Ridgell's Originals

So my wife Marsha -- better known as Mimi since we got grandkids -- turned 61 Sunday.  Here is my tribute.

It's OK that I told her age.  Some women wouldn't like that.  But Mimi is very secure in who she is.  She has earned every one of those years.  It has has been 61 years well lived.

She is a great daughter.  She is the main caregiver for her folks.  She is their emotional center and she is the one who can talk to them, be hard with them, and get them to do what needs to be done.  Because she shows her love for them every day.  She spends 2 or 3 hours every day with them, not counting the hours she spends running errands for them.  Helping, talking, crying. laughing, cleaning, being the daughter they raised her to be.

She is also a great daughter to my folks.  She talks to my Mom often, she goes with me to see them, she does things for them.  She has done a lot of research and fact finding for my Mom about my Dad's Alzhiemers and about Hospice care.  She treats them just like her own folks.

She is a great Mom.  I love that she and Julie talk every day about things.  And so do she and Jamie.  She loves those two girls, and you would have to know them well to figure out which one is the daughter-in-law.  Loves being with them.  She has been incredible support to Julie through the horrible three years of Julie's health battles.  She loves to go keep Joe Don and Jamie's three kids.

Fantastic Mimi.  Our 5 grands adore her.  She is fun, loving, supportive, and happy.  She can cook for them, watch movies with them, play catch with them, and worship with them.  Pretty cool Mimi.

Good role model.  It's not just our girls that look up to her. She has a whole collection of women younger than her that see her as their Mom too.  She gives advice, lots of hugs, and prays for them.  They watch her to learn about being a Godly woman, wife,daughter, Mom, and Mimi.

In just over a month -- if the Lord wills -- we will celebrate 41 years together.  I'll say more about her as a wife then.  Just suffice it to say that I am blessed.

She spent her birthday listening to me preach down in Houston.  We went a couple of days early and hung out together.  I even spent most of Saturday at an outlet mall.  It was hard to get her to spend a day doing what she wanted to do. She would rather do for others.

Then listened to me preach both services on Sunday.  Just another reason she is special.

So here's to many more birthdays Mimi.  You make such a difference is so many lives.  People see Jesus a little more clearly when they hang out with you.  And that includes me most of all.

So thanks God for giving us Mimi.  Good move.  Give her many more years to do your business here.