The things that go ungraded

It feels so good to finish, doesn’t it? I love fresh starts, but fresh starts are twice as delicious when you’ve just finished the last chapter, and finished it well.

Last night I had the wonderful honor of sitting at Multnomah Biblical Seminary graduation and watching my husband receive his Master’s degree.   It has been a long 5 1/2 year journey for both of us, amidst working full time, giving birth to two kids, living with my parents, commuting, ministry, you name it. It’s been a wild ride and I am SO thankful that we did it.  And ahhhh it feels so good to finish.

So as Jeff finishes this leg of the race, I have to take a second and celebrate a few things:

Thank you for the things that go ungraded:

• Standing neck-deep in a “live” sewer line in the pouring rain, covered in mud (and other stuff!), doing your construction job faithfully day after day, month after month, so we could pay for seminary.
• Getting up at 5am every morning, getting an early start at work so we could leave early for class.
• Putting aside your studies to snuggle the kids, change a diaper, tuck into bed.
• Being willing to live with your in-laws 🙂 so we could afford to keep going!
• Giving up your beloved Jeep when baby came along.
• Camping in the dorms during your week-long intensive class so I could have the car.
• Making innumerable between-class runs to the quickie-mart to get me crackers (or whatever I craved) to stave off morning sickness!
• Making oatmeal for us every morning, even when you leave too early to eat it yourself!
• Living out what you study and learn by the way you love me and lead our family.

Yes, I’m glad he has his degree. I’m glad he finished. I’m glad that from now on we might actually have date-nights that don’t include reading theology books and writing research papers! 🙂  But most of all I’m thankful for the things that go ungraded. Thank you, my husband, for finishing well in every way.  I love and respect you.