So God Made a Mother is Here! 🎉

Dear Husband,

You know how our 8-year-old acts like his world is ending on the rare occasion when you’re not available to put him to bed? It’s not that he doesn’t love me . . . it’s that I just can’t compare to the pure fun you bring to each day’s end. I guess I should be jealous, but I’m not.

I’m thankful.

When we go out to dinner or to a school event and we drive separately because you come straight from work, the kids always want to ride home with you. I could be bitter about those lonely drives home, but I’m not.

I’m grateful. 

The truth is, dear husband, when I take a look at myself, and let my eyes alight for a minute on you, I see as clear as day why our kids act like you hang the moon. And I see why kids are meant to have two parents.

When I feel like I have the weight of the world on my mom-shoulders, you ask what you can take off of them. And what’s more? There are so many things that you’ve taken without even asking: you pack the school lunches, you’ve always done bath time, and you casually ask me to get a couple things at the grocery each week that you can cook for dinner. 

Of course, the kids always love it when you cook dinner, too. Dad dinners > mom dinners, every time.

Once again, not even mad about it! 

I may make sure that all the details of the kids’ lives fall into place, but you make sure they’ve got some scheduled JOY in each day, and I am so beyond thankful for that. For you. For all the things that our three kids can look forward to when they see your car pull in the driveway at the end of each day, or when they wake up on weekend mornings.

For the “dad jokes”, for the Nintendo battles, for the tickle fights, and oh yeah, for working full-time day in and day out at the same job for almost 20 years, thank you. The kids and I are beyond grateful.

Sometimes I jokingly tell people that you’re “a better mom than I am” and well, that’s not to say anything against myself. I mean, I do my best and it’s pretty darn good. What I really mean by that is that everything I can’t give our kids, everything I come up short on, every parenting quality I longingly wish I had, you have in spades. And thank God you do.

Moms want to be their kids’ ALL, be 100% perfect, be not just enough but more than enough for their babies.

But thanks to you, babe, I don’t have to be. I don’t need to stare down that unreachable parenting goal and beat myself up at the end of each day because I haven’t hit it. The reason is this: everything I’m not, you are. We’re not perfect, but together we do a pretty good job of hitting the mark.

I’ve seen it before, many times. Some dads just defer to their partners the moment the baby exits the womb. They don’t even try reach inside and harness their innate parenting prowess. But you, my love, were a natural from the get-go, and it’s because you wanted to be. No matter how much you love and respect me and regard my position as Mama Bear, you’re weren’t going to stand aside and be a passive parent. Not even for a minute.

Dear husband, you are the parent our kids need, and I’m thankful for that. But more than anything, I’m thankful that you’ve worked hard and intentionally to be that for them. For me. For us.

Thank you for showing up and rocking this dad gig, babe. The kids and I are the most hashtag blessed people on earth, because of you.

Love,
Your wife

 

You may also like:

Dear Husband, Even When Our Marriage Feels Hard, I Am With You

Leaning on My Husband Makes Me a Stronger Woman

Marry the Man Who Does the Little Things

Want more stories of love, family, and faith from the heart of every home, delivered straight to you? Sign up here!

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Jenny Rapson

Jenny Rapson is a follower of Christ, a wife and mom of three from Ohio and a freelance writer and editor. You can find her at her blog, Mommin' It Up, or follow her on Twitter.
 

People Change So a Marriage Changes Too

In: Marriage
Husband kissing wife, color photo

My husband and I had a small, simple wedding originally but have always planned to renew our vows and have our dream ceremony and reception after five years of marriage. And my mind has been a whirlwind of thoughts lately with our renewal being merely several months away now.  Marriage is “the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship.” The definition sounds so incredibly simple, but is the concept truly that simple?  Five years ago, I knew I loved the man I married unconditionally, and I knew with every bit of my heart, I...

Keep Reading

Your Marriage Can’t Sit in a Laundry Basket without Getting a Few Wrinkles

In: Faith, Marriage
Couple doing laundry in front of washing machine

Bring on the bottled scent of fresh mountain breeze and seaside lavender. I’ll happily perform the swivel dance of transferring clothes from washer to dryer. I’ll hang those darlings with delicate personalities to gently air dry. I don’t mind the doing part. I’ll do laundry ’til the cows come home. It’s the folding part that I tend to put off. The cows have come home and gone to pasture several times, and that basket of clothes is most likely still sitting there developing more wrinkles than a baby bulldog.  And don’t even get me started on ironing. Let’s just say...

Keep Reading

To the Woman Who Stole My Husband

In: Living, Marriage
Woman looking off into distance, viewed from behind in a field

A letter to the woman who took my husband of 19 years, It’s been a little over two years now since you came in and like a thief in the night, took what I held dearest to me. My husband. Rather, that’s how I saw it.  I’ll never forget finding out about you, and you would be just another one he’d found. I was bound and determined to tell you to go away, and you would listen.  But you didn’t.  And he chose you over our newborn baby girl and four other children I had with him during the 20...

Keep Reading

His Affair and Our Divorce Still Make Me Cry

In: Living, Marriage
Sad woman sitting on floor by window

It’s a random Thursday. I’ve been crying all day. I can hear the students at my daughter’s elementary school up the block squealing, they must be outside for recess. It’s February and while the morning was gray and cold, it’s now almost 60 and sunny. Not normal for February in New Jersey. But to be honest, for over a year now my entire life has been anything but normal.  You see, 13 months ago my then-husband decided to come clean about the affair I had suspected he was having. He slowly walked down the stairs as our only daughter was...

Keep Reading

A Daddy Is Loved and Needed

In: Living, Marriage
Dad helping daughter push lawnmower, color photo

My daughter has severe anxiety when my husband has business trips out of town. When bedtime hits, she just cries and cries. She doesn’t quite understand why she’s scared or why she’s sad or why she feels like it’s scarier without Daddy, but I understand. As I comforted her tonight I got to thinking about how much daddies do for their children without even realizing it.  My daughter knows Daddy and Mommy are her protectors, but when Daddy is gone she can sense the tension I have from having all of the nighttime protector duties on my shoulders. Even though...

Keep Reading

This Second Love Is Worth It All

In: Marriage
Man and woman smiling, color photo

Your second love . . . the one that came after your first love ended in divorce after 22 years. That love is completely different from the first.  I married my high school sweetheart. Back 20-something years ago, I thought he hung the moon and everything in between. But the red flags I turned my head to then—they could have all decorated a carnival very nicely.  When my marriage ended after baby number five was born, I didn’t know how life would ever go on again for me. I sat there crying in disbelief—I could never love again. He was...

Keep Reading

I’m Happy for You But I’m Still Grieving: Remarriage after Loss

In: Grief, Grown Children, Loss, Marriage
Coupe holding hands at wedding, close up black and white image

“I take you for my lawful wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death does us part.” Remarriage is beautiful and redemptive. Remarriage proves that second chances are possible and that love doesn’t come in one specific shape or size. Remarriage is the embrace of hope as much as it is of love. Remarriage shows that love is still possible through heartbreak. But let’s face it, when you aren’t the one remarrying, remarriage can be a little awkward. Add in that you are the progeny...

Keep Reading

They Rarely Ask, but Dads Need Breaks Too

In: Marriage, Motherhood
Daddy pulling wagon with kids over bridge, color photo

As a stay-at-home mom of two under five, there is one text I often look forward to during the week from my husband: Hey, babe. I’m headed home. I muttered, “Oh, thank goodness,” when his text popped up on my phone. It was a wait by the window to watch him pull in so I can get a head start on my alone time kind of day. He pulled into the driveway but didn’t immediately come in. After several minutes, he walked through the door and was met by an exasperated wife and two screaming children. I gave him a...

Keep Reading

You’re the One I Want to Raise My Babies with

In: Baby, Marriage
Mom and dad holding young daughter kiss

We didn’t realize the far-reaching effects of having our first child. We dreamed, planned, and imagined what our future life would be like with our daughter. What we couldn’t begin to understand is how much time would be taken away from us as a team. Our love of hiking still exists. Our love of travel still exists. Our love of quietly watching a movie still exists. But our priorities have shifted to spending as much time with our baby as possible. RELATED: Having a Baby Changes Everything in Marriage Parenting can be all-consuming. It takes every spare breath, every bit...

Keep Reading

I Married My Best Friend So I’ll Never Walk Alone

In: Marriage
Man and woman touch foreheads

I called and told you she wasn’t doing well. I had to go to see her and that meant I wouldn’t be available for daycare pick-up and probably wouldn’t make it home for dinner. You said okay. I went to her, saw my family, and sat for a while. Meanwhile, you left work. You planned dinner, picked up the kids, talked to the teacher. After driving home, you cooked dinner, as you always do. Eventually, you sent me a text to ask how she was doing, how I was doing. As I stopped for a quick dinner with my sister,...

Keep Reading