Posts Tagged ‘special memory’

Day 208 and Counting… A Long Awaited Reunion!

Posted: March 26, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Last night, for the first time, we got to meet Rachel, Ceecee’s daughter that she gave up for adoption!  Rachel and her boyfriend drove out and are staying at Angie and Ian’s.  Angie had already met her, but we had only talked to Rachel over the phone and a little bit on Facebook.

We went out to their place last night and just sat and talked.  It was pretty surreal, but very fulfilling.  For almost as long as I’ve known Ceecee, she’s talked about this happening.  We couldn’t do anything to bring it about.  We’ve just had to wait.

Through the years, there have been times when we thought it would happen soon, and times when we wondered if it would ever happen at all.

They are going to be here for a few days, so tonight, it was just very casual.  We didn’t stay very long and didn’t want there to be any pressure or expectations.   We just wanted to get the initial meeting out of the way and then we’ll just play it by ear after this.

Today, I have to work at Macy’s and Ceecee is going with all of them to spend some time together in Branson.

Day 193 and Counting… Sushi Date Night

Posted: March 11, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, February 18. 2011

Had a fun date night last night.  There’s a Japanese steakhouse with a sushi bar not far from where we live called Nakato.  My wife has been there before, but I haven’t.  She took our son there once and really liked it.

For me, sushi has been somewhat of an acquired taste.  At first, I didn’t like it at all.  Over time, I’ve tasted a lot of different varieties and have come to enjoy some of them.

We planned on me ordering an entrée and Ceecee ordering sushi and working it that way, but we ended up just going to the sushi bar instead.  I was up for the adventure and figured it might be fun.

We got a bottle of Riesling and just ordered a whole bunch of different things.  I’m not sure what they all were, but I liked most of them, and I especially liked this spicy sauce that they served in little bowls that you could dip your sushi in.  We had a lot of fun.

Day 189 and Counting… Too Much Love For One (Valentine’s) Day

Posted: March 8, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Today is the actual Valentine’s Day, but we already celebrated and made this the most epic, multi-day Valentine’s Day ever.  This is the restoration tour and anything else just wouldn’t have been in keeping with the celebratory nature of our whole relationship right now, anyway.  

The play was wonderful yesterday.  The dinner was pretty amazing as well, if I’m allowed to brag on myself.  Oh yeah, it’s my blog, so I can do whatever I want on here!

We have an urban grocery store called the Bistro Market downtown near our loft and they have a good seafood counter, so I got everything there.  I also picked out a good white wine and served her in courses.  My favorite were the steamed snow crab legs, but all of it was very good and my wife LOVES seafood.  

Today, we had to work (darn Monday) and I had flowers and a box of chocolates delivered to her, but that was just the formality.  The weekend was our day – wait, two days – to revel in the joy we’ve found.

Day 188 and Counting… Valentine’s Day, So Far, So Great!

Posted: March 7, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, February 13, 2011

So, last night and this morning went even better than I could have predicted, and we haven’t even gotten to our actual Valentine’s Day celebration yet!  

I told Ceecee after dinner that I had gotten the ebook about relaxation massages and that I wanted to give her one.  I did everything just like it said.  I warmed up towels, warmed up the massage oil, lit candles, and put on a cd of relaxation music.  I told her to just lie down and I would take care of everything.

Later, after she went to sleep, I spread the confetti all over the loft and placed the piece of paper with the “Official Notice” on the floor as though it had been slid under the door from the outside.  I knew she would find it in the morning and she did.  The idea was that she would get up, find the confetti everywhere and feel happy.  Then, she would pick up the notice and get scared that it was something bad, but quickly realize what it REALLY  was.  

That was exactly how it happened, and she loved it, but she playfully gave me a hard time for scaring her.  It really did look like a court paper at first glance.  

Later this afternoon, we are walking over to the theater to see Beauty and the Beast, and then I’m cooking at home tonight.

Day 186 and Counting…Planning an Amazing Valentine’s Day!

Posted: March 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, February 11, 2011

It’s been extremely slow at Macy’s.  Part of it is the weather.  Part of it is the time of year.  Part of it is that I work the evening shift and most of the furniture sales happen during the day shift.

That’s ok.  I’ve been using the time to get ready for Valentine’s Day.  

While it’s slow, I’ve been searching websites for creative Valentine’s Day ideas and I’ve found some great stuff.  I don’t want to do the usual card, flowers and go out to dinner this year.  I want to do something in keeping with the changes in our lives and our marriage.

I want to show my love to my wife in a deeply personal way, that touches her soul.  I don’t want to just do the obligatory, “It’s Valentine’s Day, so I have to try to impress her with what I buy,” I want to give her a gift of myself.  I want to make a memory this year.

One site I found is www.theromantic.com.  This is Michael Webb’s website, and I found him through Mort Fertel.  He has all kinds of great romantic ideas, not only for Valentine’s Day, but for any day of the year.  He also has a number of ebooks for sale, and I bought and downloaded some.  

One of them tells specifically how to give a full body relaxation massage.  One of them is a collection of romantic coupons that can be “redeemed” throughout the upcoming year.  I sweet talked a lady in the jewelry department of of one of the little metal watch boxes that say, “you and me” with hearts on the sides of them.  You’re supposed to get one when you buy a certain kind of watch, but I got one to put the coupons in.  

I printed them off on some red, pink, and white sheets of paper and cut them out.  I took the leftover parts of the paper and made some confetti out of it.  The best part, though, is the idea I found of serving her with an “official notice.”  

On a heavier stock piece of paper, I typed “Official Notice” in large, bold print at the top.  I then tried to make it look like a legal summons by stating, “in the matter of the marriage of…” and starting each paragraph with “whereas.”  Each of those paragraphs was actually a declaration of one of the many reasons why I love her.  

Valentine’s Day is on a Monday this year, so we’re going to mainly celebrate it on Sunday, instead.  We don’t like to fight the crowded restaurants and we love to cook, and Ceecee has asked me to make her a seafood dinner this year.  We are also going to a theater production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” on sunday afternoon at our local University.  It’s my wife’s favorite Disney movie, so the timing is perfect!

Day 179 and Counting…Signs, Miracles, and Trying To Get To San Antonio

Posted: February 28, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, February 4, 2011

How to try to describe yesterday….

We got up in the morning still iffy about actually heading out on the roads to drive to San Antonio.  I mean, it’s about an 11 hour drive under normal conditions.  The conditions yesterday were far from normal.  Even on the major interstates, there was still about three inches of solid ice.  Around town, some of the residential streets were still nearly impassable.

I’ve never been a big believer in using a “fleece” to ask God for a sign, even though I understand that it is a Biblical concept.  I’ve just never had faith for it.  (See Judges Chapter 6:36-40 if you don’t know the context)  In this case, with our safety at risk, I figured I needed to know whether it was going to be all right for us to make the drive, so I asked for a small sign.

While he’s been in Basic, Taylor has only been allowed to eat what they feed him.  When he graduates, he gets a little bit of time to go off base with us and do what he wants, and what he wants is cupcakes.  Not just any cupcakes, though.  He wants cupcakes from The Cup, a specialty shop downtown real close to our loft.

Some of the downtown businesses have been closed due to the blizzard, however, and we hadn’t gotten any cupcakes.  We were going to have to leave early in the morning to get to San Antonio at a reasonable time, so I told God that if there was someone there at The Cup and they would let us in before they were open and they had any cupcakes made that they would be willing to sell us, I would take that as a sign that it was going to be OK for us to make the drive.

We drove around the corner and it happened just exactly the way I prayed.  A short time later, just as we were hitting the edge of town, we got a report that the interstate was closed ahead due to a fatal accident.  We were going to have to be rerouted onto a lesser highway that was likely to have even worse driving conditions than the interstate.

Even though we had the cupcakes with us as a tangible answer to prayer, I prayed again (like Gideon) and asked God to have the detour take us onto a clearer highway to confirm that it was going to be OK.  Almost immediately, the sun came out and we hit nearly clear and dry pavement.  God had shown us again that He was with us and keeping us safe.

I’d like to say it was all smooth sailing after that, but it was anything other than smooth.  In Oklahoma, we were once again driving on a few inches of ice and at one point, the car suddenly went out of control in a slide.  We slid all the way off the road to the right, down the slope of the embankment, then inexplicably back up and back onto the road pointing in the right direction and none the worse for the experience.  I imagined it was angels flying alongside and pushing the car back onto the road.

I’ll finish the story tomorrow…obviously we made it, but not without further adventures!

Day 177 and Counting…TV? None For Us, Thank You

Posted: February 27, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I realize that this is unthinkable to most Americans, but Ceecee and I don’t watch TV.  At all.  We’re just not interested and there’s so much to actually do that it just seems like a total waste of time to sit in front of the TV or let the television schedule dictate our lives.

The only thing we watch is some sports or the weather channel when there’s storm danger or warnings.  Our daughter told us about the show, The Big Bang Theory.  We weren’t interested, but she insisted that it was good and we would like it and offered to bring us the first few seasons on DVD.  We’ve watched a lot of episodes yesterday and today and it is really funny.

We also got out and watched our wedding video this evening.  Cheesy, I know, but I wanted to.  It was crazy how young we looked.  Everyone always thinks the bride is the most beautiful in their weddings, but I have never seen anyone more beautiful than Ceecee at our wedding.  I’ll never forget the way she took my breath away when I saw her at the back of the church that day.

The great thing is, she still does.  There are times when I’m around her and I can hardly breathe.

On another note, we’re supposed to be going to San Antonio tomorrow to see Taylor graduate from basic military training, but the roads are still snow and ice packed and travel isn’t really advised right now.  We’ve already reserved a room and i can’t imagine not being there, so we’re praying about it and tentatively still planning to head out in the morning.

Day 176 and Counting… Loving The “Blizzard of The Century!”

Posted: February 26, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

So, I’m getting all kinds of blizzard warnings on my phone and I’m thinking, “I’m being paid to stay in my loft with my gorgeous wife and this is a problem, how?”

Of course, I’m being a bit facetious.  This is actually a very unusual amount of snow and winter weather for the Missouri Ozarks.  In fact, this particular winter storm is being dubbed as the “storm of the century” and such by local meteorologists.

The truth is, it’s probably a major problem for a lot of people.  In our case, we are looking out the windows of our loft and enjoying the whiteness and realizing once again just how blessed we are.  Being teachers, we don’t have to work today (or probably for the next few days by the looks of things).  We are warm and cozy in our loft.  We have plenty of food, and we have all of downtown right around the corner from us if we do need or want anything.

More importantly, I have a restored marriage that’s getting stronger everyday.  My wife is a true woman of courage, honesty, and love.  I can’t stop giving thanks for her or for what God has done in our lives and our marriage.

Now, what to do today….

Day 174 and Counting…Restoring St. Louis

Posted: February 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, January 30, 2011

The restoration trip to St. Louis has been more than I even hoped for.  Ceecee has been so amazingly sweet and loving and has just said and done everything right to make this an unforgettable and tremendously healing weekend.

When we set out in the car yesterday morning, we had to talk a little bit about we uncovered last Monday, which was OK, but I didn’t want to put a damper on the trip before we even started.  It’s just that we’ve learned through all of this not to let things sit and stew and become a problem later.  We’ve learned that you just say it and talk about it, but you do it in a loving way that puts the marriage first and any personal agendas to the side.

As we approached St. Louis, we had talked about where we would go and what we would do, but there was something that kept bothering me, so right before we got to town, I just asked my wife if she minded if I changed the agenda a little bit.  I told her what I was thinking and feeling, and what I wanted to do and she was more than fine with it.  She said that if it was important to me than we should definitely do it.

That’s how this weekend and how our “new” love has gone.  We communicate, we’re honest and open, and we put each other first.  I’m not sure why we needed to go through so much pain and heartbreak to get here, or even if we needed to, but I’ll never stop being thankful for what we have now.  I’ll also never stop trying to build what we have now into a house that will stand up to the test of time and the storms of life.

Day 155 and Counting…Snow Day!

Posted: February 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Day!  That means no school and Ceecee and I are making the most of it!  We have to get up early on school days, so we were already up when they called it.  We made breakfast with Mimosas (one of our favorites), then went back to bed.  No plans.  Just going to enjoy it!

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