So now you're a father.

I can still hear my husband yelling, when our first child was born, "it's a boy, Miriam, it's a boy!" When our daughter was born, he carried her in his big arms down to the nursery, tears rolling down his face. As he passed through our family that was waiting outside the door, for both of our children to be born, pictures capture the love felt in this man's heart. Who knew? Who knew the wild, restless cowboy, had such strong feelings tucked away carefully inside his silent soul. The card I chose for today said, "When I married you I had no idea you would be such a great dad....I was only after your body." When our children were born, there was a love formed that has encouraged us through stormy waters. Our children are a result of our love for each other. Today, my children have many stories to tell about their dad.....dancing in the den, dirtbike wrecks, bench press records, pushing cars to get in shape, skiing from dawn til dusk, loving Prince during the Super Bowl halftime show, screaming at football hits, laughing until choking at Saturday Night Live, competing at any level or sport, limping when he's played too hard, nursing his weedeater he's had for 21 years, his new "earbobs" so he can listen to music on the slopes and the golfcourse, upside-down push-ups, going to the second sand-bar for sand dollars, being proud, being gentle, but always tough. Our children are so much stronger for having their father so present in their lives. No, it hasn't been perfect, but when our children were placed in his arms, tenderness swept across his face and melted layers from his heart. That was perfect. That was real. That love, chisled a young man into a carved masterpiece that sits inside our children's hearts. Their dad, their father, their work of love.