Here's to You...and anyone who cares to read it!

Crystal...girl...Princesa...Juliet, you are amazing! Knowing you has made me a better person. I have not always lived up to my ability, but do any of us? My shortcomings are really between me, God, and you (my family). Sometimes we look without and think that "so-in-so" has it better, or "I wish my life was more like theirs". "Why don't they have to suffer?" "If only they knew what we really had to go through..." "They are so perfect!" "Everyone thinks (this or that about me)." In the end, who really cares? In the end, what really matters? Am we here to please everyone? Doubt it! Did the Savior's life prove anything less than sometimes people are hated for no good reason at all. Its easy to think things that aren't true. Its easy to be contentious. The hard things in life are usually found on the road less traveled. The sad thing about all of this is that I am as guilty as the next. If there has ever walked a man on this Earth who has sinned and made mistakes over and over again, I am that man. I am so far from perfect. But, my heart ever desires to do good continually. That is certainly the case about my beautiful wife. It is like the response to the Savior found in the New Testament..."Lord, I believe! Help thou my unbelief." Lord, I want to do what is right. Help though my unrighteousness." Where am I going with all of this? I am crazy, right? Most likely! I just want my wife to know, and the world to know that she is perfect, in every way! How, you might ask. Because with the Lord and repentance we are all made perfect, even with our imperfections. Granted, my sweet wife is far better than I'll ever be. If any find fault in her, it is likely due to her years of living with me! She took on a service project for a husband. That should give her an instant reward of Eternal Life! Seriously! But truth be told, none of us should live life worrying about what others think. Many do not know the intimate details of our lives that allow them to truly judge us for who we are as a whole. We as outsiders often have such a small piece of the pie that our perspective does not allow us to truly come to any kind of conclusion about any body's true character and heart. My wife is an amazing woman! We all fall short, but we should live for God and family, and nobody else. Each of us have our shortcomings, but only those who truly know us, usually have eyes to see deeper; to see past those fault lines that lay deep within; those fault lines that could at any point cause a quake of catastrophic magnitude. It is the hope that with the support of loved ones, who are sometimes few and far between, and God, those fault lines will never move and cause us to shake from our coarse towards Eternal Life. It is the hope that even when minor tremors or great ones do occur, that those very loved ones will be the first to see past the devastation whether it is real or imagined. And so, girl, hold your chin up high. You are brilliant. You are beautiful! Your last post of that boy was touching. I know for certain you are everything that our children and I need and want. You are their mother, and my wife! We love you! We are all extremely grateful for you! Go forward with a heart that I know you have and I have had the privilege to feel from so many times in my life. Thank you for being you!