HAPPY (ALMOST) BIRTHDAY, RYAN!!!

Today is not Ryan's birthday. But Sunday is his birthday, and even though I may post about it again in my Sunday Sentiments, I wanted to do a proper birthday post today. 

My goodness. How I love this man. I feel like every single year we are married, words fail me just a little bit more, because I want to say so many things about how much I love and appreciate him, but the words I need haven't been invented yet. 

Ryan loves well. He loves creatively. He loves consistently. And he loves using the wrong words. One time I was having some sort of Bekah-ridiculous moment and he said so passionately to me, "Bekah! How many times do I have to tell you that my love is conditional???" I started giggling, and he said, "WHAT?!" I said, "Did you mean UNconditional?" This look of horror fell over his face, and he said, "Wait. What did I say?" So now we remind each other frequently that our love is CONDITIONAL.

But if ever I met someone whose love really is unconditional, it's Ryan. So today I want to celebrate him by showing you some of the many unconditional ways he has loved so well in the last year.

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In the last year, we became official camping people, and this was one of the ways Ryan loved so unconditionally. He researched, watched YouTube videos, read articles, and made sure he knew everything he needed to know to make our camping adventures enjoyable. Each time we set up and tore down our campsites, he was careful to make sure all the hookups were installed properly and put away neatly. He did all of this in some very inclement weather at times. I appreciated his intense attention to detail that made all our trips so grand!

Probably his strongest love language is acts of service, and he loves so well through them. He will literally help anyone, anytime, anywhere at any personal cost. When we were on our vacation out west last summer, he wanted nothing more than to help our new friends at their home. We had been there probably an hour when he volunteered to help with a project. He said it was one of his favorite things! (Right before we arrived here, he had stopped on the side of the interstate to change a tire for two ladies who were struggling to figure it out.)  

He always embraces my (probably weird) ideas of vacation fun. I apologized profusely for scheduling two Little House stops in our trip last summer, but he actually really enjoyed visiting them both and never made me feel like we needed to hurry along to something more fun!

He loves this little guy with his whole heart and completely pitches in whenever we have him stay with us. (This photo is from last summer, when we still lived at WillowBridge. Ryan carried him to church and back, rocking the diaper bag the whole way.) He isn't afraid of diaper changes, bath time, feeding, cleaning up, playing, rocking him to sleep, or anything else! He is always eager to have him come over for a day...or a week!

He is the most fun, and all the kids love him. He isn't afraid to be silly, and he has boundless energy to keep up with them. This was from last summer when we went to the zoo with some friends, and the kids wanted to ride in his seat in the train. Can't blame them there. 

He will fight through any amount of pain to take one for the team, and last July, he did just that. He rolled his ankle - BADLY - during our variety show performance. But his sole goal for the night was for us to win that competition, so he hopped back up and finished the dance on a horribly sprained ankle. We didn't win the whole thing, but we did win best costume, and I felt like he won biggest heart for powering through. 

And because loving unconditionally is what he does, two days after that mess, he ice-bathed his foot all the way from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis to make sure I didn't miss out on my birthday present - postponed from May 2020 - which was tickets to see The Sound of Music. 

His willingness to help extended to a six-week-long stay for Phoebe just to help her people during a busy season. He didn't hesitate to invite her into our lives and even our camping, and he never once complained about early morning potty breaks outside!

He loves his family, and he is especially good to his grandparents. His grandpa (mom's dad) and grandma (dad's mom) are both aging and declining a bit, and he makes a special point to try to see them as often as he can. I make a special point to keep the pictures updated, because they matter.

Speaking of pictures...he understands that documentation is dear to me, and he is diligent about documenting for me when I can't be part of something. Last fall, he went on a men's retreat with our church, and he kept me updated all weekend long with pictures of everything from lake views to his food. And his bunk. :) 

I'm pretty sure it was Ryan's idea to offer to Tim and Justine for their little girl to stay with us while they went to the hospital to have baby #2. And then when she arrived, he jumped right in to help take care of her - stories and all!

And he was so happy to meet baby brother when he came over!

One of Ryan's main goals last fall was to run the Hog n Jog 5K for Gateway Woods.  Unfortunately, his ankle wasn't ready to run yet, following the sprain in the summer, but he jumped right in to be an encourager on the route! Encouragement...another thing he does so fantastically well! 

I hear many wives say they just can't get their husbands to talk. I'm so grateful Ryan loves unconditionally through conversation. Last summer and fall, we spent hours upon hours of our time away camping just talking and dreaming. He is so good to listen and not just try to fix things. He listens, he cares, he sympathizes...and I appreciate it all so much. 

Unconditional love in sickness and health meant...he took me to the clinic when the random dog on the street bit my hand, and then for the next NINE WEEKS he faithfully changed my bandages and cleaned the wound because I'm not great with blood/wounds. It was a special challenge for him, because I also didn't want him to touch it or even really look at it. ;) 

Ryan asked to go spend a day with my mom, learning how to make her Christmas candy. He said it was one of his most favorite days. He loved watching her do something she loved and learning her craft. I loved it that this is how he wanted to use one of his days off! (Also...he is FABULOUS with unconditionally loving my parents. He is their tech guy and helps out with anything else they need anytime!)

I mean...if he'll wear coordinating shirts, he really loves unconditionally, right?

Another proof of his unconditional love was saying yes to getting a dog! He dove into researching everything about a dog from the moment we knew we were going to get one, and I will never ever ever forget the day we picked Lexi out and knew she was ours. He was smitten from the beginning. Look at her little tiny face!! (This was the only time he was able to pry her from my hands that first day. Ha!)

One thing I love about Ryan SO MUCH is how he treats everything in the whole world with the same respect as he treats his own possessions. He takes such immaculate care of everything. Last winter, I went to the coffee shop in Grabill to get frozen hot chocolates to take to friends who weren't feeling well, and when I got to the end of the sidewalk, one of the cups tipped over in the drink carrier and splattered all over the sidewalk. I told the shop what happened, but when I walked by later, on my way to the post office, I noticed they hadn't had a chance to clean it up, and it looked AWFUL. When I told Ryan, he pulled out the mop bucket and made the walk of shame right beside me all the way back to the coffee shop to help me clean it up. 

His job description at WillowBridge was merely to care for the apartments in the building, but when one of our tenants moved out and had a plumbing issue over the holidays, he packed up all his tools and headed straight over to take care of her, too. (She left messages with the maintenance guy where she lived, but he didn't get back with her for many days, so it reached emergency status.) He spent hours over several days working on it, and never once did he complain about it. 

Ryan was unceasingly patient with all our tenants. He wanted to equip them well for their futures, so anytime he had an opportunity to work with them and teach them practical skills, he did just that. He didn't care how long it took or how slow they had to work. He just wanted them to learn everything they could. The number of hours he spent allowing them to tag along on projects he could have done so much faster by himself would blow your mind. 

From the first day Lexi came home, he has devoted time from every single day to working with her, teaching her skills and tricks, and commanding such great excellence from her. She loves him so much, and I can't blame her there. 

He even got in the trenches with her - literally. Now that is unconditional love!

No one will ever, ever, ever, ever know how many hours Ryan spent working behind the scenes at WillowBridge to try to do every single maintenance thing he could without calling in a company that would cost more money. He learned to do repairs he hadn't previously known how to do. He spent time beyond what any other human being would have spent on something, determined to figure it out. He worked early in the morning. He worked late into the night. He skipped meals to fix things. He was tireless, and though he often heard from me, "JUST CALL SOMEONE..." I am so proud of how hard he worked to try to show love through good stewardship, even when no one was watching. 

Though he shows great love to me by coming to every single speaking engagement he possibly can and being present to help in every way, I don't know that I have ever felt more loved and supported than I did the night of the WillowBridge fundraiser. That week was one of the hardest we ever had at WillowBridge, with some choices some of our tenants made even on the day OF the fundraiser, and as a result, I don't know that speaking has ever come at such a great personal cost to me. He alone knew what it took for me to stand with any kind of poise and collection and share passionately, and he not only prayed me through it, but he was there at the bottom of the steps when I left the stage, ready to speak words of life and encouragement into my ears. (Look closely and you'll see us at the back of the picture.)

Ryan always loves well through standing beside people when they need a friend. Not long before we left WillowBridge, one of our tenants said if the Colts lost a particular game, he would do 200 squats. Annnnnd they lost. He didn't want to do the squats, but Ryan talked to him about the importance of being a man of his word, even in silly things like this. And then Ryan stood beside him and did 200 squats too, even though he hadn't been part of it. This is Ryan. He'll go 100 extra miles so someone else doesn't have to stand alone and be embarrassed. 

He will stay and love people through cleaning up their events, even if it isn't his job. Earlier this year, our coworkers at WillowBridge threw a big event and Ryan stayed to the very end, washing dishes with a giant smile on his face. (Smile not pictured, because he and Sean were being silly here.) This is Ryan. Nothing is too much trouble or too beneath him. 

The day I had to go for my crown, I was so scared, and even though he had 100 better things to do with his time, Ryan packed up a bag of stuff to work on while he waited and drove me to the dentist. I cried and shook all the way through my appointment, but just knowing he was a few feet away in the waiting room if I needed him absolutely got me through that appointment. 

Even though it was hard to leave our job at WillowBridge, Ryan worked so hard to make sure everything was set for us to step toward our next place of ministry. From paperwork on the house to setting up the utilities and things we needed to packing the trailer, he worked tirelessly to make it smooth. This was definitely an undertaking of love!

One of our favorite things since moving has been getting to go on more dates again. And in this, he shows such sweet love to me. I appreciate his willingness to invest purposeful time in our marriage! We are excited to have more time for this! 

Ryan, I hope to be just like you when I grow up. I hope to be able to love as deeply and thoroughly as you do. Thank you for ALL the ways you have demonstrated love to me and everyone who comes in contact with you. Thank you for being a man of integrity and love! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I love you with my whole heart. 

Unconditionally.