My sweetheart

Over at We are that Family she is hosting a Valentine carnival. Part of it is posting about your special sweetie. You can participate by clicking on the button on the right side of my screen or the link above.

Now for my tribute -

Hubby and I have been married 16 years and I have a wealth of wonderful memories to pull from for this post. He is kind, compassionate, slow to anger and intelligent. God truly put us together. We truly complement each other. He is low-key and laid back. I am so NOT. He is level-headed and patient. Again, me, NOT so much. But this post isn't about me...

We met when I was only 16. My mother was attending Junior College at the time and so was my then future husband. My mom and hubby performed in a show choir together and had some mutual friends. Mom got hubby and I together. She likes to say that she hand-picked my husband. We knew fairly early that the relationship was headed toward marriage.

We were married 4 months after my 18th birthday and have been together ever since.
We took A LOT of flack for getting married so young. We didn't know how much work it would truly be and there have been some extremely difficult times. But a cord of three strands isn't easily broken.

For our 10th anniversary I really wanted an anniversary ring. We couldn't afford it and I knew it. So, it didn't happen. On Christmas, three years later, I received the ring. This was a surprise and so thoughtful in and of itself, but what he did when he gave me the ring was the BEST GIFT EVER!

He wrapped the ring in 13 layers of paper, one for each year of our life together and then wrote something special about that year on each one. He chronicled our tough times, the births of our babies, our first home purchase, every milestone. I am even choking up now thinking about it. I did a LOT of crying that Christmas.

I love him not for the material possessions he provides for me, but for his strength, love, protection and for who God created him to be.

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart!