HE'S THIRTY!!

#30: Drumroll please....

Well, I feel like I should have some sort of climactic thing to end this little blog series on--like "Thomas can leap tall buildings in a single bound" or "he has successfully completed the gallon challenge." Fortunately, neither of those things are true (I don't think I'd want to be married to Superman and one word for the gallon challenge: GROSS). So, here goes.
One of the most wonderful parts of Thomas is his consistency. And in this season of life when there is a lot of routine and not a lot of jetting-off-to-Paris-at-the-drop-of-a-hat, having a husband who is constant and true is pretty much the best thing ever. He remains consistent and faithful in his roles as a Christ follower, a husband, a father, a friend, a family member, etc. I like that I can depend on him to remain true to who he is in a cultural milieu that is shifting quickly. I like that he goes 50-50 on nighttime wake-ups with me. I like that he does ridiculous things like pick up our dog and rock him as though he weighs 7 pounds instead of 70 (or maybe 75 now, with all the little treats L gives him). I like that I can count on him to always look for adventures in life and to always find the fun.
I have no doubt your 30s will be awesome, Thomas, and I can't wait to see what God does with them!
Happy 30th birthday, babe. You're my most favorite ever.

March 29: Fun with the seasons

#29, aka Thomas' last day in his 20's. JEEPERS.

He loves the seasons! T is always quick to help me appreciate each season when I'm ready to rush ahead to the next one (although we're both ready for it to feel like spring around here!). This is true of "life seasons" and actual seasons. He helps me to remember the importance of living intentionally without trying to rush ahead or hold on to the past. And that, dear blog reader, is an important quality, and one that is difficult to practice consistently.

SUMMER: Yep, we're rednecks who let our baby run around half naked.

AUTUMN: Self-explanatory pumpkin patch picture

WINTER: My favorite old cabin on my grandmother's property

SPRING: Our Bradford pear in bloom. Good thing you can't smell it--these things are beautiful in bloom, but they stink, big time.

March 28

He's just so dang cute! 11/1/08

#27: Patience

Ah, patience. It's kindof an art form in this instant, everything-is-at-your-fingertips-all-the-time world. By the way, if you consider yourself a patient person, add a kid to the picture and just see how you do.  In one of the great mysteries of parenthood, Lillian brings out my most patient side and also my least (sometimes almost simultaneously!). And pretty much every waking minute of toddlerhood is a test of patience in some way or another. If patience is something you struggle with and want to improve upon, I will happily lend you my child for an hour and I guarantee you will learn something. Heh.
But, I digress. This post is actually about Thomas and his capacity for patience.
I have admired Thomas' ability to be patient almost since the moment we met. He is patient at restaurants, at fixing things, at figuring out tasks, at waiting for the right time for something, etc. And on the whole, he is wonderfully patient with L. Perfect? No. But he tries, and she loves playing with him as a result. I'm sure that this quality comes in handy at work, as well, since as far as I can tell, being a software engineer involves a fair amount of "hurry up and wait" tasks.
One recent example of Thomas' patience involves his new smartphone (insert DROID noise here). It seems like smartphones have been around for forever, even though it's really only about five years. Despite being surrounded by shiny iPhones at work and with friends, T was willing to wait until the right time came for him to have one, adroitly recognizing that a) once you get one, you never go back and b)the data plan would increase our monthly bill. A couple of months ago, a harmonious chain of events happened such that T was able to take my dad's old Droid (thanks, Dad!) and we were able to lessen our minutes per month so that the data plan did not make a significant change to our monthly bill. So now we are "greeted" by the droid sound all day, every day--L loves to imitate it--and it has definitely been nice to have for answers to burning questions like: "What's the weather going to be like?" or "When does the UPS store close?" I almost miss hearing it when he's at work.
Almost.

Let's just say playing with a toddler at the beach is not for the faint of heart. And sand will be eaten.