Birthday Rewind

I believe I may be one of the most blessed people in the whole world. This 30th birthday of mine was so much more than what I had ever dreamed. After a couple weeks of feeling a little fried and emotionally frazzled, I am back feeling reenergized, cherished, and thankful.

There is no way to count the amount of hours that Andy put into preparing for this birthday surprise. He started planning it back in March and has a full page document of all of the "to-do's". With the help of friends and family, Andy planned a surprise party, edited a video of birthday wishes sent in from friends & family, researched a perfect date restaurant, coordinated with my mom & sisters to fly in for the girls' weekend, made hotel reservations, and on and on and on...




Two things that were really meaningful to me:

1. Andy has been wanting to get me a new computer for quite some time. He always talks about how bad mine sucks and he wanted to buy me a Mac. But, Mac's are expensive. So he started saving with the intention of buying one for my birthday. 3 weeks before my birthday, Filipe was having a conversation with a friend who was selling his very nice MacBook Air. Fi told him he should talk to Andy because Andy might want to buy it from him. Our friend said, "Really? Well, I'll just give it to him." WHAT?!?! That's right! Our friend GAVE us a computer that is nicer than anything we would have bought. Amazing.
2. At our dinner date last Thursday, Andy had prepared three handwritten cards. The first was sitting on our table with a dozen roses when we arrived. He gave me the second card with the computer gift. The final card took my breath away. When I opened it there was a huge stack of cash. The card explained that he wanted me to have this money to pay for our Girls' Weekend in SF. It was all the money that he had earned from doing his coaching network. Even now, the gift brings tears to my eyes. It was one of those gifts that is so sacrificial that you almost feel awkward accepting. But Andy had such joy in giving it to me. He said that it was one of the reasons he decided to do the coaching network. I thought back over the last 6 months and all the hours he had put into preparing for his coaching network each month. Little did I know, all the while he was doing this in part to be a blessing to me. Wow. 

I never expected ANY of this. A dinner date with Andy and a girls' lunch with a couple friends would have been plenty for me to feel loved and celebrated on my birthday. The thought and planning that Andy put into this spoke such love to me.  He sacrificed a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of energy into making this the best birthday of my life.

Two nights ago we were laying in bed, his arm wrapped around me. And he said, "I don't think you have any clue how much I love you." It was the last thing he said before he fell asleep. I laid there listening to him breathe and thanked God for the amazing privilege of being married to Andy Wood.

What can you do today, large or small, to sacrificially love your spouse?