This man.



Husband.

Hard worker.

Dedicated teacher.

Life changer.

Hope giver.

Encourager.

He directed two middle school musicals this past weekend.  This photo was taken between the two.


This is his 8th musical in the last 9 years (wisely, he took a season off the year Catherine joined our family).

It was a long season of seemingly endless and increasingly long rehearsals.  It was hard to get through it.  Hard for all of us.

When the finish line was in sight I asked him, "Could you at least take a day off work after this is all over?"  But do you know what my husband is doing with his "day off" this week?  And his "free" periods over many days.  And his before school time...

He's voluntarily going to all the music classes for all the 5th grades of all the elementary schools in town.  He's basically giving his best sales pitch on why middle school choir rocks in the hopes of recruiting for next year.

He's using his free time and vacation time to do more work.  Going above and beyond.  Reaching well past minimum requirements.  Giving extra effort and superior excellence.

My husband.

Sure, he drives me crazy.  Trust me, not every day is peachy.  Marriage is HARD.

But I snagged a good one.  And I'm not letting go.

Josh is on Spring Break.

We spent yesterday at his folks, today at my folks along with my brother and his family.  Catherine got to do an Easter egg hunt with her cousins at my parents' church.

 

 
Tomorrow is breakfast and Easter service at our church.  Josh will help make the breakfast with other men at the church.

After church we are hosting "Easter Breakfast" - for lunch.  I will throw together a fruit salad.  We'll have an egg casserole, and the traditional Slovenian dishes from my husband's side of the family:  a sweet bread called poteca:

Our first loaf of poteca, so long ago

And a platter with cold hard boiled eggs, ham, kielbasa and horseradish.  Unique, huh?  As far as I know it doesn't have a name, so we just call it "Easter breakfast."

My first introduction to his extended family was Easter up North six years ago I believe (I'm not too good with dates and numbers and particulars).  I was asked if I wanted horseradish on my serving of "Easter breakfast".  I said, "Sure" and there was an immediate uproar of joyous acceptance into the family.

Our first Easter together

There will be horseradish tomorrow.

Whoa, I did not think picking a preschool would be so hard!!!

I am freaking out about it.

Just some of the thoughts swirling through my head today as I whittled it down to six choices:

This will be Catherine's first formal education experience.  How will she do in a classroom?  Will she behave?  Will she be nice?  Will she make friends?  Will I make friends with other parents?

How does preschool drop off and pickup fit into my schedule?  What do I do while she's at preschool?  Why aren't there any Monday & Wednesday options?  How is a Tuesday & Thursday option going to affect my weekly moms group?

It's going to be so weird to go to Moms Group alone.

That wasn't part of the plan.

I wasn't supposed to have the freedom of two free hours every Tuesday morning to sit at a coffee house and write or do whatever I want.


I'm not ready to let go of her.

Not yet.

But I know she's ready.

I have to do it for her.

I'm putting her needs before mine.

Isn't that the definition of motherhood?


Would it be any easier to send her off if I had another at home?

I just don't know.

I just won't know.

I've wanted a piano for awhile.

And now it looks like it's gonna happen, as one is kind of almost being dropped in our laps.
(Wow, that sounds painful.)

However...

I tend to be a bit of a hoarder.

{blushing}

Especially when it comes to furniture.

So, I'm trying to figure out where said piano will actually be placed in our home.

At first I thought it could go on a blank wall in the guest room.
But it really doesn't make sense to have a piano in a bedroom.

There is no wall space available in either of our main living spaces - what I call the living room and the front room.  Josh and I were trying to figure it out tonight, and the comments went something like this:

"We could put it in the front room.  There's really just one option there.  The green wall.  But then where would that hutch go?  If it fits on the right, where would the smaller hutch go?  In the guest room?  But those blue chairs and round table can't stay there.  What if they went upstairs to the landing?  What do we do with the recliner?  Well, we were thinking of getting rid of the roll-top desk.  Could the twin blue chairs go in the living room?  And then the single blue chair upstairs?  And do we keep the grey couch in the front room?  What if we put the piano in the living room?...  I have to stop thinking about this; it's too stressful."

So, after much deliberation, we really got no where.

I'll post updates when they occur.

I stumbled across a post this evening written by a man who appears to have it out for the church.  So, it's going to be easy for him to find faults with Christians.

He shared his first-hand experience of how he witnessed the low-life down the street snow blow the sidewalk of the entire block.

He then shared how the man at the holy church next door has never gone an inch beyond their property line in their snow blowing efforts.

I know it can seem petty or insignificant, but Church, the world is watching.  Don't let them use you as their excuse.

So, I'm trying to write more this month.

I take part in this writing challenge for the month of February.



(So, I actually wrote this post two weeks ago.
And then I thought I needed to add a photo.
Which never happened.
And it sat and sat and sat.
The guilt increased.
The motivation decreased.
I thought it had to be perfect.

But I don't want the pressure of perfect.
I just want to write.
So now I'm sharing it so I can write more and share more.
Continue on.)

But sometimes I just have boring things to write about.

Heck, sometimes my day is just kinda slightly or majorly boring.

I don't always have a ton of interaction with anybody besides an adorable three year old.
Hubby is entering has now entered his busy season with extra long weekdays and Saturday commitments.
And in the snow and cold, honestly, some days I just can't bear the thought of leaving the house.

So hunker down for the next few weeks with me as I try to find the beauty in the boring.
The meaningful in the mundane.
And the holy in the humdrum of every day.

And I'm ok with the fact that some days may not be that interesting to my readers.  Some days I just write for me.  And you get to peek at those musings if you so choose.

But with a month full of writing to do, some days may need a little extra inspiration.

If you've got any writing prompts or suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment.

I am so grateful that Catherine has two sets of grandparents within the near vicinity!

A few days ago I made plans for Catherine to go to Josh's parents for a night so we could enjoy a nice evening alone.

We love going to restaurants, and it's a totally different experience to go out for dinner with a three year old vs. just the two of us!

Photo taken Dec. 2013, was this our last dressy date??

So, Saturday, we got to enjoy a fabulous dinner out, as well as wandering around Target for a bit.  I will point out the irony that 75% of the items in our cart were for Catherine.  That girl is just too easy to buy for!

Saturday night The Blizzard Linus hit.  Sidenote:  who knew they were now naming blizzards??

Church Sunday was canceled, and other than dropping off some Redbox rentals, we had no where to go.  So, Date Night extended into Date Day.  The snow kept coming Sunday, so it was a good thing I packed extra clothes for Catherine.

Today, I still didn't think it was safe to be out on the snow and ice covered roads, so our Date Weekend continued, as Josh had the day off work.

We've been able to FaceTime a few times with Catherine, so that keeps us from missing her too terribly.  And I think she'd be happy to spend countless days with Papa and Granice (that's Grandma Janice), watching Mickey and eating ice cream.

 I've enjoyed sleeping in, napping on the couch, watching non-cartoon dvd's, staying in PJ's, and soaking up a bit of quiet.  There have been a couple times I went back to default mode:  once I thought I heard her crying in bed, and at bedtime on the first night alone I locked the gate at the top of the stairs - something I do every night to help ensure her containment.

But, tomorrow Josh will head back to work.  I will dress and leave the house.  And Little Girl will return home.

Grateful for a nice little break.