Today Ray and I have been married 21 years! We gave each other a "Happy Anniversary!" hug first thing, and he just came into my office to kiss me with the same declaration.
Since I've been rather home-bound lately, awaiting news about medical tests that will reveal how to get me stronger again, (and I have no doubt we will discover that so I can go on doing my passion--bringing hope and God's love to others through speaking, singing, and writing--and because I have engagements to fill)I designed and wrote my own card for Ray! I've never done that before. Shhhhh. . . he doesn't know it yet!
I was looking through digital photos from trips we've taken in order to print one on the card front, and oh, the memories that flooded over me. We've taken some great trips together: Sweden while visiting with our dear Inga and other friends, Victoria, then San Juan Island where we watched orca whales for two hours and a sunset that could never be captured by film, skiing at Whistler, Canada and the drive there, the "Ice Fields Highway" between Banff and Jasper in Canada viewing magnificent glaciers and wildlife, the Colorado Rocky Mountains by jeep and convertible while gasping anew at--no matter how often we see them--the ranges of peaks and mountain goats, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, even marmots. Oh, and there's quaint Leavenworth, WA, the Bavarian town which we love, the Oregon coastline that defies description in it's original beauty around every bend of Highway 101, riding our tandem along the California coastline, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Bryce, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and Big Sur and so many places in California we've loved to camp at or visit, and going to the Christian Booksellers convention for me to autograph my memoir for people . . . I could go on and on about the cities we've seen together: NYC, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, etc. And the planned trip to Nigeria . . .
But there are day-to-day celebrations I want to revel in as well.
We have a five foot rule--whenever you're within that distance you "get to" (not "have to") kiss the other.
We always tell each other over the phone something (well, it's kinda private) and end with "I love you."
And we never leave the house without kissing and saying "I love you" to the one staying behind.
Then there's our coffee. While we were dating I delivered Ray's coffee mug to him saying, "Coffee Lady" while I kissed him. We've been bringing each other coffee that way throughout all of these years.
At bedtime we stand together with Ray's arm around me and brush our teeth--I know, it sounds corny as can be, but it's another ritual we share.
And when Ray brings our cat Jaz into the bedroom in his arms like a baby at night and we begin to sing the song "Hitchin' a Ride" to him we laugh.(Why in the world this cat loves this ritual is beyond us--it just happened because songs pop out of our minds into our mouths and we sing them, and now this remains a fun thing for all three of us!)
Life is good because of the little things, you know. Yes, we want to get out there and take a trip together, but the little things like sitting next to each other on our double recliner while reading our respective books is heart-warming.
And so on this July 3 I celebrate life with a wonderful (though imperfect) guy who loves me--as imperfect as I am. I hope we have many years of adventure ahead together!
Bless you this weekend as you celebrate our nation's independence. And bless you as you remember other things to celebrate!
Until next time,
Jo
Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Hi, this is Jo Franz finally writing again!
It's been awhile since I've written--way too long! Let me explain...
Have you ever planned something so exciting, so worthwhile, so overly-time consuming you could hardly wait?
Well, that's what Ray and I were doing. Planning. Preparing. Scheduling. Then came getting a house sitter (and of course, since we have a cat who is totally a lover--I know, I know, you dog-lovers can't imagine a cat like Jaz, but he is a lover of being loved--the house sitter is also our Jaz-sitter.) Letting the neighbors know about it all. You know--all those details you have numbered on your "to-do" list.
Then comes the huge crashing disappointment of confusion as it all falls apart.
Our trip in the works since late November to Lagos, Nigeria, was cancelled the day we were to depart. All our packed bags had to be unpacked. All the calls made had to be remade, now with cancellations. All the conferees for the two conferences we were to speak at had to be notified that "due to logistics" it wasn't going to occur.
Needless to say, I cried out to God like Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8 that he was "perplexed, but not in despair." I was certainly confused, but I trusted God to ultimately know what was going on and be able to work it "all together for good" as written by Paul in Romans 8:28. We thanked God "in all things" as Paul also wrote in Thessalonians 5:18 and "for all things" in Ephesians 5:20.
But we still felt sad. Again, like Paul, who was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2Corinthians 6:10). We took the page off my website about going to Nigeria. We sent emails to our host, wondering how she was doing.
Guess what? God was doing a work in our lives, our host's life, her husband's (who paid for it all and was the one who cancelled it due to the agent who had taken their money while paying for our tickets with stolen US credit cards, which we were notified had been cancelled by the airline themselves!)
And within a few hours of emails back and forth we had replanned the entire event for August 2008 with a new vigor, a new excitement, and a new agenda--planned by God!
Nothing has been wasted. We have learned about how to make the flights now, and we're all so excited.
Maybe I'll be able to post more often like I had planned all along! I took last week off to make sure the stress of the prior week wouldn't deplete me too much. I even read a novel that absorbed and blessed me--I haven't taken time to do that in--well, I can't remember how long!
With multiple sclerosis a constant in our lives, we knew this trip to Africa would be a challenge anyway. But what is life without challenges? I want to live adventurously no matter what! I can hardly wait all over again!
Have a great week!
Have you ever planned something so exciting, so worthwhile, so overly-time consuming you could hardly wait?
Well, that's what Ray and I were doing. Planning. Preparing. Scheduling. Then came getting a house sitter (and of course, since we have a cat who is totally a lover--I know, I know, you dog-lovers can't imagine a cat like Jaz, but he is a lover of being loved--the house sitter is also our Jaz-sitter.) Letting the neighbors know about it all. You know--all those details you have numbered on your "to-do" list.
Then comes the huge crashing disappointment of confusion as it all falls apart.
Our trip in the works since late November to Lagos, Nigeria, was cancelled the day we were to depart. All our packed bags had to be unpacked. All the calls made had to be remade, now with cancellations. All the conferees for the two conferences we were to speak at had to be notified that "due to logistics" it wasn't going to occur.
Needless to say, I cried out to God like Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8 that he was "perplexed, but not in despair." I was certainly confused, but I trusted God to ultimately know what was going on and be able to work it "all together for good" as written by Paul in Romans 8:28. We thanked God "in all things" as Paul also wrote in Thessalonians 5:18 and "for all things" in Ephesians 5:20.
But we still felt sad. Again, like Paul, who was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2Corinthians 6:10). We took the page off my website about going to Nigeria. We sent emails to our host, wondering how she was doing.
Guess what? God was doing a work in our lives, our host's life, her husband's (who paid for it all and was the one who cancelled it due to the agent who had taken their money while paying for our tickets with stolen US credit cards, which we were notified had been cancelled by the airline themselves!)
And within a few hours of emails back and forth we had replanned the entire event for August 2008 with a new vigor, a new excitement, and a new agenda--planned by God!
Nothing has been wasted. We have learned about how to make the flights now, and we're all so excited.
Maybe I'll be able to post more often like I had planned all along! I took last week off to make sure the stress of the prior week wouldn't deplete me too much. I even read a novel that absorbed and blessed me--I haven't taken time to do that in--well, I can't remember how long!
With multiple sclerosis a constant in our lives, we knew this trip to Africa would be a challenge anyway. But what is life without challenges? I want to live adventurously no matter what! I can hardly wait all over again!
Have a great week!
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