Entering the 21st Century

Well, I did it....I'm connected wirelessly to the 'net. :) I finally broke down and spent some hard-earned moolah on a laptop computer and hooked in to the wireless network in the house. Oddly enough, we've had an official wireless network for nearly a year, but no laptop. We hooked up the network for our Airport and iTunes and just didn't see a need for a portable computer. That is until I started writing more... and discovered that leaving our 4 year old son unattended in a room wasn't the best plan if we wanted to let him live to see the age of 5. :o

So I'm getting used to this and enjoying it tremendously. I'm using this mostly as a work-machine; I'm still sorting through email at the desktop and keeping the majority of things on the desktop and not this computer. But that's really the way I want it; this is a satellite around the main system. I didn't pop for a huge hard drive and figured that I could pay less for a thumb drive than I would for a larger hard drive and then simply swap things back and forth between the two machines.

Brendan, of course, is waaaaay more excited about this new piece of technology than he should be; I don't let him play on the computer much at all (an occasional "love note" to Daddy at work), so it's not like he knows what to do with this thing. But it doesn't keep him from wanting to *try*, that's for sure. ;) I imagine it will only be a scant number of years until he's teaching me things about the computer! ;)

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Well, it finally happened. And Mark missed it!

I took my nightly dose of cinnamon capsules and burped. Nothing unusual, except that it burned...like I had eaten a bunch of red-hots. :0 Anyhow, I breathed out my nose (a challenge these days with my allergies!) and saw something in front of my face. It struck me that this was a wrong thing to see fog at this time of year, and it certainly wan't cold enough for my breath to 'frost'. I realized in a moment what had happened: I had a cinnamon burp that produced a cloud of the stuff! So I joined the ranks of the initiated and Mark is even more determined than ever to see this strange event. I am not aiming for it again, as the burning sensation from the cinnamon was a little more than I wanted. But some slight discomfort for me has never stopped my husband before...and it probably won't stop him now. ;)

11 Years Ago Today....

...at 7:00pm, EST, the bells of the Asbury College Chapel were pealing. And our pianist began to play Pachelbel's "Kanon in D" as our attendants started their walk down the aisle of Estes Chapel at Asbury Seminary. I was nervous and excited, and a little tearful, but kept it together as my dad whispered, "If you cry, you're going to make me cry!"

As I walked towards my soon-to-be husband, I welled up, but smiled so broadly as to make my cheeks keep the tears in my eyes. They were only tears of joy...that this day had finally arrived, after 22 months and 3 days of engagement. I remember much of the ceremony, even today--surrounded by friends and family, beautiful music ("All I Ask of You" from "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Lord's Prayer," and Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me"), and most of all, the love of my life. We had no idea how things would turn out, but now, 11 years later, we're more committed to each other today than when we began.

A very wise great-aunt of mine told me at my bridal shower that we should "begin as you mean to end." I had to think about that for a while, but understood and understand now that if you intend to stay married for life, you should begin that way, too. And so we have.

This isn't to say we've escaped rocky times. We haven't--not by a long shot. There was a time, about 2 years in to our marriage that I thought we would divorce. Thank God that we didn't. And then 5 years after our wedding, I became so ill that everyone, including all of my doctors, thought I was going to die. Mark stood by the hospital bed, watching me struggle to breathe, and had to release me to the Lord. And to this day, we credit the faith-filled prayers that were uttered on my behalf for my recovery and health. Mark also will tell you that I 'turned the corner' on the day he handed me back to God, relinquishing his "right" to have me as his wife. God answered all of those prayers so abundantly!

All of this to say that we wouldn't be here today, celebrating 11 years together, without the grace of God and major answered prayer. All of the struggles we've seen, including Brendan's challenging gestation, have made our celebration much sweeter.

So my advice to those of you who are on the cusp of a forever-relationship: begin as you intend to end. Aunt Frances was right on so many counts (besides, she could bake a *mean* raisin pie!), but she was especially right on this one.

I'm off to spend time with my sweet husband! :)