Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there, especially my own-- Dad, I love you! And of course, to my own sweet Gabe-r, Daddy, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Meet Pepper...

We adopted a kitten. I don't know what we are thinking! It's a terrible way to start off a new pet relationship... wondering why you got the critter. But, really, do I need more to do? I am not the biggest pet person, honestly. I am sucker for helpless creatures, though. Darn that maternal instinct!

Enough of the doubt.. the kids love the little guy. They both are crazy about him, giggling and jockeying to play with him. They are gentle and kind to him, with supervision.

He's a sweet little fuzzball, very relaxed and affectionate. He loves to be held and is not afraid of the children.

Unfortunately, Liberty, our lab, eyes Pepper like a furry little snack strutting around the place. So,um, we need to work on that.

I find it hilarious that Adah and Pepper are amused by the same toys. They both get a tremendous kick out of a feather on a string, shiny little poof balls and anything that jingles or rattles :).


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In other news, I had a professional resume writer create a really great resume for me. The resume makes me look far more qualified than I feel, without being untrue or misleading. That's a good resume, right? Funny thing is...before I even had a chance to use it, I landed a job! More on that later...

*For those of you wondering, I have no intentions of abandoning my family. I will be telecommuting for the job and only after my day with the children is done.:)

Resume?

I have struggled for years to string my odd jobs and stumbled- upon skill sets into a cohesive one-page, sleek, organized format--i.e., the all important resume.

Tonight, I sit with cheerful and encouraging How to Write a Resume type books, fresh from the library, opened all around me. Computer screen open, mind open, ready to take this minor, little step into "official adulthood". Instead of getting started, however, here I am on Blessed Lessons, dodging the bullet for a few more minutes.

Why is this so hard for me? Anybody out there want to help me get this done? Who out there is a resume genius? I need you now.

Anniversary

Gabe and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary today, June 11th.

We stand today, thick in child-rearing and home-building. Not a man and a woman. A man, a woman, a boy and a girl. Four years and a family.
Our marriage is young, already we are strained. We come together in worship once a week.
We speak His name daily. But, we do not pray as we should, nor repent and ask for forgiveness as we should, from each other or from God. We do not seek God, rely upon and lean on Him the way we should. We each struggle, over-burdened, trying to shoulder our load alone, so as not to lay more upon the other. It is not easy and our marriage is young.

Sometimes, it feels as if our relationship is ruled by and exists solely for providing for and protecting the boy and the girl. Who are we apart from the little people who come between us and always before us? Who are we when we are not climbed upon, clamored over? When we do not have to beg the boy to let us speak, or pry the girl from my breast, when we are just Gabe and Liz.

(And obviously, we love the boy and the girl more than words can tell and do not for a minute wish that they would grow and leave us any faster than they already are. No, not for one minute. We savor them.)

But, I do look with wonder towards the days when Gabe and I will have the space and the freedom to explore again who we are, not as Mommy/Daddy, but as man and woman.

I love and am in-love with Gabe. He is my man, my good husband, father of my children, provider, protector, friend and lover. The desire of my heart is to always honor what we vowed to protect and preserve: our love, our unity. I want our marriage to last, to outlast. To outlast the sleeplessness nights, the years of building-- career, family, home. To outlast the doubts and the fears, the pettiness and pet peeves. If we promise to maintain for the sake of the children only...

What will be on the other side of child raising? When the young ones are grown and gone... will we have built a solid love, proven and tested, ready for anything? Or will we be left, two people, lonely, together for the sake of pretense, bitter and angry? What can we do now to promise that we will be solid, stronger, even more in love when it is just 'Gabe and Liz', a man and a woman, again?

I wonder these things as we celebrate what feels like the fastest, most meaningful and fulfilling and yes, challenging, 4 years of my life.

I end this rambler with the poem The Man Moves Earth by Cathy Song:

The man moves earth
to dispel grief.
He digs holes
the size of cars.
In proportion to what is taken
what is given multiplies—
rain-swollen ponds
and dirt mounds
rooted with flame-tipped flowers.
He carries trees like children
struggling to be set down.
Trees that have lived
out their lives,
he cuts and stacks
like loaves of bread
which he will feed the fire.
The green smoke sweetens
his house.

The woman sweeps air
to banish sadness.
She dusts floors,
polishes objects
made of clay and wood.
In proportion to what is taken
what is given multiplies—
the task of something
else to clean.
Gleaming appliances
beg to be smudged,
breathed upon by small children
and large animals
flicking out hope
as she whirls by,
flap of tongue,
scratch of paw,
sweetly reminding her.

The man moves earth,
the woman sweeps air.
Together they pull water
out of the other,
pull with the muscular
ache of the living,
hauling from the deep
well of the body
the rain-swollen,
the flame-tipped,
the milk-fed—
all that cycles
through lives moving,
lives sweeping, water
circulating between them
like breath,
drawn out of leaves by light.

Postcard: Day 6

Our last evening here, sunset in the west and moonrise in the east

Postcard: Day 5

more kite flying and the amusement park

Postcard: Day 4

the storm clears and a visit to the marina

Postcard: Day 3

Cheesy, kid-friendly tourist trap

Postcard: Day 2

Evening walk and kite flying

Postcard: Day 1