Happy Birthday to the man I love

 

     Today is Mark's 32nd birthday!  And I must say, he gets better looking as he gets older.  He's currently taking a nap or he'd never let me leave a post like this. :)  Humility is one of his strongest virtues and boy, is he a hard worker!  He gets it from HIS daddy, and he says it all the time to Marcus and I..."Schuurmans work HARD!"  Not only is Mark hard working, good looking, and humble, but he's an amazing Sunday School teacher who proclaims the truth with boldness and clarity.  He studies all the time, pushing ME to become closer to our Lord like he is.  One of my favorite things about Mark is hearing him pray.  I love it when they ask him to pray at church because he paces the aisles, using his hands, praying for specific items, and always for God to reveal Himself to us as we draw closer to Him, showing us how to be obedient as well.
     You'll hardly ever see Mark in a bad mood or mad at someone.  He lets issues slide off his back and says, "don't worry about it," when I get mad FOR him.  The other night at a church volleyball game, the other team was cheating and I said, "Say something!!!" and he, as always, just smiled and said, "it's ok" and kept playing.  But speaking of sports, many of you know how amazing of an athlete he is.  Hopefully his love for and talent in baseball will carry over to Marcus, but in the mean time, Mark is still giving lessons to a former student of mine, showing him the proper ways to throw and hit a baseball.  He's the star player on the church volleyball team and when our gym is available, he opens it up on Monday nights for all to come play pick-up basketball.  You can just look at him and see how fit and in shape he is.  He even drinks this green concoction that smells like...well, I won't go there.  But it's super healthy!
     Finally, Mark is an IN-CREDIBLE father.  From the time Marcus came out of my womb, he and Mark have had a great father-son connection.  When Mark comes home from work, Marcus and I meet him on the front porch and I say, "there's Daddy!"  You can see his little eyes trying to focus, and when he finally realizes it's his daddy, I can hardly hold him in my arms as he smiles and wiggles in an effort to get his daddy to hold him.  Even though he's been up since 3:30am and is probably dog tired, he snuggles and plays with Marcus while I'm fixing supper.  He changes poopy diapers, bathes Marcus, and feeds him any time he can.
     Mark Peter Schuurman, I love you.  You're better than I deserve, but luckily you're stuck with me!  Other than deciding to follow Jesus Christ, marrying you was the best decision I ever made.  You teach me patience (in a good way), how to put others needs before my own (you before me) and how to love like Jesus.  I love you with all of my heart and hope that today you enjoy getting older...you old fart.  Just kidding! :)

Here's Mr. Fix it, fulfilling all of my "honey-do" dreams.

In the O.R., right after Marcus came into the world.  I know it says the 17th, but my camera was wrong. 

Mark and the nurse gave Marcus his first bath.

A good looking man and a sweet baby boy.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time!  Mark was changing the never-ending poopy diaper.

Love

First family photo at UNCA.

"Daddy, I love you."