This Guy

This guy works long, hard hours to provide for us... giving me the opportunity to stay home and teach our kids. Something I often don't appreciate enough. Something I sometimes complain about. Still, he gets up and goes... even on the many days I forget to pack a lunch for him.

Sometimes, he adds to his day and takes our oldest boy along to give him opportunity to earn money for dinosaur excavation kits and the such. Teaching him the value of money and the pride that comes from working for something you want.


 And then he sometimes digs a hole in our backyard so the kids can pretend to find the dinosaur at a real excavation site.

Sometimes, this guy wakes up early and takes our early-rising girl out to get donuts for the family.

Sometimes, she begs to have a "camp out" in her room and he squeezes into the couple of feet she leaves for him on one side of her double bed... even though she already crashed out in the five minutes that she waited for him while he got ready for bed. Because he knows if she wakes up in the morning and he's not there she'll be disappointed. Sometimes he whispers under his breath (as he pauses making waffles with her in the morning) that she told him when she woke up that it was the best "camp out" ever... and chuckles as he wonders if she remembers that she'd fallen asleep before he gotten to her room.

Sometimes, he admits that the reason that my littlest boy runs whenever he's in trouble is generational sin. That even though we have no baby pictures of this guy that I finally know exactly what my husband looks liked. And acted like. And sometimes he tells me of all the mischief he got into when he was a bit older. Which makes me sweat. And pray that Cruz gets saved soon.

Sometimes I melt watching this tough guy and his strong hands so gently holding our littlest one. I love how he speaks Spanish to her and I love the smiles he's able to evoke from her.

This guy makes me proud to be his wife when he speaks of how God is moving in his heart. How he feels the Lord guiding him and convicting him. It fills my heart with wonder as I realize how much more incredible I find him now than 10 years ago. That God continues to build our relationship, that God continues to grow him and shape him into a man after His own heart. I love that I've known this guy a quarter of his life. I love that we've celebrated his 30th and now, his 40th birthday together. I can't wait for the next ten years!

Happy Birthday, Jesse. A couple days late. But never the less, I love you!