joy that exist in your life :)

30.  God put you in my life.   There have been numerous times in the last 10 years of marriage, that I have sat and thought how amazing that I actually get to love you.  God knew my weaknesses, strengths, fears, desires, dreams, and exactly what/who I needed in my life to bring me closer to Him.  You are that person and loving you brings me closer to God everyday, not because your perfect or our marriage is perfect, or our life is perfect, in fact it's quite the opposite.  Sometimes we are both crazy, our life is crazy, and our marriage is hard, yet God uses you in those times to help me seek Him more.  Jeff, in all honesty what more could a wife ask for?  Thank you for pointing me again and again to our Lord and Savior.

Here's to 30 more years of young love, laughter, adventures, and a steadfast growth towards God!  I love you Jeffrey Eric and hope you have a wonderful 30th year!