Yesterday was my wonderful husband’s 31st birthday.  This means we have been together for almost a decade now (we started dating in October of 2000 when he was 21 years old).  In those 10 years I have seen an amazing work of God in Joe’s life and the grace that has changed him in so many ways.  Last year I mentioned the ways people described him on his 27th birthday and the way he had grown in humility since then.  He continues to grow in many ways.  One of the things I love about him is that he is not easy to put into a “box”.  He really is not any typical type, but a fun mix of so many different things.  So here is a list for his 31st birthday of 31 random facts you might not know about Joe, but that go into making him the man I love, respect and admire.

1. Joe is a night person.  He is not very cheerful in the morning, but comes alive around 9pm at night and is when he gets most things done.

2. Joe is a homebody.  This may be because of our lifestyle, but he really likes being at home relaxing.

3. Although Joe likes being at home, he loves having guests over.

4. Joe enjoys being social, but he likes to be alone as well.  If we have a full social calendar for awhile, you can tell that he starts to need some alone time to recharge.

5. When Joe has a vision for something, it is hard to stand in his way.  Once his mind is made up, almost nothing can stop him.

6. On the other hand, if Joe is not inspired to do something, it is pretty hard to get him motivated to do it.

7. For that reason, Joe did not graduate officially from college until 2006, although he was done in 2001.  He was dead set on not finishing his degree, so I am proud of him for persevering through and doing it!

8. Joe major in college was telecommunications, simply because he had heard it was one of the easiest!

9. If Joe had to pick a major at Penn State again, he would probably pick history.

10. Although the most Joe used to read was the picture captions in Sports Illustrated, since becoming a Christian, he has become much more of a reader and can remember information from books better than almost anyone I know.

11. Joe was not heavily recruited out of high school (mostly smaller D1 schools), but something about him interested PSU head coach Jerry Dunn.  When Joe saw the facilities at Penn State he was sold.

12. Joe became a starter at Penn State his freshman year after an injury and took off from there.

13. In 2001, Joe was Penn State’s school athlete of the year.

14. Joe is Penn State’s 2nd all-time leading scorer for men’s basketball.

15. Joe was not drafted out of college for the NBA but made the Los Angeles Lakers team during the preseason tryouts.

16. After Joe is done playing basketball he would like to coach.

17. Joe’s favorite food would probably be ice cream, although he is currently cutting out all dairy for his training regimen.

18. Joe is almost obsessive when it comes to trimming fat off the meat he eats.  So much in fact that one time I tricked him by making tofu “chicken” that he trimmed fat off of (obviously there was no fat on there!)

19. Joe is not a good sleeper.  During the season when he is overtrained, there are many restless nights.

20. For this reason, Joe almost never gets up with the kids in the night.  Every once and awhile he may if there is something out of the ordinary going on, but he has a hard time falling back asleep once he is awake.

21. Joe has a really great singing voice and can play the piano.  His mom is a music teacher and he also played the saxophone in high school.

22. Joe is almost always running late.  He has a terrible sense of time.

23. But Joe does have an amazing sense of direction.  While I could not find my way out of a wet paper bag, Joe easily learns his way around any new city we go to.

24. Of the two of us, Joe is much more of the spender, while I am the saver.  But he has been dedicated to learning more about finances and leading our home in wise decisions.

25. Joe definitely owns more shoes than I do, even when you take out his basketball shoes.

26. Joe actually classifies his warm up pants and dry fit shirts into different categories.  According to him, some are more “dressy” than others!

27. Joe can make our kids laugh like no one else.  He is very goofy and definitely brings lightness to our home.

28. Joe is a creature of habit.  Once he finds a restaurant he likes, it is hard to get him to venture out past that.

29. Joe loves movies and is does not like to be distracted while he is watching (I on the other hand like to multi-task while I am watching a movie, which can be a bit annoying to him!)  And he is especially into “chick flicks”.

30. Joe likes our “sides” to match all over the house.  In other words, if he sleeps on the left side of the bed, then his towel in the bathroom should be on the left side too.

31. Joe can flip his tongue, which he learned back in elementary school when he saw another girl do it and was determined to learn!