This Man

Podcast Tuesday!! He was back just in time for this week's Spill the Beans!

 Click here to listen.

Well, yesterday you read about my goodbye blues and how sad I was for Ryan to be gone for the weekend. But I must say that on the flip side of that, I am proud beyond words of what he did this weekend, how he obeyed the Lord, and how he allowed God to use him for HIS glory. For as much as I missed him {and that was a WHOLE LOT}, I did not want to stand in the way of ministry, and this weekend, Ryan poured out his heart and found his heart filled up, and I'm grateful.

Wanted to give you a few more glimpses of our weekend!

Sleeping apart is for the birds, but made the best of it. "Bed" selfies.

I sent Ryan pictures throughout the weekend to try to prove I was being a big girl and surviving well on the home front. I spent the day Friday keeping busy with a little road trip to visit friends.

And he returned the favor by sending me little glimpses of his handsome face - whenever he could.

SOMEONE cried for her dad THE ENTIRE WEEKEND.

Saturday I did all our chores and baked cookies to deliver to his retreat for the guys who attended. By the way, do you know how hard it is to bake 7 dozen cookies and only eat one??? {One cookie. Not one dozen cookies. Just to clarify.}

When I got home from cookie delivery, I read the fourth card he left for me, which made me cry all over again. Just call me Rudolph.

Sunday was the big day. On Sunday, he gave a presentation, and this is what we'd been praying over for weeks. He had prepared so very well, and I was a thousand percent confident that God would stand by his side and give him the strength he needed and that his words would bless those there.

I was praying from the moment I got up that morning, which was pretty early, since I had coffee duty at church. We normally serve together, but since he was gone, I took over his brewing job.

Note to self for future coffee duty days: don't wear a long sleeved shirt and a scarf if you're on brewing duty. I smelled pretty bad by the time I got home.

At the end of my shift, Ryan texted to say he was almost ready to speak, and I'm pretty sure Satan was hounding him, as tends to be the case whenever someone is about to do something pivotal for the Lord. So I put down my coffee cup and went into the prayer room at church, got on my knees at the altar and did some SERIOUS praying.

I prayed until I felt the Lord told me it was all under control, and then I went back to my job.

And a bit later, Ryan said it was done and God had given him a miracle by just immediately calming him, body and soul, and allowing him to speak well and completely.

And I just have to say: isn't he HANDSOME???

I am so proud of him for being brave to share his heart so vulnerably. I am proud of him for the incredible sacrifice of time, mental and spiritual investment, and full heart he gave that presentation and this weekend. I know God worked in and through him, I know it was one of those weekends he will always look back on as a stone in his {and our} spiritual altar, when God moved and broke down barriers and began new things.

That was worth every moment of missing him.

I scurried about the house Sunday afternoon, preparing it for his arrival home, and as wackadoodle as it sounds, I believe Braeya KNEW he was about to come home, because she sat down and rested all afternoon - for the first time since he left. Isn't it weird how animals just KNOW?

She also picked up her weird quirk again: she prefers for someone to watch her eat, and that's normally Ryan's job since her food dish is in his bathroom. I really don't think she'd eaten much all weekend because no one was there to watch her. But she cried until I watched her on Sunday, and she ate and ate and ate.

{That's her looking away from her bowl to make sure I'm still there.}

And then it was time to go get him!!!

That cup should say "Smile, your husband is coming home!"

I know it will surprise you to know I cried when I got to hug him.

Reunited: really does feel SO GOOD.

And someone else was pretty happy to see him too.

Ryan, I'm so proud of you for the man you are. Thank you for being such an obedient servant this weekend. I missed you, but I'm grateful for what you did.

And oh!!

WELCOME HOME!!!!!!