When you dare to dream.

Dear Man of my dreams,

When I was a little girl of preschool age, you sounded and looked a lot like my daddy. You were tall and strong and really, really brave. If there were bumps in the night you were there. If I was ever sick you were there. You made me laugh and told me I could be anything I wanted to be. You, my man of my dreams were real.

When I was a teenager, you were the latest and greatest heart throb ever to grace the world. I was going to be the one in a crowd who got your attention and would change everything (thank goodness that didn't happen)

When I was a young lady, you had glimpses of my dad but now you rode a white horse and rode in at just the right time, yet allowing me to always stand alone. I was strong and brave and not needing you for anything but an occasional saving and great night out. You were handsome and loving but my independence was more important.

And then in one incredibly tender moment without warning my heart was changed.

When I found true love; a love that is everlasting. Then, and only then, is when the man of my dreams came into full light.

You see it was a lonely December eve when I was on my floor face down and I cried out to God and everything changed.

As the days went on I came to see that the love I was seeking was unconditional and incredibly different then what I had read or seen over the years.

My dad’s love is a beautiful wonderful love and I am so thankful for that love. But this love, this love that I found was breath taking.

You see this love came from God and it sweeps me off my feet every moment of everyday.

This love is: patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects always trust always hopes always perseveres. Love never fails.

And now the man of my dreams is that love. The love that we can only have because of the Lord.

My man is patient, when I was young and untamed in my ideas of marriage and parenting and life in general you showed me patients and taught me kindness and how to speak slowly and wait on the lord.

The man of my dreams never needs to ride in on a white horse to be love. My man is not rude or boastful. He is tender in his re-poof of me and his boasting is filled with words of praise for God and what he thinks of me. (It’s crazy this love)

My man is not easily angered, what I see is a man who is long suffering for my ways are difficult and tiring.

My man, he may not remember all the little details of our life together and I'm okay with that because that also means my man keeps no record of wrongs - and boy do I have some dooseys.

The man of my dreams has prayed for me in ways that only a lover can because he seeks truth and not the lies of this world.

The man of my dreams, he has and does protect me and our family by his constant steadfast love for God.

My man and I have always had hope and we have discovered that love always perseveres

Because when you get to 20 years of marriage you have seen the hill tops of great love and you have tasted the deep valleys of true love.

It comes in waves this type of love, because we live in a world that is lost and desperate for this love.

We have walked through the great joys of having four amazing healthy children but we have also sat in the valley of a miscarriage.

We have rejoiced with the success of jobs and houses but we have also grieved through the mess of no jobs and painful struggles.

This undeniable love that we cannot attain on our own but have gained because of Christ continues to strengthen us.

It feed our souls to bring us closer to God and more deeply committed to our marriage.

This year is the celebration of twenty incredible years of marriage

Marriage is an incredibly sacred gift that needs to be cared for with the utmost respect. It will be filled with the craziest kind of love you could ever possibly imagine which will help to sustain it when it is being attacked by so many life lessons that come our way.

It is nothing we can brag about as if we have accomplished this on our own. It is with joy and praise that we can celebrate the work the Lord has done.

Today the man of my dreams is real and he is my husband. Together we are two imperfect people saved by grace and filled with the greatest of loves, to carry us through the days ahead; days shared with our amazing children, loving family and friends.