If you've known me for more than a year, you've probably figured out I have a weakness for wanting a new dress for Easter each year. I just can't resist more often than not. Well, I didn't think it was going to happen this year. No time to shop. No time to sew. I was doing well to get my daughter's dress made before the holiday. And then, I got a few things done faster than expected. And this gorgeous fabric I bought several years ago was just sitting there ... mocking me. Begging me to do something with it. And so was a jumper pattern. And so I jumped in. And there were several moments when I still wasn't sure I could get it done, but as you can see in the picture, I did! And I'm mostly happy with it. (I need to adjust the strap length to be shorter, but that's for another day.)
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How did you fall in love with your significant other? Better question: how do you keep falling in love? That's what guest author, Jessica Wakefield is chatting about today. I think you're going to agree with a lot of her sentiments. Read on. Real life romances are always unique. Recently I had three of my nieces for a sleepover. Add to my own two girls, I had five girls ranging from ages six to twelve in my house. It was noisy to say the least, fun watching the girls laugh and play together, but noisy. In the morning it was just me and the girls. My husband had gone to work when we saw a cockroach (it was one of the biggest I’ve seen in years), and not a single one of us could kill it. There was lots of screaming. I told me eldest to run across the road and ask our neighbour if he’d help. He’s a grandfather and I figured he’d be a good source of assistance. Sure enough, he came over and dispatched the cockroach. I told him he could tease me about this for the rest of my life. He laughed and said it wasn’t a worry. In fact, he said, that’s how his daughter met her husband. She had knocked on the door across the road, needing help with a spider, and he came over and the rest is history.
For the last several years, I have been dealing with headaches ... and trying to get to the source of them. We started with allergies and sinus as the probably culprit, so about a year and a half ago, I met with an allergist. The allergist confirmed I live with my top two allergens (cats and dust), tweaked my over-the-counter meds I was on, and gave a few other suggestions. Then, he suggested a CT Scan and a visit to the ENT.
The CT Scan went okay. It showed the ENT that I could benefit from sinus surgery. However, she was also perplexed by my complaints about my hearing loss in my left ear. She suggested the surgery to help relieve the sinus pressure headaches. But she wondered if my hearing loss might be caused by a tumor. My children are "church babies." It means they're growing up where the church building and the people in are another home. There are no strangers in church. Even if it's somewhere we're visiting.
For instance, a few weeks ago, when we were in West Virginia, we attended a Wednesday night Bible study where I spoke that Saturday. There were a few other kids there, though none of them exactly the same age as my children. And no other girls. My friend introduced my kids to their Bible teacher and they went. No questions asked. No worried clinging to my husband or me. They went to class. It does a mama's heart good to see that. Especially since when they were younger, we did go through the phase where they clung and cried and didn't want to leave me. A couple years ago, I was asked to speak at a Ladies' Day. Yes. A couple years. Apparently, they only have one every other year and were planning ahead. I hemmed and hawed about it for a few days. After all, what could I possibly have to say that someone else couldn't say better?
But the topic they'd suggested was "God is the Author of our Lives." Yeah. I love that topic. And the more I thought about it and rolled it around in my head, the more ideas came to me. Well, I had to do a couple devotionals at a retreat that fall, so I threw the ideas down and tried them out on some fellow authors. And it grew from there. Needless to say, I had agreed to be the speaker. Of course, like a lot of things in life, if it's not immediate, it isn't on my brain much. So while it was still in the back of my brain, I wasn't worried about it. Would you consider a video game a romantic gesture? Author Sara Beth Williams is chatting about a time when her husband surprised her with just that. And how she found it romantic indeed. Read on. My now-husband and I met at a Christian concert event in 2005 where he and I along with several other college students spent a weekend camping and enjoying contemporary Christian music. There weren’t any huge romantic gestures, btu there was absolutely an inward pull toward one another. Ove the years, we’ve both made romantic gestures toward one another, like when I bought NFL tickets for our first year anniversary (and they were stolen off our porch) Or when he bought Toby Mac concert tickets for my birthday, or Switchfoot concert tickets for our anniversary. We’ve been open about what we like and want to see from one another. I am a huge proponent of communication, and I believe that ‘expecting’ your spouse or significant other to know everything you want is unrealistic and unfair for everyone involved. Have you ever tried to move bulbs? I'm not talking light bulbs. I'm talking flowers. Like daffodils, tulips, irises, and the like. I love bulbs because you plant them once and they come back every year. Sometimes spreading and making even more flowers. My front garden is happy with them starting in February and usually going all the way through Easter.
And, randomly, I have some in the backyard too. My daughter is starting to exert her independence.
See the photo above? That's her with some friends at a ballgame a few weeks ago. Several rows down and over from where her Daddy and I sat with her brother. Far enough away that she could be silly with her friends and copy the cheerleaders and yell and jump and giggle. Close enough to get to us quickly if needed. And a little part of this mama heart twinged. Because she's eight. And in a few years, she'll be sitting at the other end of the gym in the student section and only come when she wants to beg a few dollars for nachos. And her brother won't be far behind. A few weeks ago, our family went to a basketball game at school. Since my husband is a teacher, and both my kids are students, we try to attend several events through the year. It's always fun to see my kids interacting with their friends and to root for students from my husband's classes.
This night, though, there were several tense moments. A coach had to sit out for a quarter due to his temper. Fouls happened left and right. And one player on the other team actually collapsed. We all sat in suspense while adults hovered around the teenager, making sure she was breathing and trying to get her heartrate down. Is it the big gestures or something else that really gets your heart racing in the romance department? I'm very much in agreement with fellow author, Carolyn Miller, who is sharing some fun experiences her husband blessed her with ... which has in turn helped her create more romantic characters. See what you think. When my now-husband and I first started dating I was impressed by his romantic gestures. I still remember when he first asked me out that he quoted Shakespeare to me (Henry V’s speech to Katharine – I know you want to know!), something which stunned and impressed this high school English teacher. (I’m someone who struggles to remember the names of her characters in her current work-in-progess, let alone swathes of Shakespeare!) I remember being impressed by the moonlit walks on the beach, the flowers, the jewellery, all of the sweetnesses.
Now, twenty-five years of marriage, four kids, and lots of adventures later, I’m still a huge fan of those gestures most would deem romantic, but now I have a deeper appreciation of other things. Like when he takes care of cooking dinner without complaining. (Hey, he’s a better cook than me) Like when he wants to spend time with me, even if it means doing stuff that mightn’t be his favorite thing to do. |
This is a place for me to share thoughts and ideas not just related to writing. Thoughts about what's going on in my life, about an idea I got that I thought shareworthy, or just a funny anecdote.
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