Life's in the Little Things

Coherent trains of thought have never been my forte.  (You're probably thinking, "Duh, Jennie.")  Anyway, today's post is short and sweet (neither of which apply to me, ha!). 

I keep having those little moments that make me smile, so I'm sharing a few of them with you. 

 She's covering up with my comforter...which she has threaded between the foot of the bed and the mattress to reach the floor. 

Those are some holes in my most-favorite-ever sheets.  They're so comfy because they're thread-bare. This makes me smile for the same reason as raggedy towels.

 

 Ben's art project from Sunday School a few weeks ago.  Long story short, I hope people say I am "Awesome" too.

 I heard some serious squeals while the girlies were outside playing.  They got some big air on the teeter-totter.  Got out there just fast enough to snap this shot of Sarah mid-air riding with no hands.  Nice.

 Look at that smile though...

 This outfit was a Sarah original.  Bathing suit cover-up for a shirt in January?  Sure.

 Again with that smile...and the flyaway hair.

Just Abby.  I mean what is she doing?

That's it.  At least eight reasons to smile today.  I promise there were dozens more.  Dare you to find some of your own.

Zero Zero Niner

Did you know that January is the least popular month to get married?  December is popular because people get to double-dip on already-decorated-for-Christmas venues to save on flowers (among other reasons) and February is popular because of an alleged romantic holiday that actually began as an homage to a couple of martyred saints bearing the name Valentine.

January is cold and anti-climactic.  So, in my opinion, what better time to celebrate a wedding...and subsequent anniversaries?  It's kind of like having a birthday in August - where there are no other recognizable holidays.  Yep.  I do that too.

Today Sam and I celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.  Nine years of wedded bliss (and all of the realities that come with it).

(Because I can't post an anniversary blog post without one of these skinny teen pictures.)

He stuck with me as I went from single teen to teen wife.  From teen wife to young mom.  He's watched me try on so many hats as I went from college student to part-time college student/part-time engineer to full-time engineer while he finished his Masters degree.  We've witnessed the birth of three beautiful and unique children and anxiously await the arrival of our fourth.  He has tolerated the mood swings, the tears, the emotional roller coasters that accompany pregnancy, postpartum adjustments, and an unexpected job loss.  I can count on one hand, at worst, the number of times I have heard him raise his voice and lose his patience.  Some day, I have no doubts, that people will look back on his life and dub him Saint Sam - whether for putting up with me or not, that's up for deliberation.  He is supportive, encouraging, and gentle.  The kind of husband and father every man should be.

When we first got married, I was a big movie buff.  I saw tons of movies in the theater and if I didn't, I saw them as soon as they were released on DVD.  As time grew more precious, I stopped watching movies as much (and flushing movie ticket money down the toilet too), but I haven't stopped remembering some of the quotes from the countless movies I watched back then.  Maybe it's cheating, but here's a mostly pre-2000's tribute via movie quotes to my awesome husband.  (In the form of a quiz - answers at the bottom...because I'm just that big of a nerd.) 

Name that Movie:

1.  You make me want to be a better [wo]man.

2.  In my opinion the best thing you can you do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person will still think the sun shines out of your ass hiney (This is a PG kind of blog). That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with. 

3.  Look, I guarantee there’ll be tough times. I guarantee that at some time, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don’t ask you to be mine, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you’re the only one for me.

4.  Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were suppose to be together… and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched [him]. It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known… I was just taking [his] hand to help [me] out of a car and I knew. It was like… magic.

5.  When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. 

And as for "Love means never having to say you're sorry" - let me just make one comment:  That's wrong.  Love means saying you're sorry on a daily basis, if necessary.  And that's all I have to say about that. 

Sam, Happy Anniversary!  When we were newlyweds, I learned how to make sweet tea for you.  Today, I finally learned to make Chocolate Delight.  It only took nine years.  (And it's not even hard.)  Here's to nine times nine more years together.  (Hey, it could happen!)

The Answers

1.  As Good as it Gets

2.  Juno

3.  Runaway Bride

4.  Sleepless in Seattle

5.  When Harry Met Sally

State of the Mom-ion

You absolutely love seeing your precious girls walk side-by-side to their room with their arms around each others' waists when Abby gets home from school, as if they waited all day long just to play together.

One of their favorite games is for Sarah to be the puppy and Abby to be the "master".   When Abby tells the puppy to "Go to your cave", she listens.  If only I wielded that kind of power over the little pup.

While unloading the dishwasher with her little sister your five year old started chanting "Unc-uh-see-us", as if it meant something.  When I inquired as to the meaning she said, "It means I'm doing all of the work by myself....in Spanish."

When your eight year old checked out seven ginormous non-fiction books from the library you were filled with mixed emotions.  It's awesome, but at the same time, this means you are subject to an endless stream of facts from books like Science Year by Year and Weird but True.

Your two year old got the ball rolling as the carrier of the winter cough this year.  As soon as she got over it, the other two kids contracted it.  The problem is, she still wants in on the medicine action.  You're praying she just likes the flavor and this is not indicative of any future drug problems.

As your eight year old watched your husband masterfully jump, slide, and fly Mario through one of the Super Mario Wii worlds, he commented at the end, "Wow.  That was lucky."  Completely diminishing any and all skill involved.  Hahahahaha.

When you look at this picture, you see lots of things:  the love between two hands-on sisters, the dresses that they procured from the top bar of the closet (how they accomplished that, you don't even want to know), the toys scattered haphazardly about the playroom floor in a show of unbridled kid-joy, and the remote for your bedroom tv on the princess chair.  So that's where that's been.

 

You hear some cabinets in the kitchen and, of course, this is what you find.  Two sisters, hand-in-hand, standing on the kitchen counter.

Just look at that guilty, backwards look by the little one -

(Oh yeah, I'm "celebrating" their independence and the fact that they now have no excuse for not helping me put the dishes up.)

"Cheddar Bay Biscuits"

Yeah, that's right.  I used quotes in the title.  To insinuate sarcasm.

Remember the list?  I took some liberties on #69:  Duplicate a restaurant favorite at home using Copykat.com.

You see, since I composed the list in 2009 (dang that seems like a long time ago), copykat.com has undergone some changes.  And then there was the advent of Pinterest, which I confess, I still find overwhelming.  But thanks to everyone else's Pinterest obsession coupled with my apparent Facebook obsession, I have come across some pretty cool ideas when they share their pins on my Facebook News Feed.  (Life wasn't this complicated in 2009.) 

So with everyone else doing the work for me, I don't have to waste spend hours wading through everyone else's ideas on Pinterest.  Sometimes things just fall into my lap. 

Like this little recipe for a knock-off of Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits.  Ta da!  Blog readers, please meet the recipe I used for #69.

I'm not a real cook as evidenced by the fact that I waited over two years for a recipe that included items I keep in my pantry and that could be baked.  And also by the fact that I use dry measuring cups to measure wet ingredients.  (Oops.)

 

Tonight, we had these biscuits with our chicken & dumplings.  They might not have been exactly like Cheddar Bay Biscuits, but they were pretty good.  

Clearly someone liked them since one was missing a bite before they made it to the table.

And since I'm running out of time, I'm pregnant and grumpy, by golly, I'm checking this off the list.

#69 - You have been checked!

Somebody's Prayin'

On Wednesday nights, for the past year, our pastor has been plugging away teaching through the Bible - we've gotten to Genesis 18.  It's pretty in depth, in case that's not obvious.  Last Wednesday, we had a sermon on intercessory prayer based on Abraham's conversation with God where he pled for the lives of any righteous people living in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Intercessory prayer is a huge deal in the life of Christians and should be a huge deal in the life of the Church.  I think what got to me most was the prayer at the end.  Our talented and tenderhearted pastor sang this song, acapella, during the prayer:

Earlier last week, I came face to face with a monumental life decision.  I haven't had to make it yet, and I'm still in the process of...well...processing it.  Let's just say, before I went to last Wednesday night's service, I felt my heart changing in a big way on something that all of my life I've been dead-set against.  After Wednesday night's service, I came to understand...

Someone's been praying for me.  I can feel it.

Now I've become one of those people who posts a vague status update on Facebook blog post and expects no one to ask me questions. 

I'm sorry about that.  I'm just not ready.  But I will solicit some more prayers, if you can find time to pray for little big ol' [pregnant] me and my big ol' decision.

Still I went on 'cause there was someone
Who was down on their knees
And Lord. I thank you for those people
Prayin' all this time for me.

I suspect one day, in the not-too-distant future, I'll have a testimony similar to Paul's.  I was once a persecutor, only to become persecuted.  At least, this is my hope.  God is making the way.  I think He loves making transformations just like that.  Expect the unexpected.  He's keeping us on our toes.

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass … Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. ~Psalm 37:4,7