A Year Ago Today...

...I wouldn't have believed you if you told me that:

*the day would come when we'd put our baby down at 7:00 pm and she would sleep the night through until 7:00 in the morning.

*I would love nursing and hesitate to wean her for fear of heartbreak.

*we would be so charmed by her little waves "hello" and "good bye", and that even when those waves are directed at inanimate objects like the refrigerator, we would still swoon and consider our child a top of the line prodigy.

*my daughter would come to find the taste of dog food delicious and feel drawn to sampling food off the cafeteria floor in the nursing home, much to my shock and horror.

*my "momma's girl" would become primarily a "daddy's girl" and in his arms she would find her greatest source of comfort and joy; a fact worthy of rejoicing.

*my arms would get so tired holding her, but that I wouldn't mind.  For we had many more negative pregnancy tests than we desired before we conceived and we know that empty arms are often so much heavier than full arms.

*I would miss being pregnant.

*even in our struggle to conceive again, we would be overwhelmed by God's grace in the one.  One child.  So undeserved.  Such a blessing.  Grace upon grace has filled our happy home and given us oh so much to be thankful for.

Happy Birthday!!!

This little gal is turning 1 today!

Happy Birthday, Sage!  

We love you so very much.

Halloween, Take One

It's a humbling thing to take your one year old trick or treating.  Everyone knows you're just doing it so you can get candy for yourself.  

Yet, humble ourselves we did.  Here's our little bumblebee on her first Halloween!

Our friends made fun of me because I brought a back up bag in case the first one got too full of candy.  First time mom syndrome...

They are the best of buds!

Most people say Tidytot looks like Mr. T, and it's true.  Every once in a while I think I see a little of myself in her.  Take the picture below, for example. 

Happy Halloween, 2013!!!

When Harry Met Sally - Chapter 2

May 2010

Tiffany sent me a text.  

"Jeff Tidyman will be a church this morning.  You can meet him or you can run away.  Your choice."  

I quickly made the executive decision to cast aside whatever ratty thing I was planning to wear and, instead, donned a flattering, elegant, yet casual black maxi dress.  And, although I probably didn't have time (I'm perpetually late), I spent a few extra minutes on my hair and make up.  Just in case...

I at least wanted to meet this guy I'd heard so much about.

I remember standing at the bottom of the stairs in the children's wing at the church where I worked.  I was talking to a volunteer about something when I looked at the stairs and saw him coming down.  Before I even saw his face I knew it was him, just by seeing his shoes.  I don't really think that fact has any real significance; just a random thing I remember about the day.  We were introduced and struck up a little conversation.  

"What do you do?"

"I'm an Engineer."

"What do you do?"

"I work with the Children's and Mission's Teams here."

"That's a lot."

"Yes, it is."

Mr. T will deny this until he's blue in the face, but he was checking me out.  I could tell.  

I knew the black dress was the right choice.   

A couple weeks of emailing back and forth followed, then a phone call.

He was calling to invite me on a big time kayaking date.

As in, I'll drive over 6 hours to Kansas City and pick you up, then we'll drive all the way back to Nebraska, then go kayaking, then go to the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival (super fun event, by the way), then I'll take you home.

As in a Thursday night to Saturday night first date!  I must have been crazy!

So our first phone conversation was primarily about organizing the plans for our big kayaking weekend.  The only other things I remember were:

1)  I noticed that he took the time to explain in detail how he arrived at the conclusion that he was going to pick me up for our date, as opposed to flying me out to Nebraska, etc.  To this day his process of explaining things is unchanged.  If he is explaining his thought process behind something, it's near impossible for him to not explain it all the way through.  Even if I signal early on that I know how the ending will go; even if I assure him I've heard the story a few times before, I have learned to wait and listen again.  He has a linear mind that needs to explain things in order.  I like that about him.

2) He asked me what I was reading.  Unfortunately (for fear of being embarrassed) or fortunately (for hope of being charming) I was reading Mary Poppins at the time.  He laughed.  A true laugh, but one that I rarely hear now-a-days, for he has several types of laughs.  The "Mary Poppins laugh" as I now think of it, is usually heard when he's talking to new people or people he doesn't speak with often.  There are a handful of laughs that I hear more often.  And laugh he does, for I am quite funny.  I make him tell me so on a near daily basis.

With the date on the calendar, I was then faced with the challenge of what to wear.  Daniella, a gal from Germany, was living with us at the time.  She helped me pack my bags and, upon looking in my closet and seeing nothing frilly, would say things like, "You are sport woman."  She also helped me select a perfume by carefully sniffing them all, selecting one proudly and saying, "This!  This is romance!"

So with bags packed there was only one thing left to do - print out a list of conversation topics.  I found one that was about 8 pages long.  8 pages should get us through two days of first date conversation.

I was ready.

Date one.

Exactly one year later, we would be walking down the isle together as husband and wife.