excuse me while i gush.

do you ever have a moment when you just want to shout something from the rooftops so that all the world could hear you?  you want to make sure that every single person and their mother hears what you have to say?  well, i am having one of those moments right now.  and while i would love for the whole world to know, i'm afraid of heights and my rooftop is pretty icy right now, so i will settle for my virtual rooftop right here.  (plus, people would probably think i was crazy if i was shouting things from my roof and yell inappropriate things back at me, better yet, in my neighborhood they would just turn off their hearing aids, and i would be yelling to deaf ears and just get really cold.)

so i shall take my place on my virtual rooftop here, coming out of my unintentional blogging hiatus, to tell you, rather shout to you,

"I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!"

people, i am so darn proud of this man!  today at church they had a surprise planned for him and for the last few days, it has been driving him crazy not knowing what was going on.  i also did not know, though probably for good reason because if i knew, he would inevitably find out.  we kind of have this thing, "if you don't want our spouse to know, don't tell us."  while secretly he was planning his acceptance speech for when they offered him full time employment in a huge celebration in front of the church, i suggested that perhaps he should not set his expectations too high, you know, just in case.  so we joked about all the things it could be, "here's a set of keys to your new children's ministry trailer..." (as we are a mobile church), "surprise, you're preaching today...", and from a dream he had about it "we have cooked up a feast for you to eat in front of the whole church, dig in...."  whatever it was they had planned, we were just excited to find out!  

then last night as i sat on the exam table at express care and heard, "contagious for the next 24 hours after beginning meds" i immediately sent a text to mike saying no church tomorrow with an obligatory super sad emoji face.  but we decided if i snuck in the back just for the presentation, i wouldn't be harming anyone.  no matter what it was, even if they just smacked him on the back and said, "good job", i was going to be there.  i may not always be the best wife in the whole world, but i do not miss an opportunity to gush over my husband.

and gush i did! as i stood in the back and they brought him to the stage, my heart swelled with pride.  that's my man, my baby's daddy! oh how i wanted to scream so loud so he could hear me, but the pain in my throat just wouldn't allow it.  i wanted him to know i was there, and i would always be his loudest, proudest and most adoring fan!  they honored him today with a certificate of ministry excellence and explained how proud they are to call him our church's children's ministry director, to express gratitude for the work he does each and every sunday to make our children's ministry a place they feel honored to send their children each week.  

as i stood there listening to the words spoken about my husband, i thought, you know, he truly is a great man.  i thought about a bumper sticker we saw yesterday that said, "my son is a fire rescue emt. he saves lives. what does your son do?"  mike's mom then asked him what her bumper sticker would say.  he said, "i write newspaper articles".  but i was thinking, no, your son saves too. (or at least plays a part because only Jesus saves)  before i could correct him, he realized the error in his statement and said he does in fact help save lives too. he is a children's ministry director.  his mom replied, "but that guy is an emt"  to which i responded, "there won't be fire rescue in hell."  now, i was kidding....mostly....i'm really not a fire and brimstone kind of girl.  but if we're talking eternity, i'd just love to know that the kids we work with each sunday will be dancing with Jesus someday, whenever that day comes, and to me, that's just way more important.  

but here's a man whose heart's desire right now is to be a full time children's ministry director.  if you are not familiar, people in ministry do not make a lot of money, nor are they compensated for the amount of time they pour into their job on a daily basis.  full time ministry is really full time.  it's messy and exhausting and just plain hard.  but it is also the most rewarding and encouraging gift one will ever know.  and my husband wants nothing more than to dive right in, and i love him for it.  

it's kind of a running joke around our church that whenever he talks in front of people, whether it be the congregation or just a small group of new people checking out the church, he cries when he explains his role at the church or talks about children's ministry.  it's his thing because he is so incredibly passionate about what he does.  i have never seen him more passionate about anything besides eli and i.  he loves Jesus and he loves kids and his passion is too instill a love for Jesus in those kids.  and when you see him with those kids, loving on them and interacting with them, you just know.  you just know that this is exactly what he was made to do.  

and on that day, when he gets "the call" the big one, you better believe there's gonna be a party up in here!  (he has mentioned running up and down the streets naked, screaming, but don't worry folks, i won't let him get too carried away.  probably wouldn't look too good for the cm director of a local church to be found naked on the streets!)  there will be lots of tears though. lots.  

so i'm thinking of creating a new bumper sticker.......

i'm kidding....mostly. no, totally kidding.  i'm not into bumper stickers.  and you're husband, if you have one, is probably super cool, and you should most definitely be proud of him.  you can have my spot on the roof if you'd like.  

if we were to send christmas cards....

my husband is not a card person.  he just doesn't see the point, and slowly his views on cards have been wearing off on me over the years.  a couple of years ago we decided to forego cards in order to save some money.  when it comes right down to it, i'd rather spend that money on a gift for someone rather than 100 cards that will get thrown in the trash.

and this year since i have this tiny little corner of the internet to hold our friends' and family's attention, i will share with you what would be in our christmas card, if we were to send one.

May the joy of Immanuel bless you this Christmas!

Hope has come!

prepping for christmas.

ahh, the most wonderful time of the year.  it's here, and i couldn't be more excited.  but the fight to remain "un-busy" (that could be a word, right?) seems so much harder around this time, you know?  it's like a rule or something.  from thanksgiving until the first week of january, you must be busy.

period. not up for discussion. 

we are fighting the good fight, though, and trying to make the most of this holiday season and treasure the spirit of what this season means.  so, like a lot of families, we tried to start doing an advent calendar and activities each day to prepare for christmas.  however, two days into it, we discovered that with our schedule, it just doesn't really work.  we have a window of time between 11:30 am until 1:30 pm that is "free", where for the most part, we are all together under the same roof, but it just feels like too much to try to schedule some type of activity in there.  i tried really hard to organize it, creating a calendar of full of family activities for everyday, and on that second day when i was sitting on the couch all by myself, i realized i was going to have to let go of my advent ideals and just have to accept that it might have to be more spontaneous this year.  so when the opportunity presents itself, we jump on it.  it's a lot less stressful and way more fun!  the other night was one of those times.  we grabbed dinner out and as we drove home in the snow, mike drove right past the driveway and headed over to a house that puts on a musical light display complete with their own radio frequency.  it was such a simple activity, but to us it was so special to have a night where we could choose to live in the freedom of a night without responsibilities.

my heart's desire for christmas in our home is to protect the spirit of christmas and create fond memories for our kids.  i want eli and any future children to look back and remember the fun we had during this time of year, as well as to learn from a young age why we celebrate christmas.  but i'm thinking, this is really hard with a 2 year old.  we tried reading through the "jesus storybook bible" and you would have thought we were reading from encyclopedia britannica.  he sat through maybe a paragraph and proceeded to climb off my lap and locate the nearest toy to escape.  so, either our child hates the bible or he's just not quite ready for that level of reading material.  so, then i found a children's book, a golden book no less, about the christmas story.  perfect. this will be perfect.....until we come across sentences like "The streets were full of cheerful, jostling kinsmen." really? jostling kinsmen?  so that book will go on the shelf until next year or 5 years from now.  i guess for now we will stick to talking about the nativity set and try to focus less on the wise men bringing Jesus presents and more on baby Jesus.

and of course, what's christmas without some crafting? this time of year always sparks my desire to make all the things.  and naturally i want to impart my love for arts and crafts onto my son.

here's a recent conversation between mike and i after an arts and crafts session:

me: "so i feel like eli isn't going to love crafts like i want him to."
mike: "what do you mean?"
me: "well, i try to do crafts with him, and he he's done after like 2 minutes. he just doesn't seem to love it."
mike: "well, he is 2."

yes, there is that.  me and my high expectations.  i will keep trying though, don't you worry!

on a completely unrelated note, can i tell you what i can't get enough of this christmas season? candles!  i love christmas scents. my hands down favorite christmas candle is one i found at kohl's years ago called "white christmas".  i stock up every year.  but then there are so many other yummy smells.  i seriously have to restrain myself from buying a candle every time i go to the store.   there's just something about cozying up the couch with a hot drink and candles burning when there's snow on the ground and a chill in the air.

now if only those little elves would be so nice as to come keep my house clean everyday in preparation for christmas.......

how do you prepare for christmas at your house?