Peter, You're my Favorite

Peter, You're my absolute favorite.

And today, I want to wish you the Happiest of Birthdays!

Thirty-seven years ago today, you were born. And rather than share all the things I love about you, I just wanted to share from the heart. And I should say now, this post may have started as a Father's day post many months ago, but I figured today would be a good day to finish it!!

I can't even begin to imagine how different my life would be, how different I would be, if you had not been born.

Thank you Jesus for his mother that birthed him, and for his parents that raised him, and to you for creating Him!

When I first met you 13 years ago I never would have dreamed we'd be where we are today.

But looking back now, I can't even imagine anything different.

So many of my memories lead back to you, so many of my life paths lead back to you.

And for that I am so grateful.

God has used you in such a mighty and powerful way to mold me and transform me and restore me and heal me, and I thank you Peter for responding in obedience to that call.

I thank you for speaking truth even when it's hard and even in my most stubborn moments.

I thank you for holding my hand and walking beside me in all the ugly and beautiful moments.

I thank you for holding my memories and my stories for me. 

I thank you for challenging me to think beyond myself and outside of the box.

I thank you for encouraging me to be true to myself, to speak truth and to live in that freedom and abandon as God has called us to live..

I thank you for your sincere desire to change the world, to change our systems, and to change our overall way of being.

And I thank you for challenging me to be a changemaker, to challenge the status quo, to challenge the way things are, it is intoxicating. And I love you for it.

And Peter, thank you for being my partner in every sense of the word.

Thank you for loving me and our children so deeply. 

You delight in them and they delight in you, and as I watch you with our boys, I get a glimpse of the Father's true delight in all of us. 

Thank you for this glimpse as you laugh with them, as you share things with them, as you teach and instruct them.

It's like my dad said, "I always knew you were a good man, but then you became a dad, and you my friend are a great dad."

You truly are a great dad. 

Being a parent is hard work, this you know, and its easy to lose sight of ourselves and each other in the shuffle and chaos of it all.

And sometimes I forget to look up and I forget to look beside me to see that the Lord and you have been there the whole time.

And lately I've been reminded of the blessing of this parenting partnership, no one else knows what these years have been like, the sleepless nights, the joy, the tantrums, the refinement.

You are the one who holds our memories for us, the good, the bad, the ugly. You've walked through it all with me. No human knows me better. And I'm just so thankful for you.

Peter, you're all of our favorites, but you're especially mine.

And it's so true. I love our children, but I love you so much.

There's no one else I'd rather spend time with, no one else I'd rather grow old with, no one else I'd rather share all of myself with. 

Thank you for sharing this life with me, for choosing me, for standing beside me in the brightest of moments and in the darkest of days. 

Happiest of Birthdays my love! May this next year be filled with so many beautiful moments of transformation and growth and may you continually look up and see His face and His hand in all of it.

We love you!

xoxo,

Malia