Happy Birthday to BJ!!!

This was BJ's first birthday we celebrated together! 21!

This is the first picture we ever took together! Chi O formal, Fall 2006.

Look how far we have come....

I feel like I should tell a recent story to explain just how great BJ is.

I am trying to figure out how to make this story not too long...

OK, it all started last Friday (June 18) when my VW Jetta broke down in the middle of an intersection right in front of AUM. My boss pushed it off the road and BJ came to the rescue. We decided to wait and get it towed the next morning because we were going to be late for dinner with some friends. So, Saturday we got it towed and got some pretty awful news about the car. All that to say, Saturday was a long, hot day. BJ stayed in the BEST spirits about all of it. I feel guilty of course because this was "my" car but is now "our" car, so BJ gets to deal with it! Yikes!
Ok I am getting off track.
We went to the gun show Saturday afternoon with Mr. Jim and Mrs. Barb, then ended the day by going to every single car dealership in Montgomery. Yes, we are going to have to get a new car. We are 98.7% sure.
BJ made the whole thing FUN! Instead of panicking about stuff like this, he just takes it and runs with it. He knows that if he panics, I panic :)
The story is just getting good...
SO I had to go down to Orange Beach for a conference for work. Mom was gracious enough to let me borrow her car for the week, so it went to Orange Beach with me. Mom was also down there with her AU friends so that was FAB. Anyway, on the way down there, I got a speeding ticket. I tried to blame it on the fact that Mom's car is so nice and smooth that I just didn't know how fast I was going....but there is not excuse. BUT that is life. Of course, I call BJ bawling, he is SOOOOO nice about it. He says, "em, this is life. This is one of thousands of tickets we will get in our life time. No big deal." Hopefully we do not really get thousands of tickets, but he was just being sweet :)
So I keep trucking along....except this time I was going the speed limit.
Right after I got the ticket, the car guy called and said they couldn't figure out what the problem was with my car so it would need to be towed to the dealership....grrrreeaatttttt.
Fast forward a few hours. I visited Mom and crew on the beach for a couple hours. When pulling out of a parking deck, I forgot that I had parked next to one of those huge cement poles that holds up the deck. It was on my back left side. Like I said, I forgot it was there...so there is not car parked on my left. I put it in reverse, start backing out with my wheel cranked to the right. I was quickly stopped by the big cement block. It hit the drivers side above the front wheel. It was not good. It was not worst case scenario, but it was NOT good.

yep....this happened.

Mom was sweet about it of course. I called BJ in hysterics. Literally. Our car was in the shop, I had gotten a speeding ticket, then damaged my Mom's Mercedes. Yeah. BJ was so gracious. He knows how to calm me down! He just kept saying telling me why it was all ok and that this is all just STUFF. It is so true. It was all a pain, but it was all just STUFF. I wish I could have treated Mom's car better, but I know it will be ok.
BJ emailed me with this verse that day, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32
I love you, B. Happy Birthday. You are my hero.