Inspired...(by Kelly, but about Brendan!)

We're in a small care group in Hepburn, feeling really blessed to be among such great people! Our gatherings (which include food, hooray!!) right now are focused on Marriage. We watch videos by this very funny man named Dr. Kevin Leman, then we discuss topics and ideas raised. I'm also preparing to write a paper on marriage spirituality, so I've been dwelling on what exactly this two becoming one means - biblically, spiritually, in practice, in my relationship, in other relationships, in the church... lots to think on! Marriage is a hot topic for us these days!

Tonight, I checked out Ben and Ang's blog - they're awesome friends from Winnipeg living in Taiwan. Ang posted about her wonderful husband (Ben) and I was inspired to do the same. (thanks Ang, you're still inspiring me from the other side of the world!!) All this thinking on marriage has made me pretty thankful for mine.. so here is a list of why Bren is so great. (According to me)

He makes our kids breakfast every day. I take longer to get ready, so he takes on the majority of morning get-everyone-out-of-the-house jobs, almost never complaining that the division of labor is quite unfair.

His sense of humor makes it pretty hard to be really upset or mad at anything for long. And now, he's passed that on to our son. Between the two of them, some days I get a stomach ache from laughing. They're both getting funnier with age! (Maybe they'll go on the road someday?!)

As I type this, Brendan is making us a cup of coffee so that we can begin the Marriage Spirituality book we're going through together as research for my upcoming paper. The coffee is a nice touch, but the best part is that he is going to spend part of one evening for the next 10 weeks doing a chapter of this book - you've met him. This is NOT his definition of fun and excitement, he does it entirely for me.

He remembers things, thoughtful things, like if we've run out of something, or I said I'd call someone, or that I wanted to run a certain errand.. he helps me keep it all straight.

He works with adults with cognitive disabilities every day - and he enjoys this work, often commenting on what his clients have to offer and the valid contribution they make to our world. He's looking for that, looking for God in them.

He looks for ways to love our kids uniquely. He makes sure our daughter knows she is special to her dad, and he makes sure our kids sense the love that their parents have for them every day. Its really important to him that they know how much we love them.

He's my strong, safe place.

He's growing. The man I'm married to is not the man I married. I love that most of all, I think, that he's evolving as he knows God more, as he knows himself better.