Wednesday, January 2, 2008

This is the guy

who took on a herculean task twenty years ago
~ when it was just me
and he was the perfect, loving, kind and patient young husband.

Then within six years, he was (allofasudden) the father of four little boys

that he tickled and threw in the air to come bouncing down on the bed in giggling heaps.

And then seven years after that, he had four little girls
that he tickled and threw in the air to come bouncing down a little more gently maybe in squealing giggling heaps on the mattress.

Then, by our twentieth anniversary, God added two more little boys to this good man's quiver

that he tickles and throws in the air to come squishing giggling down onto the memory foam mattress which we now need for our bad backs.

This is the pancake maker, the drain fixer, the baseball thrower, the playhouse builder, the rosary leader, the financial genius who runs this family.

He is still the soul of charity and perfect kindness, gentleness and integrity that I had the great blessing to marry twenty years ago.

Today is his birthday!

A birthday, by the way, that he proudly shares with our dear friend, St. Therese the Little Flower.

Boy, do we love him!

9 comments:

Soutenus said...

Happy Birthday! May this be your best year yet.

A Bit of the Blarney said...

We are so lucky. I have had a husband and father just like yours for nearly 40 years...Yep! He still just as tender and loving and he has the admiration of all his children and grandchildren. Congratulations and many happy returns of the day!!

Shosannah said...

Happy Birthday to your dear husband!
I'm at the first paragraph of your story with my husband and our four girls;0)
How blessed you are to have such wonderful memories to look back on. Memories of building a family together with the one you love, what could be more precious than that:0)
Thankyou for sharing them with such tenderness and warmth.
Have a great day:0)
Suzy

His Servant: Ann Kraeger said...

What a beautiful tribute!!!! Can I Steal it for my wonderful husband of 25 years and seven children? What a blessing we share to have the love of a friend and confidant to walk toward heaven with. Your husband sounds like mine, who took me on and is still as tender and loving now as he was then in spite of (or maybe because of) all that life has dished out to us over the years. I will offer my rosary for you both this evening. God bless you and him.

Allison said...

The way you wrote this makes me want to cry.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to him..sounds a lot like my wonderful husband!

Lisa said...

Thank-you, everyone, for the sweet birthday wishes!

Anonymous said...

What an honor to be born between two very important days in history. The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Father of Hobbits! I am jealous! ;-)

Donna said...

All of what you said is exactly Dan! He is such a wonderful Brother In Law!!! We are all very fortunate to have him in our family!! But, reading all the comments makes me a little envious but yet a lot hopeful! This means there really can still be someone out there for me? Someone that has the wonderful qualities of Dan? I sure do hope so!!!
(Aunty) Donna (soon to be 37!!)