There Is a Theme Here

Just recently Mike shared some comments and in those comments he calls me "a loving, sacrificial, and gracious wife and mom."  He goes on to say,"I am glad that Jesus embodied the truth that our relationships are not built on merit, or our own plans for them, or our ability to fulfill such plans, but on the kind of love, sacrifice, and grace that he shows to our family through you." Now, I share these words not because I want to show you all how wonderful my husband thinks I am...but in order to say that the truth is that he is the sacrificial one, loving and gracious, selfless and serving.  One week ago we had a birthday party for Christian, and he spent a great number of hours hunting and gathering for this event.  My one job was to do the cakes; he took care of everything else (my mom and I did run to one party place for a few things, and he did the rest).   He pretty much ran the party, while I stood around looking dumbfounded and feeling overwhelmed and greatly respectful of Kindergarten teachers in particular; he made sure the games were being played in orderly fashion (well, as far as that possibility goes when 20 children are running around like tasmanian devils with their tails lit on fire); he cleaned up almost all of the party paraphernalia and trash and then offered to load everything up and bring it home. (I want to do a shout-out to my mom here, because, Mom, you are not being overlooked-she was on call for all manner of things, and set the tables at the party, and filled the goody bags, and watched over Eliana, and helped clean up, too.  Then she took Eliana for a walk in her stroller when she was already tired so we could finish cleaning up.  I love you, Mom, and I'm so glad that you were able to be here and I wish you and Dad could move here and live with us.) After dinner, bath, and bedtime (which is all a blur to me) we were left with quite a disaster in the kitchen and dining room.  I honestly cannot remember the way the rest of the night played out.  I have no idea what I did.  Eventually I went to bed, and when I woke up I saw that Mike had cleaned up the dining room and kitchen, handwashing most of the dishes, the cake stand, and the clay jelly roll pan from Christian's sheet cake.  All of these things under normal circumstances would be so sweet, they took so much time and he has a very long to-do list that he set aside for the day in order to focus on Christian and his party. What makes it extra special, and makes me want to tell everyone how great he is, is that it was his birthday.  He was 33 years old on April 28.  But he never said a word about his own birthday, he received no cake of his own, and I didn't even get him a card (I did sing him a fabulous happy birthday song in a message on his cell phone...I'm sure it made his day).  We all sang Happy Birthday after dinner (I think!  It was sometime after the party.), but that was it. He would say it's no big deal, and he would mean it.  But to me it is a big deal.  I see it as one more example of how he strives to do things that will make these important people in his life happy.  And one of those people is me-he goes to great lengths to make me happy, and I am a hard person to make happy. Mike and I have our ups and downs, like most couples do.  We can be on the same page one minute and the next minute we are the poster children for Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus.  But I am so grateful for all he does for us and for who he is for us.  He provides calmness, stability, and compassion when I am ready to fly apart.  He is wise in so many situations in our family circumstances when I feel like I am still a child and unable to think well about the situation at hand.  He gives of his time when he doesn't have it because it's important when I want to crawl into bed and sleep or sit at the computer and fiddle around.  He washes his hands or changes his clothes when he can see that my OCD is ruling over me and making it hard for me to handle the fact that he just loaded the washing machine or came home from a ballgame. When I say,"How can you put up with me and all of my tomfoolery?", he says,"I would do it all over again."  He tells me that he loves me. What can I say?  He looks at me and he tells me that he loves me and it amazes me every time.    Here is a man who committed himself to a woman that turned out to be a nut instead of a jewel.  But when life gave him a nut, he made peanut butter.  I don't know what that means.  What I'm trying to get across here is that I appreciate this guy.  I love him, too.  He's my companion; he's my friend; he's my jelly.