Married for Five Years

May 24, 2008

1st On our first anniversary, my husband picked out my most treasured kitchen possession - a candy apple red KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I bought him a new slimline Bible. 

2nd For our second anniversary, we shared an adventure at Cedar Point. 

3rd I don't remember exactly how we celebrated our third anniversary, but I wrote this post in my husband's honor. 

4th  Last year, Kevin and I headed to Sandusky again, camped out, caught a Tigers v. Indians game, and had a blast at Cedar Point. 

5th Plans were tossed around from months in advance, but we finally opted to stick to low-key, close-to-home, lots-of-time-together day. We'll be spending all day Saturday being together - our favorite thing to do.

• Coffee Date and Lunch @ Java Junction
• Shopping @ Goodwill
• Star Trek @ The Strand
• Mini Golf @ Fox Briar

March 2013

Dear Husband of Mine,

I am so thankful God established this covenant relationship between the two of us. Each day I am increasingly in love with you, deepening my respect for you, having more fun with you.

There really is no where else I'd rather be, than right here beside you, for always.

Relient K was one of our favorite bands when we got married and this song was played during our reception. He's still the Best Thing that's ever happened to me. 

Cause when I looked into your eyes and you dared to stare right back, you should have said, "Nice to meet you, I'm your other half."

I love you, Babe! Happy 5th year of marriage!

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My Multitude of Children

Seeing as how it's Mother's Day, I thought I would share some pictures of the children God has blessed me with over the past 5 years. Though I may not yet (or ever) have biological children of my own, my life is rich, filled with dozens of kids who become an integral part of my heart's beating. I love each of these fiercely, with a passion and protectiveness that mirrors a mother's. And from their own lips these beautiful children reciprocate this relationship with me as they tell me how much they love me or when they ask me to fill in as their mom in a classroom activity or by writing me Mother's Day cards.

Last year was a darker, more painful encounter with Mother's Day, being reminded of what I don't have, but today I am grateful to be relying more closely on the fullness of Jesus and recognizing the multitude of blessings He has poured out on me.

These sweet girls are somehow like daughters and sisters to me.

My three T kids, who I mothered for two weeks in March

My Maddie on her birthday

My Kate, Viv, Olivia, Riley

My massive family with whom I spent those 3 beautiful years with in Michigan

A return Michigan visit with those Crazy Kids.

For two years, I have spent my Thursday Morning with these lovelies
(babysitting at Morning Moms.)

My Michigan Heartbeat

My precious Jillian

My sweet Amelia baby, born the day we moved to NY, we have a beautiful bond.

My Tess, Calandra, Arella and Catherine. Such sweet spirits. 

My Tilly, Hailey, Riley, and KayKay. Love them in my life. 

And to the mothers of all of these beautiful children of mine, thank you so much for sharing their lives with me. I am sure it's not easy to allow another woman to pour into your baby's life and become deeply connected with them. But you let me in, you encourage me along the way, and I feel so loved and appreciated by each of you. 

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Lest I not to mention how thankful I am for the two moms I have, I am reflecting on the truth of the words I  wrote three years ago. Read here.

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Negative Nelly? Not Today.

I'll be honest. I have a tendency toward negative attitude when things don't go my way. I can be quite childish, actually. But God is always good and this morning He granted me, in all His sovereignty, the state of mind to remain calm and positive in the midst of extremely frustrating circumstances.

Exhibit A: 
Our beloved 1998 Honda Civic is on the fritz. The past few days it's been stalling out whenever I put in the clutch or cruise for a bit in neutral. Not cool. Yesterday, I had to restart it no less than 6 times on a 10 minute drive. We plan to take it in to the mechanic on Monday morning, but we're also seriously considering buying a used Honda Civic Hybrid. Tough decisions, I tell ya.

Exhibit B: 
Due to the state of our vehicular affairs, I opted to bike into work today. Yes, 7.8 miles. I figured it would take the place of my run and it wouldn't cut into Kevin-and-Mel morning time together because he was leaving at 7:20 for a conference.

Within the first 10 minutes of ride, the rusted-out chain of my bicycle had fallen off the gears. Glorious. By God's grace I managed to figure out how to put the chain back on, and I was back on the road.

Exhibit C: 
Back up to an hour before leaving for work. I'm in the bathroom getting ready for the day, and in preparation for putting lotion on, I placed my ring on it's ring holder. But somehow, who knows how, the ring bounced off it's shelf, onto the floor, and right down the rusted-out, gross-looking floor register. (Evidently, we have a lot of rust going on in our lives.)

NOOOOOOOOO. I did NOT just drop my ring down the register. PLUNK. I heard it hit the bottom of the metal duct work. I was hopeful it was just a few feet down, so Kevin and I attempted to pull the vent out of it's position. A seemingly-simple task, right? Not so much. This old vent had been nailed into the floor boards (don't ask me how). I grabbed two sets of pliers and with hulk-like adrenaline strength pulled that darn thing out of the floor.

At this point we discovered the bottom of the duct work was waaaaaay down, all the way in the basement. Kevin set to work taking apart the piping downstairs, but we picked the wrong vent and he came up empty. We're waiting for a maintenance guy to show up and help us out.

Exhibit D: 
Back to the bike ride - I am nearing the construction zone of the "straight shot" portion of my route and I'm hoping I can sneak through anyways. I quickly realize the road is straight-up closed (not just to "through traffic") but I avoid eye contact with the workers and carefully guide my bike through the zone. I make it on time for work, albeit a bit sweaty.

Exhibit E:
The bike ride on the way home from work. Though my friend had offered to pick me up, I thought it would be a nice end to my work week to bike home in the glorious sunshine. Turns out that 74 degrees and 9.2 miles later is not the best thing ever. (Yes, the 7.8 mile ride became 9.2 miles when I opted to take the official road detour and be a law abiding citizen on my way home.) Wow. I was DYING out there.

The ride home took me much longer than 35 minutes--closer to 50--and I was dripping with sweat and felt like Jello.

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So there is my sob story of a Friday, but friends, I'm seriously thankful for the good countenance the Lord has bestowed on me. I could be in a very bad mood, after all. But God is always good.



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A New Job

My absence can be explained by the addition of a NEW JOB to my already-busy schedule. I am now working as the "marketing girl" (as they call me) at Brown's Berry Patch - a farm, market, gift shop, ice cream and deli, pick your own fruit, barnyard adventure operation located about 10 miles north of our house. 

These days I wake up at 6:10, go for a run in the early morning sunshine, shower, maybe do a load of laundry, put dinner in the crockpot, make breakfast, have devotions with my husband, grab a sack lunch and head out the door for work at 8:40am. I work from 9am to 2pm Monday through Friday. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I promptly head home in time to teach piano from 3:30-7pm. Kevin and I have dinner together (eating late is now the "usual" for us and I don't feel completely famished for two hours while teaching), play a game of Settlers of Catan, watch an episode of Dr. Who, start another episode just in time for me to fall soundly asleep on the sofa. Just before or just after 10pm, I head to bed, read a few pages of my latest Agatha Christie mystery, then off to sleep I go. 

Some days, like tonight, I have teens over for a small group or head to a church meeting. Saturdays are much more valued now in my busy schedule. 

But, as I learned from my 11 Days as a Mom, I had more time in my days than I ever realized. I love the work I do and I love the extra money in our savings account. I'm super busy, but I am thankful. 

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Ten (Thousand) Reasons

This morning my heart is singing of God's goodness, so I thought I should share ten (thousand) reasons I'm counting my blessings.

1) Brownies baking. Nothing like that scent ruminating through the house.

2) Open windows, allowing the warmth of this finally-Spring morning.

3) Filling the clothesline with freshly laundered clothes for the first time this year.

4) Noticing the first sign of growth in my tomato and pepper seedlings.

5) Balancing the checking account, being able to pay bills and taxes, and depositing more blessings to take their place.

6) I actually really do enjoy keeping our detailed financial records. I'm a geek, I know.

7) Having middle school students ask if their brother could have one of the student Bibles we've been giving away. Filling in a teen's name on that first page is such a privilege.

8) Noticing the inside cover of one of those Bibles, given out only a month or two ago, already filled to overflowing with this 8th grader's favorite verses.

9) Planning for the Sunday worship set and finding the perfect song to flow from the a cappella Doxology. Oh, I simply canNOT wait to worship with my people.

10) Coffee with a student who is searching for Jesus. Sharing the story of redemption, the free gift of grace. Explaining God is love. How freedom and healing is found in Christ alone.





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Why is Adoption So Difficult?

The April 8th reading from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest says,

Our Lord's Resurrection destiny is to bring "many sons unto glory." The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We are never in the relationship to God that the Son of God is in; but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. 

As Kevin and I were reading that day's devotional together, it brought to my mind an answer to question I had been pondering concerning adoption. Why is adoption so expensive, why does the process take so long, why is there so much pain involved? Perhaps adoption needs to be a long and painful process for us just as it was for our God. 

Romans 8:15 (and other New Testament passages) proclaims the adoptive relationship we have Yahweh.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

And how did we receive that Holy Spirit, friends? But through the sacrifice offered by our adoptive Father himself - giving his son to humanity, watching his torturous crucifixion, being forced to turn his back on Jesus because our sin was so black, and then sealing our adoption through the supernatural bodily resurrection and ascension of that same Christ. 

All for us. 

He wanted to invite us into his family, to be his sons and daughters, so desperately that he did more than wait a year or two, sign papers, deal with heartbreak and devastation, sign more papers, and finally bring that child home. No. God waited for thousands of years as his children rejected him, then gave him hope that they might possibly draw near to him, only be saddened again by their disobedient disdain. After centuries of waiting, he offered part of himself - his Son (the son who was already in perfect communion with him, who would never disappoint him or leave him, never disobey him) - as payment for our adoption. 

Ok, so I guess the thousands of dollars, the piles of papers, and the months of waiting really can't compare.

Lord Jesus, if you call us to adopt, please keep this perspective fresh in our hearts. Amen. 

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