Today’s is my husband’s 33rd birthday. I’ve been teasing him for a while now about being an “old man,” but I think now that I’ve hit the big 3-0 myself, I’m going to have to tone that down.

I mean, sure, he has a little silver around his temples, and I don’t have a single gray hair to speak of (at least, now that I pulled out that one long one from a couple of months ago that was a 3 part combo of black, blonde, and white…with the white originating from the root, unfortunately). But gray hair is okay in a guy. It just means he’s distinguished, right? Right.

In any case, I thought I might make today’s post all about Shaun since it’s kind of his big day and all. Because you deserve to know my husband a little better. Everybody does, actually, but since I don’t have security clearance to use the worldwide megaphone I’m sure they have locked away somewhere in a United Nations vault, I’ll start with you guys.

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Sorry, girls. He’s all mine.

1.

My husband is good.

Now, if you’re a fellow Christian, then you may be thinking, “Whoa. Hold up there, chickie. The Bible says ‘there is no one good, not even one.’” (Romans 3:10).

And I totally get that. We all sin. We are all selfish. We all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  But Shaun is as close to a naturally good person as I have ever met. If you read our “Love Story” series from last summer, then you know that he was only barely a Christian when we began dating. Which so should not have been kosher with me, since I’d been a believer since the tender age of five.  But Shaun grew and matured in Christ at incredible leaps and bounds—both because he had grown up with Bible stories and godly knowledge and principles and also because he had a heart poised towards doing right already.  He loves honesty and fairness and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I have seen his relationship with Jesus affect his life tangibly—especially in the areas of self-sacrificial leadership, patience, and joy—as he has studied God’s word. It has been such a pleasure to see. And it is such a privilege to be married to a man in whose judgment I can so safely place my trust.

2.

My husband is funny.

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But then, if you saw my birthday post from last fall, you already know this. 

I cannot tell you how much I love that Shaun (or “Alby,” as I always call him…it feels weird typing “Shaun” over and over) and I share the same sense of humor. He makes me laugh out loud pretty much every single day with his wit and clever quips. One of my greatest regrets from our dating years is that, when one of our computers crashed, it took a huge chunk of our “courtship emails” with it. Yes, they were full of cheesy love notes, but there was some comedic gold there too, y’all.

3.

My husband is Daddy.

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He truly embodies that word. He works from home, and his office is upstairs in the remotest corner of the house. And that is where he stays 90% of most workdays. But if he ever does come down and and spots one of the twins lying on the bed or couch or her swing, he will inevitably end up with at least one armful (often two) of baby and spend the next five minutes rocking and cooing to them.

And if, during that love-fest, he catches a whiff of something rotten in the state of Denmark, he will always change that stinky diaper.

He gets all bright-eyed and excited when Della hasn’t gotten up yet in the mornings because that means he “gets” to go get her.

And the boys just adore him.

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For good reason, obviously.

4.

My husband is thoughtful.

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This is the breakfast sandwich he sent with me when I took the boys to school the other day.

He always gives the best gifts because he keeps a running list of things he hears me mention or say I like throughout the year. He comes running to help me get the kids out of the car when we come home in the evenings from the gym. And he even does my grocery-shopping for me sometimes.

5.

My husband is talented.

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He BUILT this, y’all!

He won a state competition in Literary Criticism in high school (where he was the valedictorian of his graduating class…of 14). He creates entire software programs using complicated programming code that he taught himself. He designed and built our entire house pretty much singlehandedly.  He is athletic. He can play a mean game of Words with Friends (as much as it pains me to admit it, I, the English major, lose to my husband, the Computer Geek, more often that not). He can even follow a recipe! And the list could go on and on.

In the words of the inimitable Inigo Montoya:

“Ees too much. Lemme sum up.”

My husband is God’s perfect mate for me, and I am over-the-moon thrilled that he is mine.

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9 Comments

  1. So I’m definitely a newbie here and just went back and read your love story. Oh my goodness! It made me cry! It’s so beautiful, in so many ways.

  2. Happy Birthday, Shaun!

    So as I am reading is post, one of my 21 month old twins is sitting next to me and he starts saying “Bite! Bite!” when I got to the picture of the breakfast sandwich. Then he proceeds to try to take a bite of the sandwich! He was quite disappointed when all he got was a lick of the iPad screen!

  3. Great post – what a beautiful gift to give your husband – your heart. Beautiful photos – especially love the one of the kids climbing all over Shaun and the wedding shot 🙂

I love hearing from you guys!