January 1, 2013

Carl, I love you because you like my cooking.

You are always complimenting me on the way I cook. Even if you don't day anything you compliment me anyway by your empty plate and the seconds and thirds you have. You always appreciate when I make things from scratch. You also encourage the kids to thank me for fixing meals.

January 2, 2013

Carl, I love you because you let us take William and Nathan to see the Hobbit.

We made a deal with William and Nathan that if the boys finished the book before the movie came out this we would take them to go and see it. We did not want to go opening weekend so we were planning on waiting a week or two. It ended up being longer as we all came down with the flu. I had a lingering cough so I was reluctant to go out. Carl finally decided that New Year's Day was a good time to go. He took Nathan first. I was at home with the rest of the kids, when he was done, William and I went. It was an amazing movie but the best part was spending time one on one with William. Thank you for making the fulfillment of that promise a priority. The boys loved it.

December 31, 2012

Carl, I love you because you bought me my dream vacuum.

They say that women do not like vacuums and kitchen things and cleaning things for presents. I guess that makes me weird because I told you I wanted two things for Christmas, new glasses and a vacuum. Our vacuum broke a couple months ago and we have been making due with a small diet devil one I got on sale for $20. The carpets were looking horrible. You went out while you were off for New Years and bought me my dream vacuum, a dyson. Let me just say that it is an awesome vacuum. My carpets look great now. I actually enjoy vacuuming now and so do the kids. You like the 5 year warranty.

Kimberly, I love you because you take care of everyone else even when you aren't feeling well yourself. Get well sweetie.

December 30, 2012

Carl, I love you because you made Caleb special yesterday.

We always try to take a child with us whenever we go out. It just allows us time to make that child feel special. We normally take an older child. Yesterday though you took Caleb. I was still feeling the effects of the flu and you did not want to leave me with all the kids. His eyes were shining when he left with you. He was so excited. You all were gone for a long time but when you came back he was giddy with excitement. You made his day.

December 29, 2012

Carl, I love you because you out up with the way I give directions.

This is an inside joke going back to the very first time you came to my house. It was our very first date and we were going shooting. I know, sounds weird now. I wrote directions to my house in Edgewater, MD and you have been teasing me ever since. I know I could of said just go to the third light and turn left, but I did not. I wrote go through the first light and then go through the second light and so on. You in your engineering mind thought I could have made the direction much simpler. Last night I was telling you how to cook something and you started laughing at me. I was not being simple enough. I love you anyway, even though tease me about it still.

December 28, 2012

Feeling much better now.
Carl, I love you because you took care of the kids while I was sick.

Not much explanation needed.

December 25 - 27, 2012

SICK, SICK, SICK!!!!!!
Here are the pictures to prove our misery.

December 24, 2012

Carl, I love you because you helped me in the kitchen yesterday.

You laughed at this one. You had come home a little earlier than normal yesterday. I still was not feeling well so I was a little bit snippy with you. Well, a lot snippy. You ended up putting your foot down and helping me in the kitchen despite my grumblings. I wrote this as a way of confession and apologizing as I really did end up enjoying the time in the kitchen, eventually.

Kimberly, I love you because of all the hard work you have out in to make this Christmas season special.

My goal this year was to make the focus of Christmas to be on Christ and not the gifts. I did a lot of research and worked hard at having projects that accomplished this goal. This year was so much better despite the whole family being sick for the actual holiday.

December 23, 2012

Carl, I love you because you took care of the kids while I rested from being sick.

So began a two week ordeal with most of the family having the flu. My sister came down to visit and she warned us all that she was sick with the flu. We all decided to visit anyway and we all ended up getting sick. I am talking SICK. Fever, chills, body aches, cough and the whole things. Tirzah had the highest temperature with 104.9. I was so sick that night that I could not have taken her to ER anyway. It was not fun but you had it the least of anyone and I am thankful because you had to take care of the rest of us.

December 22, 2012

We are still alive!
Carl, I love you because you let me sleep in this morning.

Tirzah has been having such a hard time sleeping at night. She kept me up the night before. Normally if I am not up before the kids it is chaos. You allowed me the rare luxury of sleeping in. Thank you.

December 21, 2012

Carl, I love you because you took off early to help me yesterday.

I had so much work to do and I always get nervous when people come over the house. I think it is genetic, me and the cleaning of the house. I always feel like the guests are going to see every little stain on the carpet and crayon mark on the wall. In reality, they are probably thinking that their house looks worse. I have never asked any guest if they have noticed these things. We normally end up having such a good time talking anyway that I don't notice those things either. I get so nervous before anyone comes over and you know me so well. You surprised me yesterday by coming home early and walking in the kitchen and just asking me what I needed help with. Thank you so much. You have a way of calming me down in those situation. It also allowed me time to run to the store for some last minute things and the time to calm down and pray before our guest arrived. Thank you!

Kimberly, I love you because of all your prep and cooking for yesterday. The office enjoyed it and the evening was a blessing. I enjoyed our date night tonight.

December 20, 2012

Happy Anniversary!
I love you because of 15 years together.

What a way to celebrate. I spent the day making sauerbraten and german potato salad for your work Christmas party. It was hard work but I want to be a witness for the people at your work. You are one of the few employees who has a wife who is a stay at home mom. I want to be a good reflection of Christ to those who work with you.
I told you that I was not going to do all that work and not get to eat any myself. I made the same dinner for us when I fixed the food for your work. We invited a family over the house for dinner, the Irish's. We had a wonderful evening of fellowship and fun. We all watched a DVD I made to celebrate the day. I included pictures from our married life together. I had such a good time. I thought I was going to be upset by not going out to dinner by ourselves to celebrate but I just prayed that God would give me the right attitude and it ended up being the perfect way to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Do you remember the anniversary you had planned a whole big dinner at home by the fire? I came home from dropping the kids off at your mom's and was so upset. I had wanted to go out to eat and get out of the house. You just wanted to stay at home and celebrate since you are gone all day. What an evening that was with lots of tears on my part and some yelling on both our parts. Boy, we have grown so much in The Lord you and I. I thank God that you have been patient with me. I love you.

365 days of l love you

Okay, this thing has kind of blown up in my face and that is a good thing. I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago. I felt The Lord really leading me to do this for the new year. It was the simplest thing in the world to do and cost me about $10. It has been money well invested. I simply took two cheap frames from Walmart and cut scrapbook paper to fit them. I then put them up in our bedroom next to our bathroom. The point is to think of one reason a day why I love Carl. I then take a dry erase marker and write it in the frame every day. He does the same thing for me. I have committed to writing a reason every day for one year starting from our 15th anniversary on December 20. I have only missed 4 days so far and that was because I had the flu and so did the majority of the kids. I was barely able to get out of bed let alone write in the frame. I started taking pictures of the frames and posting them of Facebook. I really put it on there more for Carl to see at work. It has kind of exploded with so many people liking the posts and commenting. The plan was to make some sort of scrapbook for our anniversary next December. With so many people liking this idea and wanting to have some sort of way to keep a better record of the reasons I decided to start this blog. So here is my intent. I resolve to write here everyday the reason why I love my husband. Some days may be short and sweet and others may be longer as I write what is on my heart. I hope the people who read this blog are encouraged to do the same for their loved ones. I will include the sweet reasons of my husband when he writes them. He works so hard to allow me the awesome privilege to stay home and homeschool our kids. He does not have as much time at home as I do. He does write some days but some days he just does not get around to it. That is okay because I started the idea mainly for me to start recalling the reasons why I love him so much. So, I have a lot of catching up to do. I plan to start back from the start and work my way up to the present day. Hopefully I can catch up quick and then keep going.