Stokes Sounds Off: Happy Birthday to the World's Most Wonderfu, Beautiful, and Amazing Wife

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Happy Birthday to the World's Most Wonderfu, Beautiful, and Amazing Wife

This post will be my tribute to my beloved eternal sweetheart, Amy as she will celebrate her birthday tomorrow. As many of you who know anything about our story already know, she not only was the primary caregiver to her mother for the final 20 years she lived, but after she had sufficiently recovered enough from her mom's passing, and since we had both been interested in each other for a while, she had waited as long as she could for me to approach her about the possibility of dating. When she was sure of my interest but couldn't wait any longer, she did some brilliant detective work to find me and sent me the letter that started our relationship. I had been praying for quite a while that the Lord would open a way for us to get to know one another better, but I told Him that I wasn't sure she would accept my invitation if I put myself out there and asked her on a date. I did promise that if He opened the way, I would take it from there. To my credit, while I hesitated to approach her before that time, once I knew her interest in me was genuine and that my health situation and physical disabilities wouldn't be the obstacles  to our relationship that I thought they would be, I didn't waste any time after that.

And we were absolutely and completely compatible. We couldn't have been better suited for each other.The year that we had known and worked with each other in the temple had helped us develop a strong friendship. As we got to know each other even better (though we knew the most important things already), falling in love was easy for both of us. And while there were obstacles that came up that would have prevented things from progressing if we had dwelt on them, we both felt right enough about things that after three weeks of dating (we had 14 dates during that three-week period), we got engaged on July 4.

More obstacles came our way as we prepared for marriage. While we had hoped to be married in October, we were able to make it happen on December 18, her parents' anniversary, and also the anniversary of the day on which I had received the Melchizedek Priesthood and been ordained an Elder. This was because we had found and adopted the words in Moroni 7:33 as the theme scripture for our relationship. The powerful promise that if we had faith in Jesus Christ, we would be able to do whatever He wanted us to do, gave us the courage to make things work no matter what.

And in spite of the fact that I became somewhat complacent in appropriately taking care of myself physically and spiritually, that we have both run into health issues that currently hinder our ability to function to the best of our ability, and numerous financial troubles, Amy has tenaciously stayed true to her view that I am capable of not only once again becoming the man she fell in love with, but more importantly, the man she deserves and that deserves her. She constantly and consistently demonstrates her love for me, and, as I have before mentioned, she seems to always see me from an eternal perspective, for what I am capable of becoming, not just under my own power and free will, but also as a result of being healed one day by the hands of the Savior Himself, which is a promise I have repeatedly had reiterated.

I do not know what more I can say of her that would not embarrass her. Even though I have not always been as quick as I should be to follow her wise counsel and advice, she never fails to give me another chance to do so. Her infinite patience is angelic. She is truly the best, most wonderful piece of my life that I didn't know I was missing until she came into it 7 years ago. And now, thanks to the miracle I reported in my last post, I will be able to give her the birthday celebrations she has deserved for as long as she has known and loved me.

I end this post with a simple declaration: My beloved eternal sweetheart, thank you for everything. I love you with all my heart, now and forever! Happy birthday, my wonderful, beautiful Amy!

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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.

I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.

And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.

Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.