the guy

We live with a mythical figure in our lives. He's kinda like Santa Clause combined with the Good Samaritan combined with SuperMan...

Jasper talks about him by day and dreams about him by night.

He is... "the guy".

At first, it started out as "a guy". Just a very generic, kinda general "mom answer" that I would sometimes give Jasper.

For example, a few months back, a garbage can fell over by the side of the street and jasper was worried about it. I told him not to worry, that probably a guy would come and pick it up. Generic.

Then the very next day, our lawn bags, heavy with yard waste, ripped as they were sitting by the curb and, once again, Jasper was concerned about it. I told him not to worry, that probably a guy would come and get it and pick it all up.

Well, Jasper quickly caught on to this and "the guy" was born.

He loves this "guy" and talks about him, dreams about him, credits him with all kinds of good deeds, makes him super duper powerful, super benevolent, and is Jasper's best friend ever.

The guy.

For example, we hear sirens on the street. Jasper's response?
"Itsa ok momma. Da guy will come and help da people."

Jasper wants a toy from Target and I tell him no, that it costs too much money. Jasper's response?
"Dats ok momma. Da guy will buy it for Baber."

I mention out loud that we need gas in the car. J's response?
"Baber will tell da guy to buy baber some gas."

It's raining outside...
"Da guy won't get wet. Da guy will stay nice and dry."

I mention under my breath that the bottom piece on the fridge is broken...
"Dats ok momma. Maybe da guy will come an' fix it."

Jasper wakes up in the morning and the first thing out of his mouth?
"Maybe da guy will buy baber a hoooooge airpwane today!!"

One of Jasper's toys runs out of batteries...
"Da guy will bring us some new batterwies."

Riding along in the car and I hear from the backseat...
"Maybe when baber is a beeeg boy, baber can wide in da bulldoza wid da guy."

At lunch one day...
"maybe da guy is eating ah cutie for wunch today, momma!"

Randomly one morning...
"da guy needs to wead his berses, too." (read his Bible verses, too.)

I'm looking out a window and mention that the gate needs to be closed...
"Da guy will come and cwose da gate."

This guy is our closest friend, our most frequent topic of conversation, and our hero. (aka, it's Andrew in a nutshell.)

So.. never fear.
If you find yourself in a pickle, da guy is always near. :o)

a random article on romance that I fell in love with.

The Real Truth about ‘Boring’ Men - and the Women who Live with Them: Redefining Boring

So not every guy proposes with lip syncing, rolling cameras, and a choreographed entourage.

Yeah —  so what if  your Dad didn’t?

He just pulled that beat-up Volkswagon Rabbit of his over in front of Murray Reesor’s hundred acre farm right there where Grey Township meets Elma Township, pulled out a little red velvet box, and whispered it in the snowy dark: “Marry me?”

“He didn’t even get down on one knee or anything?”

You boys ask it incredulous, like there’s some kind of manual for this kind of holy.

And I’ve got no qualms in telling you no. No, he didn’t even get down on one knee – it was just a box, a glint of gold in the dark, two hallowed words and a question mark.

“Boring.”

I know. When you’ve watched a few dozen mastermind proposals on youtube, shared them with their rolling credits on Facebook, marvelling at how real romance has an imagination like that.

Can I tell you something, sons?

Romance isn’t measured by how viral your proposal goes. The internet age may try to sell you something different, but don’t ever forget that viral is closely associated with sickness – so don’t ever make being viral your goal.

Your goal is always to make your Christ-focus contagious – to just one person.

It’s more than just imagining some romantic proposal.

It’s a man who imagines washing puked-on sheets at 2:30 am, plunging out a full and plugged toilet for the third time this week, and then scraping out the crud in the bottom screen of the dishwasher — every single night for the next 37 years without any cameras rolling or soundtrack playing — that’s imagining true romance.

The man who imagines slipping his arm around his wife’s soft, thickening middle age waistline and whispering that he couldn’t love her more…. who imagines the manliness of standing bold and unashamed in the express checkout line with only maxi pads and tampons because someone he loves is having an unexpected Saturday morning emergency.

The man who imagines the coming decades of a fluid life – her leaking milky circles through a dress at Aunt Ruth’s birthday party, her wearing thick diaper-like Depends for soggy weeks after pushing a whole human being out through her inch-wide cervix, her bleeding through sheets and gushing amniotic oceans across the bathroom floor and the unexpected beauty of her crossing her legs everytime she jumps on the trampoline with the kids.

The real romantics imagine greying and sagging and wrinkling as the deepening of something sacred.

Because get this, kids — How a man proposes isn’t what makes him romantic. It’s how a man purposes to lay down his life that makes him romantic.

And a man begins being romantic years before any ring – romance begins with only having eyes for one woman now – so you don’t go giving your eyes away to cheap porn. Your dad will say it sometimes to me, a leaning over – “I am glad that there’s always only been you.” Not some bare, plastic-surgeon-scalpel-enhanced pixels ballooning on a screen, not some tempting flesh clicked on in the dark, not some photo-shopped figment of cultural beauty that’s basically a lie.

The real romantics know that stretchmarks are beauty marks and that different shaped women fit into the different shapes of men souls and that real romance is really sacrifice.

I know – you’re thinking, “Boring.”

Can you see it again – how your grandfather stood over your grandmother’s grave and brushed away his heart leaking without a sound down his cheeks?

50 boring years. 50 unfilmed years of milking 70 cows, raising 6 boys and 3 girls, getting ready for sermon every Sunday morning, him helping her with her zipper. 50 boring years of arguing in Dutch and making up in touching in the dark, 50 boring years of planting potatoes and weeding rows on humid July afternoons, 50 boring years of washing the white Corel dishes and turning out the light on the mess – till he finally carried her in and out of the tub and helped her pull up her Depends.

Don’t ever forget it:

The real romantics are the boring ones — they let another heart bore a hole deep into theirs.

Be one of the boring ones. Pray to be one who get 50 boring years of marriage – 50 years to let her heart bore a hole deep into yours.

Let everyone do their talking about 50 shades of grey, but don’t let anyone talk you out of it: committment is pretty much black and white. Because the truth is, real love will always make you suffer. Simply commit:Who am I willing to suffer for?

Who am I willing to take the reeking garbage out for and clean out the gross muck ponding at the bottom of the fridge? Who am I willing to listen to instead of talk at? Who am I willing to hold as they grow older and realer? Who am I willing to die a bit more for every day? Who am I willing to make heart-boring years with? Who am I willing to let bore a hole into my heart?

Get it: Life – and marriage proposals — isn’t not about one up-manship — it’s about one down-manship.It’s about the heart-boring years of sacrifice and going lower and serving. It’s not about how well you perform your proposal. It’s about how well you let Christ perform your life.

Sure, go ahead, have fun, make a ridiculously good memory and we’ll cheer loud: propose creatively — but never forget that what wows a woman and woos her is you how you purpose to live your life.

I’m praying, boys — be Men. Be one of the ‘boring” men – and let your heart be bore into. And know there are women who love that kind of man.

The kind of man whose romance isn’t flashy – because love is gritty.
The kind of man whose romance isn’t about cameras — because it’s about Christ.
The kind of man whose romance doesn’t have to go viral — because it’s going eternal.

No, your dad did not get down on one knee when he proposed – because the romantic men know it’s about living your whole life on your knees.

There are Fridays. And the quiet romantics who will take out the garbage without fanfare. There will be the unimaginative calendar by the fridge, with all it’s scribbled squares of two lives being made one. The toilet seat will be left predictably up. The sink will be resigned to its load of last night’s dishes.

And there is now and the beautiful boring, the way two lives touch and go deeper into time with each other.

The clock ticking passionately into decades.

Merry Christmas!

We are in the Christmas mood.

Like, big time.

We've been talking about Christmas. We've been dreaming about Christmas. We've been planning for Christmas. And today, I couldn't take it any longer.

I waited as long as possible and couldn't wait another second.

Today, we (finally) put our tree up!! :o) I was SO excited!!!

It was such a sweet day. Jasper and I spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree, spent the afternoon helping our sweet neighbor Sandra with a yard project, and spend the evening baking Christmas cookies, all the while with Christmas music blasting away in the background!

I never knew life could be this fun!!! :o) It's just such a dream!

Poor Andrew's still at work, Jasper's sleeping soundly, the kitchen is cleaned up, the dishwasher is running, the clothes are in the dryer, and Monday night football is calling my (weary) name. :o) Here are a few pics from our wonderful day!

another jadip weekend!

This weekend has been perfect. Absolutely perfect!! Aside from an exhausting Scentsy-related Friday night, this weekend has been "just another day in paradise". :o)

We are so blessed.

Everywhere I turn and every direction I look, God has just showered me and Andrew with blessing upon blessing, ranging from family to church to friends to good food to awesome coupon deals at restaurants, etc. This weekend has just been a blast, including lots and lots of football, lots and lots of relaxing time together, Christmas music, Andrew and I sharing laughs together over Jasper's cute antics, a refreshing time at church this morning, a service project this afternoon, free ice cream this evening, fantasy football, etc.

The last 8 weeks have been insane in our lives; with TONS of trips, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, Andrew's business trip, women's retreat for church, out-of-town company, overtime work at Wasserstrom, health evaluations, scentsy parties, home remodels, nursery decorating, furniture buying/selling, etc. All along, we've told ourselves, "If we can just make it to Nov. 1st, life will be a lot slower."

well, we made it. :o) And life is (so thankfully) a lot slower. :o ) And we are thankful.

I have a few random pics from life recently. There's really no story attached to any of them, but I wanted to post them so they can be recorded in my "digital scrapbook", if you will. :o)

 This is Mukesh. He is quite possibly Jasper's most favorite friend in all of Columbus and he is much talked about and loved in our household. He works at our Meijer and we have seen him every Tuesday for the last 3 or so years; he and Jasper love each other so much that now whenever we walk into Meijer, Jasper looks for Mukesh, runs up to him, they hug, and then Jasper stands beside Mukesh and holds his hand while Mukesh continues to scan others' groceries. I manage to get about half of my grocery shopping done while Mukesh and Jasper hang out together. He's such a gem.

 Yutzy's. Our most favorite place on earth, complete with llamas. 

 The other day, Jasper asked (for the 1st time ever!) if he could get lunch ready. I very excitedly told him, "yes!!" He worked hard for about 10 minutes then called, "momma!! Wunch is weady!!" Jasper had gotten out the chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel syrup, butter, jelly, pretzels, and a random ketchup packet. He was so proud of himself and it was absolutely darling.

 Our tree has exploded into vibrant shades of red over the last week or so and we always go out after lunch to gaze at the tree together. 

 Jasper was a darling monkey for Halloween this year! Despite the wind and rain, we had a blast and my mom was able to join us for the festivities! 

In big news.....

 The nursery is finished!!!

It used to be the office; the only pic I can find of the office is the one below, taken 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Jasper. But this is what it used to look like...

And after much blood, sweet, and paint fumes....

This is what it looks like!!!

We went to Red Robin last night, courtesy of my Scentsy commission! It was a blast!

That's all for now, folks!