I’ve heard it said that true love is when you care for a person for who he is and not for what he does for you. However, when I take the time to look at all the good things that Richard does for our family and for me, his actions and his identity are inseparable. I appreciate him because he does so much, but I love him because of the person he has become through these acts of sacrifice.
Here are a few of the good things that I have observed Richard do over the past 8 days:
He was a merit badge counselor at a Scout event on Saturday and prepared an awesome activity with lasers.
He drove Daniel and another boy to piano rehearsals during his lunch break at the Scout event.
He prepared a talk and was a Stake high council speaker for another congregation on Sunday.
He made dinner for us on Sunday because I was busy feeling devastated about something.
He babysat while I attended a new member fireside.
He went to work each day and one night he stayed up to midnight working from home.
He drove Paige to seminary at 6:40 a.m. each school day.
He conducted Family Home Evening and gathered us for family prayers.
He attended a district Scout meeting before picking up Paige from ballet.
He attended a baseball parent meeting with Daniel.
He ate my brownies and remembered to compliment them.
He babysat while I went to youth activities on Wednesday night.
He washed the windows of the house and enlisted the help of his sons so they could learn to work.
He mowed the lawn.
He organized the garage.
He sprayed the weeds and sprayed for bugs.
He cleaned the back patio.
He chopped up branches from our thorny trees for disposal, also enlisting the sons for help.
He made a movie to show at the youth fundraiser on Friday night.
He helped set up for the youth fundraiser and donated generously.
He helped clean up the fundraiser and mopped the church cultural hall.
He tutored Paige in math for four hours on his day off and smiled about it.
He watched a romantic comedy with me for our date night.
On another night, he took me out to dinner.
He was the first to get up when he heard one of our kids vomiting in the middle of the night.
He went to church meetings which began at 6 a.m. even though he’d been up in the middle of the night with sick children.
He drove a new member to church.
He’s on his way home to take care of the sick kids so I can attend Young Women meeting.
Dear Birthday boy,
I know it's not an ideal day, but I'm sure glad you are here to
share it with me. Happy birthday, Rich. I love you.
-A
Richard decided he wanted us to visit Sabino Canyon this week. We had to wait for the weather to cooperate, but we finally made it today.
At the top of the canyon we tried hiking a trail but it was so dry and hot and the creek was calling to us, so we decided to get our feet wet instead.
There were superb skipping rocks and smooth water to test your skipping skills.
Paige counted over 20 kinds of wildflowers in bloom. It was a warmer day than we expected, but the creek made it all better.
