I leave the house to go to work four evenings a week.  (More about that, some other post.  I leave a few minutes before 8, and I’m home a few minutes after 8 in the morning.)

Mostly, it works pretty well.  The little ones are either in bed, or almost ready for bed, and my husband spends time with the older kids.  Sometimes, they watch movies (with the tv guardian on…) that I really don’t want to see again, or do puzzles, or whatever it is they decide to do.

Last night, once I had tucked my 92 year old friend into bed, I settled in my own room and turned on my laptop.  I e-mailed my husband with a few questions.

In just a few minutes, he e-mailed me back telling me what he had been up to for the evening.

Hi Sweetheart!

My parents called, and I talked to them for a half hour – no big news.  They said thank you for the table cloth – Mom said it was “really neat.”
I picked the turkey meat off, and am boiling the bones.  I’ll make someone a good housewife some day…

Love you,
Jeff

I just had to laugh at that.  I told him that I already thought he was pretty wonderful.  A housewife, no, although he does many things more diligently than I do:  laundry, fixing meals when he is home, reading bedtime stories, tucking little ones into bed.  He even gets up about three times a night to let our silly cat in or out of the house, based upon her whims.  The cat thinks he’s awesome.  I do too.

We aren’t hugely about “roles” around here.  Our oldest son makes breakfast every morning, and our oldest girl cleans up the kitchen.  Sometimes the oldest ones peel potatoes for supper, sometimes the little ones do.   We all read stories to little ones, we all clean potties, we all know how to wipe faces, we all know how to feed the cat and clean out the van.  We all know how to mow the yard and weed a garden and filet  fish and clean the windows…oh, wait.  That window part never happens.   And I do wish that someone would learn to dust and sweep in the corners.   We all know, however,  how to pile into the living room to eat home-made pizza and watch old tv shows on the weekend, or to throw the water cooler, a quilt, some food and swimsuits into the back of the van in the summer to head to the swimming hole.  It is my prayer that we all learn more about hope, and joy in this coming year – along with many other lessons on how to be a closer family.  It is a constant process, it seems.

For us, it’s all about give, and take, about flexibility, about seeing a need an jumping in.  It’s not so much about authorities and who is supposed to do what – it’s just about being a family, and we work toward that end all of the time.  We love it this way.  Sometimes it is messy.  Actually, USUALLY it is messy, but that’s how families seem to be and that’s how they seem to grow.

And me?  I’m sooo glad that I didn’t have to pick the turkey meat off of that old bird.  It is one of my least favorite jobs.

Thank you, honey, for being flexibility in doing whatever it takes to make this family run, and in teaching our children to do the same.

My guy, reroofing our house

…and a little cuddle time with our littlest girl.

How deep the Father’s Love for us, how vast beyond all measure….

This Father’s Day morning, I journeyed two hours southward with my father. We attended church at one of the churches he pastored 25 or so years ago.  It was our first time back in all of those years.  We visited our old stompin’ grounds, and walked a nature trail through some cypress swamps.  Muggy, humid, and full of mosquitos…just like I remember it.  It was a great day, though, for memories old and new.  I’m so thankful to have these precious days with my Dad – who is still vital and smart and energetic at age 85, and then to come home to my incredible husband and enjoy the rest of the day with him.  I’ve been blessed to have some mighty fine men in my life, of all ages.  Life is so good, God is so good.

Dear Jeff,

Did you ever think that you could love so many kids, so much?  Or that you would be loved so much, by so many kids?

Happy Father’s Day.

My husband, Jeff, with one of his great loves…