Father's Day at HOME

We are planners. We are list people. In fact, I'd prefer lined paper to write my lists. And more importantly, I like to see my own handwriting on our lists. So imagine my bonkerness (it's totally a word) this morning when I was getting ready for church (7:48am) and was interrupted by my kids' aunt letting me know that they were at the Minneapolis airport about to board a flight for Chicago O'Hare. Ummm, what?

Let me preface this by telling you that my mom and I drove to Chicago yesterday (fully expecting to get my children), but turned around (after spending more than 6 hrs in Shaumburg, IL) because the kids' flight from MSP was canceled due to bad weather in Minnesota (the entire state of MN totally sucks, let's just call it what it is). After some back and forth with my ex's mom and sister, we made arrangements to meet Monday morning. So clearly, things changed between 11 o'clock last night and 7:48 this morning (hashtag Typical) and I was caught a lil' off guard this morning when I got the alert that my kids would be in Chicago at approximately 9:17am. 

My point in writing this post was to brag on my INSANELY patient husband who, without a second thought, said "welp, we better hit the road."  There were tears and air punches (solely on my behalf) when these abrupt changes happened, and through it all, my ridiculously understanding husband assured me that it was for the best. We would get the kids back sooner than we planned, and we could mosey on with life as normal. Yes. And so we went. Headed to Chicago for a second day in a row. Oy. 

Here's the thing...today is the first Father's Day that we have spent as a family. Last year, we were not yet married, and even though I knew this man would be an exceptional step-dad, I had no idea what was in store for my kids. I didn't yet know that he would be the man to teach my kids to ride bikes without training wheels. I didn't yet know that he would be the man to show my little boy how to skip rocks on a pond or bait a hook. I didn't know yet that my husband would be the man to tell my daughter to read Psalm 148 when she didn't know what else to read in her Bible...that if nothing else, it would tell her to praise God for all His creations and that THAT would be a good thing to fall asleep to at night. I didn't yet know that he would be my ROCK. That he would calm my soul when I felt like my mind would explode. I didn't yet know that he would be the man to introduce me to some of the greatest friends that I'd ever met. I didn't know that he would be the link to making me feel "secure" with our church family. I didn't know that he would be dad to two kids who just want to be home with him on this Father's Day. 

Tonight we sat down as a family of four to dinner. My kids finally made it home, with no help to a perfectly hand-written list on perfectly perforated piece of paper, and we were able to share our "highs and lows" (a nightly ritual) of our day. When both of my kids indicated that their high was being home with Charlie for Father's Day....I knew I had done something exactly right. My guts just burst with excitement at the thought of them feeling "home" with Charlie and feeling that they should be celebrating this day with him rather than anywhere else. I can't even put into words what that does to my heart.
Today I am just so thankful for my husband. I am thankful for the dad he has become and will continue to be. 

Playing Like We Live In The Wild

We've been in our new house for about a week now and I've been intending to write this post for a few days, but something always needed done to the house that I never took the time to write. I'm using one of my remaining 6 PTO days for the month today to stay home and paint the kids' bathroom, but I had to carve out a few minutes to sit here and truly soak in the perfection of this new home.

Before we moved out of my old house, I kept expecting to have this mental breakdown of sorts about leaving our first home. I wrote about the feeling I had thinking that no one liked it enough to buy it. Then when we got the offer, I was just so focused on getting into the new house that I never really stopped to think about leaving the old house. Then the days came where we packed up everything in the old house and I still never had one of those sobbing breakdown moments as I had come to expect. I'm a super dramatic and emotional person- I was hoping for that meltdown moment so I could look back and say "oh it was so hard to leave the house where I had so many firsts,"...I mean, how great would THAT post have been? LOL! Sadly, this is not that post! (Feel free to click out now. I will never know you left.) Haha!

In all seriousness, I think the move was just a  natural step in the right direction for our family. I just can't explain the feeling I have of being in this house, standing at the kitchen sink watching the kids run around the back yard, hearing their little belly laughs, watching Anderson drag a huge log from the woods clear across our yard, and hearing his sister say "we're playing like we live in the wild" while she hides in their (not-so) secret hideout under the deck. Oh my heart. And seeing my handsome husband work on projects here and there, getting "his" garage all put together how he wants it...it's what makes my soul feel good. As I sit here at the kitchen table (which we will use for awhile, as our dining room sits empty and echo-y), looking past the gorgeous yard out into the pond behind out house, snapping pictures of the fat squirrels that chase each other across our deck, I can't help but just thank God for these moments that allow us to make memories as a family. It's not about the walls of this house, it's not about the flooring or the paint colors, or the furniture or the huge windows of this house that I love...it's the people inside and the people with whom I get to spend the coming decades with that make me feel so complete and happy in this new house.