Volunteer

Last night Hubby volunteered to make supper for tonight.

 

 

He made waffles and sausage (and made the syrup). It was all very, very yummy! And such a treat to not have to think of something to fix for supper.

I'm blessed.

Target

Our Friday night date.  Well, this and dinner out.  So pretty much a perfect night. Grin.

Backing Up a Bit

 I know, I know. I've been neglecting this blog and I miss it. As I was looking through my pictures recently, I realized I haven't blogged about how Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary.

Three weeks ago.  

Sigh.

(Okay, stop kicking yourself, Judy, and get on with it.)

Let's see. Where were we?

We had spent most of the weekend of our anniversary helping our son and daughter-in-law with jobs around their house.

The morning of our anniversary we drove over to Lawrence, KS to worship with our daughter and son-in-law one last time at the church that we have had at least one kid attending when they were at the University of Kansas. It's been eight years that we've joined one of our kids there (and parked in the visitor parking spots).

This particular morning our daughter was singing on the worship team. I cannot describe the joy that fills our hearts when we see her doing this.

 After lunch that day found us back at our son's house helping with a few more jobs.

Just look at how cute this house is! It's a smidge over 100 years old. Lots of character. Lots of work. 

Two weekends ago our daughter and son-in-law moved into the top floor of this house! So now we have all our kids under one roof for a while! Pretty awesome, I think.

Later that afternoon Hubby and I checked into a quite swanky hotel to have a couple of days to celebrate our 29th anniversary.

 

Just check out this view we had of the Country Club Plaza on Kansas City.

I'd love to see this at Christmas time when all those buildings are lined with lights. So pretty!

That night we took all the kids out for a celebratory dinner. Traditionally, Hubby and I have celebrated our anniversary just the two of us, but we thought this year it would be fun to treat the kids to a nice dinner.

Those two kids are a couple of the best things that God has gifted us with through our marriage. Those other two kids are wonderful bonuses.

It was a great dinner and so fun to be all together. Hubby chose a great restaurant. (Bonefish Grill.)

Our dessert

The day after our anniversary found us visiting Hubby's aunt and uncle and cousin in Lawrence. It was so good to spend some time with them.

That afternoon we also visited a friend of our who was in the hospital in a Kansas City suburb. I was so thankful we were nearby so we could pay her a visit.


Monday night, Hubby found a really yummy restaurant (Seasons 52) to take me to to celebrate just the two of us. We both had probably the best salmon we've ever had and finished it off with a couple of cute little desserts:

It was refreshing to spend some time just the two of us.

On our trip back home we made a stop at The Missouri Star Quilt Company (where Hubby forced me to buy some fabric I thought was cute), and had supper with some good friends at our favorite Iowa barbeque restaurant.

Sadly, Hubby brought with him a souvenir of his work with our son. Poison Ivy. Finally, after three weeks, it's feeling a lot better.

(This post seems to be kinda disjointed and not flow very well. Frustrating. I think I am out of practice with writing.)

June 21

Thirty years ago today I said DEFINITELY when the guy I was dating, the guy who was my best friend, asked me to marry him.

Best decision ever.

Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
Song of Solomon 8:7

Recruited Random

I've been working on my next quilt project. My sister asked me to make a couple of quilts for a room where her grand-babies will stay when they visit her.  It's fun to work with some new brightly colored fabrics.

I recruited some help in creating that random look. (The random look is really not very random. There's a lot of controlled random going on here.)

(The colors are brighter than they appear in this photo.)

His engineering brain likes working a giant puzzle. I'm blessed to live with that wonderful engineering mind.

On This Valentine's Day

Yesterday in the Wednesday Hodgepodge one of the questions asked what our favorite Love Song was. In an effort to find an answer (because no single song was popping into my heard) I was poking around my blog and on YouTube. I came across a video I posted on Hubby's birthday a few years ago.

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I decided that the song, Dancing in the Minefields, is my favorite Love Song.

The Valentine's Day before we got married, I gave hubby a little cake that said "Always." I still like to sign my cards that way.

You know, back on that Valentine's Day in 1984, we had no idea what was ahead. No idea how sometimes just sheer determination is what it would take to keep committed to each other. Sometimes it took me remembering my promises to "stand by you no matter what the future holds" and "I promise to work at loving you every day" that got me through.

No regrets. I am so thankful for each day with my Valentine.

Please take the time to listen to this video and follow along with the words. You'll be glad you did.

Well I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway
We got the rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We said our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago
We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storms
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found
And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me
'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear
'Cause He promised not to leave us
And His promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart! 

Always.

The Recipe

A friend asked for the recipe of this yummy meal that Hubby made a few nights ago:
(The recipe comes from a stir-fry cookbook that we've had for more than twenty years.)

Hot Beef & Watercress Salad (serves 2)

1/2 pound lean boneless beef, sliced thinly

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 pepper

1 small white onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings 

About 1/2 pound watercress

In a bowl, stir together garlic, soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar, and 1 teaspoons of the oil. Add beef; stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until the next day.

In another bowl stir together remaining 1/2 teaspoon sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons oil, vinegar, and pepper. Add onion and mix lightly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until the next day.

(Hubby couldn't find any watercress. I don't know if it's seasonal or if our small town grocery store just doesn't carry it. He just used some mixed greens and it was very good!)

Shortly before serving, add whatever greens you choose to use to the onion mixture. mixing lightly to coat. Arrange on 2 dinner plates.

Place a wok over high heat. When wok is hot, add beef mixture and stir-fry until meat is browned (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Arrange meat evenly atop the greens.

There ya go! Pretty simple and quite delicious! Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

Supper

Tonight's Supper:

Yes, we ate at home. No, I didn't cook this.

This morning Hubby said he would think of something for supper AND cook it. And look how yummy it turned out! I just love how he got out the Asian dishes, nice glasses and silverware. Such a great husband I have!

I Feel Different

When my sweet daughter turned four years old, she was so excited about it. A friend of mine saw her the week after her birthday and commented that she looked grown up. She proudly announced it was because she was FOUR years old now. It was a cute moment.

By the way, here's a picture of Yours Truly at four years old.

My mom always made us shape cakes for our birthdays. I did the same for our kids.

All of that has nothing to do with much, except that I just celebrated my birthday last week. I've realized that when I turned Fifty a couple of years ago, it was no big deal. But now? Now I am IN my fifties. Sounds old and mature. Yikes. I just feel different, you know?

Hubby and I went to the Twin Cities for the weekend to celebrate and despite the stupid cold weather and the fact that our best friends went and got the flu and canceled our dinner plans, we had a nice time. We found a really nice restaurant for my birthday dinner and even enjoyed some yummy dessert.

Saturday we met up with Hubby's brother and he showed us around the new (to them) church building that their church is working on. It will be interesting to see the end result.

Our hotel had a DVD player and a lot of movies we could borrow so we took advantage of that a couple of evenings. We even saw a movie (The Guilt Trip) in the theater.

Whenever we are in a big city it seems as though we have saved up a lot of shopping. I guess that's the price of living in a tiny rural town. We managed to check several things off our list. And of course we managed to squeeze in a couple of quilt shops. You know, the important things.

Hubby did a great job of spoiling me with gifts like he always does. He got me some really pretty earrings, some beautiful cello music, a fondue pot (well, he couldn't find one in a store, so I ordered it on-line last night) and a Kindle! I've already downloaded so many free books on my Kindle I need to start reading (and finish the two real books I had started before). I look forward to taking the Kindle on trips.

(This post is taking me forever to finish because I keep getting distracted by all the other things to look at on the Internet: Pinterest, other blogs, free books on Amazon, Facebook....)

That sweet daughter (who has grown up, obviously) and her husband sent me some flowers for my birthday.

I took this picture and texted it to them to thank them for the flowers. Megan called me kind of in shock. I think she ordered "colored daisies", not really expecting such colorful daisies. Ha. I like them. They add a lot of cheer on these cold, gray January days.

My son and daughter-in-law sent me some music. Somehow it all happened digitally. I really don't know how. I just got an email, clicked, downloaded, un-zipped, extracted.... and POOF! new music in my iTunes and now on my iPod. I always tell them how much I love the music from their church and this CD has some songs they have sung during worship. So thoughtful of them and I just love it! Maybe I'll even figure out how to burn it on a CD...or is that too much fancy technology for someone my age? ;)

And my birthday isn't complete until I've had a phone call from my parents. They start out with a loud Happy Birthday! (usually with my dad hollering something or other from the background) and then my mom tells me about the morning she went into labor with me. Good thing she did early enough in the morning to stop my dad from traveling 90 miles for some meetings he had scheduled that day. I wonder what she would have done if he was already on the road. I have never asked that question. Hmmm....

I suppose I should wrap this up and get it posted.

A Little New Year's Recap

This was a New Year's for just the two of us. When we realized we wouldn't be spending it with the kids, Hubby did a little research and discovered that our college team was playing a home game on New Year's Day, so we decided to head to Iowa State for the weekend. Well, not actually the college itself, but the town. We drive by there whenever we go visit our kids and often stop for BBQ, but this time we stayed for the weekend. It was a sweet time together.

We saw the movie Parental Guidance and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like to see movies that just make me laugh and maybe even wipe away a tear or two. I'd see it again.

We had a BBQ lunch with a college friend and her son. We always enjoy seeing her and her family and are thankful to have been able to keep in touch through the years. She and Hubby knew each other from the Bible study that was made up of marching band people.

We spent a day in Des Moines doing some shopping and having lunch and a Peppermint Chocolate Chip shake fix from Chick-fil-A. I usually am not a huge fan of shakes, but this one is soooo yummy! It's a seasonal offer, so we try to find a Chick-fil-A a couple of times over Christmas.

I know this isn't sounding very riveting, but we enjoy being together in a bigger town with actual shops and restaurants.

One night at dinner I pulled up on my phone something I had saved in my email that had a list of conversation starter questions. It's not that we have a hard time talking to each other, it's just kind of fun to talk about questions we might not think about on our own. Here's a few examples:  

Think back to your childhood or teenage years. What do you miss doing the most? 
Can you name three qualities that attracted you when you met me/got to know me? 
My funniest memory of our dating days is when ...

I will say it was especially sweet to talk about when we dated in the town we fell in love.

We spent some time driving around town looking at the places we used to live. I spent a lot of years in this dorm. Fourth floor up, second window from the left.

When I think of it now, I just cannot imagine living in a dorm....shudder. I lived in the dorm longer than most because I ended up working 15 hours a week in the food service and it paid for my room and board. My last year there I would take the bus across campus to spend the evening with my sweetheart. He lived in this attractive building:

His apartment was the second floor on the right.

Oh college life.

Anyway...

New Year's Eve we discovered a sweet yummy restaurant with great atmosphere and enjoyed a  very delicious meal. We finished the meal of sharing this:

Yes. It was as good as it looks.

New Year's Eve after we switched rooms because the smoke alarm started malfunctioning and periodically beeping, we watched TV in our new room and enjoyed some treats I had bought earlier in the day.

Then, like I said before, we went to the home basketball game on New Year's Day.

These guys are not the Cyclone players. They are just a bit too short. :)

 Now these players are a little taller:

 

But this little guy next to us thought it was a good idea to bring his blankey to the game. (And with the headache I had, I would have loved to curl up with my blankey.)

Wind Gusts of 37 MPH

On this Sunday night we are tucked in our warm house as the wind is howling outside. And let me tell you, that wind sure can howl! We are having wind gusts of 37 mph. Now, I know that's no where near what Sandy dished out on the East Coast, but Caesar is making a valid effort. Who is Caesar, you ask? I guess someone somewhere decided that snowstorms needed to be named this year. Maybe someone in the middle of the country has been feeling left out that all those hurricanes and tropical storms get names. Me? I think it's a bit silly. Pretty sure people around here will still call it the Storm of December '12 or whatever... at any rate, the wind sounds wicked. The screens on this house really rattle when the wind gets going.

It's making me relieved that we had a huge tree on the west side of our house taken out this fall. It was this tree:

 These photos are from a couple of summers ago. It had grown even more and was leaning more towards the house.

 Part of it was looking sick. We had an Arborist look at it and he said there were actually two different trees growing together and pushing on each other.

The part on the left was an Elm tree and it had Dutch Elm Disease.

While I'm off on this rabbit trail I'll show you some photos of the guy cutting the tree down. (It's better to think about when it was warmer outside and to get my mind off of Caesar's howling.)

This one guy worked by himself for six or seven hours. He was very methodical in what he did and it was interesting to watch him.

He used a rope to pull the trunks down into the field. He wanted to wait until after the corn was harvested so he had ample room to take the tree down.

 The stump was cut down to ground level. We decided to not pay the extra $400 to have him totally remove it. I bought a crab apple tree to plant in that area. It was super cheap to buy one in mid-October.

Well, that was a nice rabbit trail. Nice to look at those photos and see blue sky. I forget what blue sky looks like here in Minnesota in the winter time.

Since the weather is so yucky today, we didn't go to church this morning. A 45 mile drive in the country just didn't seem like a smart idea. Hubby got out the Christmas decorations and even put up some lights outside. (That was before the wind picked up, of course.) So, the front porch looks a little festive and the Christmas tree is up with lights on it. (The old tree, since the hunt for the perfect replacement goes on...) I'll work on the rest of the decorating as the week goes on.

After 29 Christmases together, we've accumulated quite a few decorations and I'm feeling the need to sort through and pare down. Any one else who has been married a long time go through that?

Wednesday of last week I spent the day in a little bit bigger town that's an hour away finishing up my Christmas shopping. I scored some pretty good finds and ended the day at Olive Garden with my book (The Hobbit), so it was a good day.

Thursday of last week I was furiously working on a project in my sewing room (details later this week) and looked up to see the spool of thread almost empty. That's was not good and the scream that came out of me was evident of my frustration. I was super worried about what to do. I was using a specific color of thread and there is NO place in this town to buy thread. When Hubby got home from work we decided to make a road trip to that little bit bigger town that's an hour away so I could look at a quilt shop or a couple of fabric stores. So off we went...second day in a row for me. I was able to find the thread I needed and enjoyed a dinner out with my hubby. That guy is seriously my hero. He was awesome to drive me 120 miles for a couple of spools of thread.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a very cold day. I think I'll just stay in and work on those decorations and wrapping some presents. Probably will have to dig out the wool socks, too.

Weekend Tidbits

Just a few tidbits to highlight our weekend:::

>>Hubby and I spent the weekend in the Twin Cities and conquered our Christmas shopping.

>>I like doing the bulk of our shopping together. I like that we can talk through ideas and come to some good answers. (I guess the gift recipients will truly say whether we came up with good answers.) I like that Hubby likes to shop along with me.

>>As far as doing shopping for each other goes, we have a good system. Hubby got up early on Saturday and went out shopping for me while I got to sleep in. Win-win! Later that day I dumped him dropped him off at a Panera for a couple of hours while I tackled shopping for him. It was a bit funny trying to hide the packages from each other. I wasn't allowed in the back end of the car and he wasn't allowed to look under the quilt in the back seat.

>>The movie theater in our teeny-tiny town closed last summer. Ugh. Now, in order to see a movie, we have to drive at least and hour to do so. So, while we were in the Cities (that's what all the cool people in Minnesota call the Twin Cities), Hubby and I saw two movies. Saturday night we saw Lincoln. My word for that movie is: SUPERB. It's a long movie, but it really doesn't seem like it. What an impossibly hard period of time to be president. The movie gave me a new respect for Abraham Lincoln. Go see it. The other movie we saw was Skyfall. You know: Bond, James Bond. I always enjoy Bond movies. I'm not crazy about all the shooting and chasing and oh-my-goodness-this-scene-needs-to-over-so-I-can-breathe-again moments, but Bond movies are always good. (That movie experience would have been so much more pleasant if someone from the family sitting next to us hadn't got up and walked in front of us TWELVE times throughout the movie...!)

>>We had sometime to kill before one of those movies, so we wandered in the mall and enjoyed a snack of ice cream. We had just eaten supper, but isn't there always room for ice cream? Especially with a name like:

Yum! Yum!

>>Hubby and I are on the lookout for a new artificial Christmas tree. We'd like one with LED lights and on that doesn't look obviously fake. We are weary of stringing the lights and then not having half of them light up. (And by we I mean hubby, cuz he does all that work.) We looked at a few, but there just doesn't seem to be many pre-lit LED trees, or maybe we don't know where to look. So it's looking like we'll drag out the old one and string up those lights again and hope for the best. Oh, and I am over having a real tree. I love the smell and I love the memories we have of going to a Christmas tree farm with the kids and picking out our favorite, but the falling needles and the watering and the fear of it bursting into flames isn't enough to make me want to continue getting real ones. I bet I could find a scented candle to bring in the fresh Christmas tree smell.

>>We just love being in a big city where we can choose from so many restaurants. Sometimes we even get a smidge overwhelmed with all the choices. Sometimes we try new places, sometimes we go for old favorites.

>>Sunday we were able to meet some dear friends for lunch. Always good to reconnect with them. We met in a place that had a large variety of ethnic foods. I enjoyed some yummy and just-right-spicy Pad Thai.

>>Hubby and I picked out some new drinking glasses at Target. Somehow in the last two years we have managed to break five glasses. (And we don't even have any kids at home doing the dishes we can blame it on!)

>>I am thankful for a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart. He's just a blast to be with.

(Wait, November is over....I don't need to end with the whole "I'm thankful" thing!)
(But it's still a good thing to focus on being thankful!)

Month of Thankfulness - Day 20

Hubby and I spent a good part of today sitting at stoplights. We were shopping around Kansas City. And that means we were driving a lot around Kansas City. We enjoy shopping together and it was good to knock some items off our list.

The kids were all busy with their jobs and school during the day, so we entertained ourselves well  by using GPS and finding the places we needed and a little lunch at Chick-fil-A. Yum.

At the end of the day we met our daughter and son-in-law at an Asian market. I think I mentioned in my post about our visit to St. Louis that we enjoy wandering around different ethnic grocery stores. Asian ones are particularly fun because of having lived in Singapore for three years. Son-in-law spent quite a bit of time in Thailand when he was a college student. He's a terrific cook and likes to fix Thai food and other Asian yummies. He knew of the Asian market, so the four of us met there and spent about an hour wandering around. I had no intentions of buying anything, but Hubby found lots of items that were too good to pass up. The prices there were quite low, so that helped.

I'll treat you with a few photos from the market. You're welcome.

Every shelf in this aisle is full of different kinds of soy sauce. I remember it being like this when we lived in Singapore. I had no idea what to buy. So I bought Kikkoman. Sad, I know. Hubby picked out some robust flavored stuff today. I'll be anxious to try it.

Anyone know what Durian is? In Southeast Asia they call it the King of Fruits. Those weapon looking things are a bit smaller than a volley ball. And. Oh. The. Smell. Hubby's boss always said it was something along the lines of dirty sweat socks that had been left in a gym bag too long. And let me tell you that smell is STRONG.  I never tried it when we lived in Southest Asia. Never could bring myself to do it because of the smell. But there are people who love it.

 The labels on these little bottles say "Green Green." No idea. They were near a bunch of Lucky Bamboo plants, so maybe a kind of plant food?

The day ended with the six of us going out for dinner at one of Caleb and Amanda's favorite restaurants. So fun to all be together.

I am thankful for...
...a day in a big city with my sweet hubby
...my son helping me with my new cell phone
...fun experiences with the gang
...interesting new foods to try
...being with my kids


P.S. Hubby and I are headed to a family reunion over the Thanksgiving holiday. I don't think I will have internet access, so even though I intended for this to be a whole month's worth of daily thanksgiving posts, it probably won't be. I will definitely post about all the Thanksgiving Family Reunion Fun when I get back to internet connection.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Stash

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation to St. Louis, Paducah and Memphis. I decided I love to hear a southern accent. There is something just musical and soft about it. Although I usually prefer a vacation where we just stay in one place and don't have a ton of travel and sightseeing on the agenda, this trip was just perfect. Before we left home, I told my husband that I wasn't sure I even wanted to go. I believe that God knew just what we needed just when we needed it. We had such a sweet time together.

I am so grateful for how my husband gives to me over and over again. A perfect example of that is the fact that over the course of our week long trip, we stopped at seven different quilt shops. Yes. SEVEN. Hubby is so patient and kind and giving. He gladly waited in the car while I drooled over bolts and bolts of fabric. He never flinched when I came out with yet another bag of fabric. How did I get so blessed?

I think I will stop gushing and just post a picture or two of some of the great fabric I added to my stash.

Some of the fabric I have projects in mind for, others are just awaiting ideas!

The pile of fabric below is a real prize. These are all old feed sack fabric from my grandmother.
My sister shared these with me.

The Story

A little more than thirty years ago there was a couple of college students who were friends. They met through their involvement in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He was a driven engineering student with a passion for the college varsity marching band.

 She was studying about preschool aged children and still trying to figure out how exactly to be a good college student.

They knew each other beginning their freshman year in college. Over the next three years, they would talk some and go out for ice cream with the gang. (Well, when he felt like he could spare a few hours away from studying all that engineering.) (And she always had time to be out with the gang. Studying? ha.) Their third year in college led to a deeper friendship. He let her cry on his shoulder about another guy she liked. By spring, she called him her best friend. He said he would write her letters that summer. He did. Every single week. That summer they traveled across the state to attend the weddings of some friends. They held hands in the car. He came to see her one weekend in the summer. She realized she was in love with him. She was afraid to tell him, afraid he would not like something more than their friendship. She wrote him a letter. Back at college in the fall of their fourth year, he told her he didn't want anything more than a friendship. She was confused. She asked if they could go for a walk one night after the IVCF meeting. He agreed. Then wandered onto central campus and ended up sitting on a concrete bench underneath the campanile. They talked. And talked. And talked. Then, to her surprise (and delight) he kissed her. Right there on that concrete bench under the campanile.

She could barely sleep that night because of the smile on her face. But she was quite nervous the next day that he would tell her it was a mistake. He came to her dorm room and she asked if he was sorry he kissed her. His answer was to kiss her again. They decided to date. Like, officially boyfriend and girlfriend date.

She called her parents to tell them that her relationship with him had changed. Her dad asked her what had made it changed. She said the boy had kissed her. Her dad said, "Oh you mean you sucked face?" (Her dad was referring to the movie On Golden Pond. You can see the scene in this clip. It starts at 35 seconds in.)


The day of that kiss under the campanile was thirty years ago today. The boy and the girl got married, had two children, have moved six times, raised and launched and married off those two children, and have just been through a lot of life together. Side by side. Him and her. She and he. Kissing.

&

July Journal -- The 28th Anniversary

Today I am celebrating being married to my hubby for 28 years! That's TWENTY-EIGHT!
Hmmm....
Twenty-eight years on the 28th of July. Does that make this our Golden Anniversary? I think so! :)

The other day when I was listening to Pandora on my phone, I heard this song called, Love is Not a Fight, by Warren Barfield. (I learned this was in the movie, Fireproof, but I don't recall it. Not sure how I missed it.) As I was listening to it, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks and knew I needed to post this today, on our 28th anniversary.

(The words are below)



Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do


Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Hubby:
Remember this square dance? I don't think you knew at the time that I was beginning to have a crush on you. I wasn't a fan of square dancing, but I went because I knew you were going to be there. Just like the concert I got a free ticket to just cuz I knew you'd be there (with another girl) and the volleyball game I went to play with our friends. I  never could stand to play volleyball, but I knew you were going to be there. Shameless, I know, but I liked being around you.

(We are the ones in the middle.  I have a purple shirt and Hubby has the almost blonde hair and the navy blue shirt.)

Eventually, I think, you turned around and saw me following you around. Grin.

We began to talk. A lot. You let me vent and let me cry on your shoulder. (Hmmm...some things never change, huh?) You wrote me letters that summer. Every week. Because you said you would and you always do what you say.

We quickly became friends. Best friends. And some where in there we fell in love.

You have always loved me just for me. Something I'll never understand, but am so grateful for.

 I love you so much more and so much more deeply than I did that day 28 years ago when we stood in that church in front of our family and friends. Even thought I am thankful and oh so blessed to be married to you, I don't think I will ever quite comprehend this mystery that is called marriage.

Dear Hubby:::

Happy Birthday to you today! Praise God for your life!!

How wonderfully special to celebrate your birthday and the resurrection of our Lord! A great day from beginning to end!

I love you. (Have I told you that? Have I told you that enough? I hope not, because I will never stop telling you that I love you.)

John 15:13 says: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Remember all those years ago at that Keith Green concert when we stood next to each other and sang those words to each other? We were only friends at the time, but I know I meant them with all my heart. Now that we are a few decades down the road, I mean them even more. I have realized how much you have sacrificed for me. You do so much for me. You work hard to provide for me. You work hard to do things to make me happy. You shovel snow and mow the yard for me. You vacuum the house house for me. You take me to quilt stores and listen to me babble about sewing. You drop me off at the door of places we go. You take frequent weekend trips with me. You hold me when I cry. You love me. You are very patient with me.


I see all these things you do as your way of sacrificing for me. Of giving up your desires for me. I am so honored to be your wife. I love sharing life with you. I am so thankful God had you be born so that I could live my life with you. You are the best and I am blessed.

Thank you, dear Hubby, for being my best friend. I hope you think your birthday is a special day.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
J

Superbowl Party for Just Two

Hubby and I had a Superbowl Party tonight. Just the two of us. For several years we had the youth group to our house for the Superbowl. I kinda miss that. Frankly, I miss the days we had friends. See, we don't know any one in this town and when event like this happen, it bothers me.

Anyway... Hubby and I made some snacks in good Superbowl tradition, and settled in for the event. I ignore the game and watch the commercials. Hubby actually watches the game! I think it's kind of hard on him to not mute the commercials. He's the king of the mute button. As of half-time this year, I can only say there were two commercials I really liked. Hands down my favorite was the VW commercial. You know, the one where the dog wanted to chase a car, but wasn't skinny enough to fit through the doggie door so he worked out enough to get small enough to take off after the new VW Bug. Then it cuts to a Star Wars-ish bar scene complete with Darth Vador. Awesome. Oh look --  I found it on YouTube! Here ya go:



I clapped at the end of it.
The guy in the bar was referring to this great commercial from last year:



I know this is all such fascinating stuff, but hey, it's my life right now.

Observations of a Power Shopper

This weekend, Hubby and I headed to the Big Cities and spent the whole weekend shopping. Although it feels good to have it all done (well, I have a few more things on my list to get), it seems a little strange to get it all knocked off at once. In the past we have relied on the internet or several shopping trips to tackle that shopping list. (This small town does not have the kinds of stores we like to buy things at. The lack of selection here just annoys me.)

We took off Friday night, had supper at our second favorite barbecue place along the way, and headed on up to the Big Cities. We made a few stops as we got into town and scored some great gift purchases.

Saturday morning, Hubby let me sleep in (smart man), and did shopping for ME! (smart man again!)
We spent the rest of Saturday tackling the malls. Since I am a blogger, I have several observations I'd like to share. You're welcome.

:: First of all, I find it fascinating that it is necessary to have Mall Cops. Sad that people can't behave while shopping. But then not everyone shops when they are at a mall. At the MOA there are a lot of people just hanging out and mulling around. Thus the Mall Cops.

:: Speaking of the MOA, why is it that the only two stores we wanted to go to were at the opposite ends? Sigh.

:: A helpful tip -- stopping right at the top or bottom of the escalator is not an place ideal to try to figure out where to go next. People tend to pile up behind you. And get cranky.

:: We experienced the opposites in salespeople. One lady helped me find just exactly what I was looking for. Perfect. Another guy was just a smidge too cheerful and chummy. But he did give me credit on a punch card for some shoes I told him he sold me last summer in addition to some shoes I bought yesterday. (Who said all Christmas shopping excursions had to be just for other people?? Grin.)

:: When I am in the restroom, whether it at home or in public, I consider it a "no talk zone". Whatever someone needs to say to me can wait until I'm done, thank-you-very-much. I was in a public bathroom last night and two girls came in, went into stalls on either side of me and had a conversation with each other. Awkward.

:: I think this is the first year that Hubby and I did all the shopping together and I decided that it is a really good idea to continue this holiday tradition in the future. Not only is he fun to be with and carries the packages and drops me off at the door and picks me up at the door, his list making talent and talent of plotting out the best strategy is priceless. He even keeps track of the money spent, which is probably a better method than my philosophy of stopping only when it feels like I bought enough. (yikes)

:: Hubby likes to stop for fuel. For us. Not the Car. We had a great bagel break. Yum.
 
:: Shopping with Hubby means getting hugs and kisses while we fight through the crowds. What a wonderful bonus!

:: We actually had a cashier wish us a Merry Christmas!

We ended our weekend with a long lunch with some very dear friends. I hate that we live so far apart, but I am very thankful to have friends that you can share anything (and I mean anything) with. We try to see them as often as we can. I hope we helped refresh them a bit today as they have had a stretching couple of weeks with some pretty tough things happen in their families. I've been thinking about what I can do for them to encourage them. I may need to make a trip to buy them a card. And then a phone call later in the week. Any other ideas?

Tomorrow is Monday and Hubby has to go to work. Sad.

I guess I'll start my week off with laundry. Yippee.

And I should see about getting those beds made that are still unmade after the kids' visits Thanksgiving weekend. (That darn maid has been slacking off on her job again. Must have been shopping with the handyman.)

But I do have the gift wrapping party tomorrow night with Hubby to look forward to! WooHoo!

Day 27 of Thankfulness

I am thankful for...
...a husband that doesn't mind vacuuming the whole house for me twice in one week