For Better or for Worse

Tim pointed out to me the other day that in our marriage vows we promised to bear with each other for better or for worse. In other words, we promised that whether we were better off together or worse off together we would stick together. What a promise to make! So that got me thinking about whether I'm better or worse off with Tim as my partner. And thinking about that made me realise how incredibly blessed I am to have Tim as my husband. He is such a wonderful man, and I love him more as the days go on.

He is the funniest person I know. It is so great to live with someone who can make me laugh.

He is a deep thinker and feeler, and he is unashamedly open with me about how he's feeling and what he's thinking, a real gift if you go by the Mars Venus theory.

He is a hard worker, both at the office and at home. He had the ingenuity to start his own marketing firm, which he has with God's great blessing grown to a business with revenues of almost a half-million pounds annually in under three years. When he comes home from the office he puts aside his need to replenish his introverted soul and has a dance-a-thon with his girls and does the dishes and tidies up before sitting down to care for himself.

He is creative and resourceful and unafraid to take risks. Hence our nest-egg property in Bulgaria.

He protects his family. Despite the fact that he's shorter than most men, I feel so safe with him because he's not afraid to stand up for his family. He made the tough decision to sell our house on Battison Street at a loss in order to move our children to a safer neighborhood.

He has a great faith and loves God. And even though he's been disillusioned by church and hardline fundamentalism, he is passionate about Jesus, and he inspires me to think and to act in faith, particularly when it comes to asking God for healing.

He takes care of me and encourages me. When I've had a long day with the girls, even though he's had an equally long day at the office, he tells me to sit down and relax while he tidies the house, sticks on another load of laundry, and does whatever else needs to be done. With each pregnancy I've gotten more stretch marks, which make me feel unattractive, but in his loving way he just tells me that they remind him of the children I've given him and that makes him love me more. What a wonderful thing to say to a wife.

While he is by no means perfect, he is absolutely perfect for me. I am so grateful I made that vow because I am definitely better off with him.

April

Where did April go? Tomorrow is the 21st. Today I have three weeks until d-day. What?! How did that happen? Chasing after my two darling girls, I have not had time to contemplate the fact that in just three (or five or zero) short weeks we will be a family of five. How exhilarating and scary. So much to do--place for baby to sleep, new carseats installed three across in the backseat of the car, clothes out of the loft, decide on a name. Oh, the name! We decided on Cerys before I was out of my first trimester. Addien was supposed to be Charley until about a week before she was born, and this one will be lucky to have a name by the time we have to register her birth at six weeks old. Meanwhile, Tim is working like a mad man trying to finish end-of-year billing, finish off well for a client we just lost, and praying that Dan's wife and I time giving birth so that both partners aren't on paternity leave simultaneously. In the next three weeks I'm hosting an all-day Creative Memories event, attending another all-day CM event, conducting a CM parents' evening for a local nursery, hosting friends for a gourmet dinner, steam-cleaning the carpets, baby-sitting my friends' two kids for a full day, and trying to make it to Cambridge for one last visit with Alicia before baby comes.

As Dory says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim."

Mary and the Alpacas

After we left Blenheim on Monday, we went to Tetbury, where Mary will be working on an alpaca farm for the next two weeks. What was supposed to be a favor for a friend--bringing Mary to her next destination on her two-month tour of England and France--ended up being the perfect ending to my already wonderful day. I enjoyed a homecooked meal in a kitchen as near to my ideal as I have ever seen, more excellent company, a good night's sleep in a cold room under a heap of blankets, a delicious breakfast, and then a little farmyard adventure before heading home. Our hosts, Ben and Georgina, were welcoming and lovely, and the house where she will be staying was almost beyond belief, both in its size and its character. Built several hundred years ago, it boasts 22 rooms which are decorated with splendid wallpaper and a clutter of old pictures and prints. It has never had a shower installed, so Mary will be bathing in a Victorian tub. The doorways are massive, and the rooms are drafty, but there is something so warm about the house, Mary and I just couldn't believe her good fortune.

The alpacas are wonderful creatures. They look a bit like llamas with sheep's wool. They are raised for their fibre, which is luxuriously soft, and also as show animals. Tuesday morning we got to help catch a baby who had been born two weeks prior so that Ben could remove its blanket, which it had already outgrown. The house is set on 150 acres of beautiful countryside bordered by a river. I am trying to contrive a way to get an invitation to stay with Ben and Georgina for a longer time so I can enjoy their company and country setting again!

Blenheim Palace

I had the most wonderful day on Monday. I went to Blenheim Palace with my good friend Mary, who was visiting from the States. Besides being in excellent company, I enjoyed the scenery, the architecture, the weather, the food, and the rare luxury of uninterrupted conversation. It was truly a day of bliss. I got to see a black swan. (Nobody but my mother will probably understand what a thrill that was for me.) I enjoyed a picnic overlooking a beautiful lake. I went on a very well-presented tour of the palace and then savored afternoon tea while looking out at one of the palace gardens. And then I wandered through a secret garden before heading off to the alpaca farm where Mary will be staying for the next two weeks (see next post for more details). Monday rated as one of my top ten best days ever. Thank you, Tim, my wonderful husband, for making it possible.