i was sitting under our navy blue umbrella
watching him out in the crystal clear water
playing with two of the girls.
i soaked up that moment & pondered it the rest of our vacation.
while i know in my heart of hearts i married way out of my league
i never cease to be amazed how well he loves each of us.
he has never raised his voice at me.
he comes in everyday & "leaves it all" behind him.
always giving who ever needs it the most, his undivided attention.
he tells me he loves me dozens of times a day.
he sends me love letters in the mail.
he spends his saturdays and sundays with us, not out on the golf course.
nothing wrong with the golf course, he just told me years ago
that while he loves golf, the time and money involved would pull
him away from us.
{ just a personal conviction. not a slam if your hubby is a golfer ;) }
he literally lays down his life for us.
every day.
dan's an assistant principal at one of the largest, most diverse highschools
in the southeast.
with over 3,000 students
his day is consumed with many hours spent involved in discipline.
he is under enormous stress right now.
he's swamped, working 12 hour days. last week he went in on saturday and sunday.
yet he still spent some time with each of us over the weekend.
always making each of us feel so loved. so cherished.
many of the kids he works with come from backgrounds
& a homelife i can barely imagine.
even though he's involved in the discipline aspect of their day
he always shows them respect and grace.
he may be the only face of Jesus some of them will see that day.
he told me last night one of the students
who he doesn't really even know by name,
came up to him yesterday & said, "mr. knudsen, you're the best principal.
everyone likes you. even when we're in trouble, you always treat everyone nicely".
sometimes i wonder if the girls really understand
if they really comprehend
what an amazing man they have the privilege of calling daddy.
i hope they know they are seeing the tangible love of Jesus
in dan. every single day.
i know i see it...
one of the ways i try to love on him
is each night i try to be done with all my chores, phone calls, etc
& at least an hour before we turn out the lights,
we just hang out in the same room.
he may be watching the news or sports, or maybe even working
but i try to just "be" with him, maybe reading, maybe playing on instagram
but not all flustered & busy.
we just sorta wind down together.
i try to have our home tidy when he walks through the door
& even if i'm wearing a ballcap, i make sure i've freshened up.
i try not to bombard him with any and all issues right when he comes through the door.
we've tried, since we were first married, to each week have some time to ourselves.
while the girls were younger, that might have meant ordering take out
& spending time on the sofa watching tv after we tucked them in.
now a days we can head out to dinner on sunday evenings and just catch up.
i want to encourage you, no matter what stage of parenting you're in
if you're married,
to make time for him.
to make him the top commitment in your marriage...
not your kiddos.
while i totally understand after picking up babies, and holding little ones on your hip all day
while being emotionally drained from communicating with teens all afternoon
can leave you
over touched and emotionally spent
remember
to make the decision to make him the priority.
that will provide your babies, no matter their age,
the stability of knowing momma & daddy love each other.
they will lay their heads down each night with the security
of their parents love.
~~~
& dan
i love you more today than yesterday
thank you for loving us unconditionally
thank you for loving us unconditionally
all of me. always...
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