Happy Easter!

Christus Resurexit, Alleluia!

Hope everyone is having a blessed Easter!  I went to Vigil last night and it was a beautiful experience; it’s always lovely but being part of the choir really amplifies it.

This morning, DH and I were briefly discussing Pope Francis and how he’s been shaking things up (latest thing he’s done that no other pope has done before: blessing a guide dog).  DH remarked, “It sounds like this pope is exactly what those guys need: somebody who’ll shake things up.”

“Yes,” I replied, “it sounds like he’s just what we need…”

Today There is Hope

Today, a new year starts.  2012 was a boring year for me; there’s really no other way to put it.  (And ironically, 2012 was the year I chose to start blogging.)

In 2012, I didn’t change the size of my family. (No surprise there.)

In 2012, my husband didn’t convert. (Again, no surprise.)

In 2012, I stayed at the same job and house I’ve been in for years.

In 2012, I had no reason to doubt that my life would stay the course it’s been on since I finished graduate school.

But today, it snowed.  Today, everything looks a little brighter.  Today, I think I can see something else taking shape up ahead.  I get the feeling that my year-end post for 2013 won’t be quite so dull.

Today, there is hope.

The Wedding Picture

One of my favorite pictures of our wedding is the picture of DH’s and my first kiss.  DH is a foot taller than I am; he’s stooping to meet my lips and I’m on tiptoe to meet his.

I love that picture because it says everything.

DH is a neatnik; I’m on the slobby side.  Over the years, I’ve learned that if DH has had a rough day at work, returning home to a messy house just makes it worse.  I make sure the house is clean when he gets home – his definition of clean, not mine.

I used to be terrified of flying; DH loves it.  He never quite understood why I was so scared.  (Neither do I, honey.  It’s a phobia.  Phobias are not supposed to be rational.)  But he held my hand anyway and let me squeeze it so hard I’m surprised I didn’t break his bones.

Often we’ll be performing a task together (the most recent example was bagging groceries) and we’ll start out getting in each other’s way.  After a few minutes, often without even discussing it, we fall into line.  We figure out who does what and the job gets done efficiently.

I stretch.  He bends.  It works.

Why My Husband is Wonderful, Part 3

DH and I took a long road trip the other day.  Along the way, things got dull (as they usually do when you’re driving through a large land mass), and DH started doing one of my favorite things that nobody else does with me…

Oh for Pete’s sake, get your mind out of the gutter!  We played a word game.

Many of you may be familiar with the expressions “bros before hos” and “chicks before dicks.”  If you don’t live in a college town, allow me to enlighten you.  ”Chicks before dicks” is an expression often used by college-age women to signify that their female friends should come before their boyfriends; “bros before hos” is an analogous expression used by college-age men.  Our game was to come up with new wordings for this expression and try to get the other to guess what we were thinking of.

DH: OK, so what if you were a guy who couldn’t spend time with his girl because he was tending his prize-winning flowers?

Me: Rose before hos?

DH: Yes!

Me: What if you were a lady magician who couldn’t spend time with her man because she was practicing her act?

DH: Tricks before dicks!

I hate to brag, but I think I had the best one…

Me: What if you were a girl who just came back from a camping trip and couldn’t hang out with your guy…

DH: Oh no!  TICKS before dicks!!! Yuck!

I love my husband because even driving across the plains with him is fun and an opportunity to be cute.  :)

Well, This is Awkward…

The day after Mother’s Day is an odd time to explain why I’m not a mother, isn’t it?   But people have been asking and I suppose it’s about time I explained.

It was clear from relatively early in our marriage that biological kids weren’t a possibility.  Fine, I thought.  I was in grad school at the time and those of you who’ve done grad school know that while it’s possible to have a child in grad school, it may not be the greatest time to do so.  And to be brutally honest, at the time I was away from Christ and His Church and immersed in the Culture of Death, and I didn’t really care.

Fast forward a few years, and I returned to the Church (much to DH’s consternation).  The topic of adoption came up, and DH was definitely against it.  Essentially, he’s happy with our lives the way they are and doesn’t want them turned upside down by a baby.  (He’s got me there, folks; having a baby undoubtedly would turn things upside down.)  Badgering my husband into adoption isn’t what I’d call a good time, or even a good idea.  In fact, I’d call it a horrible idea.

A very nice person once said, “Well, maybe he’ll change his mind someday.”

Wayne Campbell once said, “It could happen… and monkeys might fly out of my butt.”

And that’s why I do my best to help other people adopt.  It’s never going to happen for me, but maybe I’ll help somebody else get a little blessing.

7 Quick Takes Friday – Deo Gratias

1.  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everybody who’s donated to Larisa so far!  She’s up $53 from when I posted the entry about her.  If we get her to the Moving Mountains page, she’ll be a lot more visible, and maybe somebody will take her home!  St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, pray for Larisa!

Just look at her!  So sweet!

2.  Also, special thanks to those of you who’ve been praying for Father B. I have no news on him other than he’s back home but not able to offer Mass yet.  Please pray that he continues to recover and can get back to work soon!

3.  In gardening news, something is eating my Swiss Chard.  Not sure what it is, but insecticidal soap isn’t working.  I used Bt as well, not sure about the results yet (it was just a few days ago).  I’ve never grown Swiss Chard before so I’m not completely sure what pests usually eat this stuff.  Suggestions?

4.  Speaking of gardening, one thing I am grateful for is that my lettuces are growing by leaps and bounds!  I had a picture ready to post and realized it was too old, but hopefully I’ll have the chance to take one later today.

5. I live in a college town and this is graduation weekend.  I’m not graduating (did that twice already, thanks) and I don’t know anybody who is, so you might think graduation doesn’t affect me.  You would be wrong.  In a college town, graduation weekend affects everybody!  Every graduate has at least a few visitors who come to town for the big day.  Multiply that by several thousand graduates and you have several thousand visitors.  The streets are choked with traffic and it’s impossible to get into a restaurant.  I’m actually glad I have to work and miss the chaos!

6. I have a work problem which I can’t discuss on the blog.  Suffice it to say that I have some discerning to do.  Please pray that I get the wisdom to know what’s God’s will and what’s my will in a cheap tux.

7. TGIF! Time for a song!  This week’s song is “Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darin.

For more Quick Takes, go here!

7 Quick Takes Friday – Firsts

1. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have our First Step.  DH said that while he doesn’t believe in the Bible, he could “find some things of value in it” such as this.  ”Oh, and the moral teaching’s good too.”   So, it’s a baby step, but I’ll take it!

2.  I’m a Guardian Angel!  I’m now Larisa’s Guardian Angel on Reece’s Rainbow.  Guardian Angels advocate for their child to find a forever family and fundraise for them.  Larisa only has $200 – folks, I know we can do better than that!  Let’s bring the total up!  I’d love to get her to $500 by next week.   The bigger the grant, the more likely she’ll get a home.  From Reece’s Rainbow: “She is very fond of studying English.  The girl is very creative, loves to do  different things with her own hands. She is very responsible, communicative, among children is very supportive  but  sometimes she is emotional.”  (Well, duh.  She’s 13 years old!  What teenage girl isn’t emotional?)

Just look at her!  So sweet!

3.  For those of you who saw my post about Beth from yesterday, we have good news!  Adeye posted on her blog this morning that Beth has a family!  Holy cow, that was fast!  God is good!

4. First harvest of 2012 – radishes!  Not the greatest quality since I took this with my phone, but you get the idea.  They were delicious too!  No, I’m not a member of the Blue Man Group – I was wearing slightly-too-large gardening gloves.  :)

5. Another gardening first, which I haven’t yet taken a picture of: first carrot seedlings!  We had a ton of rain last weekend and when it finally subsided, the little carrots finally came out to play.

6.  Did you know a performer in his/her first season at the circus is known as a First of May?  In Ye Olden Tymes,  circuses would leave their winter quarters on May 1, and there were always new hires who hadn’t been in the circus before.  (Where did I learn this? And why is it that I can remember this fact but not where I left my phone?  The world is a mysterious place.)

7. TGIF! Time for a song!  This Friday’s song is “The Saga Begins” by Weird Al.  May the Fourth be with you!  :)

For more Quick Takes, go here!

7 Quick Takes Friday – Just Another Day In Paradise

1.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for Father B.  He’s on the mend but not completely healed yet.  Any and all prayers for him are appreciated!

2. Speaking of prayer, I finally have the chance to reveal who prayed for me this Lent!  It was Laura at Watts Up in the Tundra?!? Thanks for your prayers, Laura!  They were a huge help to me.

3.  April and May are going to be the longest months ever.  As far as work is concerned, anyway.  The other day I was stuck at work with one pregnant lady and two guys whose wives are pregnant and guess what they talked about for the Entire. Freaking. Afternoon?  To top it all off, someone asked me when I was going to have a kid.  It was all I could do not to say “The next [expletive] that asks me when I’m having an [expletive] baby is getting pistol-whipped!”  Two more coworkers have babies due in May, and then maybe everybody will shut up about the baby stuff for awhile.  I think I can…

4.  I saw this in my backyard and I knew I had to post it.

A little nest, which two robins lovingly built and laid their eggs in, blown down by some strong winds.   I feel like this picture sums up my life… the nest is perfect but the eggs are broken.

5. I had hoped to finish The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur before Easter, but didn’t.  Hopefully I’ll get done with it soon and can post a review.  Elisabeth was very wise and very close to God, and reading her book feels like getting advice from a big sister.

6.  There are a lot of reasons why I love gardening, but one of the big ones is that it’s a lot easier to make dinner when you can just make a salad from stuff in your backyard.  Man, I can’t wait for my plants to get bigger.   

7.  We must have a song for Friday!  This Friday’s song is the theme song from Today’s Special.  Anybody else like that show when they were a kid?  Just me?  OK.

For more Quick Takes, go here!

First Steps

Often, when a person has a large goal in mind – losing 100 pounds, training for a marathon, finishing graduate school – it helps to break the goal down into smaller steps and celebrate the completion of each small step.  Failing to celebrate the steps in the journey can make the ultimate goal seem too far away and many people will get discouraged and give up.

I had a similar thought about DH’s conversion.  While I’ll keep the big picture (baptism at the Easter Vigil) in mind, it became clear that I needed to break the goal down into smaller pieces.  So I decided I’d start praying for him to take the first step.  And then, since I’m kind of neurotic, I started to worry: What is the first step?  Should I pray that he go to Mass with me at Christmas? Should I pray that he read one of my theology books?  Should I pray that he start reading Conversion Diary?

And then yesterday morning, it hit me.^*  DH’s first step would not be the same as my first step.  (I’m surprised the Holy Spirit didn’t add “duh” after that thought.)  There are as many reasons to convert as there are converts, and there are as many paths to conversion as there are converts.  I have no clue what DH’s first step might be, but I’ll know it when I see it.

And so, I pray for a first step.

^{*I was at work and having a somewhat hectic day, and there was this awesome insight from the Holy Spirit. God really does work in mysterious ways!}

7 Quick Takes Friday – Seeds, Scattered and Sown

1.  Can’t get away from the orphans!  No Greater Joy Mom  (Adeye) and her husband Anthony are trying to spring little Faith from the Pleven orphanage, one of the most disgusting, awful places on Earth.  Poor little Faith is 14 years old and weighs only 14 pounds… yes, 14 pounds due to severe malnutrition.   And yet, hearing Adeye talk about how she and Anthony are called to rescue this little one, how they already love her despite all her health problems and the multitude of challenges she’ll face… it fills my heart with joy.  If you have some extra cash, they’d definitely appreciate a donation.

2.  Some of the seeds I planted actually came up!  It’s an Easter miracle!  You guys have to understand, I’m a gardening newbie (this being my 2nd year of having a garden) and I totally suck at getting seeds to sprout.  Precious few of my carrots have sprouted.  The grass seed I put down only came up sporadically.  I gave up on my Swiss Chard seeds coming up and bought transplants from the nursery.  My lettuce and spinach didn’t come up  at all, but that’s probably because I used last year’s seeds.  Hopefully I’ll have better luck with the new seeds I ordered.

3.  The title of this post comes from a hymn.  You may think it’s one of my favorite hymns or that it has some special meaning for me.  In reality, I  think it’s kind of annoying; however, it ALWAYS gets stuck in my head when I’m planting seeds!

4. I suppose the title of this post could also be a metaphor for my life in a mixed marriage.  I’m always trying to plant seeds of faith in my husband.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love him as he is; I pray for his conversion because I think he’s missing out on something wonderful.  Let’s hope the seeds I plant in DH’s heart germinate better than the ones in my garden.

5.  When you live in the town where you went to college, occasionally you run into your old professors.  Sometimes that’s nice.  Sometimes you just hope and pray that they don’t recognize you.  Mercifully, the prof I had freshman year didn’t recognize me outside the grocery store yesterday (or if he did, he was too busy shouting into his cell phone to say so).   I thought he taught a pretty worthless subject and essentially told him so in class one day; luckily that was [cough] years ago so maybe he’s forgotten me.  Why did I tell him that, you ask?  Well, at the time my rationale was  that the guy was a blowhard and he had it coming.  Most people’s stories of dumb things they did in undergrad involve partying too hard; mine usually involve telling off the wrong person.

6.   Finally, here’s a question for anyone who wants to answer: is it OK to attend an ex-boyfriend’s wedding?  My college boyfriend invited me and DH to his wedding reception the other day.  He and his fiancé live about 1000 miles away; they are having a small ceremony where they live and later on, a party here in the college town. I haven’t yet given him an answer.  On the one hand, that was ancient history, I’m happily married now and I wish the two of them well. On the other hand, I’ve never met his fiancé and would hate to make her feel awkward.  Thoughts?

7. It’s Friday, so we need a song!  This Friday’s song is “Weapon of Choice” by Fatboy Slim.  I’ve always wanted to dance around a hotel lobby like Christopher Walken does in this video.

For more Quick Takes, go here!