Househubby Highlights

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Folks, I send this story below as a tribute to my husband, Stephen,
for all he does to raise our children while working on our fixer-
upper. I am doing this tribute in honor of his 41st birthday coming
up on March 25.

Last week Stephen, while working on the exterior of our house, fell
about 20 feet along with an unsteady ladder. He's in the hospital
and will come home on Wednesday -- in a wheelchair with one leg in a
cast, the other in a splint.

I ask that you keep us in your prayers as we journey through the "in
sickness" part of our marriage vows. We feel blessed that it wasn't
more catastrophic, but most of all we feel blessed with a battalion
of friends and family waiting in the wings to help us out. I know it
would do his spirits good if you could send a birthday greeting to
him at [email protected]!
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HOUSEHUBBY HIGHLIGHTS

Recently I e-mailed my eBay-addicted husband at
home: "Congratulations! You were the winning bidder for item
IMHOT4U. This lovely woman and her four beautiful children, who
happen to bear a striking resemblance to their very handsome, funny,
sexy, devoted daddy, are so ecstatic you bid on them! The last-
minute mad dash from thousands of online customers for bidding on
this family tied up our server for weeks. But you were stubborn and
wouldn't give up. Please contact the seller (God) and provide
feedback on His delivery and services. I'm sure He would appreciate
your time."

His answer to me: "Slightly used househubby with old world charm.
Surface cracks in front and rear do not affect use. Some slight
scratches only attest to age -- antique. Guarantee that this one has
many years of use left with proper handling. Don't miss out on this
once-in-a-lifetime find."

Stephen had quit his job as a flooring manager over seven years ago
when I first showed him the sonogram of our first child. Working on
our fixer-upper became secondary as our family grew, and he immersed
himself, heart and soul, into his career of shaping these little
lives. Like he told one teacher, "I want my kids to see the world as
their flower."

When Stephen turned the big four-oh last March, it was met with
great tug-of-war resistance, but in the end, time won. I had to do
something special for this man whose idea of a midlife crisis was
comparing prices on diaper rash formula and hunting down crickets in
the hamper that the boys had stashed in pockets and forgotten about.

On his birthday, a white limousine pulled up to our home.

"This is a dead-end street," he informed the limo driver. "You'll
need to turn around--"

"Stephen!" I yelled from the doorway. "That's for us!"

His mouth dropped open. I helped a stunned man with loading our
family into the limo.

"Where's this limo taking us?" he asked.

"It's a surprise," I said, giggling.

It would be a thirty-minute ride to the German restaurant where we'd
been served dinner the day we eloped. On the way, I stared at my
groom of nine years. I thought of all the fun he had showered on his
family over the years to mark milestones.

Like St. Patrick's Day. Stephen surprised me at work by bringing the
boys, all dressed in green and wearing very tall leprechaun hats. He
brought shamrock-shaped glass bowls, filled with green mints and
jelly-bellies for my coworkers.

One morning, Stephen tickled the baby, soliciting belly laughs from
her.

He sighed, looking up at me, and said, "I just love teaching our kids
to laugh before they can talk."

For a bit of pocket change, Stephen delivered merchandise to
customers all over Texas for an antique dealer friend of ours. He'd
pack up the kids for these road trips and treat them on the way to
places like the Dallas Aquarium or the sandy dunes of the Gulf coast.

Someone once asked Stephen, "Why don't you just stick the kids in
daycare instead of hauling them all over the place?"

"Hey, where else can a father spend quality time with his children
and get paid for it?"

On the last day of summer school, Stephen picked up Cody and as was
the routine had all three boys help clean up the classroom since they
were usually the last ones to leave.

Cody's teacher shook her head and said, "I wish more parents were
like you. How do you do it? I've never had in all the fifteen years
I've taught school had a parent tell a child to stay and help clean
up the classroom."

A neighbor from further on down the street meandered to our end of
the world one afternoon and caught Stephen in the middle of carting
rocks in a wheelbarrow for his gardens.

"You know," she said, "I've lived in this neighborhood for many
years, and I see you out here almost every day with your kids. I
just had to come out and tell you that I think you are quite possibly
the hardest-working person I've ever seen in my life. You make me
tired watching you!"

On a well-deserved break, Stephen treated Madison and the boys to an
antique fair in Warrington, coursing through three miles of tents and
booths with Madison in a backpack. She kept her hands inside the
backpack, and the boys shoved their hands inside their pockets.

An incredulous antique dealer, after observing Stephen maneuver narrow
aisles with all four kids without incident, asked, "Were they born
good?!"

Yes, they were. The hardest part of our job is to make sure they
stay good.

Positive comments like these help reinforce Stephen's pride in his
career as a househubby. Grandmother Oliver reported a relative
saying, "Guilda, you have beautiful, well-behaved grandchildren."

"You know what, Stephen?" she said. "It made me real proud to be a
grandmother."

The limo idled in front of the German restaurant as we exited the
plush quarters. Inside the restaurant were our friends, waiting to
ambush Stephen '60s style. Some of the folks showed up in bell-
bottoms, tie-dyed t-shirts, bouffant wigs, and love beads. Scrawled
on his birthday cake were the words, "Happy Birthday to One Groovy
Stud-Muffin!"

For one night Stephen didn't seem to mind hitting forty. Judging
from his dazed smile, it wasn't so painful after all.

Afterwards when the limo dropped us all off back home, the boys all
waved to it and yelled after it, "BYE-BYE, BIG BEAUTIFUL CAR!"

Stephen may have turned the big four-oh, but to me he will always be
ageless.

Jennifer Oliver
[email protected]
Copyright © 2002 by Jennifer Oliver. All rights reserved.
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Find out how Roger Dean Kiser, Sr., is using his life to spell
success for orphans coast to coast! He's started the Sad Orphan
Foundation in hopes that other orphans may experience kindness. As
Roger said, it was acts of kindness, however small, that saved him.
For more information, please visit Roger's web site at
http://www.geocities.com/thesadorphanfoundation. You may send your
check or money order to:

THE SAD ORPHAN FOUNDATION
c/o Author, Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
100 Northridge Drive
Brunswick, Georgia 31525

Or click on his website and donate using your credit card using
PayPal!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find out how you can help Brittnia Brandl spread the Word in Africa!
Check out http://www.hearttouchers.com/jesus_film, a site powered by
one of my favorite married couples, Michael and Kristi Powers!
Whether you're donating money to meet her goal of $3500 or your
prayers, I know that Brittnia would certainly appreciate you passing
on the love! Send donations to: Brittnia Brandl, P.O. Box 393,
Clinton, WI 53525. You can contact her at [email protected].

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FROM OUR FRIENDLY E-MAIL CARRIER

In response to "My Best Friend" by Maria Harden
(http://geocities.com/jenniferioliver2001/031202.htm)

Good morning, Maria - Congratulations and thanks for sharing this
lovely story... it came to me on my husband's and my 25th!!!! Last
night I went to my art session and painted a picture. When I got home
Roy had a beautiful red small box on the table waiting for me with a
lovely card (: A heart necklace on a gold chain...(Can't wait to see
what 50 years will bring. (: Anyway he liked my painting, so I said
laughingly "Happy Anniversary. It is yours." But I think I will have
it put in a frame for him as there is absolutely nothing I can think
of to buy that he even remotely needs. I am planning to have a song
dedicated on the Love Songs @ Night radio show we listen to on WHOM.
If I could remember the title!! LOL - God Bless. - Kay

Jennifer, I have been reading all the stories on Stories of heart and
have been blessed every time. The week didn't start too well for me
because I lost a friend and a colleague on Sunday. The news got to us
at work yesterday that he was attacked by armed robbers who shot him,
his wife and their eight-year old son while they were driving home
from an outing. Only the wife survived. The have two other children
at home but the one who was killed was their first born. I still do
not understand what makes a man decide to take the life of another
without having any kind of pity whatsoever. My only consolation is
that my friend had a relationship with the Lord. He died a Christian.
May God help us to continue to stand faithful to His calling upon our
lives. Please give my love to the children and Stephen. Love, Steve
(http://www.biblepraise.org)

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LOVE,
JENNIFER I. OLIVER AND FAMILY
[email protected]
When you are born, you cry and everyone is happy. So live your life
in such a way that when you die, everyone cries and you are happy.

- Unknown

The quote above is derived from "To live that in thy last long sleep,
Smiles may be thine wile all around thee weep." - Nellie L. Wallace,
June 24, 1873
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