The ABCs of Tom

In honor of Tom's birthday, here's an A-to-Z list of things about him!

Ambitious. He's not afraid to dream big and go after those dreams.

Books. He loves to read and always has a long list of books in his reading queue.

Cute. Well, he is.

Disciplined. There is just no better word for someone who can juggle all of his responsibilities and do all of them as well as he does. The disciplined way in which he manages his time never ceases to amaze me.

Eggs. I think he would agree that, between the two of us, I'm the cook in our home, but his scrambled eggs always turn out better than mine.

Friend. He's a good friend to a lot of people, and he's still my best friend after all these years.

Guinea pig. He's the fearless taste-tester of all of my crazy recipes.

Hugs. He always gives me a hug when we wake up in the morning. And before he leaves for work. And after he gets home. And pretty much all the time.

Integrity. He doesn't pretend to be something he isn't. With him, what you see is what you get.

Jittery. How he gets when he's had too much coffee.

Knowledgeable. He knows a lot about a lot of things and is always trying to learn new things.

Leader. He leads our home, our community group, and our church's children's ministry with dedication and humility.

Music. He has good taste in tunes.

Neat. One of the first things I noticed about Tom when we were first getting to know each other all those years ago was that he never looked sloppy, and that's still true.

Old soul. He's a young person who likes older things. Old books, old music...and he wears driving caps, which only look good on old men. Old men and Tom.

Papa. This is what we're trying to get Naomi to call him. He's a terrific father.

Quiet Time. He is so diligent in reading and studying the Bible every day. He truly leads by example in this area.

Reliable. Pretty self-explanatory.

Silly! I don't think a day has gone by in the past six years when he hasn't said or done something silly. He makes me laugh every day...sometimes at him, but usually with him.

Teaching. He is really good at teaching, whether it's Bible stuff or philosophy or English or science; he's just really gifted in this area.

Ubiquitous. Not really. I dunno.

Verbal communication. I'm always amazed at how comfortably and easily he can carry on a conversation with just about anyone. He complements me well in that area, 'cause I'm not so good with the mouth-wording.

Words of affirmation. His love language. Hence the blog post full of affirming words about him.

Xenial. So, this word means "of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guest and especially among the ancient Greeks between persons of different cities." I dunno about the Greek part, but Tom does like inviting people over to our house. Oh, and he knows Greek! There you go.

Yellow. He doesn't wear much yellow.

Zany. See "silly."

Happy Birthday, Honey!!