Month: December 2025

Walk outside. (with the Coopyhead)

SO PRETTY!!!!! And we have a Candy Cane tree! OF course the Nativity scene.

I LOVE HOW lit up it is but more importantly the meaning of all these lights. WE LOVE JESUS!!!

Tatum and Coopy love Jesus too, but they show it by enjoying a meat stick or a piece of chocolate. HA!

December is off to a great start!

There’s a whole story in these pictures… little snapshots of us through the years. We have lived through a lot of good and bad times, but (especially the hard ones), our love keeps deepening.

This year, Doug turned 65, and we celebrated! Tatum made the sweetest homemade card.

I made your apple birthday treat with whipped cream because you always deserve something homemade.

And you opened all your gifts..hacksaw and all (since you love to fix all of our problems and you DO!) Some polisher for your car, a calendar, a new fancy water bottle, a NEW WATCH!!

Oh, and COOPY watching:

But the real celebration for me wasn’t the gifts or the cake.
It was YOU.

It was looking at you that day:  I love this man so much. I love the life we’ve built. And I am so grateful for him.

You have been:

• My steadFAST ground through every unpredictable twist of my health journey
My protector, and the one who looks at me with love even on the days I don’t look or feel like myself (OFTEN!)
The most tender, patient father to Tatum
Our breadwinner and our rock (Truly a KINGDOM MAN)
The fixer of sinks, broken doors etc, and the one who turns the outside of our home into something spectacular lights, trees, flowers, fountain and all
Still the HHH I fell in love with
The encourager who reminds me I’m stronger than I think
The loving, loyal, hardworking man I prayed for before I ever met you
You are truly getter younger and stronger.

We have weathered a lot.
Storms that tried to knock us down.
Doctors, symptoms, fear, grief, exhaustion.

Through all of it, you’ve held my hand; literally and figuratively in every season.

Maybe that’s why that little crocheted penguin feels so perfect:

“Just like penguins, we are soulmates forever.”

Because that’s what we are.
That’s what we’ve chosen to be: again and again, year after year.

And I just want you to know this:

I see you.
I appreciate you.
I admire you.
And I love you so much.

Thank you for loving me so much
Thank you for loving Tatum so unconditionally.
Thank you for showing up every day; for this family, for our home, for our future, for me.

You’re 65, and honestly… you’re still the HHH I fell in love with.
Happy, happy birthday, my love.
Here’s to more years, more memories, and more of this crazy life with you.