You Don't See That Every Day

I had hoped today would be the day I could write about an exciting change in our lives. We had hoped for something new to be coming. Well, the word came to our house yesterday that there would be no change in our schedules. No change in the day to day grind. My husband will be continuing his work just like he has for the past 14 years. He'll travel when he has too, which seems like a lot, but overall it's less than a soldier does. He'll deal with frustrating administration. He'll enjoy talking with his customers. About 2 months ago, in the middle of travel season, he had had enough; not just with the traveling, but also with other aspects of his job. He asked some specific people to pray for him, and a new job. Less than a week later a friend came to him with a job opportunity and encouraged G to apply for it. So we went through the roller coaster of resumes, application, and interviews. 3 interviews! with this company. We were optimistic. We were hopeful. We prayed, t...

The husband and I went out on a date last Sunday. G wasn't home on our anniversary so we took some time later in the weekend to celebrate. It was pretty nice to go out to a sit-down restaurant, without children and without interruptions. And as frequently happens, my food couldn't compete with G.'s order. It never fails - I order something that sounds good, and then I look over at what he's having and I want it instead. So my chicken burrito did not taste as good as those bites of carne asada that he had. And what was funny - G knew it even before I had taken a bite. The night got even better as we had time to sit and talk about everything, again with out children or interruption. When we came home our son was in the shower, and was unaware we were back. So one of us thought it would be funny to scare him. We hid in his newly-finished closet (G's project for the weekend) and when he came upstairs - the girls convinced him it was necessary - we jumped out. The look...

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!

It's a little known fact ...  that 16 years ago May 23rd fell on a Friday. And the day after, I married my best friend. Hard to believe it has been 16 years since then. Hard to believe I've known G for 21 years. That's longer than I didn't know him. So ... In my corner of the world - -Today my son cleaned up at his school's awards ceremony. I guess smart genes run in the family. -My girls cracked a ton of walnuts for me; so now I can make all those terrific brownies and granola bars and cakes with walnuts in them, and be happy, happy, ... and motivate myself to run - I caught the cold my girl has earlier in the week. My throat is scratchy. All I want to do is sit, close my eyes, and not have to do anything. Unfortunately, moms don't get a sick day; so I took it easy and just did laundry and went to an awards ceremony instead of the 10,000 things I usually do.

It was difficult motivating myself to get out and run yesterday. I was making up all kinds of excuses in my head. The day before had been sunny and beautiful; but there was so much to do, including work at the farm, that I put off the run until the next day. Silly. The next day - which was yesterday - was rainy and cold. So cold! A number of fellow Oregonians commented on how it felt like winter again. So how did I get myself out in the wet, cold to run 3+ miles? It was a few things. Let me list them for you. 1. A donut. Yes, there was a small bundle of deliciousness waiting to meet my mouth, sitting on the counter (in a box). And I wanted to enjoy the moment, and not feel any sense of guilt eating it. 2. This video. And this one. I came across these videos on facebook, and watched them before I even got my running clothes on. Yes, I cried. And then I went out and ran and enjoyed the feeling, because I could! Zach Sobiech was an inspiration. I prayed for his family, knowing they...

This girl of mine, she's only 12 ("and a half"). But sometimes I feel like she is light years ahead. a little 'broom' guitar And some days not so much. Every time we go to the farm no, she asks to drive Grandpa's tractor. One of these days, he's going to let her. This week while we were there, she asked to drive ... the pickup. I just shook my head. But then, I surprised her. On the way out the long (straight) driveway, I stopped the pickup, climbed out and shooshed her over into the driver's seat. Yeah, she was beaming by then. We went over the foot pedals and what they did. And she drove. About 500 feet or so. There was minor whiplash when she stopped. But not enough to send me to a doctor. Today she took another big step. I was probably more nervous and worried than she was - or appeared to be. She went off on her very first weekend-long church retreat. She was excited to go. And here's the thing - she didn't think any of her buddi...

Here's one my girl got out of her schoolbook. It made me laugh! What do you call a scared deep sea diver ? Um, what? Tuna . Tuna!?!? Yep - Chicken of the sea! hahahahahahahaha

We spent Saturday farmin' This is what the younger ones farmin' looks like: I'm told it was a volcano. My sisters and I spent the time weeding the garden. The rows seem to stretch on forever, so the good advice was to not look up ahead very far. Kind of like the advice when you are on a bridge and they say don't look down. Sort of like that. The next day was much more relaxed. Thankfully. Mother's Day isn't a huge deal for our family. In the past years the kids and husband make sure I don't have to cook. Sometimes we go to the beach. This time around we stayed local; took a nice long nap (It's official, I'm a grown-up, I enjoy naps.) In the evening 3 of my girls were in their final choir performance/play. The oldest girl had one of the lead parts. My 2nd girl had a role, a silent role, but it was hilarious. And the third got to sing a line solo, and then sang with the choir. These girls make me laugh. And they make me so proud! I ...

Has it really been 7 days since I last posted?? This week has flown by. We spent a day out at the farm, weeding garbanzo beans working on our muscles. Homeschool PE. It's awesome. It involved a trip to a certain burger restaurant, which was a good motivator for some of my minions. We finished up a couple of our school books. It looks like we might actually be on track to finish school around the same time that The Boy does in June. Miracles do happen. We went to The Boy's last regular season track meet. It was the first meet where we didn't freeze our toes, or get soaked in the rain. And he ran really well, making some PRs in his races (the 800 meter and the long relay). There is a chance that his relay team qualified for a meet of champions ... more info pending. We made a trip to the library and now whenever I look around I see a girl with her nose in a book. Yes reading is a wonderful thing, but there are times when they should be doing something else and the book g...

My husband would be so proud of the little ladies we're raising I took them out to the farm today; on one of the car rides I hear one girl say to her sister, "I'll spit out the window and see if it hits your hand." The other sister replied, "OK" and I said, "Gross!" Then I heard laughter throughout the pickup.  We helped weed a few rows of garbanzo beans today. The kids have a plot that they are suppose to tend for the summer. They'll reap the benefits if they see it through to the end. My dad sells the plants and beans to someone, and so there might be some school money coming in at the end of the season. That's the plan anyway. Such a gorgeous sunny day! We also helped Grandpa plant string beans. The gunslinger was quite excited to get a chance to go out and shoot her birthday gift. This year she got a pink (yes! Pink!) "gee-yuu-enn."  It's only bee-bees of course; our family rule is you have to be 10...

So how do you handle stress? Some people I know wake up at 3 am and don't go back to sleep. Some people I know get cranky with everyone else. I internalize, and then I have these dreams. They are not fun dreams either. I used to dream I was driving a car, from the backseat, in reverse. Waking up from those I would realize I was stressed about something. Thankfully I haven't had that dream in a long, long time. But I guess it has taken a different shape, because I have had similar dreams in the past couple of years like this one: Last night I dreamed my husband and I were in college, but weren't married. And here we had all these kids. And then he tells me he's leaving, and I'm on my own. And I don't handle that well. (Remember it's only a dream) And then I tell him he can't go because we are married. And then, this is the crazy part this time around, I actually woke up, in a bit of a haze you know, when I was still probably half asleep, and I...