My Rising Star...

Jon and I were wonderfully surprised about a month ago when we found out he was a finalist for his company's "Rising Star Award". This is a new thing they are doing this year to recognize employees who are going above and beyond the call of duty. Jon was one of only 9 nominees from thier employees across 7 states! I was so incredibly proud of him. We went to the party and met lots of people from his company and had a great meal. Then before they announced the nominees they showed baby pictures of them on the big screen. They showed a picture of Jon when he was a few weeks old and huge! It got lots of chuckles, deservedly. Then they went on to read excerpts from comments people made about him when they nominated him. It made me tear up and was so wonderful to hear that they see and appreciate the same things about him that I do. I think that is quite a testimony that he is the same there as he is here or anywhere. The comments mentioned his integrity which is the quality I admire the most about him. What made me tear up the most was when it was over and the CFO's wife whom I had talked to about our family before leaned over and said, "When they were talking about Jon all I could think about was how lucky your kids are to have such a great role model." I'm sorry to brag, but it was really touching to see this man who I see get up almost nightly to walk people through one problem after another get some recognition for his dedication and patience.

I thought this picture was funny because you can see his face behind him. No, I did not take my camera (well, I left it in the car), but got these from the company's photographer.

He got a really beautiful trophy, but the best part was we got to stay at Opryland Hotel ALONE. We even got to eat nice and have breakfast in bed all on the company dollar! They also gave him the next day off so we got even more time alone. Our room was newly renovated and really beautiful.

We finally snapped a few pictures on our way out.

Again, I was so proud of my man. Not every girl can say she's lucky enough to be married to a rising star. I mean, come on, doesn't this man look like a trustworthy employee full of integrity and worthy to represent your company...