Contraband

It's been less than a week since we've been done with school.

We've worked hard to accomplish this goal, and to be free to enjoy summer in all its splendor.

How then can it be possible that my little old man asks me for school work to do every day?  I've explained to him how exciting it is to have no school work, and he seems thrilled every time.  And yet...around the house I consistently find papers he has privately assigned himself.  His stashes are littered with penmanship practice, arithmetic problems and reading books.

A love of learning is a beautiful thing.  It's just kind of humorous that he hides his interest so stealthily, honing his skills in secret.  Perhaps he doesn't want to burst my bubble, but I'm on to him nonetheless.

Scott's Interview

This was officially a preschool interview, but it'll count!  Here is Scott's take on my queries.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be--hmm--something special.  A sailor.  They look out for treasure and sailboats.  That's cool.

How old will you be when you are grown up?
Maybe when I'm 49.

If you could do anything you wanted for the whole day, what would you do?
I would look for treasure--I mean I won't look for it, I'll sail a boat.  Remember how you turn the boat?  Like use things to turn like this way.

Then I'll do painting, like paint a house or yard or slide or playground or cup.

What do you love most about your family?
Mommy and Daddy and Cara and Allie.  I love you in my heart.

Scott's Favorite Recipe:
I like toast.  You put it in the thing that pops it up and it will pop it up for you and then you put butter on it and then you can eat it.  And cereal.  You get it out and pour cereal in there and pour some milk in there and then you take a spoon and eat it.

Kindergarten Traditions

Scott manfully colored and figured his way through kindergarten, officially finishing yesterday.  Cara has yet to finish up first grade.  As I am slowly trying to wrap my mind around all the grading and sorting coming my way, I somehow ran across something from last year that I meant to include on the blog.  It's a kindergarten tradition of sorts...the interview.

I asked the kids the following questions and recorded their profound replies for posterity last year as Cara finished up her first school year.

Kindergarten Interview with Cara:

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a teacher, 'cause it's fun to teach and teachers are really smart and have a nice brain.

How old will you be when you are grown up?
I want to be 10.

If you could do anything you wanted for the whole day, what would you do?
Science.  I really forget, but I know science is a healthy thing, so science.  Mmm-hmmm.

What do you love most about your family?
'Cause they love me.  'Cause you've been kind to me and Daddy been going to work for me and our whole family.

Tell me how to make your favorite recipe.
It's homemade noodles.  It's really easy.  Like put the noodles in a pan or something like that and kind of put some food in on it and stuff and give it a little mix and stuff.  It's the best meal that I like.  Eat it with chicken and stuff like that.


Stay tuned for Scott's interview tomorrow!

Marriage: An Object Lesson

Well, the other day I had a "Eureka!" moment while doing laundry of all things.  I went into that creepy, crawly, overly-crammed room we call the laundry room and began switching the load from the washer to the dryer when I noticed another chore to take care of.  I can't be the only one with this chronic problem.  My washer is filthy.  It could majorly use some TLC on the inside and out.  Shockingly enough I noticed that what used to be the space between my washer and dryer is now pretty much nonexistent, due to them shimmying around multiple times a day, I assume.  To make matters worse, they are so close that they've started collecting quite a pile of dust between them, right where there used to be edges.  It's almost as if the edges don't exist any more, or perhaps that's more of a mental thing for me.  Naturally, I left the mess for another time.  (In all fairness, I did need to dash back out to the dining room to continue school.  )

Now that I've completely grossed you out as to the state of my laundering equiptment, let me get to the point.  Seeing those machines all cozy and unlovely reminded me of marriage, or perhaps what marriage should be.  There's no doubt that a washer and dryer have very distinct functions, I mean, one washes and the other dries the clothes, right? But their purpose and goal is so much the same that although what they do is different, you almost forget to think of them independently.

My day to day activities vary widely from my husband's, but they are just as important.  We are working toward the same goal of raising a godly family and helping to build up His church.  We are interconnected, he and I.  What he does would be without meaning without what I do.  I wouldn't have the ability financially to do what I do if he didn't do what he does to provide and shelter us.

I find through the years, we have gotten more alike in some ways, but what we are doesn't change so much in the essentials.  I mean, he'll listen to me discuss hair ribbons for the girls but he wouldn't be caught dead thinking about them during his lunch break at work.  There's also a vice versa ditto here with college football, I might add.

When we get married we begin life together.  Through the years working together, we grow closer (and sometimes a little less attractive), but we work on toward the same goals through ups and downs until one without the other is hardly even useful.  Our identities become wrapped up in each other, different as we are.

That's a good thing.  That's getting through the dirty work of life together.  That's real love...having a purpose...together.