A Perfect Dozen

Chin up, hunny.

Amelia has learned, like the kids have, that when I have the camera out, she just needs to humor me. So, when I pointed the camera at her and commanded, "Smile!" She graced me with the above photo.

12 years ago today, we stood before a group of family and friends and vowed to support, cherish, love, put up with and otherwise endure the passage of time with each other. I would like to point out that the woman in the picture above is NOT the woman I married. Shocked? Read on...

The woman I married 12 years ago was kind and generous. She was smart and quick to laugh. She worked hard and saw things through. She was helpful, gracious, and gifted. The woman that I wake up to each morning is not the same. She is more. Much more.

In twelve years, she has become a closer friend, a confidant. She's seen me at my worst and taken me by the hand and helped me to stand again. She has taken my shattered ego and put it back together. Amelia had to learn to see past the facade I put up and see the real me and she kept loving me through it all.

In twelve years, Amelia has become more beautiful to me. I asked her tonight if she considered herself to be beautiful. She told me that she did... to some extent, except when she is 'frumpy' (which she claims lasts most of the winter). But in my eyes, her beauty is unsurpassed. It encompasses not just her outward beauty (her eyes, her smile, her freckled shoulders, her shapely legs, etc), but her Christian spirit as well. If ever I need to see compassion, grace, courtesy, hospitality, hope, joy, endurance, patience... I don't have to look farther than my wife.

In twelve years, she has changed from being my best friend to being my wife to being the mother of my daughter, Mary Hannah, my son, Ethan, and my youngest girl, Eleanor. Motherhood has triggered some changes in Amelia. She is more patient, more loving, more diligent, more steadfast. What an even more amazing woman she's become!

In twelve years, my wife has organized my life as we moved from Abilene to Coleman back to Abilene to Plainview to Enid (3x in Enid alone!) back to Abilene. Amelia has encouraged me to persevere with my dreams and seen in me strengths I didn't know I possessed. Her gentle loving has wrought great changes in me.

In twelve years, this incredible woman has adapted to everything that life has thrown at us and has helped us forge a family. We've had our share of hardship (both natural and self-inflicted) but she keeps us going. She is not the woman I married, and, thank the Lord, I'm not the man she thought she was getting. God has been good to us. God IS good to us, everyday.

Thank you, God for this woman, Amelia. Thank you for giving her eyes to see me despite my attempts to cover up. Thank you for giving her a heart to love me and our children even when she's worn out and at her breaking point. Thank you for molding and shaping her and forming her every day in your image. Thank you for the past twelve years, Father. Help us to live each day for you.

I love you, Amelia. Thank you for being you, every day. You are the woman I love today, tomorrow and always.


We ate at Outback Steakhouse on our honeymoon and here we are, celebrating our 12th anniversary.


Behold, the empty plate, formerly known as a plate of Aussie Cheese Fries.