Praise God!!

we sold our house last night. woot woot!! 🙂

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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.

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MediaWeek Widget

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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.

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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.

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