The highlight of my last few weeks was having a friend call on the phone for me and mistakingly ask for J. :) I have never been called my Mom's name, I don't think, and it was a treat for me. It made me giggle. This friend is older than my mom and she has a great love for her, so it was a nice little compliment (or at least that's how I liked to take it). It was JR, for those who know her (like Mom and Dad).
Gingerbread Houses
We had a really good time Saturday night making gingerbread houses. We used grahm crackers and cake icing, so it was way easy. The best part about it is that Miciah is old enough now to participate. Elijah got a plate of candy and that entertained him until he ate it all, and then he went and watched TV. We found out through that experience, though, that Elijah does NOT like Skittles. Who knew. Miciah, though, did a lot. I built the house and iced it and then she added all the stuff to it. It was fun! She's creative and had a lot of fun with it. On one of the houses we did (the mansion), she decorated the grounds and made a pond. She decided on how to make it (blue M&Ms, of course), and then added ducks all on her own (lemon heads). Even duck eggs! I was impressed. ... After we were done on Saturday night and we were cleaning up the candy, Miciah was quietly doing stuff that I wasn't paying attention to. I thought there was no more rome to put any more candy. But I was wrong. Miciah propped up some pretzels and made a nice licorice wood pile. It was cute. ... Good memories. We'll have to do it all again next year.
New Windows
Oh! There is some big news over here. No, not what any of you are thinking. We got new windows! We decided to replace all the windows in our house (on the main floor, not the basement) as well as the sliding glass door, cause all of them were in horrible repair. We did this 2 weeks ago and it's been wonderful ever since! Our house keeps heat! The wind doesn't blow through our house! Our bedroom isn't absolutely freezing! The sliding glass door actually opens! I can take a shower without shivering from the cold coming in from outside! We can sit on the couch without needing long johns on. It's wonderful and I wish we would have done it a year ago.
The purchase has required, however, that we make some smaller sacrifices in our budget. Which is just fine with us. The windows are so worth it. And it's amazing how easy it is to make sacrifices when you're in on it together. It isn't Rob sacrificing. It isn't Tamra sacrificing. It's us as a couple, as a family, sacrificing. And that doesn't actually feel like a sacrifice.
And we have figured out, at least for the last little while, how to have 3 kids and have a clean house. Amazing how it works, but it took both of us caring and doing something about it, and it's not so hard now (it might have also taken having a baby older than 3 months old). The dishes are done, the laundry isn't a huge pile in the basement. It just took both of us to be diligent about it. Before it was more like one of us cleaning and the other doing their own thing. Now it's both of us wanting to make it work. And amazing how that's easy whereas before it wasn't even possible for me to keep the house clean. Now I like being in my house. And that's a nice little change that's meant a lot.
The purchase has required, however, that we make some smaller sacrifices in our budget. Which is just fine with us. The windows are so worth it. And it's amazing how easy it is to make sacrifices when you're in on it together. It isn't Rob sacrificing. It isn't Tamra sacrificing. It's us as a couple, as a family, sacrificing. And that doesn't actually feel like a sacrifice.
And we have figured out, at least for the last little while, how to have 3 kids and have a clean house. Amazing how it works, but it took both of us caring and doing something about it, and it's not so hard now (it might have also taken having a baby older than 3 months old). The dishes are done, the laundry isn't a huge pile in the basement. It just took both of us to be diligent about it. Before it was more like one of us cleaning and the other doing their own thing. Now it's both of us wanting to make it work. And amazing how that's easy whereas before it wasn't even possible for me to keep the house clean. Now I like being in my house. And that's a nice little change that's meant a lot.
Marriage
All in all, life here is good. This week is our 6th anniversary. We're still grateful to be married to each other and we're still in love. We still like our kids and we still like the life we've built together and what our future looks like. And maybe I've said this earlier, but it's dawned on me recently that now I know why they say marriage is hard. It's not because it's hard to not be selfish, even though that's a large part of it. It's hard because it's the biggest committment we've ever made. We constantly have to re-committ ourselves to each other and to the life we have together. It IS work to be One, as we should be. It IS work to work well together. It is a huge committment to truly put the other person first, to care more about how our family comes out together than about my own personal wants. ... I have come to a good place, I think, where I'd rather sacrifice anything I have to make our family and our marriage work. If that's pride I need to sacrifice, so be it. If that's money, so be it. ... I realize why wise sages in my life have told me that they didn't know what love was when they were first married. Why they say it just gets deeper over time.
We're looking forward to the next stages in our life, where things get sweeter with time. If that's really what happens. :) I guess we'll find out!
We love you all. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom
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