Jason good husband

Strange as it sounds - that is what I call him.

This post is about my dear dear husband. I warn you this is going to be a horribly mushy post that will make my marriage and husband appear perfect. You know that fake blog seriously, so blessed where she makes fun of people who only post about how wonderful their life is. This post will be one she could make fun of.

As a short disclaimer I will say that one of my side effects of pregnancy is that I think everything Jason does is just wonderful and perfect. I can rarely get mad at him. And I am not exaggerating, when I am pregnant I become this giddy school girl who is blinded to all faults of her boyfriend. So this is the perfect time to write this post.

My husband is wonderful. He seriously is. I knew it when I first fell in love with him when I was 16 - and each day he proves it more and more.

Reason number one (not in order): He is my right hand - sometimes both my hands. He is such a help around the house. That statement almost makes me uncomfortable because it sounds like he "helps" me. When really he is just doing things - does that make sense?? Like when dads say they are "babysitting the kids tonight" - but mom doesn't babysit the kids that is just her job - but with dad it is "babysitting". That is not how Jason is at all. One of the biggest things Jason does is keep the house cleaned up. He just follows after me and that kids cleaning up our messes. He cleans up after every meal. He picks up the whole house when the kids go down for a nap and every night after they go to bed. He cleans up the kitchen after dinner. When we get home from an outing (whether he goes or not) he brings in everything from the car, puts everything away, and repacks the diaper bag for the next time we go out. He is always hanging jackets back on the hook, putting shoes back in the shoe basket, and ALWAYS throwing away the diapers that I just leave laying around the house. If I EVER get frustrated with him about something I just think about the above list and I realize that I could not survive the way that I survive with out him - so I should just let what ever it is I am mad about slide.

Reason two: The kids. He is .... amazing. He is the best dad. He cares so much. He wants a deep meaningful relationship with all of his kids. It always makes him sad when a child prefers me to him because it makes him feel like he is not doing his job. He cares so much - did I say that already? Well he does. I am ALWAYS able to leave kids with him to go do what I need to do and he never (rarely) complains. He is always willing to take a few kids with him when ever he has stuff to do. The hours from when he gets home from work until bedtime are sacred for him... that is HIS time with the kids. And he gets very annoyed when there are too many activities during the week that take that time away from him. From the moment Brock was born he felt a profound responsibility. He was going to take care of these children. Not anyone else. Not family, not a babysitter, not even me, HE was going to be the one to make sure that they got everything they needed. It is amazing to watch your husband become a father... truly amazing.

Reason three: Our communication. We have excellent communication. He is so not the typical man that doesn't want to talk about the relationship or our feelings or our problems or our kids. He is always up for a good conversation. I can come to him and say "we need to talk" and he will drop what he is doing and talk to me. We used to spend hours and hours talking in high school and college - and sometimes not much has changed. We don't only talk about our relationship (phew) we love to talk religion (probably our favorite), politics, current and world events, our children and parenting philosophies, sports (I mostly listen), Stock Market (Still listening), my woes of laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, my calling, etc (he mostly listens). I can't imagine being in a marriage where I had to keep most my thoughts and feelings to myself. I LOVE that he loves to talk. Especially with all the hardship with jobs and money we have gone through in the past year (well really... years) - if we just (especially he) kept all that to ourselves I think we would get further and further away from each other and resent each other for choices made. When in reality with each lay off and financial struggle we have gotten closer and closer and are always on the same page with our future and what needs to happen. It is such a blessing. (Although - Heavenly Father, if you are reading this. We are plenty close - so those hardships and layoffs... we could take a brake. I am sure a trip to Hawaii would bring us just a close!)

Reason four: He would do anything for us/me. He tries so hard. So hard that it breaks my heart. Confession - I used to be really judgemental of other peoples circumstances and marriages - especially when it came to jobs and money. (I am guessing all of our challenges have been to teach me a lesson - shoot!) But now coming from the other side - there is nothing harder than seeing your husband having to go through work struggles. But through all of it I have never ever once been frustrated or disappointed in him (my former self (ages 16-20) would have thought that I would be let down and disappointed) because I have seen how hard he works. I have a memory of him back in the summer of 2007. We had just had Brock and his summer campus job had come to an end (until fall). It had been 2 weeks and he still hadn't found another job. He was calling every job listing he could find, with no luck. I remember sitting in the living room and hearing him make phone calls in our bed room. I remember him calling a man about a framing position (construction) - he had never framed before. And Jason basically convinced the man to give him the job. He said things like, "I am a fast learner, just show me once and I can do it." "I will work when ever you need me too" "I know I can do this job" - I felt so much pride - it actually brought tears to my eyes to hear my husband so desperate for a job and so willing to do anything for us. I have had similar experiences over the last few years. He has never once let me down or made me questions his work ethic or motives. You know those horrific stories about people stranded in the wilderness or in the ocean and they have to survive? I watched one one time about a husband, a wife, and their infant son. The wife said, "I knew my husband would save us or he would die trying". I remember thinking about us in that position, how I would feel, what Jason would do. And I thought, "I knew Jason would save us." There would be no, "or he would die trying" because that would not be an option for him. There is no "or" with him. He would just save us... end of story. I know that is an unrealistic expectation to put on another human being. But that is the level of confidence I have in Jason's ability to take care of our family. He just will... end of story.

Reason five: He thinks I am great. I figure I am performing between 60 and 75% of my optimal capacity (if that makes sense). I don't do all I could do. But I do the best I can in the moment. But if I really gave it my all - I could do about 25 - 30% better (in all areas of my life). But he makes me feel like I perform at 110% everyday. Even when I know that he knows it is not true - he has never ever made me feel that way. He makes me feel like a wonderful mother, and wonderful wife, and wonderful woman. How can you not love somebody like that?

I could go on until about reason number 100 (spirituality, passion, honesty, intelligence etc). But what would I have left to post about on birthdays, anniversaries, and fathers days? These are just the main things I have been thinking about the past month or so as he has been out of work. And I wanted to share them all with you.

So thank you Jason good husband.