Love is… 20 minutes alone
Mike’s a stay-home dad during the summer, running errands and doing laundry and cleaning and keeping up with the kids. He’s also become the neighborhood mom. This one little boy has all but moved in with us, and so some days, Mike’s here with three kids. Unless this boy’s brother comes over, too, and then the number climbs to four.
It’s been a horribly rough week at work for me (but it was encouraging that I spent a lot of my time helping someone else… hopefully, that says I’m getting better), and as soon as I got home from work tonight, we took Griff and his friend to the movies (save ‘Get Smart’ for your Netflix list). By the time we got home, I was worn out.
Mike was going to run out to get take-out for a late dinner, and I asked him to take both kids with him on the ride. And he did. And it’s just me here in the house. I am NEVER alone in the house. It’s kinda nice to sit here listening to the air pump in the fish tank and just enjoy the soft noises around me.
It’s easily going to be the best 20 minutes of my day. I’m going to go read a quick chapter in my Bible and then, after they burst back into the house with all of that little kid noise and energy, I’m going to make them leave Mike alone while he watches the Astros game.
Geaux Stros.
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Daddy’s Day
I got Mike the funniest card for Father’s Day today… the front says “Know why Father’s Day is in June?” and the inside says “Because about a month after Mother’s Day, a dad somewhere went…’heyyyy.’” It made me laugh because so often the daddies are overlooked.
My friend, LeeAnn, and I send gifts back and forth, and so often there’s something for each of us and for the kids but the daddies are never included. We tease that when Mandy and I send things, Mike and Josh are always overlooked.
I think that good daddies are overlooked all too often. Good fathers are strong and kind. They take care of business. They kill bugs (but not always spiders), and they calm irrational mama thoughts. They go out in the middle of the night to go to the drugstore to get Motrin for baby fevers. They know their kids’ schedules at school, and they know which subjects in which their kids excel.
Good fathers are emotionally available to their wives but not so much that they aren’t still frustratingly male. They grill. They watch Strawberry Shortcake over and over again with their little girls even though they’d rather be watching baseball. They read to their kids.
In the end, good fathers are overlooked because they’re so wonderfully stable. They are anchors in our lives.
Since I had children, I think of God so much more as a Heavenly Father than I did before because I see what all goes into being a good father… the love and patience and tenderness and strength … and I understand more (in my limited understanding) of what God must go through loving us yet having to guide and instruct us when we rebel and refuse and are obstinate. Knowing how I can love my children and be completely annoyed with them at the same time helps me to understand how God can love us and forgive us and instruct us at the same time.
Thinking of God as a Father has also reminded me of how blessed I am to have a good father here on Earth myself (along with a fabulous father-in-law). And I am overwhelmingly grateful to have Mike. I would have loved him forever if we hadn’t had kids, but in all honesty, having children and watching him with them and parenting alongside him has deepened my love for him in unimaginable ways.
We also also blessed to have brothers who are good fathers themselves. In the effort to be good parents, it’s so important to have good parents in it with you, and we have good fathers in our brothers. They love their children… they care for them… they discipline them… they inspire them.
Hillary may not have gotten everything right, but I do believe that it does take a village to raise a child, and we are so fortunate to have men like Chuck and John and Josh in our village.
So Happy Father’s Day… I love you, Mike.
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Drop and Give Me 40… or less
Here’s this week’s 40 Words or Less Challenge from Pensieve. The goal is to write something - pretty much anything, best I can tell - about the picture below… IN 40 WORDS OR LESS. Now, I am not known for being concise. If 10 words are good, 25 must be better. But the last time, I did it in exactly 40 words. I’m not promising that today, but we’ll see. Here’s this week’s effort.
Our last time in New Orleans… late at night, a new doctorate, a new life ahead. You and me. Crisp sheets, covered in Cafe du Monde love. Laughter, tears, powdered sugar goodness. Sleep. … Two years ago. Still makes me smile.
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Comfort Food - Cajun Style
I had planned to have Red Beans & Rice last week, but our missing child episode last week threw us off altogether. So we’re having it tonight. Val asked for the recipe, and as long as I have it out, I thought I’d go ahead and post it. (You know it’s good because the recipe is all splattered and messy. All good recipes are splattered.. that’s how you know it’s been used a lot.)
Now, keep in mind that I’ve been making this so long that I don’t so much use the measurements any longer.
Red Beans & Rice (Mike’s favorite Louisiana comfort food)
1 lb dry red beans
1 lb sausage or ham
2 large onions, chopped or minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Tabasco sauce, to taste
2 bay leaves
1/2 c ketchup
1-2 green bell peppers, chopped
1/2 c parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbs Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp thyme
Rice
Soak the beans overnight. In the morning, put all of the ingredients (except the sausage!) in the Crockpot and cook all day. Cut the sausage into slices or small pieces and put into the Crockpot about 30 minutes before serving. Take the bay leaves out. That’s it.
This recipe is from the mother of a friend of mine in Louisiana. I’ve made a few adjustments to make it fit our tastes. I use turkey sausage instead of Cajun because it’s healthier. No one will notice. Camelia brand red beans are the best. They don’t sell them here, so Mandy ships them to us. Now, that’s brand devotion!
It’ll make a bunch. Plan on it for a couple of nights or put some in the freezer for another time. It freezes really well.
Dish into bowls and add a big scoop of rice to the middle. Serve with cornbread and sweet tea. Yum.
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Tagged with: Food • Louisiana • Mike
