Blessed

Dating a man like mine is an adventure... a beautiful, daily one that I adore.

I finally had a full day off of work yesterday, and we took advantage of it to finally stomp off into the mountains on the date he promised me to get our perfect Christmas tree.

It was cold and sunny, and we got a late start, which is usual for us ;). On our way to the fort to get our tree tag we got deeply entangled in a profound conversation about whether it is right as Christians to involve ourselves or resist the government, and of course made at least 3 wrong turns. (John hasn't lived here long enough to not need directions yet, and I almost ALWAYS forget that I am giving them. So if we talk while he's driving... it takes about twice as long to get anywhere. Ooops! ;)

After getting the tag, and directions to a good place, we re-opened the conversation and started driving again... the wrong direction, turned around, and finally got going. Only to get almost all the way there and realize we had neither rope nor a saw. I couldn't stop laughing. At that point John decided we had to stop talking until we made it there, which really worked for the most part. We basically can't have serious conversations and do anything else at the same time! After getting a cheap little hand saw from a gas station, and a bunch of rope from the

grocery store, we finally started driving into the mountains and found a place to pull off the road into forest service land.

As the day went on, I loved his reactions to our little dilemmas or mistakes, and his determination and mind set to make the day special and fun. I love him. He is hilarious and spontaneous and joyful. Rarely does he get too flustered or overwhelmed, and he is capable of making the best of every situation.

We trekked, with him pushing, pulling and half carrying me, over a frozen creek, through a massive amount of dog wood brush and bushes, up a very, very steep incline covered in dead, fallen logs, decided we

couldn't get a tree down it after finding the perfect one, and then dangerously slid/jumped (or attempted to tentatively climb if you were me) all the way back down, only to realize we had shifted over about 20 feet and now had at least a 12 foot drop off at the bottom. The humor in the situation was constant, and had we been anywhere besides in the middle of nowhere, I'm sure someone would have complained of my squealing every time I got hit by a branch, our shouting back and forth to each other and constant laughing.

After we got back to the car and started looking for a tree on level ground,  we were wandering around fairly close to the car when John yelled, and I thought he had hurt himself somehow. Instead he had found a cat, wild, stuck with his paw in a trap. He of course decided it needed to be put out of its misery, which i complained about and begged him to try to get it free instead... We spent the next 15 minutes attempting to throw his coat over it and free it's paw, which failed completely. I ended up going back to the car, and letting him deal with it :/. 

He doesn't understand my love for animals or aversion to seeing them die, but he is incredibly sweet and sensitive to it nonetheless, never teasing or making fun of me, and I'm so thankful!

The rest of the day consisted of us wandering from spot to spot, driving up and down the road a few times, searching for our perfect tree, for about 2 hours... which I think we found, because it is just like us ;). We eventually picked a huge charlie brown tree, sawed it down with our cheap saw that broke right away, hauled it a half a mile to the car (well, he did), and tied it to the top of my poor little car... we were a traveling tree, no joke. There was no way for me to get in the car without shutting a bunch of branches in the door, which is fine because John opens the door for me every time I get in the car anyway ;). We stopped to get a tree stand on our way home, and found out Missoula has none left, and so decided to use a bucket and sand instead...  After getting home, we trimmed off about 8 feet (no joke, again!) in the middle of the living room and started the whole process of setting it up and decorating. Only to find that half the lights we just bought don't work. 

This was the only point in the day where I sensed he was frustrated... we sat down and looked at our mangy,

disheveled tree, sand, dirt, branches and needles all over the living room, strands and strands of lights that didn't work, and paused... and then we laughed. I told him, meaning it with all my heart, that it had been one of my absolute favorite days, and it was the best date I've ever had. That I love being with him, holding his hand, helping him, doing whatever it is we are doing, regardless of how it turns out. I am so madly in love with this person.

We went through and fixed the lights, decorated the tree, and cleaned up our mess with the music blaring and the window open to let the smoke out from the pine needle fire in the fireplace, Joey helping decorate, singing, and making soup in the kitchen. 

In the end, I wouldn't take a $300 tree over our ugly, mangy, misshapen tree. Had we come home with nothing, I would have been happier with my day and the beautiful memories I will now have, than had he bought me all the decorations in the world. It is the time and adventure spent with him that I adore, and I am so incredibly thankful to the Lord for blessing me with this person in my life.