Family

The other night, we were eating at a restruant and prayed before our meal, as we always do. The guy that was sitting at the next table came over to us on his way out and told us how encouraged he was to see us praying in public, that he'd been watching every other table in the place and no one else had prayed, and to keep up the good work. He complimented us further saying that it was so nice to see such a "young family" showing such a commitment to God.

It was a very very nice moment, one I will probably remember for a long time. Not only did we edify him, but he reassured us that we were doing what was right. It just made me sit there and quietly smile to myself and say "aww..." Then i realized he had called us a "family".

I never thought of Scott and I as a "family". We are definately a couple, but the word family seems reserved for those with children, or with your parents and grandparents, aunts, cousins and so on. It made the fact that we are married and are a family sink in even deeper. We are each other's primary family now. Not our parents, not our siblings. Scott and I. The weight and depth of that thought just makes the rest of my mind stop. My heart is happy and overwhelmed all at the same time.

This concept comes at a very opportune time. I have been apprehesive about this Christmas season: my first on call, my first away from home, and my first with Scott's family. BUT my first with Scott. Exciting, yet so weird. I have no idea what is going to happen, what traditions we'll start, if any, what moments we'll share together.

But to realize that I am with my family, the only family I really need. Scott, the love of my life, the man I love with all my heart.

Dairy Life

Here's a run-down of our day:

Scott gets up anywhere from 5 am to 6:30 am and goes to work
I get up around 7 am and go to work
I get home around 5:30-6 most nights
On call nights I can get called out at any time
I fix dinner and usually have it ready when Scott gets home
Scott gets home anywhere from 6:30 pm to 8 pm
We go to bed 10 to 11 ish
We get up and do it again
Every day....

Sometimes, somewhere in there we can carve out a few minutes to eat lunch together, take a nap together, go to church together, run to Wal-Mart or, on a good day, run to Decatur or Wichita Falls. Usually, however, these moments are cut short or delayed by having to put out hay or grain or go see a sick animal.

I was told numerous times that marriage is hard. I think that the nature of our jobs adds another layer of difficulty in that we can very rarely plan anything. And our jobs are hard. Scott does physical labor all day every day. My days vary from physically, emotionally, and intellectually exhausting.

There's never a day when I can look forward to both of us being off. There is never an end to the responsibility (unless we go out of town). We'll never have a lazy weekend at home, no family holiday morning where we wake up and just be together, not even a relaxing Sunday. Scott has been around this his whole life- I'm very very new at it. I suppose any kind of farm life is like this, but dairy cows demand a lot of time and attention, twice a day.

I think it takes a special kind of woman to be a dairyman's wife. I'm still proving to myself that I'm that woman. Scott thinks I'm doing fine- but I'm always my worst critic. It's this game of trying to be patient and waiting all day to see him and get to spend time with him and then trying to combat the disappointment when he gets in late or has to run an errand or is too tired to do much more than watch TV.

This is what marriage is all about: learning each other, finding patience when you think you don't have any left, and remembering why and how much you love each other.

10 Things....

Top 10 things I love about being married:

1. Getting to share (almost) every evening with Scott.

2. My goodmorning/goodbye kiss- and then rolling back over to sleep for another hour!

3. My goodnight kiss.

4. Having someone to cook for, go to the store with, watch TV with, and so on and so forth.

5. Waiting for my husband to get home- that impatient anticipation- and then him actually getting home!

6. Making a home with someone.

7. Knowing that our choice to marry was according to God's will.

8. Learning how to be married and what submission is really about.

9. Learning what really matters.

10. Loving and being loved.

Top 10 reasons Scott is the man for me:

1. He can use the words "abomasum," "DCAD", and "colostrum" properly in a sentence, all over a dinner conversation.

2. He never minds when I'm covered in some animal something because he's already changed clothes three times that day for the same reason.

3. He rarely minds the long hours I put in because his are, for the most part, even longer.

4. He loves me with all his heart- but he loves God more.

5. He is very black and white when it comes to the grey areas in life.

6. He loves my family simply because they are a part of me.

7. He enjoys the simple things in life as much as I do.

8. He puts his heart into everything he does.

9. He has a child-like, honery, fun-loving spirit.

10. Free Milk!!!!