Isn't my Hubby Amazing?!?!

Isn't my Hubby Amazing?!?!

I have been so blessed this week as he has taken for the blog every day and written whatever he wanted -- and every day he wrote incredibly sweet, loving, detailed posts about me and things that he loves about me.

This year of my 29th birthday has been off to a wonderful -- very busy and challenging but wonderful start.

Thank you, Hubby for all the love and beautiful posts I will cherish for years.

Brooke the Lover

If you were at our wedding, you would have heard part of this, but most of you probably weren't, so let me tell you about our first date.

Our first night out together was, well, not an ordinary date.

Our first date was on the night our Christmas break started from school.  We had just spent half of our day chatting on the school district chat service while our kids did what most kids did on the last day before a long break, watch movies.

After school our constant communication continued while I drove around in my truck.  She mentioned that she had some tickets to a local play at the high school. I think I was even more dense than I am now, because I said something like, "oh, that sounds fun."

Well, it finally sunk in and we made plans to see the play that night.  The play was fun, but that was just the beginning.  Later that night we also took an awesome drive up in the mountains.  We almost slid off of the side of a cliff into a frozen lake, and I did my best to hide my concern for our near certain peril.  She just rode along and kept talking the whole time to this guy she just met.  We did get out of the deep snow and didn't slide off of the mountain.

However, before our adventurous ride, we stopped by a high school girl's house to help her with a problem.  That was the day I met, Brooke the lover.  Brooke really loved on this high school girl and a little toddler that was with her.  I saw what kind of heart Brooke had, and on that night, my heart was her's.

Brooke loves deeply.  From high school kids, to foreign orphans, to puppies and kittens, and every other type of living creature in need of love, Brooke's heart was made with the over abundance of love for everything God created.

When it comes to her husband, she really knows how to love as well.  I could not be more blessed to have someone that has a heart of gold.  Every day I am held, kissed, served, and loved deeply.  Most people say their wedding day is the happiest day of their life, but I feel happier and more loved every day.  The wedding day was just the beginning of our ever-increasing love for each other.

I hope this week I was able to show a little glimpse of how I see my wife.

Happy Birthday Brooke the Giver, the Beautiful, the Fierce, the Blogger, the Driven, and The Lover!

I love you BSM!

Brooke the Driven

 I have never met anyone that can get so much done in so little time.

By noon, Brooke has cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, transcribed some braille, taught a blind person how to decipher little bumps on a page for meaning, helped a few kids in three or four different schools, and driven 200 miles!! (I said she was driven, literally)

And that is just half of a normal day.

By the time I come home from work, she has re-written normal worksheets and whole books into Braille, fed the animals, made my lunch for the next day, made dinner (and sometimes dessert), picked up the dry cleaning, done an hour workout, cleaned up whatever part of the house she didn't finish before she left work at 5:00 in the morning and the messes I made before I went to work, completed her assignments for grad school, and most days, written an elegant blog post. 

I just went to work.

Brooke will not rest until she has completed each task for the day.  She amazes me with all that she gets done.  Sometimes it drives me crazy because I just want my wife to stop what she's doing and snuggle up with me, so I make her quit projects sometimes so we can spend time together. 

Brooke started grad school again, so she can be more equipped to help people who have visual impairments.  I have no doubt that she is going to ace every test, complete every assignment early, and amaze her professors with her brilliance.

Brooke succeeds in everything she does because my wife, Brooke Sanden Miller, is driven.

Happy Birthday Week, Brooke the Driven!


(Please read yesterday's post as it was posted late
(I know, I am not as punctual as my wife))

Brooke the Blogger

 When I met my beautiful wife, she had a blog.  She posted on it regularly, but nothing like now.  Today, I was beaten with a spatula because I didn't have the blog up for the day by 4:00 a.m.
She has made it a goal to blog every day, and no matter how busy, sick, or incapacitated she is, the blog will be posted.  If she broke a law (it makes me laugh to think my wife would ever break a law), and had a choice to spend a day in jail without a computer and the ability to post on her (our) blog, or a year in jail with a computer, she would definitely choose the year.

However, I must say, reading her blogs every day are frequently the highlight of my day.

I love hearing about her thoughts in a different way than we verbally talk.  I enjoy seeing the pictures she posts about something the pets did. I even get a little school-girlish when she talks about our great life together.

Our life is great, and our communication is getting better, but I gain more wisdom for my classes in Brooke Sanden Miller from her blog.  I hope soon to graduate from the middle school level in my indefinite pursuit of my PhD in BSM.

I love my learning from Brooke the Blogger.

Happy Birthday Week!

(Sorry I didn't post this sooner babe)

Brooke the Fierce

From the stories I have heard from Brooke's childhood, it sounds like she has always been portrayed as a sweet, kind, calm, collected, never-has-a-bad-word-to-say-to-anyone type of girl.
She has had everyone fooled.

Don't get me wrong, Brooke is sweet, caring, loving, and full of smiles and kind words.
She can also be my biggest adversary when I am trying to get some cool new electronic device, hunting gear, or want to work at school late.  She will fight me, for us, until I cave. She is always looking out for our future.  She is fierce for our family.

From late summer until early January, Brooke bleeds blue.  Brooke did not attend colleges in Michigan; that was too close to home.  But you would think she had been born on the 50-yard line of "The Big House."  This fairly calm red-head changes colors when Michigan football is on.  When we were in Mexico in November, local Mexicans lined up to see the tiny fierce gringo at the bar watching Michigan football and bellowing screams at every down, missed pass, and idiotic penalty.  To explain things though, this is not something she can really help. Since I have married into the family, I have found that this genetic mutation is a trait that has been passed down from the normally calm collected Mrs. Sanden.  I'm sure our future kids will be given the same mutation. Brooke is fierce for Michigan Football.

It might surprise many people, but sometimes children aren't given all they should by adults around them.  Every once in a while, a child exists that has a kid for a parent and they don't give the love, support, or attention the child deserves.  Sometimes teachers are trying to help a whole class of students, which means they might not be able to provide enough attention to every student.  Sometimes children are born into lousy situations.  Brooke is a champion that fights for those who need love, attention, and care.  She will do whatever, for however long in order to make sure that every kid she knows has what they need.  That could be working until the wee hours of the night to create materials for kids, or letting parents know they have certain rights to help their children receive services, or sponsoring children in foreign countries so they can have schooling, bibles, and food.  Brooke is fierce for children.

Brooke can blow your ear drums on a Saturday afternoon or ensure that every kid is respected and loved, but I know one thing; she cannot do anything half-way.  Brooke is fierce for what she believes in.

Happy Birthday Week!

Brooke the Beautiful - 1,000 Words

As my wife posts her pictures that represent 1,000 words with cute scenes, funny situations, and animals doing sill things, I am going to post what I imagine is my picture worth 1,000 words:

 
OK, so it is not just one picture, but who says I can't use 3,000 words to describe my beautiful wife?

Happy Birthday Week Beautiful Brooke!

Brooke As a Giver

Monday of Brooke's Birthday Week:

 Brooke As a Giver

Daily, my wife gives of herself to help kids who are in need of her expertise.

She wakes up hours before day light to teach braille, then she stays up late so she can translate documents into braille for those same students.  

If you have tried to read braille, it is a skill that requires deciphering skills Cold War spies would struggle with.  Then, to create worksheets where a student with full vision would have a hard time reading, and creating a way for a visually impaired student to read it takes imagination, determination, and genius.

Think about a line graph where there are different color lines, different symbols representing different points, and grid lines to show the points on the graph, and try and create that for a visually impaired student.  That takes a special person.

And that special person will not quit until she knows that what she creates will ensure that her student will have the same understanding of that graph as a sighted student.

I love being a teacher, and I know Brooke does too.

I would not want to do anything else in this world because every day I have the opportunity to impact a life and change the world forever.

However, I wish I was someone who made more money, for one simple fact:

Brooke would still give every extra penny we could spare to help anyone and everyone she found that needed help. 

• We would sponsor dozens of Compassion International kids rather than just two.

•  She would donate to every blog, friend, family member, or stranger that she saw needed support to help adopt a child, pay for hospital bills, mission trips, or anyone just down on their luck.  

• She would sponsor Christian Radio stations world-wide rather than just the local ones.

• She would adopt all of the lonely cats and dogs.

• She would adopt every lonely child in need of a family, love, and affection.

• She might start an organization that would pay people to cut their hair off, so she could get more people to donate hair for people who lost their hair because of one reason or another rather than just cutting her own hair every year or two. 

Look at her long beautiful hair.

Last year we tried a fried Twinkie on her birthday (it's not very good)

She's still beautiful, but now uses less shampoo.

Brooke is an amazing giver.  She gives of her time, her money, her wisdom, and her love.

This world is better because of Brooke, the giver.

Happy Birthday Week Brooke!