Happy Endings . . .

Does everyone love happy endings as much as I do? I'm sitting here watching the final episode of "Friends" with a couple of our college kids from church and it's almost to the very end where Ross & Rachel end up together. I love that.

Today (Saturday) was also Casiday's second dance recital (the first was last night). She did great - a wonderful ending to a great year of dance. I am so proud of her!

Friday was Scott's & my 11th anniversary - I know that's not really an ending, at least I HOPE it's not, but I feel like since Scott & I have been together, my life IS a happy ending!

This was just a really good day. Nothing really spectacular - but we just had a great day. Scott is feeling so good - that is certainly a happy ending for us, after a long few years of sickness. He was SO himself - cracking jokes, making fun of me, all the things I have so rarely seen over the last few months.

Happy endings just make me smile. I guess because I always think that happy endings are really happy beginnings...at least in real life. For Casiday, she's beginning to feel so much more confident. It's amazing to see her coming out of her shell - dancing like no one is watching and loving it! Earlier I was passing her room and she was just twirling and leaping - it was absolutely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Being around her is just amazing and I am so thankful to be her mom.

For Scott and me - all I can say is - THANK YOU, LORD! Scott is the most wonderful, amazing person ever. There are moments when I look at him and I can't even breathe. And, over the past few weeks, as he has been feeling better and better - it's like God has restored all the joy and promise that we felt on our wedding day 11 years ago. Scott brings so much to my life.

First, he brings stability. He is truly a rock - and, while his lack of emotional expression is perhaps the most frustrating thing to me, it is that solidness in him that is not ruled by impulse or emotion that fills me with a sense of absolute assurance and confidence.

He also brings laughter to my life. So often, I get caught up in my lists and demands and I forget that life is more than what I accomplish and do. Life is meant to be lived - and lived fully. Scott helps me experience the reality of Christ's promise of "life abundantly." If it were not for him, I don't know that I would understand the fullness of JOY in my life.

Perhaps the most precious of all things that Scott has given me is a love that I could never have imagined. In a card he once wrote me he told me that his heart had never really beaten until he first saw me. As for me, I don't think I ever really felt anything until I was first loved by my precious husband. I have tried and tested his love, time and again, but never, not once, has Scott wavered in his commitment to me. I am humbled and awed by the depth of his love for me. And, while I am not always the best at expressing myself to him, I love him with all I am, all I have, all I dream, and all I will ever be.

So, here's to happy endings and to the man who is my happily ever after!