Happy Birthday Bill!!

One half-century down! Congratulations, my dear husband!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
Just getting through January, here at Chez D. Does everyone always feel that way in January? Just getting through it. Our one big bright spot is MRD's 11th birthday, coming up at the end of the month.

~ 2 ~
This week I have been knocked out with the flu and slept for, like, three days now. I am so thankful that my wonderful BILL has taken over pretty much everything around here so that I can sleep! This flu (sinus infection? whatever!) has been weird because the first symptom was that I woke up on Monday with hugely puffy, swollen eyes, before I even felt sick. Never had that before!

~ 3 ~

Recently overheard at our house (about 9,746 times):

"MPD, time to put on your boots!" (or any other request or comment directed at our sassy little love bug)

"No, no. Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!"

This was very cute, like, the first 30 or 40 times he said it.

~ 4 ~
WWD is going winter camping this weekend with his Scout troop. Although there will be cabins, the boys have the option of digging snow caves to sleep in. Guess which one WWD's going to choose? Of course--snow cave. His mom just hopes that someone makes him wear a hat, because if it's up to him, as I hear daily..."Oh, mom, I don't need a coat/gloves/earband! It's no big deal!" Brrrr!

~ 5 ~
This was a great week to be sick with the flu. FREEZING here. And I didn't have to go outside at all for 3 whole days. Did I mention how much I love my husband?

~ 6 ~
Anyone else out there ever feel like they just can NOT go on another minute? You know...overwhelmed with life and want to run away? Me too. I'm just saying. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

~ 7 ~
And on a lighter note...
Have you seen this commercial with the Geico woodchucks?
We love it! We can't stop calling JPD and MPD our "woodchucks." It's just a little too close to home, for sure!

Happy January, everyone!!
And go see Jen for everyone else's great Quick Takes posts!

Attention Husbands! Now Read This!

Who hasn't wondered at St. Paul's words in Ephesians (5:22), "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."? I used to think "Really? Who, me? But he doesn't know my husband" (just kidding, Bill, I promise!)!
But seriously--I never could really 'get' that verse. I figured it was so First Century.

It wasn't until I understood the Catholic teaching on this chapter and verse (and it's critical to consider the whole chapter, of course) that I began to understand. And, like most of those seemingly mysogynistic Church teachings, it turns out to actually be good news for women! :)

I just read a great summary of this in Christopher West's book, "Good News about Sex & Marriage." In case you don't have a copy handy, I'll share...

"While we must admit that some men throughout history have pointed to this Scripture verse to justify their fallen desire to dominate women, St. Paul is in no way justifying such an attitude. He knows it to be a result of sin (see Gal 3:16), which is why in this passage he's actually restoring God's original plan before sin. He does so by pointing out what marriage was all about in the first place. It was meant to foreshadow the marriage of Christ and the Church. ...

"He starts by calling both husbands and wives to be subject to one another "out of reverence for Christ" (v.21)... In the analogy, the husband represents Christ, and the wife represents the Church. So, he says as the Church is subject to Christ, so should wives also be subject to their husbands (v.24)."

As in all Biblical interpretations, the crux of the understanding comes in the translation between languages. Here, consider submission:

"Sub" means "under, and "mission" means 'to be sent forth with the authority to perform a specific service.' Wives, then, are called to put themselves "under" the "mission" of their husbands.

"What's the mission of the husbands? "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her" (v.25). How did Christ love the Church? He died for her. Christ said he came "not to be served but to serve," and to lay down his life for his Bride (Mt. 20:28).

"What, then, does it mean for a wife to 'submit' to her husband? It means let your husband serve you. Put yourself under his mission to love you as Christ loved the church.".

I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling too oppressed by this kind of submission. It sounds pretty good to me!
(And Bill, would you please pick me up some Diet Coke on your way home?)

Pickin' Peas (Strawberries too!) and Trimmin' Trees

This afternoon our CSA farm hosted a pea pick, so the kids and I went out to pick (and eat!) bunches of sugar snap peas.  Yummy!  Today was gorgeous, as you can see, as was the valley farm field.  Everyone really got into the picking, and we also got to scavenge through the adjacent strawberry field to bring home bunches of end-of-season berries.

   

Meanwhile, back on the home front, Bill stayed home to give our trees a much-needed haircut.  The pile of pruned branches out front from his afternoon's work is taller than I am.  However, a wayward branch knocked him off the ladder at one point and he got  a concussion from his head hitting the ground--hard.  He and I made a quick trip to the E.R. this evening for a catscan, which thankfully showed that everything is okay.

While searching for the patron saint of head injuries (Blessed John Licci, 1400s), I came across this fun website that lists all the patron saints of absolutely anything you can imagine.