I love my wife so much, and feel so honored to be able to be on this journey of life with her. It is so amazing to be able to do things like teach a journey class bible study with her in our church! She inspires me with her steadfast dedication to me and the kids – even during difficult days (and nights!), and most importantly – to the vision and grace of Christ. She will never get the appreciation she deserves this side of heaven for how well she loves our family (with such sacrifice!), and the light that she brings to those whose life intersects hers – even if for just a moment.
I posted this video not because I am comparing her to Ruth Graham, but because I don’t want to wait to tell my wife how much she means to me – and how much light and life she brings to me daily!
So, this video has been floating around facebook quite a bit, and so you might have already seen it, but I thought it was very worthwhile, and I hope that you get something out of it today. Today is our 9th anniversary!!! I am so thankful that God let me take care of Ang until “death do us part.” On this very special day in our lives, we want to make sure that everyone knows that we have a long way to go before becoming God’s perfect masterpieces – both together and individually – and this video relates to that.
You know, at the end of my wedding vows that I wrote to Ang, I said, “Angela Marie, you are a masterpiece, and together, we will bring peace to the Master.” – We are pushing forward with that mission. . . . it will not be easy. . . but it WILL BE WORTH IT! - we can’t wait for the adventure that God has in store for us in the next 9 years!!!!
Here are a few things that I really love about this video:
1. chiseling is painful
2. “most of My children just want to talk”
3. “Can you just chisel where I want?” – “that is control”
4. Who do you see in the mirror in the morning?, at noon?, at night?
5. “Can we take a time-out?” . . . . “control or chisel?”
6. “you go to these empty wells whenever you are _______, but they do not work!”
7. “I made you good”
8. My favorite . . .at 4:50
9. “you have listened to so many voices for too long that are not of ME.”
10. “It’s more than a name. . . . it’s a name above all names.”
11. “you bought into the lie thinking that everything was going to be easy when you said yes to ME. . . that’s not how it works”
I know that I will not ever fully understand how God can love us all so much, even though we mess up over and over again. . . . but I accept that grace – and I am determined to live in that renewal today.
Wow- it has been a long month and a half, but I am ready to get back into the swing of blogging again 
. This semester ends a period of time that might have been one of the most refining times of my life thus far. . . but, we’ll get to that some other time
I thought about catching you up on everything, but that would take a book, not a blog – plus, I know some of you have been following me on twitter – and greenlockers on twitter too – so, I am just going to start with a top 10 list of things that I have learned in the last month and half:
10. Lasik is a modern day miracle – seriously going from 20/600 to 20/15 over the course of 5 minutes. . . . . . . . come’on that’s just crazy!
9. God’s adventure (i.e., greenLockers) is wilder than I ever could have imagined
8. Not much compares to seeing a “smaller than average” middle school student encouraging his “much larger” peers to not waste schools supplies, but to donate them instead, and he did not know that I was watching
7. I don’t hear anyone talking about parenting in a positive light – about how wonderful it is to be a Dad or a Mom – I plan on changing that a little bit (get ready for . . . . “parenting tips” – coming soon to this blog ). I figured my wife is currently teaching college course called “Parenting” and I teach Child Growth and Development as well as Adolescent Growth and Development – though we ourselves still have a lot to learn, and are NOT perfect by any means!!!! – we also have a lot to share
6. This is one of my favorite pictures of Kya so far – love his Spirit
5. My wife does not get even a 10th of the credit that she deserves. . . – Here is Dane smiling at her during bath time – yeah, he loves her!
4. I am excited about the God’s plan to use the Church (with all of her quirks) to move His kingdom forward. Here are some middle schoolers from GSM cleaning out 800 bins. . . in the rain!
3. The heart of Bethel students continues to impress me – countless students gave up time and effort to FREELY give up parts of their summer for greenLockers
2. Absolutely NOTHING compares to “intentional use of time” and “open communication” when a family is running fully on mission (i.e., the busy, stressful times of the “six days” before the “7th day” rest period)
1. Blogging and many other “good” things/opportunities are important to me for many reasons, but my family is more important – specifically, being the best husband and father that I can be – - WILL ALWAYS take precedent over me saving my public face. – here is a picture after Dane’s dedication at church.
There are so many things to say about how appreciative I am for my wife, and all that she does for me. BUT, it doesn’t stop there – with her being at home with the kids, she is also the foundational element of how are family is being raised. . . . . . and I couldn’t be more proud!
I ran across this video that is a tribute to Ruth Graham (Billy Graham’s wife), but I wanted to show it as a tribute to all of the women, wives, and mothers out there that CHOOSE to do amazing things in their relationships and circles of influence. Those who CHOOSE to put others’ first, love well, have patience, model integrity, persevere through double standards, forgive your loved ones, and give – though you are rarely thanked for it. . .
Though I shouldn’t speak for all the men. . . I will anyways, and say – THANK YOU!!!!
Ang and the kids
I am amazed by my wife. . . some people who know me think, . . . Ted is alright. . . he has at least some skill at a few things, but. . . . I tell them. . . have you met my wife??!! – once they have . . . well. . . . they end up joining her fan club
Seriously. . . I love viewing the world through her heart and mind. . . . she just has a different perspective on many things that fascinates and inspires me! . . . . so, I confiscated her Bible this morning when leaving for work, and I am going to share some of the things that I have found in the “notes” pages . . . . many of these things have come from church services, books, speakers, etc… but there were no names listed. . . . . nevertheless. . . . enjoy what she has highlighted!
- Our goal is NOT to look strong or feel strong – but to become strong
- Satan will find us blocking his way at every point. Until God commands otherwise, I SHALL NOT MOVE!
- How are you measuring that you matter?
- There is no corner of human experience so hidden or so hopeless, that grace can’t find it. . . . . Love changes everything!
- Success has ruined far more people than failure has
- Goodness is not just the absence of badness
- Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention
- Holiness is not a list of things that I won’t do. . . . but a list of the desires of my heart
- The purpose of influence is to speak up for those that have none
- Crises don’t create heroes. . . they reveal them
- Sometimes we think we’re waiting for God when God is really waiting for us
- Courage is the absence of self
- To live the life God has for you . . . you must be willing to risk
- It’s not about men or women. . . it’s about God
- Change happens when the fear of where you’re going is less than the pain of where you are at.
- I commit that. . . no one is going to hurt me so badly that I’m going to hurt back.
Because:
pursuing her throughout the adventure – is my favorite thing to do
there are not enough words to describe her
celebration is Godly
I am soo honored and grateful
appreciation doesn’t even come close to matching her sacrifice
this is our song
she has helped me discover me
words seem pathetic next to what I feel
she gives her whole heart to our children
she makes me smile. . . . she makes me laugh
Elliana, Kya, and Dakota simply adore her with all they are
she loves Jesus. . . . . and she breaks for the broken
I can . . . . AND. . . I want to
next to Jesus – she is my definition of Love
WATCH THIS FIRST
on 12seconds.tv
So, Ang and the kiddos went to the pumpkin patch (in Niles, MI – I think) along with Ang.’s mom and Keegan and Avery (our nieces). They had a great time – . . .I will highlight a few of my favorites, and then put some more at the end . . . enjoy!!!
Kya really likes to feed animals
Let me in there!!!!
The girlz
8 seconds
I love my family so much – thank you Father for such a responsibility and blessing
looks like senior pictures. . . .
So, I am just geting done teaching my class ~ feeling pretty good about – we had a lot of fun. . . as always ~ when I go to the water fountain to get some water. Just then a Bob (a colleague) says to me “hey just saw your wife and kids. . . like 15 minutes ago” . . . . WHAT!! . . . I was a little bummed, because I thought for sure that she would remember that I teach from 11-noon 
. So, I moped back to my office only to find this on my door:
My heart started to melt. . . . then I went inside to find this on my wall:
and the topper was this on my desk. . . my favorite!!
She knows I love surprises . . . . . of course she knew I was teaching. . . . . . man! . . . . she is soooo good! I called home and Elliana and Kya talked my ear off about how they were in “stealth mode” . . . lol. . . . I love it!!! Thank you God. . . . I am a very grateful for the woman you have allowed me to partner with in this adventure. . . I will do my best to the husband you have called me to be!
This post was suggested and dedicated to my wife, the mother of my children. . . . and too often – the invisible woman. . . I am so proud of her, and I am so honored to be her husband!
Go and build!
My wife, Ang, is amazing – I know. . . people may think that I am biased and all because, . . . well, . . . I’m her husband, and that is how I am “obligated” you know, “supposed” to feel. I tell you though that I am not alone, and I am so blessed by her life. She is such an amazing mother of our 3.33 children, a great counselor, and a tremendous teacher. Here are two recent comments from a couple of her students (Ang adjuncts two classes here at Bethel):
I absolutely loved class with Angela last night. Throughout the whole 3 hours I just had an overwhelming sense of: “This is it-this is what I want to spend my life doing” and I walked away feeling so equipped-and that was just after one class! I can’t imagine what I’ll be feeling at the end of the semester. I’m so blessed to be able to learn under her. She’s incredible.
Hey, your wife is really cool. . . what she knows is ridiculous!
I think so too . . .