Michelle

Most
Intriguing
Character
How much do I love you?
Every day
Love grows
Love growing in
Every way - I love you so much it's hard to say.

To My Beloved Wife

The past few days has shown me how God has chosen you for I and I for you. I have seen the hand of God move us to each other at his designated time. What a wonderful thing!

I have seen you take potentially traumatic times and turn them into pure joy. I am truly lucky to be with you.

I can never express how much I love you, yet you always seem to know. You are beautiful beyond beauty and lovely beyond comprehension.

I love you so very much!

Simple Thoughts to Live By

Do all things in with Love, Mercy, and Compassion.

Be quick to forgive and quick to give praise.

Never condemn another person, rather pray for them. Condemnation should be reserved for God not man. Since we are imperfect, it is better to leave condemnation to he who can make the perfect decision. (I would hate to condemn someone only to find out that I was wrong. Wouldn't you?)

Be thankful in all things. Even in adversity there are things you can be thankful for. Often I have found the ability to put past adversity to good use.

Life Love and God

I have had an interesting set of conversations this week which let me to some unusual musings.

I have two friends whom I love very much, Joan and Zairen.

I used to date Joan, and even tried to marry her, but it fell apart in one day of poor communication and bad decisions. The break was so deep that we didn't even talk for years. Through divine intervention, this has changed of late and we have been talking about our feelings for each other, where they were and where they are and what went wrong. We still love each other deeply.

I started comparing how I felt about her to how I felt about my other friends, and came up with Zairen. I have never really though about how I felt about Zairen, because I am not attracted to him in a sexual way, but simply as a very close friend. In consideration, I found that I loved him just as much as Joan, but in a slightly different way. I then started thinking about my love of them, to my love for my wife Michelle. I did this for a number of reasons, but mainly to clarify my feelings about those whom I care most deeply about, children aside.

I firmly believe that God created Michelle for me and I for her for there is no better match. If you believe in soul-mates, then you would understand that Michelle is mine and I am hers. I love Michelle like no other. Our love started quickly, developed fast, has grown and continues to grow every day of every year for the past 15 years. My love for her surpasses words, thoughts or mere emotions. I love her totally and completely. When compared to the love I have for Joan and Zairen, my love for Michelle surpasses them countless times. This does not diminish the love I have for Joan or Zairen, but merely puts it into perspective.

In thinking of the difference, I can see how God loves us. Mortal love is like the love I have for Joan and Zairen. We love, and love deeply, but God's love for us is such that our love pales in comparison. I am thankful that I have a God who loves us so much.... And for my lovely wife.

The one hope and dream that I have for Joan and Zairen is that they can be with someone who is to them as Michelle is to me.

A Spicy Vacation

It had been a long year and we were in desperate need of a good vacation so we set off to the local travel agency. We looked through several brochures and finally decided to go on a bit of a road trip and visit several places rather than just spend the entire vacation at a single resort as we normally did.

We started our vacation by traveling to Jukkasjärvi where we chilled for awhile in the ice hotel. Despite the frigid atmosphere, the people were warm and friendly. It was a wonderful place and nearly everything was created from ice, from the furniture and lighting fixtures to the salt and pepper shakers we used at our table. We took sled rides, visited ice galleries, played in the snow and generally had lots of fun. But soon it was time for us to leave and we were off to our next destination.

One of the more wonderful places we stopped at was Gatlinburg. There we found the largest museum of salt and pepper shakers in the known world. We spend hours drifting through and examining each of seventeen thousand one hundred and sixty two salt and pepper shakers from around the world. Some were wondrous in their design, while others were simple and plain. All were grand to see. That night I had a beautiful and spicy dream of dancing with all the salt a pepper shakers on a large decorated table.

The next stop on our trip was to a cozy little bed and breakfast under the lagoon in Key Largo. We watched as fish swam overhead, and were served a wonderful seafood dinner by aquanauts. We swam around our little home under the water and had great fun playing hide and seek with the fish. In my explorations we came across an old sunken ship. Though we were inexperienced, we decided that the adventure was too much to resist and we decided to explore it’s old wooden decks and rooms. While searching through the ship I came across the galley and found a set of bronze salt and pepper shakers marked with the insignia of the ship and still in good shape. This was a treasure to great to imagine.

After several days living large and liquid we decided to find more a solid place to stay and traveled to White Cliff. Here we stayed in the sumptuous splendor of an old opal mine. We explored the many caves and tunnels that run throughout the place and marveled at the glistening beauty of the opals we found throughout the region. While I was here we picked up a lovely set of opal salt and pepper shakers to go with the other ones I had collected.

Having spent time in the ground and under the sea we then decided to try some time in the air and headed to Lizard Island where we spent many days wondering high in the trees of the rainforest. We swam in the lagoons, played with crocodiles, saw a wonderful variety of rare and exotic plants and animals and generally had a good time. I also managed to find salt and pepper shakers made from rare corals that only grow near Lizard Island. My collection was going to be truly wondrous.

Finally it was time to head home. Our vacation was over, but our memories will never end, and my collection of salt and pepper shakers had only just begun.

Life Strivings

There are three things I strive for in life:

• To help others - Compassion
• To bring joy and happiness into the lives of other people
• To add value to other people’s lives

Unlike some, I do not try to do these things on a grand scale. While the grand scale can be helpful and moving for many people, I have found that I am often not capable of pulling off these grand scale, life-changing events. For me it is the little things in life where I find my ability to help and bring joy: The kind and encouraging word, the happy attitude, the little bit of advice that I can offer, having people live with me so that they can help re-make their lives, like my brother in-law. In the long run, I think that while things done on a grand scale are nice, doing things on a smaller scale makes the help more personable, and therefore more powerful and lasting.

One of the things that I have learned in life is that people get so beaten down by life and what happens around them that they often loose confidence in themselves, their direction, and life itself, even if they seem to be doing well. I have found that simple words of encouragement, levity and prayer can often help.

In doing these things, and listening to the movements of the holy spirit within me, I beleive I am serving God.