I'm the lucky one

I had the ugly coughs this week.  I've had them all my life.  I remember coughing to the point of gagging in high school classes and stepping out to the hallway until I could get the menthol of the Halls to calm my throat.  Well, this week the the coughs were back and my best friends Delsym and NyQuil went to bed with me.  On Monday, Paul asked me to clear the bed of dirty tissues so he could have a space (gross, I know).  But today, as I emerge out of the other side of a bad fall cold, I can reflect on this week and know that I'm the lucky one.

You see, I left the bed Tuesday night to sit upright in our armchair to help with the postnasal drip.  I coughed all night long.  At 6:30 AM I heard my daughter go the bathroom and I snuck back into bed to hide from her questions. I quickly passed out, welcoming sleep after a vertical night of gagging.  But Paul woke up, got both kids ready, called into work to say he would be coming in late.  I woke up at noon and I never knew what happened.  He called to ask if I would be okay picking them up or if he should come home early.  For five days he dressed them and packed lunch and dealt with fights over too small socks and too thin coats and worked full time and played Go Fish and went to gymnastics and made me gourmet grilled cheese and simmered my favorite soup.  Through all of it, not one single time did he ever complain about having to do it all or whine about how all of the responsibility to provide and care for all of us was falling to him.

And the fact is, he never does.

He has my coffee ready every morning and makes the kids breakfast.  He gets up early to take our son running, even though it slows him down.  He goes to work every single day, never lamenting that he can't leisurely stroll through Target or spend mindless hours on the internet researching living room color schemes.  He comes home, greeted by the witching hour that I thought ended with infancy (I was SO wrong), eats with us, does the dishes, takes out the trash, helps put the kids to bed and then late, late in the evening he waits to see if I need to talk about anything before he retreats into his own relaxation.

He never asks why I need another pair of shoes or another pair of jeans.  He never questions my ridiculous grocery purchases reflecting whatever eating fad I'm on that week.  He never complains about a single thing I make for dinner.  It might sound like a fairytale, but last night he looked at me earnestly asking if he could take me shopping for a nice piece of jewelry because he wants to spoil me.

This is my life.  I can't even type because my cup overflows and my tears of gratitude are flowing freely.

Please don't misunderstand me.  We have our disagreements and we have had rocky patches.  I have been disappointed by countless birthdays and anniversaries that didn't meet my exceedingly high and unrealistic expectations.  As I put away the groceries my heart is grateful to have the coughs behind me, but I am so keenly aware of and grateful for the every day moments, for the sweet and tender care that my husband shows me, for the moments when I can let down my guard and be less than perfect, for the moments when I fail, for the moments when I don't deserve all that I am blessed with, for the moments when I actually appreciate the man that God has blessed me with.

I've always said he got the short end of the stick being married to me, because he is a much better husband that I am a wife.  I know I am the lucky one.

I know it's the month of November and the thankful statuses abound, but if you are one of the lucky ones, tell your partner.  Tell them over and over how grateful you are to be in a relationship of grace and struggle and joy and pain and to know that no matter what happens that you want to be there in the morning to rise together to greet a new day.

Parkour Take 2 111514

Our schedule worked best to have Noah do Parkour on Wednesday nights, however that class was for 9-13 year olds.  We asked if he could try it out even though he's only 8 and they gave him a shot.  He loved it!!!  The class is basic skills like jumping and climbing but the entire concept is controlled motion so that by accurate movements you can safely and effectively move quickly.  The concepts remind me a lot of karate.

Here are some pictures of the warehouse.  Noah is a little blurry because it's just on my cell phone!  There is a lot of repetition of skill sets and goals and most of all it's fun!!!

She's Back!!!!!

 After falling and breaking her arm this summer, Maeve kept saying she wasn't ready to go back to gymnastics.  She said she would do ballet instead or maybe just

Sunday Funday

We worshiped again yesterday at Union Church.  It was second Sunday which means that after the sermon there is time for conversation in small groups about the scripture and topic.  For this week the topic was sin and what happened in the garden.  It was a great discussion around a difficult topic.

We've been settling in there and are ready to call it home.  I'm even going to head on the women's day away next Saturday.

The kids love sitting up on the kid's bench!

After church this week there was a great Harvest gathering with soup and games for the kids.  We had a good time meeting some people and the kids played and painted.

On the way to the car we spied this in the goodwill store window.  Noah learned how to play chess at Scouts and this brand new Michael Graves set was $12.  We have been playing it nonstop!

And a poem on the bulletin I've been reflecting on...

Genesis 3:13-24


Denise Levertov
From "Evening Train"

Contraband

The tree of knowledge was the tree of reason.
That's why the taste of it
drove us from Eden. That fruit
was meant to be dried and milled to a fine powder
for use a pinch at a time, a condiment.
God had probably planned to tell us later
about this new pleasure.
We stuffed our mouths full of it,
gorged on but and if and how and again
but, knowing no better.
It's toxic in large quantities; fumes
swirled in our heads and around us
to form a dense cloud that hardened to steel,
a wall between us and God, Who was Paradise.
Not that God is unreasonable – but reason
in such excess was tyranny
and locked us into its own limits, a polished cell
reflecting our own faces. God lives
on the other side of that mirror,
but through the slit where the barrier doesn't
quite touch ground, manages still
to squeeze in – as filtered light,
splinters of fire, a strain of music heard
then lost, then heard again.

36th birthday weekend

Paul's office was being moved to a new building so he was off on Friday. We decided to go to see Gone Girl at the movies. It was a 1230 showing but we didn't realize the movie was almost three hours! We raced out of the theater to catch the bus and the bus was late. Finally when we were on our way we knew we would be late to pick up the kids. I texted my neighbor and another parent who both said they would watch the kids on the playground. I was so incredibly grateful in that moment to know a few people well enough to depend on them to help. When we finally got there a bunch of parents just stood around and talked well past dark while the kids played. 

For my actual birthday the weather was supposed to be gorgeous so I wated to be outside. We planned a hike nearby but on the way there Paul realized he was wearing flip flops. We turned around and went to a mall to buy boots.  We decided to change plans a little and do a shorter trail. 

We found the trailhead of Mount Si easily and started up. It was a pretty good incline but nothing like the last one! 

At the top we had an amazing view of the Issaquah valley. 

Saturday night our neighbor invited us over and he made homemade pizza which was amazing. 

Sunday we went to church at Union and stayed for a luncheon and met a bunch of people. 

To finish my birthday weekend we all went out to a seafood restaurant called Chinooks at Salmon Bay and I  enjoyed local crab cakes with an amazing view. (Maeve went as Elsa)

Thank you for all of your birthday love this weekend!

3 on 3

John Hay holds a 3 on 3 basketball tournament each year that anyone can sign up for. Noah was invited to join a team which I tought was awesome since he's new and has never played basketball!

I offered to tie dye shirts for them and they named themselves the tie dye tigers. 

I went to watch and it was so fun! The kids were pretty terrible at basketball but they were having a great time. For Noah's first game they ended up tied and then they did a shoot out. Noah won the shoutout with a great shot!

They lost their second game but won their third which gave them a third place finish in the third grade. 

The tournament was a fundraiser for the school. There are lots of fundraisers all the time because nearly all the specials and extra events are paid for by the pto.

At first I was bothered by that but when I think about it, the taxes are about half what we paid in PA and then we support our own children's education. However, there is a wide gap here in the Seattle public schools between schools with strong pto organizations and those with weaker ptos.  

In any case, it was a really fun time for Noah and I was so grateful that he was invited to be on a team!

Playground parkour

Noah loves American Ninja Warriors and we recently discovered parkour -- an activity where swinging on monkey bars and jumping on things is celebrated! So at the playground weave our own course and timed Noah and Paul raced through the obstacles. It was so fun to watch them! Of course Noah won but not by too much!

305 Blaine

While we were on the Disney Cruise a house came up for sale around the corner.  When returned our neighbor ran over to tell us that we should buy it.  Naturally we thought it would be out of our price range, however when I looked it up it wasn't so bad.  As it turns out it is a short sale and has been on and off the market for 5 years.  We took a look at it and it wasn't in bad shape.  Most of the houses in the neighborhood are over 1 million so this is a steal, even if it needs some work.  So, we put in an offer and it was accepted.  We went through inspection and we were surprised at how good things were... new roof and gutters, plumbing is copper, sewer lines are great, hardwood under the rugs and more.  It has knob and tube electric and needs a new front porch.

So, at this point the bank has to sign off on the loan for the seller to approve it all and that can take a long time. In the meantime we are gathering bids from contractors to paint the exterior, fix the porch, and put in a new kitchen and bathroom.

The house basically has no back yard and is about 20 steps up from the street with no garage and no off street parking, but it will allow us to stay in this neighborhood, allow the kids to stay with their new friends and in their new school.  In addition, the house will already have a ton of equity the moment the sale is final so even if we don't like it we will make money on resale.

We are excited to pretty much have a clean slate, though and we have lots of great ideas for this place!!!!!  Meeting with contractors and designers and architects has kept me busy!!!


Dining Room (with a free lazy boy! -- yuck)

Living Room

Master Bedroom with a gas fireplace and sky lights

The house is about 2100 sq. ft with a finished basement with a bedroom and bathroom in the basement.  When we are done it will be 4 beds and 4 baths which will be awesome and tons more space than we have now!!!!!

So, say a little prayer it all works out for us and that the bank approves the sale! 

Parkour

Here is where Noah will take Parkour.  Watch the video... it's so cool!!!

http://parkourvisions.org

Everybody loves mail

Seriously, who doesn't love a surprise box filled with goodies!!! These kiddos are so blessed. 

My favorite

I spied this in the hall at Noah's school. It's fun to see how the kids process their world. For the record we never watch Sponge Bob and we just saw an iMax about lemurs in Madagascar. 

Burke Gilman trail

Throughout the city is the Burke Gilman Trail. It goes from Ballard all the way to the East Side. Most of the trail is nice smooth paved road that is safe and easy to bike. Some portions go on roads but most of it doesn't.  I've been doing pieces of the trail to see the city and it is so beautiful and relaxing! 

This section was on the shilsole bay and there was a rainbow over the bay. 

Along this section I crossed an area where the water transitioned from fresh water to salt water. The natives inhabited this area for its great salmon fishing because salmon need both fresh and salt water to live. This great statue stands as a tribute to the natives who have fished in this area for centuries. 

The purple store

This is real!it is a store that only sells purple things! We were only driving by but Maeve and I are dying to go inside. 

Pumpkin Carving

Noah carved a pumpkin at Boy Scouts so Maeve and I carved at home. We made a cute little kitty!

Cozy

Halloween 103114

We had a nice Halloween here in Seattle. The day started out rainy but cleared up by the evening. We had a breakfast party in Maeve's classroom which was really nice. 

Later I went in to Noah's class party where kids dressed up, played lots of Halloween games and are some yummy snacks. It was awesome to see lots of creative home made costumes and a sweet homey party. 

After school we walked down to the Main Street in Queen Anne where all the businesses were handing out candy. It was really fun to see all the costumes in daylight. 

After that it was finally time to go trick or treating. Noah dressed up as a creeper from Minecraft and Maeve was Rainbow Dash from My little pony.

 The kids were gone for a long time and came home with tons and tons of candy. They were happy campers!!!