So, everyone knows what a housewife is - well, I've been playing at househusband lately. Yup, I got to take a whole month off of work (Meghan got two of the four weeks off, during which we traveled) and even now, I've been "working" this past week but am only working 4-day weeks and workdays are over at around 3pm. My first off week that Meghan was working I spent cleaning up around the house, organizing, running errands to Wal-Mart and Krogers, cooking dinner and cleaning up after - yes, a genuine househusband! This past week, and continuing into my first week back at work and this weekend - I've been working on building a fence for our backyard, a 6' tall privacy/security fence both for our use and for future resalability, that I've been nailing together board by board. I'm still home more than Meghan is, which is a bit weird, but good. I have other to-do list type things to work on after the fence is complete.
Block leave was busy - we always seem to schedule more traveling than we can quite handle - but it seems so worth it, once we've recovered and stabilized at home again. For the Christmas-New Years week we road tripped! Packed the car and drove from Savannah to New Orleans, LA (Meghan's parents and extended family; 3 days), then to Memphis, TN (my grandparents and extended family, and where I grew up for 18 yrs but Meghan had never seen; 5 days), to Birmingham, AL (my sis, bro-in-law, and their newborn son Little T; 2 days), then home. Pictures to follow, I suppose... it was a long trip but good, seeing new (to me, her, or us) family members, especially Little T...
After a transition week at home (Meghan working full time that week, she sacrificed a lot for us to travel during my month off), we flew to Colorado for 10 days of family, fun, snow, snowboarding, 2nd-Honeymoon, fun! Spent time with my parents, spent time just the two of us snowboarding and staying in a little mountain town B&B, spent time with my brother and his family (wife/3 kids) who sacrificed a lot to travel from Missouri to visit us (and Momo and Papa).... what a trip! I learned to snowboard quickly, which was good/fun, my parents were/are so generous with gifts and turning a 4-day trip to Frisco into our mini-second-Honeymoon, and Meghan made friends with our niece ("twins!" with braids in their hair). I, on the other hand, got more attention/time with our nephew, so-called Two Forks. We have a lot in common, he and I...
Well, we are a little more stabilized in Savannah now, a little more into life routines and less of the traveling craziness. We are trying to be good friends, having people over for dinner and being social with work-related friends/events; trying to coax people to come visit us in Savannah (it was 65 and sunny yesterday! in January! we almost went to the beach but ran out of time). I'm finishing the fence (pictures to follow), we're talking about upcoming trips (Charlotte in 3 weeks!) and starting to lean towards a new local church commitment.
So, God is good, Meghan & I are both happy and healthy and working out what a daily/weekly routine looks like, now that I'm back from Iraq (and back at work after a month off) and she's still working almost-full-time (proud of her). We're thankful for our family and friends and God's bountiful provision for us. He is good and is the touchstone and foundation of our marriage. I have an amazing wife whom I love and am so proud of and impressed by all that she does for me/us. All of life isn't always rainbows and lollipops, but today, I am happy.
-E
