interrupting.

just got back last night from a quick weekend trip and now i'm a few entries behind on the joy of love series.  will be back tonight to start getting caught up.

but for now, i'm interrupting this month-long series to wish y'all a happy valentine's day!

the kiddos hope your day is filled with lots of love, laughter, and sweet treats!

my dear phil has yet to forget v-day, and this year was no exception.  last night he came home with take-out chinese and two lovely bouquets of flowers for me.  unfortunately, our regular flower vases are still packed in boxes awaiting our next move.  so i combined the two into this one plastic storage container.  which worked out pretty well in the end, no?

but the very best thing he did for me this valentine's day was get me this...

i had mentioned yesterday morning that i needed another bag of lollipops in order to finish putting together the kids' valentines to pass out at school.  then promptly forgot all about it.  but phil remembered and picked up a bag last night when he was out getting the other stuff.  was just a nice little reminder that he still does listen, even after all these years.  :)

thank you, Lord for a dear husband, a house full of children, a heart full of thanks, and each day to rejoice in these most precious gifts.  but most of all, thank you, Lord for being the source from which all this abundant blessing and joy flow.   "we love because he first loved us."  (1 john 4:19)

now i must sign off to make valentine chocolate cupcakes (mikey's request) with the little "helpers". 

be back soon to continue on with the joy of love posts!

routine.

some mornings, it takes more effort to peel myself out of bed than others.  i have to give myself a mental pep talk, visualize the steps of our morning routine, and give myself another mental pep talk.  and maybe an extra five minutes to close my eyes and pretend i'm still asleep.  because no matter where we are, what we're doing, or what day of the week it is, we have the same exact routine every. single. morning.  times three.

assignment #13:  routines.

the following set of pictures should be viewed more like my mental checklist rather than the actual steps.  because the real-life execution of said steps is much less neat and orderly and much more haphazard and messy what with the constant urging to hurry up, the inevitable milk spills, the wiping of noses, the need to change a diaper just as we're ready to leave, the scramble to find everyone's shoes-- all to get out the door by 7:45am in order to get to school on time.

on non-school days, sometimes it's 11am before we make it through the morning routine.  sometimes it's noon.  : p

drink milk!  times three.

get dressed!  times three.

eat breakfast!  times three.

brush teeth!  times three.

shoes on!  times three.
(the kids wear sneakers on school days, but we're all about the crocs on non-school days.)

and now we're ready to face a new day!  (even if by "new" i mean mid-afternoon!)

eyes.

ok, so i'm not completely satisfied with these photos.  the truth is that i very rarely am with any of my photos.  gah.  but it was the best i could do today with two somewhat silly, bouncy, kinda unwilling to hold still for any amount of time subjects before i gave up and called it a day.  and then realized i shoulda adjusted my aperture in order to get more of their faces in focus.  and then realized i just wanted a nap more than anything else.  hey, i'm all about the priorities, ya know.

assignment #12:  the eyes.

the boy.  looking at his eyes make me happy.  in them, i see gentleness, compassion, silliness, exuberance, inquisitiveness, forgiveness, tenderness.

and that sweet little dimple in his cheek?  that is one of the very few contributions i have made to his physical appearance.  ;)

the girl.  in her eyes, i see sweetness, sensitivity, a maturity beyond her years, her love for beauty, kindness, generosity, shyness, loveliness. 

and yes, it makes me sad that her round, baby cheeks are diminishing by the day.



what about the other little girl, you ask?  well, she spent her day driving me nuts with her two-year-old self and was down for a much-needed nap during this little photo session.

but not to worry, i'm sure she'll pop up here sometime soon with another of her antics.  :)

dreams.

if you were to ask him, he'd say he wants to be just like his daddy when he grows up.  which means, if you were to ask what he wants to do when he grows up, he'd say he wants to be a doctor.  he's not quite clear on what exactly daddy does at work, but mikey does know that he works in a big building called a hospital, wears blue pajamas to work, and uses cool tools to help people feel better.  and that's good enough for him.  though he does avoid the touchy subject of giving shots altogether.  it's probably best not to bring it up.

his daddy and i aren't even sure we'd want him to become a doctor when he grows up.  of course, we'd support him in his career choice if he really, really wanted to.  but otherwise, we'd not really be inclined to push him in that direction.  there's quite a bit of sacrifice and stress and hard times involved.  his daddy actually thinks trade school is the way to go.  but in any case, i think it's a fine aspiration to want to be just like his daddy in most other ways.  because his daddy is a pretty cool guy. 

assignment #11:  dreams.

getting some doctoring practice in one afternoon when we visited daddy's work.

and getting an early start on writing all those doctor notes.  on post-its.  his note translated: "all his surgery is OFF."  he does love being the bearer of good news...  :)

space.

assignment #10:  space- where they are comfortable

when lauren needs a bit of alone time, we can most often find her parked on our bed in our room.  i purposely keep our room dark so that i can slip in there from time to time, and hide from my kids, i mean get a bit of rest.  i call it my bat cave.  she doesn't mind the darkness as long as her two favorite things in the world are in there.  the memory foam pillow and the ipad.  and they usually are.  she props herself up on daddy's memory foam pillow, casts all other pillows and blankets aside, and does her thing on the ipad.  it amazes us how she knows how to unlock it, scroll through the pages to select her various preschool game apps and videos, adjust the volume, and knows where to click to get her stuff started.  neither phil or i taught her how to do any of that.  she just figured it out on her own after watching us a few times.  she even figured out how to lock the orientation of the screen and we had to go online to find out how to unlock it.

kids these days...

in any case, this is without a doubt her happy place.  and she'd stay here all day long if we let her.

hobby.

one thing phil really enjoys is music.  whether it's listening, singing, or playing, he enjoys it all.  he led worship for our church and college group for a number of years.  his ability to play a mean guitar was one of the things i admired about him way back when.  lugging his guitar around with us was a normal part of our dating years.

unfortunately, the majority of his time since we've been married has been taken up with his schooling, training, working.  so much so that things like hobbies have long been pushed to the back burner.  and his guitar has seen way more dust rather than playing time in recent years.

but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  this fellowship year is coming to an end and a new chapter will begin for phil as he begins a 'normal' job.  hopefully one that will include more time for him to enjoy his hobbies once again.

assignment #9:  passions and hobbies

time to tune 'er up and get those callouses back on his fingers!

gift.

it was december 20, 2000.  the plan was to spend the day together, but phil called to say he had some errands to do, was running late, and would i mind a late dinner instead?  i agreed and he eventually came to pick me up.  we had sushi (i forget where) for our late dinner and then drove towards santa monica beach.  it was rather dark.  pitch black, actually.

he parked and asked if i wanted to go sit on the beach.  this wasn't our usual thing to do, especially on a chilly december pitch black night.  i wondered if it was safe.  he started pulling some things out of his car and i knew something was up.  especially when his guitar came with us.

we sat on a blanket on the sand.  actually, he had me sit on an icebox on the blanket on the sand so i'd be a little higher up.  he asked me to hold a flashlight for him.  he pulled out his guitar along with a song he had written and asked if i wanted to hear it.  my brain started to spin.

he got through the first verse and the first line of the chorus but then kinda forgot how it went.  so he stopped and said he was going to start over.  i think he was a bit nervous.  i know i was.

he remembered the chorus the second time around and sang the rest of the song he had written for me.  in it, he asked if i would go to minnesota with him.

after the song, he handed me a small, red, wooden object.  upon closer examination, i realized it was an apple.  i glanced back at him and saw that he was on one knee.

i think i said yes.

he told me later that it was getting that red wooden apple ready which ended up taking much, much longer than expected.  he didn't realize it would take so long and the original plan had been to propose at sunset.  at a beach we had previously been to in orange county.

no matter as it was perfect anyway.

assignment #8: a gift from the heart.

i was a teacher at the time and he thought giving me an apple with the ring inside would be just the thing.  he found this wooden apple at michael's.  but it was a solid, very dense wood.  and he only had a small hand saw.  but where there's a will, there's a way.

he sawed it in half, stained it, and attached the clasp.

he also had to smooth down the back side in order for the back hinge to fit. 

and the original apple didn't come with a stem.  so he found a wooden peg, stained it brown, and glued it to the top.

then he had to hollow out that solid, very dense wood in order for the ring to fit inside.  that also must have taken forever and i have no idea what tools he used to accomplish it.  he also had made a stop at joann's fabrics to buy a small scrap of green velvet which he sewed into a tiny pillow cushion which he attached inside the apple.  the ring sat perfectly in that little pillow.

i believe he gave me that apple ring holder after having put his whole heart in to it.

and i'm very glad i said yes.