Crafty Part 2

I am finally getting around to posting another of my recent attempts at craftiness…I’ve been wanting to “update” my house for so long, and since I don’t have a big decorating fund at my disposal, I’ve been trying to find some things I can do for cheap.

These signs were a perfect solution! All I did was buy some $2 canvases from the Dollar store, homemade modge podge (found the recipe on Pinterest), found a font I liked and printed the words on cardstock, carefully cut them out and then modge-podged them onto the canvases…New wall art for cheap! And I love seeing these visual reminders of my chosen life in my bedroom every day. The saying “I will forever love my choice…you” is especially meaningful to Jeff and I. It speaks to commitment and choice and effort, and the decision that we made to join our lives together over 12 years ago. We never want to forget that we choose each other for life.

Also, Those lamps were $10 thrift store finds. I spray-painted the nasty looking brass/metal angels and base to update the look…Now if I can only find some better lampshades! My plan had been to figure out a way to refresh the ones that came on the thrift store lamps, but, alas, the material was so old that they literally ripped apart. I still have the frames, so perhaps I will think of something to salvage them with. For now, the ones that are on the lamps are ones I already had and although they definitely leave much to be desired, they are at least functional (and paid for!).

What about you…any projects on the go?

I have a fan

Jeff plays hockey in a summer league. It’s just one night a week, Thursdays in fact, and I don’t begrudge him the joy that it brings him. He played Junior hockey when he was younger and injury-free, and I know that there will always be a part of him that wonders how far he could’ve gone if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Joining first the winter league and now the summer league has brought back some hockey joy to his life. I wish I could explain the look of anticipation he wears as he prepares for his games. His enormous hockey bag sits proudly in our hallway, packed with his gear. His stick is weekly made ready with new black tape. His determination is set. He will give his all on the ice, there will be no questioning that. He goes alone and returns with stories to tell. I can usually tell whether his team won or lost based solely on his demeanor when he returns. If he is near giddy, I can guarantee that his team not only won, but that he scored at least one nice goal as well.

This past Thursday, July 2, just so happened to be our 10 year wedding anniversary.  I booked a hotel room in Toronto for the occasion, but I made the reservations for the day after our anniversary. I know how much these games mean to him, and he could still make his game that way. Let’s call that my gift to him, shall we?

When Thursday, our anniversary, came, so did my parents and my sister and my niece. They drove up from Illinois to spend some time with us and also to watch our kids so we could get away just the two of us. Sort of as an afterthought, Jeff and I realized I could also go to the game with him that night since my family would be at the house. This is something I have not been able to do yet, as I am pretty sure leaving my children home alone, sleeping or otherwise, is illegal or at least highly frowned upon.

The excitement in the car was evident as we drove to the arena. Jeff was all but bouncing in his seat. I’ve been married to this man for 10 years and I like to think I know him quite well. Hockey was on his mind and so we talked hockey the whole way there.  As we walked into the arena and found out which rink he would be playing on, he turned back one last time before making his way to the dressing room.

“I have a fan!”, he said with school-boy excitement.

I smiled and assured him I was so glad to be there to see him play.

It wasn’t until I sat shivering and smiling down on him in my seat above the ice that I thought about the significance of what he had just communicated. “I have a fan”…Because I think that’s what marriage is all about…knowing, no matter what, that someone is in the stands cheering for you. Knowing that win or lose, you win with Someone. Knowing that you have a fan, a fan for life. We’ve been through a lot in the past ten years. I wouldn’t lie and pretend it’s all been easy, but knowing that Jeff’s been by my side, has made a huge difference. The world will never know whether Jeff could have made it all the way to the NHL, but that’s ok. He’s a superstar in my eyes, and he always will be. I may not always get to sit in the hockey rink, but I am always his biggest fan.

Expectation

Friday has become the new Saturday around the Johnston household. Jeff recently changed his day off from Monday to Friday, and with men’s meetings at the church every Saturday morning, Fridays are now our day of the week to completely laze around and stay in our jammies for as long as we want. Even Katie, who lives with us, is off on Fridays.I don’t know what we will do next fall when Carter starts going to school every day, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose.

So before bed last night Jeff and I decided that in the morning we would do up a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs. (And coffee, but that’s a given). Mykah woke me up at 6:40 and Carter followed at 7:18, so rather than waking Jeff up we set to work making banana bread. The kids really love to help with this, and by 8:00 we had 2 loaves baking in the oven. I even added wheat bran and flax seed this time to make them healthier (I blame Katie’s influence for this, as I don’t recall ever reading labels before she moved in with us!).  Jeff came downstairs a few minutes later and set to work making the bacon and eggs. I love when he makes the bacon because I almost always burn it! So we had a lovely breakfast and then a leisurely morning of Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii for the boys and painting Mykah’s toenails for the girls.

Carter then went to sit down at the table and climbed up on his chair in a strange way that resulted in a huge thud of his head against the table. I braced myself for the tears that were sure to follow. Instead, all he said was, “Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.”

It immediately made me think about life, and all the people I know that are really being wrung through the ringer right now. In one way or another, so many people that I care about, could be saying the exact same thing…”wow, I wasn’t expecting that.”

It’s always the unexpected things that take us by surprise. We, especially we Christians, walk around expecting “the blessing of the Lord”, and are always hit so hard when we get “something else”.

Now, don’t go getting all worked up on me, I assure you that I believe in God’s blessings and I experience them daily in my own life. It’s just that when I think about my neighbors who are facing major surgery this week on their nine year old daughter, or the amazing men and women in our church that are out of work right now, or my friend who just miscarried, or my mom who went through cancer last year, I just can’t help but think that it’s those things that come at us unexpectedly that throw us for the worst kind of ride.

I am not proposing that we live with a pessimistic attitude that expects the worst, but I am wondering why we think life here on earth should always go exactly as we plan and script it out.  Fortunately for us, the Bible promises that one day we will have our perfect paradise. Heaven is our true home…no more tears, no more sickness, no more feeling like God is sometimes a million miles away. I long for that, but until I get there, I want to keep embracing each day as a gift, no matter what it holds. I am so thankful that Romans 8:38-39 says that NOTHING shall be able to separate us from the love of God. It even specifically says “neither the present nor the future”, not what I am going through right this minute or anything that is to come…I am covered by the love of God.

And perhaps the next time I am in the middle of my perfectly lovely “Friday-morning” life and then get an unexpected thud to my head or my heart, I will remember that, God is faithful, no matter what. That’s one expectation I can be sure of.