Romance: Learning to Pay Attention

Confession: I'm a bit of  hopeless romantic, and I grew up fostering a lot of notions and expectations of what married life would be like. Candlelight, daily sweeping off of the feet, ooo lala, etc. And you know what, my fairy tale has not been a disappointment, there's scads of romance there. It's just maybe disguised in a way I didn't really expect before when I spent all that time daydreaming. See, it feels like there are a lot of resources out right now that are supposed to help you figure out how to love your spouse well. These resources are great, and it's incredibly important to cultivate an attitude of loving your spouse well, but there is an element to properly loving and appreciating our husbands that I believe has been underrated. We {I} need to learn to see. Because I don't know about you, but sometimes while I'm over here waiting for sparks to fly the way I think they should, my Husband is pouring love on me, and it's going unnoticed. There's lots of time and places for all the "sweeping" and such {oh boy, are there times and places. Too much information?} but you know what's really sexy?

Working long and hard so that you and baby can stay home.

Going to Walmart to pick up Sunday lunch, and coming home with a brand new shower curtain liner because the one you have is all moldy and disgusts you to no end, and you may have mentioned it...once or twice.

Loading the dishwasher while you're putting the little squirt to bed.

Bringing home leftover Krispy Kremes from work. {I mean, hello?}

Repairing the toilet for the upteenth time so that it will flush properly.

When he says the supper you spent the whole evening preparing was good. And the times he eats it even when it's not really.

When you decide not to bring a change of clothes for the baby while you run Saturday errands, only the baby decides to pee all over everything and you have to go all the waaaaaay back home to get him redressed before going all the waaaay back out, and he {your husband} holds his tongue about your amazing stupidity.

Not that that last thing actually happened...

You see what I'm saying? I'm saying that it's totally important to learn how to love our husbands in a way they will understand, and for them to do the same for us, but in the meantime I want to pay attention to all the ways he's already loving me. God gave me this amazing man who really does love me, a lot, if I just appreciate his methods. I want to see.

 

That moment when...

You were going to write a post about something kind of funny that happened to you at the grocery store, and you were pretty certain it was going to be witty if not hilarious, but you were absolutely certain that it was going to be at someone else's expense, so as you're writing in your head God directly speaks to you and gently reminds you that that sort of post is not glorifying to Him, and you know He's right {obviously}...so you do the right thing and let the potentially funny post go, and it's kind of a bummer because most of the time doing the right thing is kind of a bummer...and then you reflect on the fact that GOD just spoke.to.you...and you decide that's pretty freakin' awesome.



Just us and Billie Holiday

 

I don't know about you, but I tend to have seasonal music modes. In the summer, I'm eversoslightly addicted to Country. I do the whole window down, driving thru back roads like I'm one of those music video cuties in checkered button-downs who always have that perfectly tousled hair. (Please tell me you know what I'm talking about?) Winter is primarily taken up by Christmas music, then I usually switch over to Classical when the Yuletide time has passed. Spring is a bit of a toss up, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Usually Acoustic Rock of sorts. Hootie and the Blowfish, Jim Croce, etc. But Autumn? Autumn is for Jazz and Swing. And for taking advantage of the first overcast day to get cozy, watch Sweet Boy check himself out in his mirror, heat up leftover coffee, fold laundry, and get you Billie Holiday on.

Time in a Bottle

From last Fall

Over on sweet Casey's Blog she talked recently of Fall. Of a little Fall craving to be exact. And it's odd, but I've been feeling the same way. When I was making my oatmeal this morning (I know what you're thinking "It's a million degrees outside, what is she doing making oatmeal?" But hey, my motto is "Buy what is cheap, use what you have" and oatmeal totally qualified this morning) I caught a sudden whiff of cinnamon and it was...magical. All the sudden I had this vision of our cozy house, plus Baby. It was just for a second, but it basically rocked.

Don't get me wrong, this summer has been pretty great so far. Baseball games with my guys, homemade barbecue, jean shorts and flip flops, yard sales, ice cold sweet tea, church picnics, the feeling you get when you walk in from the blaze and hit your first breeze of AC, and - despite the fact it's been mercilessly hot - very little complaining from me. Which is an accomplishment, people. Plus, that's not even counting the fun to come like Independence Day festivities and my birthday. So there's plenty to live for in the now.

But I just can't help it. Our lives have been turned upside down with the arrival of this little guy, and I can't help imagining all the great things to come. Really, just ordinary things that are there every year, but will be made so much sweeter by his presence. Cozy mornings, fragrant beverages, picking out gourds and pumpkins at the local farm stand, crisp walks, Halloween, Thanksgiving, lots of snuggling to "keep warm," and let us not ignore the behemoth - college football season. But it's like a treadmill. I can't think about all that without going further. His first Christmas, the lights - he will LOVE the lights, the music, the presents.......and then I stop.

Because this little guy is exploding before my eyes, getting bigger by the second, learning by the day, charming us all with his bashful flirting, and I cannot stand the thought of how quickly it's all happening. My little newborn is an infant, and that infant can already hold his head up and is so close to rolling over he can taste it. I think I'll take now, thanks :) 

Linking up with Casey Leigh today

Home

I have a confession to make. I love my house. It's nothing fancy or large, and lately it is most certainly not as clean as it could be. But it's mine. Ours. It has pink kitchen countertops, the carpet is hopelessly stained, and a lot of the furniture is past it's prime. But as I was sitting on the couch the other night, the first piece of furniture H and I purchased together, I looked into the candlelit dining area, complete with my new Ikea tablecloth (Yeah for Mother's Day!) and my heart was so full. I have spent the last three plus years alongside H lovingly crafting this place into somewhere we want to be. An expression of who we both are, seperately and together. A sanctuary. A home. It's been through some transitions and will go through many more - the least of which will be baby-proofing - and I'm still waiting for the day someone gives me a target shopping spree :) But for right now, it's exactly what it ought to be. It's ours.

Linking up with this lovely lady

Today I am thankful for...

Quiet morning cuddles, hot coffee, and five consecutive hours of sleep.