One Very Resourceful Man

The longer I've known my husband, the more respect I have for him. One thing I really respect and appreciate about him is how resourceful he is. From a young age he played around with parts to radios and the like--taking things apart and seeing how they work. In his teen years he had an old Toyota pick up that he had wrecked one winter. The wreck was unfortunate, but because of that he took the whole thing apart and fixed it on his own and repainted it. Soon after we got married he replaced the engine on the same truck. His father also taught him a lot about machinery and construction and they worked on dirt bikes together. All this to say, he enjoyed learning as a young boy and young man and now all of his skills have truly benefited our family.


Recently I backed my car into the mirror on his truck and shattered the back window out. Not real brilliant--but it happened. He pulled out his heavy duty construction plastic and professionally taped everything up for me so that I could get it to the repair shop. He also used his high grade shop vac to clean up the mess. Just the day after that he found some new wheels and tires for me on Craigslist and spent a late evening putting them on so that I could take a trip to Spokane the following day. He had gone back and forth about buying new tires, but then spent some time looking on Craigslist for tires. He ended up finding some fancy wheels and tires that had 90% tread on them for the same price as buying a set of new tires alone. And yet another car issue just yesterday....I've been having trouble with my back breaks that were still under warranty. I had them done a year ago and they were squeaking again. I took it into the shop and they said that they would replace the pads and the calipers but not the rotors. I had the rotors resurfaced last year, so they couldn't resurface them again. The calipers had been sticking on one side and that caused the brakes to need repair again so soon. The rotors would cost $280 plus tax for the rotors themselves and installing them. I called Aaron from the shop and he said that he would do the rotors on his own. He called the O'Reilly store that I was across the street from and put rotors on hold for me. On the way home I pulled into the O'Reilly store and purchased the rotors for $94. Aaron installed them last night which only took about 40 minutes of his time. I so appreciate how he takes care of me and all the work that it takes just to make sure I am safe when I'm driving around. Many times I'm the one that has to take the car to the shop, and he knows I feel uncomfortable with that. He is really good about calling ahead and getting things set up for me, or telling me who to talk to.

Aaron loves to recreate. The one problem is that he has so many hobbies. He loves to shoot things, ride things, cut things (with a chain saw) and anything else that has to do with fire or noise. It's always a challenge for him to find a balance between family life and recreation--and I think I understand that. Even knowing when to spend money on a hobby and evaluating whether the hobby can help him or hinder him in spending time with his family. The kids often are found helping Dad in the garage, and I love that. I think it's good especially for Owen to watch him in the garage, even if he is just playing around.

If I think back over the past twelve years, I can think of many things that he has made or fixed on his own that have saved us hundreds of dollars--He built a home for us, landscaped a yard, moved a storage shed into the yard that my brother gave us, planted trees, poured a driveway, installed an AC unit, built a lumber rack, fixed numerous cars/trucks, built free standing shelving, cut lumber for winter, refinished and painted two jet-ski boats, replaced engine parts on 4 Wheel bikes, etc... And I'm sure I'm missing many things.

The other day I had to take this picture of Aaron. He was so proud of his chair. He has a friend that was going to throw away an REI chair like this one that retails for $179. All it needed was new bungee cords threaded on the chair. Aaron picked up the new cording at a Hardware store for $24 and fixed the chair.

So, anyway--just thankful for my wonderful husband who is also my best friend. What an incredible man he is!