Happy Anniversary

Today marks eleven years that I have been married to my Prince Charming.

My Prince. The one I waited twenty three years for. (Yes, math geniuses. That makes me thirty four.)

My Prince. The one who answered every request I had made to God for him. (Although I should have been more specific with the singing request. Praying that he would love to sing and that he would want to sing specials in church does not guarantee ability.)

My Prince. The one who has stood by me when I was at my worst. The one who cared for me through three very hard pregnancies. The one who worked and cared for the house for three months (on three separate occasions) while I lost every meal I ate.

My Prince. The one who allows me to go shopping alone so I can think and budget.

My Prince. The one who leaves his shoes in the middle of the floor. (I am especially thankful at three in the morning.)

My Prince. The one who moved us six hours from family in order to get a job that would allow me to stay home.

My Prince. The one who walked out of my dreams and into my heart.

My Prince. The one I love and adore more today than when I married him.

My Prince. The best man I've ever known. The best combination of all the good men I've ever known.

I love you, Babe. Happy Anniversary.

The Good Wife

Things that happen are not in our control, but our attitude always is in our control.

Dad Clark went to live with the Lord this last Tuesday,  June 8th, at 5:20 in the morning.   Time since then has both dragged and stalled, if that makes any sense at all. 
It seems like yesterday, I was watching him talk to Momma.  He looked at her, and said, "It's been a good life, right Bridgie?" (See, Dad always called Mom "Bridgette", even though her real name was Dolores, because he said she was prettier than Bridgette Bordeaux, a pin-up girl of their generation).   Mom got all choked up and said, "Yup, it's been pretty good."  He says, "We haven't been too rich, but it was a good life."  She says, "It was a great life!"  I saw tears in his eyes.  This man who never even said "I love you."  This man who for all the time I have known him, has told me 4-5 times that he loved me... two of those were this last week or so.  This man who shocked his son into realizing how close to death he was by saying "I love you." 
He was an amazing man.  Watching my husband grieve for his dad has wrenched my heart in half.  Trying to be there if he needs me, but stay out of his way when he doesn't ... this has been my hardest challenge.  It has been hard to stay close without smothering him.  To give him his space while letting him know I was there if he needed.
Among all this happening, our dryer has also gone out.  It has been a good dryer, given to us 9 years ago for our wedding.  So, since we have no extra money for a dryer right now, and since we have other things that need the money we do have, I went out and invested $25 into a clothesline.  I just had to buy the eye screws and the rope and clothespins, since God made our trees close enough together that we can string lines between them.
And my attitude?  I think God has given me more grace over the last two weeks than I have had in all my life before.  My theme verse has to be either, "My grace is sufficient for thee" from I Corinthians 12, or "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him" from Psalm 37.  God has worked so much out, and I'm resting.  Not just about this, but about so much more.  It has been an amazing thing to watch God do the work while I am waiting. 
God has been good, life has been bittersweet, and the future is as promising as my attitude of the moment.  Praying, and waiting, and hoping and watching, and longing for what God has in store.  Ready to look at the future and see it now.

Send HIM a Valentine

I am jumping on board a Valentine challenge from a friend of mine, Deena Royalty, which she posted in her blog.

"This year I am deciding to post each Friday in February to let you all in on the happenings here on Haywood to hopefully inspire and challenge you use Valentine's this year as an excuse to celebrate ALL MONTH, smothering your spouse with affection and having a ton of fun yourself.

You up for it???  Good!

Ok here's my romantic plan. Now by romantic I mean, "Fun, cheap, and special to us." What's romantic to us is quite possibly hilarious to you and vice versa. Who cares! Just have fun!"


Funds are tighter than your momma's girdle, so I have to do things that will be inexpensive and fun all at once.  I'll be using mostly what I have here, with only very limited additions from outside.  We'll see how things add up in the end.

I'm going to follow her gameplan of following the little childhood rhyme: "I love you in big ways, I love you in small ways, I love you this minute, and I'll love you always."

For the "big ways"- Tomorrow.... Let's see, I can... something big...  I can make a card from my scrapbook stuff, make a picinic dinner for us to take to the beach, have my mom watch the boys for the evening, then pick up the boys and hang out with them for the evening.

For the "small ways"- I can get up and make him a good breakfast before he heads off to work, and hand it to him with a second hand-made card.  He really likes a ham egg and cheese biscuit (all home-made, of course).  I can make sure the boys and I look nice when he comes home from work and that we have a really nice evening planned for him.

For "this minute", I can make a third card, and ........ have songs about minutes and love lined up to play in the background and make a candle-lit dinner for us. 

For "always", I can.....  I don't know.  HELP!!!!  I'll keep thinking on this.  It will be good for me to do.