My Ebenezer

Inevitably when two people marry, they discover that there are components of their lives which are irretrievably opposite. The hoarder marries the minimalist. The adventurer marries the bookworm. The extrovert marries the introvert. And so on. The whole premise of House Hunters on HGTV is based on this assumption. You know there will be a person who values "clean lines" (whatever that means), a modern, upscale apartment, and wants to live within walking distance to the downtown night life, while the other person has always dreamed of living in a sprawling ranch on a 27-acre-horse farm, light years away from any clean-lined metropolis. Compromise much? But I suppose the show (and marriage for that matter) would be boring if everybody always agreed about everything. Josh loves to travel. I thought it was cute when he began watching Rick Steves' Europe shows on PBS, until I began to understand that he wanted to actually visit all those places too . I hate to fly, so while

I just love this picture above. We were at Friendly's in June, during our family trip up north for 3 weeks. We had all ordered ice cream sundaes for dessert because, well, Vienna Mocha Chunk with Swiss Chocolate sauce. That's why. So we were all spoons-deep in our ice cream, and I happened to glance over. Seth wasn't eating his, he was crafting a masterpiece right next to me; arranging his M&Ms and Reese's Cups so meticulously you would have thought he was entering a contest. I love this picture because it reminds me that not everyone is gifted in the same way. Noah could memorize the phone book if he had to. Eden could organize and delegate an army of employees. Seth? He's creative.

Eden is like a different child than she was one year ago. I thought I'd record some things about her, so I can remember what she was like at this age. Eden, age 2-going-on-22 Lately, any question I answer with "maybe" or "we'll see" or "I don't know" is met with "Can you say Yes?'" For example;  Eden: "Can we go to the pout?" (park)  Me:  "We'll see if we have time for that a little later."  Eden:  "Can you say yes?" She asks me every. Single. Day. if there is church tonight. Sometimes multiple times a day. She is potty trained! We haven't had any accidents in the last several weeks! Woo hoo! (Yes, I do realize now that I've said that, we're due for an accident.) She can and will boss anybody around.  Seth was watching his Math video the other day, and the teacher asked a question; "If I have 3 cars and then add 2 more cars, how many cars will I have?" Seth jus