Nomination for Sainthood

I'm excited to write this blog tonight because it's WAY overdue... I'm talking a few YEARS overdue, so it's long, but a must-read! I have a nomination for Sainthood and I've filled out the appropriate questionnaire below. Now I just need to mail it to the Pope to see what he can do! 

Name of Saint Nominee: My nominee goes by many names, most formally Jason Graham, but commonly referred to as Boo, Boo-Boo, Daddy and Jase. Only in rare instances do I actually call him Jason aloud, usually only in the case of a roach or spider being in the near vicinity or one of the children driving me to my last nerve.  

Why Do you Feel this Nominee Should be Named a Saint? Hmm.. where to begin? Let's see:

1. First and foremost he's spent the last 10+ years dealing with my insanity. When we met I was 20 years old, cute, blonde, and drove a beautiful blue Beemer. Our only care in the world was what tailgating party to hang out at before the Gator games. Oh how life has changed! After having three kids (back-to-back-to-back) and managing two full-time careers, our life now revolves around being a constant referee, maid, cook and chauffeur among the other million things we do each week. I can't say that I've always been the nicest, sweetest, most loving wife over the years (and it's a good thing that I can blame a lot of those years on pregnancy hormones!!) but Jason has always been there, supporting me and our family. In my most grumpiest of moments he'll say to me, "When someone is grumpy you love them even more because that's when they need love the most." Wow - If only everyone could live by that saying this world would be a better place.

2. Jason's level of patience is way beyond mine. This weekend was a true testament to that. We decided to have our first official sleepover at our house. My two nephews came over yesterday afternoon and we had five kids, ages six and under. Now - for Virgo like me who loves order, organization, cleanliness and calm, I knew I was stepping into fire. However, I wanted to make this New Years special and the kids loved every minute of it. We took all five kids to the movies, loaded them up with candy and popcorn. Brought them home and ate pizza, went outside and bounced on the bounce house and then stayed up late and watched the Smurfs. Then, after getting approximately 4 hours of sleep, they were up at the crack of dawn ready to roar and Jason loaded them into the van and got doughnuts and we had a second round of bounce house jumping. Not ONE single time did Jason get mad, raise his voice, or even look annoyed. If anything he was loving it as much as they were. It's those moments when I love him the most.

3. I hate cooking (he loves it) and I hate getting up early (he's a morning person!) and this really works in my favor. Every morning (no joke when I say every morning), Jason gets all three kids up and out of bed and ready for the day. Now, I realize that makes me sound like the worst mother in the world and I really shouldn't admit it publicly, but it's true. We've got the schedule down pat, and while I'm getting dressed for work, he gets the kids ready for school and out the door we go! I get that extra 30 minutes of sleep and to me that means the world. I'm thankful that's he's a morning person. He also picks up the kids from school every afternoon at 5, gets them home and feeds them dinner. By the time I get home from work it's 6 at the earliest and it's so nice to know that he's got it all under control. I have to give some props here to my father-in-law who also was the chef in their family when Jason was little, so to Jason it's just a normal dad thing to do!

4. He's OK with sharing me!... oh wait, that sounds bad! I mean he's OK with me spending as much time as I need spending time with my mom, my sister and my friends. When I turned 30 last year I went through a mini "life crisis" and was really looking for that freedom I had back when I was 20. It wasn't easy for him to watch me go out with my friends every weekend, but he knew it was what I needed, and I'm thankful for that. It took me a few months, but I came back around to realize that those days of partying it up were totally overrated and what I really wanted was to be at home with my family. But I still have my nightly phone calls with my mom and Katie and those can easily extend into a few hours! Even better than him sharing me, is him offering to be there for my friends. He cares about them as much as I do and would do anything in the world for any of them!

5. He's amazing with JD. Ever since JD was diagnosed almost two years ago I've heard the same thing over and over again... "You're so lucky that your husband is so involved. We hardly ever see dads come to _____ (therapy, IEP meetings, doctor's appointments, parent/teacher meetings, etc)." That one always shocks me because Jason has always been there for EVERYTHING since day one of all of their lives and I can't imagine it being any other way. But it does remind me that having a husband/dad that is so engaged is not always the norm, and I am really fortunate to have a true partner in my life because without him I would be in deep, deep water. He's spend countless hours working with JD, reading to JD, rough-housing with JD, learning about JD's needs and providing that loving support. Everyone always tells me that God gave me JD because they knew I'd be the best mom to raise him, but in all reality, it's because he has the best parents - it's me AND Jason that do it together.

6. Finally, he supports me in all my dreams. I spend four years at home with the kids after they were born and Jason knew that I really wanted to go back to work - I NEEDED to go back to work. That wasn't easy for him because it changed his whole life. I had been home to take care of everything and he was able to leave as early and come home as late as he needed. But he supported me, believed in me and was there each step of the way as I cried from the mom guilt of putting my kids in daycare. I couldn't have done it without him!

I could go on with more, but you get the idea! I'm sure you'll agree that Jason/Jase/Daddy/Boo/Boo-Boo deserves the name of St. Jason. But just in case you need more supporting data, here are some pictures to complete my submission!  I have about a million more but I'm not sure if my blog would hold them all!

Love you boo! You mean the world to me! :)