Don't ever stop!!
To the handsome Conductor driving this happy train!! You are so creative, hardworking and fun with our sweet boys! Thank you for showing the love of Christ to our children through your fathering. I don’t think they will have much trouble understanding what God is like through your example.
As Yourself! I caught a great picture of my husband mowing our 89-year old neighbor’s lawn for him the other day. I was really proud of him because I know he was trying to get work done and had been getting interrupted all morning. But I guess his agenda isn’t going to get in the way of His agenda 
!
I have always known my husband is brilliant (and loving), but he really got me this time. Yesterday, he told me that I would need to get ready after the boys went to bed because he had something planned for us to do. So I went along with it, thinking we were going out on a date. After I put Luke to bed he lead me into the living room, and standing there were four of my sweet sisters in Christ, and the treats they had brought. I must have looked so stunned because I was completely caught by surprise! Paul then began to roll out more treats and told me more ladies were coming. He planned a surprise girls night for my birthday! He served us ice cream, bussed our dishes and welcomed guests.
What an overwhelming blessing. I got to be strengthened and encouraged by my sweet friends until midnight. Thanks especially to those sleep-deprived friends (you know who you are ) who stayed up with me! And thank you for your kind words of affirmation and for praying for me! Thanks also to the particular person who reminded me in her prayer that I “haven’t yet reached my prime.” Wow, this was definitely the best birthday party I’ve ever had.
Not that I needed a special birthday party to know that my husband and my friends love me, but this greatly humbled me I felt so loved! Paul even planned a game. He listed out all the jobs I’ve ever had and included 2 fakes. Everyone had to pick out the fake ones. Can you guess which two I’ve never worked?
We are nearing the end of about a week and a half of sickness for the Ireland house. It was Corban’s first big cold. Poor guy. It is getting to be the longest winter ever. Even still, we have found some very sweet moments around here.
This morning I spent about 40 minutes on our stairwell, sitting under a comforter with Luke, pretending it was our truck. We decided to take our “truck” to the ocean. He held my hand as we drove, and periodically got out to get gas. He told me, “I’m the Daddy getting gas.” We imagined in great detail what our trip would be like. We had apples, tomatoes, and bananas as “cargo”, as well as plenty of beach towels, sunglasses and beach sandals. And when I got out of the truck a few times when I was getting too hot, Luke would say, “get back in the truck, Sweetie Mama!”
Ah, it really was therapeutic, imagining us on the shore. I almost forgot we were trapped in our house in MinnArctica. Today, my heart was bursting with gratitude for the work I have to do. If this were not my full time occupation, when else would I get to escape to the coast with my little man Luke? When else would I get to experience, and encourage, his blossoming chivalry?
This of course led to the building of our “church” in the living room. I know mama forts can never surpass the coolness of daddy forts, but we gave this one a try:
So, thank you God for winter (there I said it) for giving me some very sweet time with my cutie little boys.
This was supposed to go in my personal journal on my computer, but as I was trying to log in it wouldn’t let me. Maybe I forgot my password or something. So, I guess you get to have it instead! I am sitting here with a tremendous pain in the middle of my gut, right in the center just below the ribcage. This is the same old stomach problem that came up for me right around the time Luke was 6 months old, 2 years ago. Now Corban is 6 months old. So, in sort of a self-diagnosis, I have been trying to think of what can be going on in this terrible tummy of mine! Does it have to do with being 6 months postpartum? Does my stomach have a hard time with nuts? Raw veggies? Food of any kind?? Am I stressed out? Ironically, I just gave up sugar and have been eating mostly plants, beans, nuts and seeds. Super healthy. This, in an effort to stave off bad health and bodily function problems. I have even thought oh so judgmentally for a long time now that if people would just eat better they would feel better and live longer. While this may be partially true in a perfect world, I obviously cannot count purely on eating well to have comfort for my soul, or even in my body! The only thing that does not change is God my Father, Christ my Lord and the Holy Spirit that woos me. There you have it, the one constant in my life. The one constant I would be terrified without. Thank you, Lord, for your steady hand and your unmovable existence. You’re the only thing I know for sure.
from that adorable husband of mine
and he is such a busy man, too. I don’t know how he squeezed in the time to get these.
But here they were when we (boys and I) got up from nap, with this note:
Five years ago today (Nov. 5, 2005) we met in a bar in Chicago.
There we were, out for Erin’s birthday weekend.. Happy birthday, dear. Only God could have known I would meet my Beloved up in the VIP room! And only God could have taken two sinners like us to make a good marriage!! I can honestly say this past five years have been the best I’ve lived so far. Tonight Kesha asked me what my first impression of Paul was and I said, “I liked him. We really hit it off. I thought he was like 27 or 28, though… mostly because he had a good job and none of the other 23 year old fresh-out-of-college guys I knew then did!” Thank you for still making me feel like your cherished bride.
of the ridiculousness of my sin! Here is a photo of (just some) of my old clubbin’ clothes. Paul and I got to go through them. Wow, there were some doosies in there, including one that had slits in the back that my roomie and I used to wear backwards. Yes, so the slits were in the front. Ah! Good thing I have only one man I’m interested in enticing now.
Jesus has saved me from so much, including wasting hard earned money on very small glittery pieces of cloth that should never have been mistaken for a shirt! Although, just because I look a little tamer these days doesn’t mean I can’t run with the best of em when it comes to offending God. Wondering where I’ll find myself next “cleaning out my closet”?!
The more people you add to your family, the more of a miracle it is to get everyone looking and smiling! But here we are with our TWO boys! We were at my parents’ for “Daddy’s birthday party,” where Luke played Unckie Dylan’s boom booms for hours. He now thinks you play the boom booms at everyone’s birthday party!
28 years ago today my beloved man was born! You must have been such a joy to your mom. What a miracle you are! How masterfully the Lord has crafted you!! He has willed your every characteristic and I absolutely praise Him for everything you are head to toe.
It was on my 24th birthday, at nearly the exact time I was born that I accepted your charming and forthright offer to be with you I liken that moment to the moment I accepted Christ as my Savior… knowing it was a good thing to do, but having not a clue the implications, or the adventure it would take me on!
I am thrilled to be your wife! And I feel blessed to be able to celebrate you on this, your 28th year.
Paul recently brought home the book, “The Practice of the Presence of God,” a great little book of insights on God from Brother Lawrence. I’m glad he did. It is small, so I can read it during the few minutes alone I get here and there. I don’t really have time for the big books right now!
In between sprinting up and down the stairs to do a few loads of laundry and changing out Corban’s newborn clothes for his 3-6 month clothes (man, it’s a challenge just to keep up keeping the current size clothes in the drawers for these 2 guys!) I read this:
“Although he once had a great dislike for kitchen work, he developed quite a faculty for doing it over the fifteen years he was there (at his monastery). He attributed this to his doing everything for the love of God, asking as often as possible for the grace to do his work.”
I thought, yes! It is by his grace alone that I can be the mother of two, and the wife of a minister. One of our friends from church once said that I make being a mom look so easy. HA! If only they knew my inner life. Or better yet, if only they had known me 8 years ago! The friends who knew me then sometimes say, “I can’t believe you are a stay at home mom, now! I always thought you’d be some business woman!”
I am living in the Lord’s most blessed life for me, and I find deep satisfaction in tasks I once would have shunned. But why? Because the world said they were mundane, unworthy, too hard, too self-sacrificial. But Glory to God! My focus can be on people!! My sweet husband, my Luke, my Corban, my family, my friends. For the souls of people are the only real reward I will see in eternity.
So, at each step of the way I have to ask Him, give me energy to make it through the day, give me wisdom to correct and instruct, may I have patience during this out of control tantrum, let me narrow in on my son, not the mess in the house….. and actually, I am exhilarated by the challenge!