yay for 2009! goodbye, 2008!
Snow.
Well, it has (as per usual), been a long time since my last update. And really, I am probably the only person who reads my own blog (and really, I only check it to get to the links to other blogs).
So here we are, all settled in our new home in Schaumburg. It’s a bit smaller than what we had before in terms of storage, so all of the stuff we had tucked away in the basement needs to find a home. I think once we get a light in the dining area and put away all of our stuff in the basement, it will feel more like home.
ok. I’m going to clean the basement.
updates
FK and I have been quite busy. We sold our house and closed on it on 10/24. We are closing on our new townhouse on 11/17. We are still working through the details of financing and have had a few curve balls thrown, but I think we will be ok.
I was just in Minnesota for 3 days and I am exhausted… I really don’t have much else to say!
Praise God!!
we sold our house last night. woot woot!! 🙂
happy anniversary
It’s hard to believe that 5 years have passed since we were married.
I remember not too long ago, friends of my parents would visit and say things like, “I can’t believe how old you are!” and “It seems like just yesterday!” I had no context for that kind of statement. It was just another thing that old people said as they pinched my cheeks and patted my head.
And yet, here I am with graying hair and 5 years of marital bliss under my belt.
Surely, it has not all been bliss. We realized (after we lived it) that the first year was the hardest in terms of adjusting to living together. Since that first year, we’ve had many trials and challenges. Most of what we’ve been through would have happened, regardless of whether or not we were married, but because of our relationship, we weathered those things much better than we would have as separate solo acts.
When we were first married, Frank would often talk about our marriage as being on a launching pad. We laid the foundation and we were in the process of stocking our little space shuttle. Around year 2, we launched. Unfortunately, we’ve recently found ourselves in an asteroid belt of sorts, trying to navigate in a place where the terrain is a bit dicey. Yes, I know, sort of a lame analogy, but it’s the best I can do right now.
Frank has been my best friend and the most loyal partner I could ever imagine. When he is gone, I long for him and when he is home, I love to snuggle next to him. Even when times are rough and nothing seems to be going as we would hope, I know we will get through it.
We spent Friday night in Chicago. We wandered up State Street (that great street!). We saw the Trump tower and various other land marks. We ate at a lovely Spanish restaurant called 1492. We walked back and took a picture with random people on a bridge in Chicago. No idea who these people are, but we will forever be in their digital roll of film. 🙂 Immortalized as “those tall people.” Does it get any better?
Our life is interesting. We love what we do and urge each other on. We are each other’s cheerleaders and biggest fans. At the end of our lives, I know we will smile and be glad for all of the adventures. In many ways, we have taken the road less traveled with our careers and extracurricular activities.
I thank God for this wonderful marriage and adventure. I think I can safely say that it has never been boring.
I love you, FK. TM, A.
MediaWeek Widget
plastic jesus
I remember when they put the plastic Jesus in the church down the street from our house. They had to open the roof of the sanctuary in order to get Him in and for years after, you could see the lighter cedar shingles contrasting against the dark gray cedar shingles, indicating where the surgery had been done.
I remember thinking, “A plastic Jesus?” For me, at that time, Jesus was marble. The blue veins of the stone coursed through his pale, white, immovable body. He was mounted on the wall over the alter, much the same as I would later see deer mounted in homes in Wisconsin. A prize. (And I would say that Wisconsiners would likely view their deer with the same amount of reverence – which party is wrong depends on whether or not you are from Wisconsin.) The Jesus I knew was frozen in a horrific pose, stretched out on a cross, perpetually dying.
Plastic bounces. It falls on ceramic tile floors and then it bounces. And it’s not really plastic in the sense of a coke bottle plastic. It’s Acrylic. But even so, the idea of a plastic Jesus seems to lack the humanity of a marble Jesus. When I finally saw the famed Plastic Jesus, He reached down to me from the ceiling in the center of the sanctuary where He was suspended, blessing me or clasping me, and looking through me with His plastic eyes.
I remember thinking that it was about the plastic Jesus versus the marble Jesus back then. And now, I believe, it’s not about plastic versus marble at all. Because Jesus was flesh and He was hope and He was real. He was not carved out of the vision of man, but out of God’s light and word. And since the time when Jesus walked this earth in flesh, I spent my time recreating Him out of natural and synthetic materials. I left him on the cross, continually crucified and hung him over my head, always reaching, but never touching.
And sometimes still, He is on that cross or suspended by invisible rope from a cathedral ceiling. Sometimes He is in a church down the street and not where I am. But He is not a trophy for this world to be stuffed and mounted on a wall. He didn’t leave his body behind because I was not meant to worship a corpse, I was meant to worship a real, living, eternal God. Even when I pretend that He is elsewhere, He is still here.
lovely
It is 8 pm on Monday night. I stepped in doggy doodoo tonight. Barefoot. Grossest thing ever.
Tonight, aside from doggy doodoo, is lovely. Even with all of the stress and uncertainty, I am certain that God loves us. I am going to go for a walk and enjoy a lovely night. God is so gracious and kind.
Thank you, God, for loveliness.
quick step
For all the things in my life that I am slow at – getting out of the car, for one – there are many other ways in which I devour life.
I eat quickly. I drink and taste, but I do not savor. I would be a terrible chef or sommelier. I must confess that I am a scanner – I read books quickly because I am looking only for the important information. I love to check things off, move on to the next thing, check check check check CHECK. What is the heck is that?? Why am I like that?
This thought occurred to me several times tonight in a short period of time. And I think that God gave me Frank as a husband because he is so good at just enjoying where he is. He is a savorer. And that is a blessing.
what bothers me…
about atheists (or nontheists as they are now seeming to want to be called) is that they are so smug. But at the end of the day, they cannot disprove the existence of God. And at the same time, that smugness is what bothers me about some Christians, too. And maybe it’s not smugness, but self-righteousness. Or something.
Maybe it’s because I’m in such a place in my life that is so not “i have everything figured out” and is more “holy crap, how am I going to make it through the week??” And God is so kind and so gracious because here I am on a Friday night (well, early Saturday morning) and I have survived to blog another day.
I was thinking today that nowhere in the Bible does God promise that today will be easy. He says not to worry about tomorrow because what does that do? I cannot add another hour to my life by worrying. Which really blows my whole life insurance plan out of the water. But not worrying does not mean not planning. The Bible does say to count the costs before going into battle. So it’s a fine balance of planning, being smart and strategic – vs. worrying myself into a mess.
Anyway, right now our life is far from perfect. It is actually quite stressful. Why does God put us here? What does He hope we learn? What is the plan for this?
I don’t really know. But that’s ok. I have peace about it. Not smugness, but definitely peace. Even if I am having a holy crap day, it’s going to be ok. And I am glad that God is bigger than me and my plans. How will this turn out? No clue. My life is not neat and tidy.
emmy kay and co. 