Cory- my friend, husband, ministry partner, and travel companion and more...

 Today we celebrate Cory.

Many of you have met him and know a bit of who he is but let me publicly thank the Lord for this wonderful man who's walked beside me in this life journey almost 30 years.

Most know that he's fascinated by plants, especially fruit trees.While he has yet to introduce me to a papaya I like some of the fruits I have really liked.  I never dreamed that there were so many different kinds of fruits in the world let alone how many I'd personally try in my life.

I've been so blessed to have a partner who is so very skilled at so many things. The first three years of our marriage my main task and focus was to survive residency. He not only worked, managed our finances, shopped, cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and would pick me up at work when too tired to drive safely. When Eli arrived  he became the stay-at-home dad.

After residency we moved to Haiti and started our missionary journey. There he continued to manage the house and children while the hospital took up a lot of my time. He also learned to work with teams, electrical, plumbing, and the hardest-how to stand up and talk to churches. At the end of our time on LaGonave he was doing some agriculture but also managing the mission station!

Thankfully at Fauche he was able to spend more of his time in the gardens and teaching about agriculture. He became the main driver of the family and his ability to back up in hard situations still amaze me...middle of Cap Haitian with large holes in the road!

Delice...I may have had the fun part of planning a house on paper and iPad but Cory stepped up and ordered supplies, lined up and dealt with the builders, bosses and crews. Together we worked on the house and the yard...an accomplishment I had never dreamed of and it was handled so well.

In Zambia, Cory has transitioned to a new place. He's learning new trees, new culture while working to plant and build up a demonstration site [garden and orchards]. 

Still stretching himself every week he stands up in front of class and with the help of a translator does his best to share the knowledge and skills that the Lord blessed him with to advance the Lord's Kingdom. 

Cory still works hard on communicating back to Haiti to the guys he's trained: LaGonave, Fauche, and Delice. He shares their prayer requests and works hard to support them the best we can. 

Our whole marriage he's handled the finances something I really don't like to deal with-money. He does not complain. He's organized and does it so well.

At the same time he's generous and careful with the resources we have. Cory can shop on-line and find the deals that bless us with items we both need and want while not wasting money. A great provider he is for all of us.

He allowed me so much time to spend and pour into our children's lives by dealing with many things that other people would have said were 'women's work'. HE still does a lot of the cooking and he hand washes our laundry weekly so I have time to home-school Fritz. 

While I may be a writer, he is the editor. So you'll have to forgive any of my spelling or grammar errors on this as I'm going to post without him reading it. That the Lord helped him helped me with the Konsey books,  years of blogs, news letters, updates, and thank you notes is amazing. 

I have learned a lot from my friend since we met back in high-school. He can be very funny, I love his laugh when watching something that hits his funny-bone just right or when I tickle him.

Perfect- nope very human. But our strengths work together to fill in weak spots. 

Cory supports my dreams and pulls me back when I get off track a bit. Together we are better than each apart. The Lord has blessed me with more than I ever dreamed and with much that I needed to be all I could be. 

Happy Birthday!!