Poem

The Canonization

by John Donne

For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love ;
Or chide my palsy, or my gout ;
My five gray hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout ;
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve ;
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his Honour, or his Grace ;
Or the king's real, or his stamp'd face
Contemplate ; what you will, approve,
So you will let me love.

Alas ! alas ! who's injured by my love?
What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd?
Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground?
When did my colds a forward spring remove?
When did the heats which my veins fill
Add one more to the plaguy bill?
Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
Litigious men, which quarrels move,
Though she and I do love.

Call's what you will, we are made such by love ;
Call her one, me another fly,
We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us find th' eagle and the dove.
The phoenix riddle hath more wit
By us ; we two being one, are it ;
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,
And if unfit for tomb or hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse ;
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms ;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
And by these hymns, all shall approve
Us canonized for love ;

And thus invoke us, "You, whom reverend love
Made one another's hermitage ;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage ;
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
Into the glasses of your eyes ;
So made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomize—
Countries, towns, courts beg from above
A pattern of your love."

My English professor in college would scoff at the description at W*ikipedia, but it's a blunt analysis. I never thought I would enjoy deciphering poetry. Life has a funny way of turning the tables, doesn't it?

And, at this point I am reading your mind..."what is she thinking posting poetry when we want a glimpse into the house?!" Ha! Here's a little tidbit...

Wait for it.

You guessed it! We picked out kitchen cabinetry several weeks ago and it's scheduled to arrive the first week of May. Yikes, that's soon. My husbands folks were down all last week to help us with drywalling, etc. I can't believe we are to the point where we are sanding and priming! The end is in sight! Now, if we can all make it through this last month we're in the clear. That's a big I.F. Reinforcement will arrive in the form of my mom in a couple of weeks. "I think we can, I think we can, I think we can..."

Friday

Today was better...much better. Library reading time with little man and several of his friends, then Kroger for some yummy foods, then lunch with 2 special friends. Not finished yet! Then on to the farm to enjoy the beautiful day (with a little insulation dust floating around too) and my family. Needless to say my boy and I were wiped o.u.t. We came home, ate, and fell into bed. Totally made up for yesterday!

This.Is.My.Day.

So, I don't journal, though I probably should. You'll say the same after reading what I have to say next. Two facts: first, my personality type is an INFJ, & second, certain personality traits just come with my genes. Therefore I have accepted several facts about myself. It takes me a little while to process some things. I think I've come a long way in defeating the ugly monster in me that wants to lash out when I'm hit with something that I just can't deal with...like a bad driver in front of me, or an instant change in plans that life throws my way. And, I have accepted the fact that I am a loner. I just like my privacy, my alone time (which I can't have too much of), and I have had none of that since becoming a mommy. Now, please don't read into that. It is what it is. I love mommyhood. But, I cherich (and I know we all do) those several hours in the evening after I've put little man to bed. I can do what I'm doing now, blog. Or, I can surf on the www. Or I can veg in front of the tv. Or, I can sit on the porch in the cool evening and read a good book. It takes so much for me to break the silence and call a friend. BUT, I'm always so glad to talk to a dear friend and laugh and commiserate on life. I just don't do it enough. (I can hear you all groaning in acknowledgment. Hush.)
On to my point. Today I could not deal. First, my coffee pot acted up. It kept shutting off mid-brew! What!? Oh. Back up. FIRST, I woke up at 3am to little man crying b/c he was hungry. 14 months. Need I say more? Oh, ok, I will b/c maybe I need to vent a little. He's teething - can't see or feel any teeth after 3 or 4 weeks of this contstant drool. He's becoming "the man." Or, so he thinks. It's cute and sweet...to a point. After awhile I'm over it. He's become bored with his toys. (I spent all of yesterdays naptime rearranging and organizing his toys so that it would be like Christmas morning. He was excited for an afternoon and evening. Now he's over the excitement. Geesh.) His eating likes/dislikes are changing. And, while it's new and neat for both of us at times, it's maddening for mommy at other times. I think that's it. Back to my morning. I came downstairs to dirty dishes that both hubs and I had left in the sink overnight. Ick. I am trying SO hard not to do that since becoming a mommy! (You know, the whole do as I say, don't do as I do thing I'd love to beat. Yeah right.) Then, my boy was so cranky today! He was tired at least a whole hour before his morning nap. But, I can't risk putting him down b/c if I don't time it just right he'll stay awake crying. Bless his heart. No, wait, bless mine. I had to go get my blood drawn today for my 6 month thyroid check-up. And, lo and behold I arrive (at John's afternoon naptime) and discover that my dr. has ordered a 10 hour fast for blood work, cholesterol, etc. My hubs made the appt. for me and failed to mention the fasting part. I was not pleased. I spoke calmly, but firmly to the receptionist and told her in no uncertain terms that I have never had to fast in all my years of having yearly check-ups. I then called my husband to ask him if anyone had mentioned fasting on the phone when he made the appointment. Silence. Then, "oh, you're going to kill me." Yep. I returned to the receptionist to appologize for my husbands gross error. She had already sent the dr. out by this time. We agreed to check cholesterol another time. Yeah. THEN, I arrived at the blood bank. (It was a new blonde chick. She was ok. Nice, I'll give her that.) As I left the office I smelled something suspiciously like a dirty diaper. Wonder who that could be? So, we pulled over and stopped to change. Laura, are you sure you are ready for motherhood?! Little man had had the BIGGEST #2 I have ever seen. It soaked his pants, his shirt, all the way down his leg and onto the stroller. I just stared. I was in shock! I've never had anything like that happen (in public)! And, I've stopped carrying a change of clothes (we were only gone from the house for an hour and a half!) b/c he's so GOOD and never has accidents! This. Is. My. Day. By the way...there wasn't a changing area in any of the bathrooms so the lap was it. And, I thought I WAS totally grossed out. The socks ended up with some grossness on them. So, my boy was naked for a large part of the ride through the medical building. Before we went outside I bundled him up in his sweater and my sweatshirt. Cute.

Another little gem from the day: the lady behind our apartment likes to walk her dog in OUR backyard. Yes, folks, you guessed it...she walks him for the sole purpose of going to the pottty. I asked her to please pick up her dog's poo, as our children (many) play in OUR backyard. She meandured on back to her home, dog in tow, and eventually came back with a plastic bag. Ick.

So, are you thinking right now that I should begin to journal? You don't want to hear any more of this type of thing, do you?! I don't blame you. I wouldn't either.

As Scarlett always said, "Tomorrow's another day."
It can't come soon enough.

Joy

Easter weekend was extra special this year as we celebrated the sacrifice of the cross and the gift of our son. Church was wonderful again, this Sunday, and John Weece, our pastor, never fails to deliver the Reason we live. John is sleeping better in the car, thankfully, and we traveled to Charley's family in Shelbyville, KY for dinner. John was pooped by the end of the day! His 3 older cousins (4, 6, 8 - or something like that!) had 3 egg hunts! We even had a round where the kids hid eggs for the adults to hunt. John (and mommy!) were finished after the first hunt, so we found a green spot of grass and discovered eggs, our shoes and outfit. Here are a few pix of the day. We surely missed the family we didn't see, but it was so nice to be together as a family of three.

View from our front porch

Before ~ January

After ~ April

Our front yard is the site for this years X Games dirt bike competition
Didn't know that, did you?

Another view of the front

Another view from front porch

Welcome home!

Insulation, drywall, finishing from here on out!

Oh my!

It's been forever since I've posted! We have been working fast and furiously on our house. Plumbing is in and electric is almost completed. We've done loads of little stuff here and there also. It's coming along nicely and we hope to be able to hit our target move-in date even if trim isn't finished, etc. We're looking at kitchen cabinetry now and that is tons of fun! John has made friends with every single Lowe's sales associate. Literally. They see us coming and smile and wave. Below are a few pictures that our dear THOGL friends (who are just plain friends now!) took at John's birthday.



Taking it pretty easy



Digging in deeper



A complete mess

I think he enjoyed his birthday cake as much as his crowd of cheerleaders enjoyed watching him devour it! Our friend, Sue, encouraged him with, "John, where is your head?" It was all over!

I've also been working on a Shutterfly album of our journey to John. Thanks to Jyll for her inspiration at her little boy's birthday party a few weeks ago, I finally made myself finish our book. You can find it here: www.3neals.shutterfly.com. I have to add members, so send me an email and I'll add you! Thanks to several THOGL friends we've made over the past year, the pictures we collected and added are such a wonderful depiction of Taiwan. We didn't get to travel around the island as much as others. So, we appreciate and are thankful for pictures that others have shared of their travels!

Friends