Hallloooo Out There!

So....post Christmas Mom and I headed out and left the children with The Engineer. While out, I mentioned to her that Little Man wanted a hair cut like his daddy's and that I'd given my blessing, but not until after the holidays. Mom asked if I thought it would be cut when we got home. I told her "no." After all, we'd agreed, "after the holidays."

We got home and it was cut. Done. Gone.

I didn't cry like last time. He's absolutely adorable and no cut can mask that. I am thankful his hair grows so fast. And after all, it is just hair.

We spent some time at the Grand's house. Little Bit is sporting a cough and runny nose and fussed several days away. 

And this Beauty played and played and even invited me into her secret hideout where we played pet shops with Lulu, Trixie, and Lion, and she let me write her a note in her diary. 

You should also know that this little girl knows the first 75 of the First Catechism. Rock it, Sister! 

We had our annual gathering at Grandma and Grandpa's. 

I love this picture...just wish Grandma was in it. 

Speaking of Grandma, I am so proud of this lady. She has just had her knee replaced and I promise you, she looks ten years younger! She has excelled in all of her therapy and is, from what I understand, further along the road to recovery than is normal. Go Grandma, go!

And last, but certainly not least, on January 3, The Engineer and I celebrated our NINTH anniversary!!! Wooo hoooo! Can I just say it's been the best nine years of my life!?! I feel so unworthy to be married to such a fine man. God is so good. So gracious. His plans are so wonderful. I love this man with all my heart. 

I have loved him since I was in the ninth grade, though I didn't catch his eye until the summer before our junior year. I was brought up right. Girls don't call boys. (I just stalked him in the halls...) We went on several dates throughout the fall, but when I never phoned the handsome baseball player, he took that to mean I wasn't interested and quit calling. He couldn't have been more wrong. 

It wasn't until the night before our Senior year that he would ask me out again. As homecoming rolled around, I thought for sure he'd ask me, but I also resolved not to play games like I had in the past. Namely, because that past spring, rumor had it The Engineer was going to ask me to prom.  I avoided another guy I knew wanted to ask me, in order to give The Engineer the opportunity, only to receive the crushing blow that he'd asked a Senior. Oh the drama. 

Back to homecoming. A friend, DW, asked first. I had made up my mind not to wait around and have a repeat of Prom. We were friends. I told him yes. The Engineer was furious. My heart was crushed. I wept. 

The Engineer called that night. My Dad took the phone from me and spoke to him, "if you want to go to homecoming with my daughter then call DW and tell him."

And The Engineer did.

I didn't find out until the next afternoon when DW stormed across the gym with the most furious look on his face and said, "You could've told me YOU WERE DATING SOMEONE!!!" Stunned, I quickly replied, "What are you talking about? I'm not dating anyone." By the time I got the words out, he was twenty feet past me, leaving a trail of steam.

That Sunday afternoon The Engineer took me hiking. We reached a great lookout spot and sat down to open the Word. I don't recall the passage, just that it said something about eunuchs and the total awkwardness when I asked The Engineer, "what's a eunuch?" Oh. I wanted to die. But anyway, on the way home, as we were leaving the State Park, he asked me, "So, would you be interested in being more than simply platonic." Another word I didn't know and was not about to ask the meaning of. So I told him I'd think about it.

We went to homecoming...and here we are, nine years of marriage later. It hasn't all been a bed of roses, in fact, far from it... marriage is hard and it is good. God continues to sanctify us through one another. I would do it all again. In a heartbeat. He is the man I love. Forever.