Happy Birthday, oh husband of mine...

Tuesday, April 11th is Pete's birthday. I must salute the man I am married to for his steadfast love, his hilarious sense of humor (so perfect for the clown that he is), his deep faith in God and his unwavering ability to do everything in his power to help in any situation.

Through this last year, though missing Laurie as deeply as any of us, Pete is the one who kept us grounded, who did a million things to keep me buoyed up, said yes to any chore that needed to get done. Today (Monday) Pete got up early, did his morning run, jumped in his Jeep and helped Katie move out of Respite to her new housing. Katie will be living with Kristin, Pete's daughter, my beautiful stepdaughter and this was not a decision come to lightly by anyone. In Pete's heart of hearts I know he has deep concern for Kristin in this generous offer of hers. Pray that Katie is well on the road to learning how to lead a productive life safely and that this short term living situation is not draining on Kristin but that God would be in it.

Following the move-in, Pete drove Katie to her job interview (she got the job), then took her to lunch and drove her out to a counseling session. Tonight he worked three hours as Parky the Clown at a restaurant 35 miles from here, getting back home at 9:30 PM. Is he grumpy from this long day? No, he walks in all smiles with a balloon bouquet the restaurant presented him with. This is the pace Pete leads every day...caring for any of the grandkids, calling friends checking in, buying me flowers every week, driving anyone anywhere they need a ride, working in the middle of the night at the PADS homeless shelter. Just today I was reminded how awesome it is that he has such a non-traditional job making him available for so many things.

So Mr. "I-can-watch-Law-and-Order-Forever". Mr. Parky the Clown and in my book, Mr. Wonderful, Happy Birthday!