Why I Love My Husband - Reason #256

Friends of ours are getting married, and they don't have a lot. It isn't their first marriage, but it is their first as Christians, and they are trying to do it the right way. They don't have a ton of money, and they are doing most of it themselves. Kevin offered to help. He offered to help with whatever was needed on Friday night, and again with what was needed on Saturday for the wedding. Tonight we went out to pick up some items for the weekend and ended up spending more than I had anticipated. I felt like we were doing a lot for one wedding; especially when we have been to so many showers, birthday parties, and weddings already this year and we are only getting started on the summer season. But truly, the amount we spent wasn't crazy. And even if our friends don't think twice about what was done (which is not like them at all), it was important to Kevin. Kevin is generous (and sometimes a sucker for fund raisers). He likes to do things for others. I am so glad he balances us out. I would be a complete Scrooge without him.

Kevin truly understands the concept of what has been given to us is not our own. He never puts our family in financial danger and he takes care of us. We have never gone without. Kevin understands that all we have belongs to God, and it pleases Him when we share and take care of His children. For whatever reason, I am always the last to remember this concept. I am brought to my knees with guilt and once again, apologize to my Lord and my husband for my behavior. God knew I needed Kevin even before I did. He gave Kevin the gift of giving (is that a gift?) and gave him to me for He knew I would need him.

Thank you Lord, for continuing to shape me into the child you want me to be. Thank you for continuing to give to me so I can learn to give and share with others. Thank you for bringing me an example in my husband; I am so grateful and blessed.

Making Room

When we first bought our house our friend Lee was helping us redo the inside and asked what we were going to do with all of the space we just bought. After we moved all of our stuff in the question changed to "How did you fit all this in a two bedroom apartment?" And it's true, I am a pretty good space "utilizer." I actually keep/save a lot of random things even if my husband thinks I though everything away. He should be glad he didn't marry my best friend - she gets rid of everything; except wrapping paper . . . I quickly filled the closets and cabinets of of four-bedroom home.

As we prepare for a new roommate, I have begun condensing and minimizing the "twin room." For lack of of a a real name, we began calling each room by the size of the bed in the room. Even now I am trying to call the room the nursery or Baby's room, but end up calling it the "twin room."

Under the twin bed I found a tub (another post to come soon about tubs) with old clothes of Kevin's and mine. Kevin has a pair of snow pants and probably 3 pairs of thick snow gloves. The odd thing about the snow gear is that I think Kevin has only been to the snow three times. This means he bought a pair of gloves each time. At the bottom of the tub were my old Calvin Klein overalls! Quite popular in the late 90s. And yes, I wore them in college, probably long after I should have. But they were comfortable and I wasn't the only one who had them. But why I saved them, I can't really say. Maybe I was thinking I would wear them while I was pregnant. Or maybe I thought I would need a farmer costume. Who knows?! When I saw them I had to put them back on. I was home alone and very entertained.
Still, as ugly as they are, I find myself putting them in the Goodwill box, and then pulling them out again. Why can't I get rid of them? Why would I ever need them again? With all that, I decided that I don't need the space in the tub and the tub remains, so back inside they went. Who knows, maybe my kids will play dress up and make fun of the 90's just like we did with the 60's and 70's. Who remembers Centrifuge when we had a 70's night??

Next Steps

We did, we bought a mini van. We still had time before we "needed" a bigger car, but our boys were ready to go places without being couped up in the back seat of the Civic. And it was time for the Mustang to go. I had been watching Carmax online for awhile and found an amazing deal. We bought a 2007 Chrysler Town and County and had a great experience with Carmax. We loved the no pressure, and got an okay offer for the mustang. So a couple of weeks ago on a Tuesday night, we drove our family car home. The boys love all the space and travel much easier. Soon enough we'll be adding a car seat to the middle.

My mother often tells the story of how as a child (and maybe a teenager . . . and an adult) I was quite the talker. My poor little sister couldn't get a word in edge wise. When I would take a breath, Rachel would slip in a "Me too!" It was now my turn for a Me Too. Rachel bought her minivan a few months ago and I was not about to be left behind. We both had been talking about a van for a while, she has a little more of a need with baby number 2 coming any day now, but she beat me to it. The other day as I was leaving work for the day, I found we had parked next to each other at work. Precious.This is Kevin pretending to look bummed that he has to drive a mom car. But don't let the look fool you, I didn't have to talk Kevin into a van. He was totally stoked.We have already put the van to good use. Last weekend, we drove out to visit friends that were donating their kids toys to the Salvation Army. When the pick up truck didn't show up, we offered to take some things off their hands. We picked up a toddler train table, an art easel, a book shelf, and a bunch of toys; all with only folding down the middle seats.
Here is our downstairs bedroom after dropping everything in it.

And here is after I disinfected everything and organized it a little. We bought a tub as a make-shift toy box.

We know it will be a while until our kids play in this room, but so far the kiddos that visit our house love it.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

For Easter weekend, Kevin and I headed up to Portland to visit his Aunt and Uncle. We had been in 2007 and were really excited to go back. On Friday morning we headed out to see Kevin's Great-Aunt Lorraine out on the family farm. Lorraine is Kevin's grandma's sister. At 93, she knew Kevin's birthday and how old he would be this year. We ate pastries and her homemade applesauce.

After visiting with Lorraine, Aunt Mary took us out to see the tulip fields. The rows of flowers when on and on. They were beautiful.
It was cold, very windy, and oddly sunny. It was hard to smile into the sun. But it was a perfect break in the clouds from the rain. The ground was soggy, but we went out to see the flowers anyway.