Marcus

Today is Marcus' birthday

Marcus is married to Lori, our first child and they live in Pella, Iowa.

He is an important part of this large family.

And, of course, an important part of this beautiful family.

I wrote about Marcus on his birthday last year in this post and it contains links to all his previous posts.  Altogether they contain lots of facts and pictures of Marcus through the years so I'll just include a few pictures here

and talk a little about what's been going on in his life during the past year.  There haven't been a lot of changes for him but there was one big one.  There was a new addition to the family.  On November 11th, he and Lori adopted Farrah and she's been an integral member of the family ever since.

And this year Marcus has continued working in a job he loves and that he is surely cut out for.  He works for a radio station and does some sports coverage for them.  As a matter of fact, his station won an award from the Iowa Broadcast News Association for best sports coverage in small market radio specifically for their Football Friday Night Preview Show.  He's been on the show since it was created in 2013 and last year was his first year as lead host.  The show has won first place 3 of its 4 years in existence.

Another interesting facet of his job includes stints as parade announcer during Pella's Tulip Time festival.

So Marcus has had a good year.  He and Lori are essentially empty nesters now and they're perfect for each other.  Marcus is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most practical, level-headed people you could ever meet.

He's steady, smart, unassuming, and he loves and knows his sports!

But when I say he's unassuming, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm saying he's boring because he's anything but.  He joins in, has a good time, and fits right into every situation.  Here he's working as a dealer at a fundraising event for the the Pella Opera House.  The theme was a prohibition era speakeasy so they had a jazz band and gambling for the guests.  Perfect fit right?

And here's something I found out about him this year that I didn't know before.  He's a great dancer.  I watched him and Beth 'cut the rug' at a wedding reception this spring and I don't know who I was more impressed with.  They both had all the moves!

All in all, we feel extremely blessed that Marcus is part of our family.  He's the first to lend a hand when help is needed and is always considerate of everybody around him.  We love Marcus and we're wishing him the best birthday ever but one not nearly as great as the many more to come.  Happy Birthday, Marcus!