It is my husband’s birthday today. We have had a very good day. We actually had a real, live, grown-up date last night. Can you believe it?

Today we went to church, were home for a little bit, went to take a gift to Sammy’s former foster parents, and then on to the hockey game that I blogged about earlier this week.

My husband is a great support to our family. He is our bread winner, but that’s not what I mean by support. Our family has been through some incredibly hard times. Between an abuse investigation, losing kids, our issues with Sammy, respite kids in and out, and the addition of Hannah to our home, we have lived in chaos for a number of years now and he has been supportive every step of the way.

I know other women whose husbands will not stay home with the kids if mom wants to go out for a while. They would certainly not allow respite kids into the house, and would not spend time cuddling with a little girl and a dog. My husband does all those things.

He was my savior the other night when at 3:30 AM he drove the one hour south to return our respite child to her parents, after having had only about half an hour of sleep.

When I attend my Lay Academy classes, I know that my husband will care for Hannah and they will have a good time together. Hannah looks forward to her “daddy days” when I am gone. They will go out to breakfast together and he does things with her that would normally be considered “guy things” like taking her to the car show with him. He taught her the difference between Ford and Chevy and how to spot the emblems on the vehicles. She is quick to point out each time we pass a Chevy dealership.

My husband is not perfect. There are days I get very angry with him, especially when it comes to household chores, but for the most part we are a good team. I could not have survived all these years with all this drama without his support.

My kids love their dad and I am very grateful for that. I wish for his sake that he would be able to have a “normal” relationship with Sammy. The phone rang as I was writing this and it was Sammy. I was hopeful that he had remembered that today was his dad’s birthday, especially since we just talked about it Thursday night, but that was not the case. He was calling simply because it’s a night he is allowed to call.

Hannah was the exact opposite. She told him “Happy Birthday” several times today, gave him tons of hugs, made a picture for him, and had major tear filled drama this morning because she didn’t have a gift to give her daddy this morning. I am happy that she loves him enough to want to make this day good for him.

Photo credit – The birthday cake I made for my husband before my dog got into it. :(