You Don't See That Every Day

A friend and I were talking about a spouse's birthday and the conversation slowly evolved into talking about date nights. There are a gazillion ideas on where to spend your date night. (Just google those two words and you'll get some amazing ideas.) But actually putting them into practice isn't so easy. Two Christmas's ago I was trying to come up with a creative gift idea for my husband. I didn't want to just buy him another shirt, or box of chocolate covered cherries. A lady in a study group suggested an idea, which I think she used one year herself.  So I took 12 pieces of paper and on each one I wrote a day from each month. For example, I looked at my January calendar, and knowing there would be swim meets and basketball games, I found a day that was open and so I wrote that on slip of paper: Jan 12. Then I did that for the rest of the months, checking my calendar, mentally reviewing what goes on in each month, or certain birthdays/holidays/school events, and th...

Sometimes it's good to look back on things and see how far we have come.  A year ago today I had a gut-wrenching day.  Gut-wrenching in the literal term. I had no idea if I would be a widow by morning or not. Oh, I had hope. And I had prayer, fervent prayer that it would be "not" for the answer.  Never have I prayed so hard, or felt so connected to God.  I had no way to help, except though prayer.  I had no one to turn to who could actually comfort me, except God. Oh, I had friends and family praying and surrounding me with love. But none of them could say 100% that he would come home. Only going to God would give me hope.  For years I have struggled with prayer. I didn't believe that God would actually listen to me. I hoped He would; I hoped Jesus would want to intercede for me. But I think deep down I doubted my petty prayers would be heard among the masses God must hear daily. But on 9/25 last year, I had no doubt. I knew He hea...

(( It has taken nearly a week for me to write this post. argh! Every time I sit down to write, I get interrupted. Sheesh, it's almost like I have 3 kids at home who need an education ... oh, yeah, maybe that's why. So if it doesn't flow too well, you'll know why. )) A whole week has gone by since school has started. It has gotten easier each day to send the older two off to school. Not that I don't miss them - we've just gotten into routine now, back in the swing of things: school lunches, the bus times, schedules, sports, and all the trappings of the day. But this past weekend G and I were finally able to get a weekend away. We hadn't gone away all summer; and with all his traveling, we needed some time for just us, without the kids. So we unloaded the girls on my brother and sister-in-law (who were happy to see them) and the Boy had a cross country meet away for the weekend. And we headed west. With the points G accumulates from traveling, we were abl...

Around our house there is a lot of laughter. A lot. My day doesn't feel complete if my husband hasn't made me laugh at least once. And in return it's a good day when I can make him laugh. There was the one time when we went to a grocery store while on vacation, and he decided to talk Irish the whole time. Especially at the checkout counter. Good times. Today we had to go to the bank and deposit a large sum that we had earned over the summer. And we had to get the tuition paid, so there was all that to take care. I needed my personal bouncer as I handled all that cash. So we go into the bank and thankfully! we were the only customers there. As we handed over the $$ to deposit my husband alluded to it as "the drug money." Oh my word! I am sure my eyes were shooting darts at him. And then he says to the teller, There's only one counterfeit in there. And so she obviously has to look at all the bills, and has to put them in the special machine. Oh sure, they a...

16 Things I have learned in my years of marriage 1. Laugh at yourself. 2. Laugh with each other. 3. Tell him what I am thinking. 4. Don't belittle him in public. Or at home. Or ever . 5. Let him know I need him. 6. Respect him. 7. Like his family (which is easy to do!) 8. Don't be mad when he doesn't want to be with my relatives every weekend. 9. Share the load. 10. Go say I'm sorry even if I think he should say it first. 11. Trust. Trust him to do right. Trust God to take care of him. 12. Pray for him every day. 13. When my eye or mind starts to wander, I think of him. 14. Sing him silly love songs. 15. Find out his love language(s), and do it. ( Love Languages, by Gary Chapman) 16. Let him lead the family, even if it is hard to watch. There are probably more, but I'll save those for the next 60 years of lists. Happy Anniversary sweetie!

Tuesday morning, I woke up with a day of plans to check off my list. I needed to buy diapers (we were down to two left!) I needed to get wood for heat. We were on the last few logs. No biggie, I knew we could get these errands taken care of. Until I got The Phone Call. Oh yeah. That change-in-schedule-drop-everything-kind of phone call. My husband went back to Washington for business on the day before. And he had a terrible deja vu, waking in the middle of the night again with intense pain in his gut. And the medicine his doctor had given had not worked at all. So he was on his way home. In Pain. I set down the vacuum and got the troops in order. I made my phone calls and headed out to meet G. My mom took the girls, my aunt volunteered her help, and we met the patient halfway, or more, on his drive. I took it from there so he could just writhe in the passenger seat. Off to the hospital we sped , fled. 12 hours after it started, he finally had pain relief. After a whole lot of ot...

I never imagined I would be here yesterday:  But I was, flying! Up over the mountains and into the neighboring state. love how the prop is shown; not what I could see with my eye  My awesome father in-law offered to take me to my husband so I could 'rescue' him. My poor guy - he had been sick all night in the hotel room, with a very painful stomach. Almost a repeat of what had happened last month. He made it to the hospital, and with that my planning went into action. I found a ride to the airport to meet my f.i.l. I found relatives to stay with my kids (who are all sick) and someone to pick up the Boy from school. Anything else I didn't deal with - so if you sent me an email or phone call about something else, I will eventually get to it... just not yet. I had to take the photos with my phone. I kicked myself (mentally kick kick kick) for not taking my camera. Seeing Mt Hood up close and personal from a little airplane was so amazing! I loved flying! We had a fe...

Because birthdays around here don't just last for one day! I have eaten way too many desserts this week. And I have run ... 3 miles total. Ack. My sweet husband had enough points from traveling for work that we got a free night at a hotel on the coast. So excited! We finally spent a night away from home without children ... for the first time in 2 years. It was a much-needed break from reality for the two of us. We were able to talk without being interrupted. We sat and watched a sunset without any little hands tugging on us. And we ate what we wanted - like ice cream for lunch! Of course by morning time I missed those little minions ... but we held out until late afternoon before returning to the home front. Of course I forgot to pack the camera. So all my awesome photos are on my husband's phone. I am hoping he will upload or download or whatever it takes - to the computer so I can share some of the gorgeous views we had on our mini-mini vacation.

I think my husband is pretty awesome and handsome to boot. He's very smart. Out of all the family, I send the kids to him with questions. Because I make mistakes (and yes he does too) but I make common-sense mistakes; The other day I posted a not-so-flattering picture of my husband. And I need to apologize for that. The one I posted of him earlier in the month, well, I probably should've double-checked with him on that one too. But he is just so funny and can be so silly, and makes me laugh, I wanted to share it with you all. So, dear G. I'm sorry and we'll move on.

The 13.1 mile race is a thing of the past. But what a great day it was! (you'll have to click on the pic. to see me. I'm behind this guy) The sun was out, but not too hot, there was a slight breeze and more importantly - no rain! A big deal for spring in Oregon. The alarm clock at 6:15 am was not welcomed. I was a little nervous as we drove to the race. But my usual pre-race jitters weren't really a problem. G and I started out together. Which was a good thing, and which helped me pace myself really well. G bought a heart monitor for his own pacing awhile back, and so he knew when we needed to slow down or speed up. His fancy schmancy watch also helped with our mile-pacing. Made it to the finish!! I felt so good the first few miles. G however had a hard day. I don't know if it was from planting a ton of potatoes on Saturday, or working on the remodel of the house, or what, but on Sunday he just wasn't running his best.  And so I am trying hard no...

 April is the month of birthdays; And today is a very special one to me. My sweet G turns forty-something today. I recently borrowed some photos from his mother, and scanned them into my computer. I can totally see our girls' features in some of these. These first two photos are at one year old. This next one is 3 years old And the following -- well, I won't give away all his secrets. They were just a few I liked. So how should I celebrate my guy's birthday? He's not really into cake or pie. But ice cream? oh yeah!! We're actually going out tonight - to an auction for a school we are involved with! It will be loads of fun, and good food, and maybe we'll score some sweet gift cards again. We went last year and a had a good time. Later in the weekend - we have our race! My first half-marathon; I'm not nervous ... yet. I'm excited and looking forward to Sunday morning!  

Why do we find accents that are unlike our own, fascinating? I was hanging out in the doctor's office today, because, you know, with 5 kids, that's what you do a lot of. I had 4 of them with me, all the girls. They were getting squirrelly. It was lovely time. And then a man walked in, with an older lady in the wheelchair. Nothing exceptional about that at a Dr.'s office. And then he spoke. And the world stopped. And the children stilled. And we girls all smiled. The man had a Scottish accent. It was one of the best things I had heard that morning - only because I hadn't talked to my husband yet. As my niece said "Accents make life better." Yes, yes they do! It sure made the hours in the doctor's office a fond memory. I have to tell you a little story. It will give you a glimpse inside the life of my husband. His family knows this already about him, but for those of you who don't know him ... he can be a little funny. A few years ago, back when...

In our house conversation is usually never at a standstill. Oh, once in a while we have little freezes in our communication. But with at least 3 - possibly 4- people who really like to talk, it is rarely quiet around here. I came across this on pinterest the other day: Sometimes my husband and I 'talk' but aren't really delving into deeper issues. Sometimes - like on date nights!! - we just talk about the kids, or the same old issues we always delve into. I wondered if maybe this wouldn't be fun to try, or least it would lead to other topics.