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Ethan describes a MacBook
Home Again
We just returned from a short family get-away. It was fabulous.
Love & War: Week 2 (Nathan)
Days…and then weeks…got away from me. Sorry everyone. Without further ado, here’s my 2nd chapter writeup!
Chapter 2: Love and War
If this were a CD, chapter 2 would be a title track. I didn’t actually realize the chapter was named the same as the book until I just typed the header above, and having done so, it actually puts the chapter in an even clearer light. Chapter 1 was written to drive home their status as real people, with a very real marriage; chapter 2 begins the real meat of the book.
Much of the chapter focused on showing the correlation between marriage and the overarching story of the bible. Right away, they point out that the bible begins and ends with marriages — first Adam and Eve in Genesis, then Christ and the Church in Revelation. Marriage is very important in the Bible, and there is a good reason for this. They explain that marriage is a very clear picture of the relational nature of God and that marriage is actually a passion play, depicting the relationship between “Jesus and his beloved” (34).
The title of the book (and chapter), “Love and War” is a reference to the idea that marriage, like the story of the Bible, is a love story set against a background of War. God loves us, and the Bible shows how he pursues us, but it also reveals that this pursuit happens within an ongoing battle for the hearts of people. The stories of our marriages are set within this same world, written “by the same Author” (35).
I like the idea that in the light of the challenges presented by life in this imperfect world, “marriage is meant to throw the balance of power on our side” (30). More than just being a means to understanding the love God has for us, marriage is actually a critical aide to our success in life — Amy is it with me, and together, we are stronger than we would be alone.
But, marriage is dangerous, too. Although it sets up husbands and wives to support each other through the battles of life, in doing so, it makes us vulnerable and makes it critically important that we take marriage very, very seriously:
Pause a moment; take a deep breath. Let that reality sink in a little deeper — you are the human being who plays the most significant role in your spouse’s life. It is not your spouse’s mother or father. It is not your spouse’s favorite teacher, author, or pastor. It is you. It is a sobering truth, isn’t it. You are on holy ground. You matter more than you thought (38).
It seems a little bleak to look at the world as a battleground, but we people are wired up to thrive in the face of challenge. We want and need to “fight some great battle together.” (31). It’s exciting to face that and know that Amy is by my side.
More simple math
2 parents – 2 sick parents = Ethan running things around here.
Isaac’s still not himself, but Amy and I have now picked up the same bug. Nasty little thing, too…
No pictures for this one — believe me, you do not want to see me today 
Yummy
His shirt says “Future Knight in Shining Armour”.
30 Day Shred
What better time than January to start a new exercise program, right? I love running, but it’s so cold right now that it’s hard to get outside to do it. We have the treadmill and I’m thankful for that, but I can’t go as hard or as long as I would like on it without burning out. So, I picked up the 30 Day Shred DVD. This is something I can do even when Nathan is gone since I don’t have to leave the house to do it.
I’m ready to let Jillian Michaels kick my butt. Or help me shrink it a little. During my first workout, Ethan was eager to work out alongside of me. That’s a challenge in and of itself. Do you know how hard it is to do push-ups while watching Ethan do them? Laughter is good medicine, but it makes push-ups nearly impossible. Then he says, “Hey Mom, I think your bottom is already getting bigger!” He’s a great trainer, really.
Today is day 3 for me. I’m going to do my best to do this for 30 days. I did it a couple of times last week, but decided my official start-up would be Monday (two days ago). On Monday I did level 1. On Tuesday I decided to try to do level 2. It was really hard. I switched back to level 1 today. I’ll stay at this level for another week and then move up if I think I’m ready.
I’m enjoying the combination of cardio, strength training and ab work. I don’t know how “shredded” I’ll end up at the end of this, but it should be a fun journey.
Reset
I love new beginnings. The start to a new year is always energizing to me. I’m hoping for a reset that starts now (or tomorrow!). I know it’s a few days after the beginning of the new year, but it’s still fresh and new.
Reading Kylene’s and Erica’s posts about Christmas has made me smile for several reasons. First of all, because it was so nice to have everyone together. Weather threatened to really mess up our plans, but everything came together in the end. The second reason their accounts make me smile is because it’s funny to me how we all were a part of the same event, but my experience was vastly different then theirs.
The combination of the fact that I have 3 small children to care for and not much ability to do preparation too much in advance that isn’t going to be undone (by said children) and the fact that I really felt like I didn’t know how everything was supposed to work had me a little on edge. I knew that I was hosting, but I didn’t know what that really entailed and it’s a bit more stressful when it’s not your own family.
Here’s a little of why I felt kind of frazzled.
I had a last minute medical appointment on Wednesday morning to have an echocardiogram. I had a heart murmur that had never really been checked out. Because of my SVT episodes after my mom’s death, my recent application for life insurance would not be processed until I had an echo.
Then we had some weather issues. The weather turned bad and Luke and Krista missed their flight and weren’t supposed to get in until late the next day, Nathan and I were pretty certain we would not be seeing everyone on Christmas Eve because L&K would be arriving at the same time the snow was supposed to really start falling again. Then Christmas Eve morning dawned, we found out that plans had been changed and L&K were arriving that morning. With the chance of snow continuing through the next several days, we thought we should probably trek to Shakopee to be with everyone while we had a chance. So, we had 1 hour to get all of our stuff ready. All of our stuff= diaper bag for Isaac, dress the kids, wait for Isaac to get up from his early nap, pack a change of clothes for everyone, pack snow gear for everyone, shovel the many inches of snow off our driveway, and pack all the ingredients for the meal we were helping provide for later that day as well as the baked goods that I had made previously. All of this in 1 hour.
We left the house in shambles. We were planning to do our major cleaning the next day in preparation for everyone to arrive on Saturday. We had found out that Kylene and Justin would not be spending the night with us that evening because they wanted to go to the Christmas Eve service in Shakopee.
We got to Tim and Erica’s and I found out that Justin and Kylene would indeed be at our house that night. They were planning to follow us home when we left later that afternoon. *gulp* I wish I was easy going and that things like that would not cause stress. I know there are people out there that wouldn’t feel a bit of anxiety over their in-laws coming to their trashed house. I aspire to that someday. But that was not the day. I’m the kind of person who gets very stressed out about having people over when I don’t have the house clean. And it wasn’t just a little cluttered. I had major cleaning to do.
So, we had a nice celebration with everyone that day and I did my best not to think about the house. Then we drove back home. Then I spent the evening and next day cleaning. I was planning to spend that time cleaning anyway. So, that really wasn’t a big deal.
Then I found out that the main meal we were having together as a family on Saturday was going to be served for lunch instead of supper. Not a big deal except for the fact that our original plan had someone volunteering to take care of lunch for everyone. Now, that we moved the main meal to lunch time, that meant that there was a meal that needed to be provided for everyone that evening that I didn’t have groceries for. Thankfully, Kylene volunteered to pick up the slack for that meal when she noticed I was about to curl up into a fetile position at the prospect of trying to figure out what to do about that meal.
About 99.9% of all the stress was a result of the weather throwing out the window whatever plans me made.
Saturday came, we had a great time together. Everything worked out fine, but when the guests left that evening, I sat down on the couch and I didn’t have the energy to get up. We stayed home from the church the next day because we were so tired.
I don’t know why I thought that it would be a good idea to schedule having someone come to do work on our house immediately following Christmas, but for some reason I did. So, we followed up Christmas with 3 days of kids not being able to sleep or nap in their rooms, a trip to Cottage Grove to celebrate the holidays with my family (and we stayed up too late) and now we’re back home again with several days of work left before the kids have their room back in order.
I was so tired today that I finally just lay down and slept on the couch. I should have been working on other things, but I had no energy.
So, I’m so grateful for a recovery week coming up. I’m grateful for a new beginning and I’m hoping to get some extra rest this week.
In the last week
* The kids had been displaced from their room because
*We’re getting all the mudding, sanding and trim work done in the living room, kids room and our room
*Our toilet broke
*We got a new one
*I started doing the 30 Day Shred exercise DVD
*Ethan told me my bottom was getting bigger
*We celebrated Christmas with the Henning family
*We played lots of card games
*I ate too much food
*Isaac has been waking up at 5:00am
*Nathan has been home every day
*I got approved for life insurance, but
*I found out that I have mitrovalve regurgitation which is, in most cases, nothing to worry about
*I ran over 3 miles in the bitter cold
Thoughts on Prayer
You can read it here. That’s where I moved my “other” blog recently.
Fritz Family Christmas (4)
