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More marketable

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:27:35 GMT

BlackBerry PIN messaging conversation with Matthew from when I went to Park Street Church in Boston Friday night for the ACMC missions conference.

Becky: I just got checked out
Matthew: By a MISSIONARY?
Becky: Well, either a missionary or a missionary wanna be :)
Becky: You forget that I am now more marketable than when I was on the market
Becky: Hahaha
Matthew: Hahaha
Matthew: I obtained a monopoly, though
Matthew: Bought the exclusive rights
Matthew: On all media
Matthew: I've always been good at identifying underutilized, undervalued assets and obtaining them on the cheap
Matthew: And I quickly identified you as a nice ass
Matthew: et
Becky: Har har

Today's prayer: "Complete"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:08:51 GMT

Do you ever find a song that provides a better prayer than your own scattered thoughts can come up with? I love those sorts of songs. Yesterday and today I've had "Complete" by Parachute Band on infinite repeat in my head when I'm not listening to it in the car or at my computer.

Though Parachute Band should probably be fined for over-use of Auto-Tune (shawty, listen), they are otherwise awesome.

Complete (listen here)

Here I am, Oh, God
I bring this sacrifice
My open heart
I offer up my life
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again

So I lift my eyes to you, Lord
In your strength will I break through, Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
I know your love dispels all my fears
Through the storm I will hold on, Lord
And by faith I will walk on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my Calvary one day
And I will be complete in You

P.S. Are we still cool that I took a potentially deep Spiritual post and then ruined it for you by linking to insane YouTube videos?

My Trunk or Treat Costume: #269

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:43:45 GMT

*Update* Hi, you guys who are visiting from StuffChristiansLike! I'm jumping up and down (well, not literally) that Jon Acuff put my picture on his Halloween post. Welcome. Can I take your coat? Want some French pressed coffee? Here, have some Skittles. While you're here, you might enjoy reading a recent post I wrote about StuffChristiansLike, including a list of my favorite of Jon's posts and how my husband and brothers score on the MWL guide. And here's a post I wrote in July that I really like: Sometimes God says "No." If you Tweet, you can follow me on Twitter - @miller_schloss. Thanks for coming by!*

This was my costume for Trunk or Treat at church:

Check me out. No, seriously, check me out! I'm a Metrosexual Worship Leader! Inspired by Jon Acuff's MWL scoring guide at Stuff Christians Like, I gleefully collected pieces for this costume over the past few weeks. My brother Daniel scored 38, for reals. In this get-up and persona, I score 53. Oh, wait, 51. I totally forgot to glue on with spirit gum the scrap of black faux fur that was going to be my soul patch.

My favorite parts are:
-I'm wearing a tie-as-a-belt AND a white belt
-the tattoo sleeve, on the arm holding the...
-Guatemalan San Jose Pinula in the personal French press

And yes, those bare feet are pedicured. Oh, AND there are Skittles in the man purse. Tangerine-colored Skittles, because that is the Crayola color of the Metrosexual Worship Leader. (I think I should get bonus points for the Skittles.)

I got big laughs from our church's youth pastor and equipping pastor, who both just went to Catalyst '09. "Were you THERE?” Equipping Pastor asked. “Because that's EXACTLY how they all dress!”

“You don't want me to dress like that,” Youth Pastor said. “Me in girl jeans is a Very Bad Idea.”

I had too much fun with this costume. In the end, it really got me thinking about worship and actually sparked a couple serious posts I'll put up soon.

In the meantime, just enjoy my awesomeness, and think about how your Halloween costume is not as Holy as mine.

"Running is many things to me"

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:24:22 GMT

I recently read a couple quotes on running that stood out to me. They're both written in first person, though one is past tense and the other is present. Different writing styles, different characters, but both sections give an interesting glimpse into the physical and mental experience of running, and they reminded me of each other.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, page 629
Viewpoint character: Jacob Black

I was running before I hit the trees...my body already knew where I was going and, before I asked it to, it gave me what I wanted. ... The trees blurred into a sea of black flowing around me. My muscles bunched and released in an effortless rhythm. I could run like this for days and I would not be tired. Maybe, this time, I wouldn't stop. ...Now I could hear the faint rustle of the matted leaves beneath my toenails, the whisper of an owl’s wings above me, the ocean — far, far in the west — moaning against the beach. Hear this, and nothing more. Feel nothing but speed, nothing but the pull of muscle, sinew, and bone, working together in harmony as the miles disappeared behind me. If the silence in my head lasted, I would never go back. ... Maybe, if I ran far enough away, I would never have to hear again. . . .

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, page 154
Viewpoint character: Henry DeTamble

I am moving stiffly; cold is unkind to joints, and I'm slowly realizing that it is pretty cold out here by the lake, probably in the low twenties. So I run a little slower than usual, warming up, reminding my poor knees and ankles that their life's work is to carry me far and fast on demand. I can feel the cold dry air in my lungs, feel my heart serenely pounding, and as I reach North Avenue I am feeling good and I start to speed up. Running is many things to me: survival, calmness, euphoria, solitude. It is proof of my corporeal existence, my ability to control my movement through space if not time, and the obedience, however temporary, of my body to my will. As I run I displace air, and things come and go around me, and the path moves like a filmstrip beneath my feet. ... I'm flying now, that golden feeling, as if I could run right into the air, and I'm invincible, nothing can stop me, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing—.

What do I look like? The Wizard of Oz? You need a brain? You need a heart?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:25:50 GMT

Go ahead. Take mine. Take everything I have. (Title of Chapter 17, Breaking Dawn)

I was singing the hymn "Take My Life" in the shower today, and the idea to juxtapose it with the longest chapter title in the world - so long it wouldn't even fit in the title of this post - struck me as humorous. I think that often when I consecrate myself to God, I sound a lot more like Jacob Black than like Frances Havergal (the hymn writer).

Take my life, and let it be / consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days / Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move / At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet, and let them be / Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing / Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be / Filled with messages from Thee.
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold / Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use / Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose.
Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine / It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own / It shall be Thy royal throne.
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour / At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be / Ever, only, all for Thee.
Ever, only, all for Thee.

I think I'm a "runner" now

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:22:31 GMT

I used to run. Then I burned myself out on it by pushing myself too hard. So I hadn't run much since my first year of college. Until...

After Joshua was born, I wanted good motivation for exercise to make it less dreary in the Northeastern winter. I needed a goal to work toward. Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers, writes an incredible blog about leadership, productivity, writing, publishing, speaking, and running. He has been leading an initiative to get Thomas Nelson employees to run a half marathon with him for the past three years. He's written some great posts about the leadership and life lessons he's learned through running. My favorite is one he wrote about his daughter's words of insight and conviction that helped him run when he was about to give up - "Leaders Never Act in a Vacuum."

A half marathon began to sound like just the challenge I needed. Running 13.1 miles was a daunting thought when I started out, but I like setting goals for myself and accomplishing them, so I pressed on.

My brothers are runners...Daniel ran track and cross country for the Air Force Academy and Zach has run three marathons (his best racing advice: "just keep moving your feet." His training before his first marathon involved running six miles.). My parents both run for exercise. I figured it was about time to lemming my way into a new hobby.

And wow, it really does have to be a hobby. Training for distance running takes a lot of time. Matthew has been great with watching the kids when he has breaks during his work day so I can run. Our gym has childcare, but I can only go about three miles on the treadmill watching Live with Regis and Kelly before wanting to stove my own head in.

I had planned to run the Providence Half Marathon May 3, but then the only surgery date I could get for my ovarian cyst (story here) was April 30. Didn't figure it would be a good idea to race a few days later.

So I checked when the next Rhode Island half marathon would be and planned for the Newport half Oct. 18. I'm excited about running it in the morning!

Training has been a good experience. A lot of the women in my book club are runners, and when I started training, one of them told me, "Work on your speed and pace on shorter runs, but when you do your distance runs, run for comfort."

"Run for COMFORT?" I thought, incredulous. "Are you kidding me? I don't run for COMFORT!" But it started to make sense to me the more I ran. When I started, my mental mantra was, "I hate this it sucks my lungs hurt my legs hurt when do I get to STOP?" But as I increased my distance (and left Regis and Kelly behind), I found my "comfort" pace.

I started getting blisters between my toes on runs longer than 4 miles, so when my friend Meghan was here a couple weeks ago, we went to Rhode Runner on S. Main in Providence. I talked with the guys there and they recommended thicker running socks and Body Glide, omg, Body Glide. NO MORE BLISTERS. I love that stuff. I also bought a fancy-schmancy long-sleeved running shirt. When I walked out of the store, I laughed and told Meg, "I feel like I have crossed a line. I am now officially a RUNNER."

And here I am, ready to run my first half marathon tomorrow. I'm a little nervous just because it's a totally new experience. As Katherine's 3-year-old friend Isaac says, "New things make us nervous, but it's okay." My goal is simply to complete it. I'm not worried about my time, though I have a soft goal of doing it in about 2 hours 10 minutes. (Which I felt great about till I talked to Daniel for his running advice tonight, and he was all, "Yeah, I ran 17 miles the other day in about an hour 45...") He's going to help me train over the winter for the Providence half marathon in May. I don't have a desire to run a full marathon, like, ever, but I'll get through the race tomorrow and see how I feel. Maybe I'll set an even bigger goal for the future.

I have a new addiction

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:25:05 GMT

Every time I've turned on my computer this week, I've compulsively gone to check StuffChristiansLike.net. I'm maybe a third of the way through the archive of 600+ witty, insightful, heartbreakingly accurate posts about American Christian culture.

I can't get over this site and its epic* awesomeness. Jon Acuff shamelessly ripped off StuffWhitePeopleLike to gently poke fun at Christian subculture. Why did he do it? Because "when we pretend we’re perfect, people see right through it and won’t believe anything else we say." By admitting and talking about the weird, odd, quirky, and sometimes stupid things Christians do, he removes some of the biggest objections people have to Christianity and makes God Himself that much more appealing.

Someone else writing this site (me, or any number of my ORU classmates) could have made it bitter and cynical, but Acuff writes with disarming humor and lots of grace. He can be sarcastic, but never cutting. It's like you're chuckling with the fond indulgence of a parent at a child stuffing Skittles up his nose, which is probably how God feels about His church a lot.

I have doubled over in laughter at some of these posts. Others have made me do that weird thing where you're laughing but the giggle is sort of cracking around the edges because somewhere in the back of your throat you're almost crying. Or am I the only one who does that? It's a little emotionally confusing, but Acuff does that to me a lot with his unnerving mix of nostalgia (I grew up in the church just like he did) and self-deprecation (I've actually used the word "unpack," and now I'm embarrassed). Acuff is a pastor's kid who went to a Christian college and is now a copywriter...sound like anyone else you know?

Some of my favorites:
• Not Knowing How to Baptize Tall People - Just comic gold. You know you've been to that baptismal service. His follow-up post needs to be "Baptizing People in Swimming Pools."
• Subtly Finding Out If You Drink Beer Too - Yes, yes, and yes. Oh, is that a wine rack in their dining room? Is there actually wine in it, or is that sparkling cider?
• Rob Bell - I may have recently described Rob Bell to someone as "not totally nuts like Brian McLaren." And that was the best I could say for him.
• Talk Singing - SO TRUE. Matthew and Dan even invented a GAME about this. One person throws out two worship song titles and the other person has to do the worship-leader bridge between the two songs. Not difficult, you say? Try "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" and "Let the River Flow."
• Christianizing Your Facebook Profile - I recently added to my Facebook Info page this quote: "If you don’t have a quote from CS Lewis on your profile page, I’m not sure you’re a Christian." (Which is especially awesome because I don't actually have any CS Lewis quotes on my profile.)
• Making God Emo - And then I found out that Jon Acuff does, indeed, have a hidden camera following me around. "I’ve created this image of God that is very emo. He’s cloudy and weepy and downtrodden and when we get together we listen to old Cure songs and REM’s 'Everybody Hurts.' Then we write some really bad poetry together and put the Counting Crows 'Raining in Baltimore' on repeat while we lay in the fetal position. Good times, good times."

And my all-time favorite SCL post is Understanding How Metrosexual Your Worship Leader Is. I loved this post so much I emailed it to my family, and we got riffing on Daniel.

Hannah: "Daniel owns suspenders, and can only attempt facial hair on weekends and holidays. I think he is safe. But just in case, Daniel, you might have Becca take up the tambourine."
Daniel: "But I did just buy a messenger bag. So I'll have to get some flannel shirts as a counterbalance. Seriously though, I scored myself and got a 38."
Becky: "Matthew officially got his hair cut in a faux hawk last night. I'm not joking. But he doesn't use any product in it, so I think that's a net zero. Also, on Sundays when he's leading worship, he leave his micro-roasted single-origin French-pressed coffee in a travel mug by my seat and only drinks it between sets. So, again, I think that's a zero."
Hannah: "I scored Zach. He was a -2. If you count 'his toddler dresses cooler than you,' it's a 0, but Zach currently doesn't dress his toddler, so I threw that one out."

The official scores:
My dad: -6
Zach: -2
Matthew: +11 (but it's my fault about the subscription to Details magazine. Amazon offered it to us for free.)
Daniel: 38 (though I just bought him a present that will add a couple more points)

Read the StuffChristiansLike archive. Really, just do it. Make it your internet-time-wasting mission for the next couple weeks. Instead of checking your Facebook notifications every 3 minutes or watching opera on YouTube, when you're avoiding the work you should actually be doing, read StuffChristiansLike. You'll laugh, you'll pound your leg to keep from guffawing at work, you may tear up, you will almost certainly recognize yourself or your weird Christian friend, you may change some behaviors accordingly (yeah, you, the one who overuses God's favorite word when you pray), and then when you're done, you will have tons of inside jokes you and I can laugh about. "Hey, Becky, where do you keep your big spoons? I need to mix up some orange drink!"

What is your favorite post on StuffChristiansLike? Or, alternately, what should Jon write about that he hasn't yet? My top vote is human videos.

*Yes, that's a word I picked up from Mr. 38 himself.

Sacrifice of Praise

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:57:11 GMT

When I was a little kid, we often sang the chorus "We Bring The Sacrifice Of Praise" in church. We sang it in an upbeat tempo with much clapping of hands.

We bring the sacrifice of praise
Unto the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise
Unto the house of the Lord.

And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of thanksgiving;
And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of joy.

The concept of the song is certainly Scriptural: “By Him [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15) "To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the LORD." (Psalm 116:17)

But the idea of the song and the way it was sung feels incongruous to me. For many American Christians, there is no sacrifice to our praise. We gather freely in church in our suburban neighborhoods, tummies full of breakfast and coffee, greet our friends, and then pretend like it costs us something to sing happy Christian songs.

At the end of August, in my admittedly comfortable suburban church, we sang Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name," and it stood out to me as striking the right balance.

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Unthinkingly singing cheerful songs lessens the power of praise. I like this song because it reminds me that some days, life is amazingly good, and it's right to celebrate God's gifts. Other days, life is tough, but we have the choice to praise anyway.

Most of us have not experienced Job-like trials, but God does allow the "testing of our faith to produce endurance." As Western Christians, our testing is not often the persecution that faces Christians in China or the Middle East, but God does put us through the refiner's fire, wanting us "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Most Sundays at church, there is no sacrifice in my praise. But I feel like this summer, God has both opened my heart to the offerings of those around me and given me small "material for sacrifice," as Elisabeth Elliot says, of my own.

I think about my friend whose heart was broken last year, who has soaked many pillows with tears, who is trusting God in her loneliness. She offers a sacrifice of praise.

I think about my friend who lost a baby. Even as she now celebrates welcoming a new child into her arms, that doesn't fill the aching gap her first baby left behind. She offers a sacrifice of praise.

I think about my friend whose husband is deployed. She sleeps alone, hoping to be awoken by a short, broken-up phone call that would make her day. She waits for God to make her household complete again. She offers a sacrifice of praise.

I think about my own light and temporary afflictions, which are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But I know that when I cry, it matters to God, and I'm trying to learn to let trials produce endurance and endurance, faith. Some days "the sun's shining down on me," and on others, there's "pain in the offering." I'm trying to praise either way.

I just saw a video of "Blessed Be Your Name" with an interesting series of human-interest illustrations. Take a look.

Heaven is the Face

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:18:50 GMT

Steven Curtis Chapman's new single Heaven is the Face has twice now reduced me to sobs. Like, body-shaking, bury-my-face-in-the-pillow sobs.

The song, about his daughter who was killed last year in an accident, makes my parent-heart sad. I sympathetically grieve for the Chapmans' loss. I think of so many of my friends who have lost babies, and I mourn for them. I dwell on how much I treasure my children—“the weight of them in my arms,” their bright eyes and big smiles, and the “thousand other little things I would miss with them gone.” And Maria's being adopted from China makes it that much more poignant for me, given our desire to adopt from China in the future.

Though I cannot fathom the Chapmans' grief, the brief glimpse of it I catch in the song is enough to bring tears. I choked up the first time I watched it, going through those mother-feelings. But the sobbing comes from a deeper place in my heart. When I watched it again, the timbre of desperate hope infusing the song—the pain and joy warring in his voice as it breaks at the edges—took my breath away, and I absolutely fell to pieces.

While the story is specifically about Maria, the emotion behind it is universal, speaking between the lines past the specific pain of saying goodbye to a child to express the "psalmist's dichotomy," as an Examiner.com reviewer put it: "This song resonates with a psalmist’s dichotomy of loss and sorrow, hope and longing. It digs deep within the pain to find something to offer others; a promised eternal life where pain and tears do not exist and where love and joy abound.”

Heaven is the face of a little girl
With dark brown eyes that disappear when she smiles.
Heaven is the place where she calls my name
Says, “Daddy, please come play with me for awhile.”

God, I know, it’s all of this and so much more,
But God, You know, that this is what I’m aching for.
God, you know, I just can’t see beyond the door.
So right now…

Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep,
Lying on my chest, falling fast asleep while I sing...

YMZ calls the song “Part lament, part praise, part grief, part hope, part wrestling, part pondering.”

The song is about faith. In the ABC article I linked at the top, Chapman said, “We're a family with a lot of questions. But that's what faith is. It's living with the questions. That doesn't mean you have the answers. That's exactly what faith is.”

The song is about grief. Oldest daughter Emily Chapman said, “Grief is this windy road. And sometimes you turn the corner and you've got a straightaway and it's beautiful. And then you can turn a corner at the end of that straightaway and it's thunderstorms and mountains and it can be hard, even within the same day.”

The song is about Heaven, and therefore, it's about home. I first came across the song when Evita posted it on Facebook, saying about it, “I'm a WRECK after this song...just a slobbery MESS. I love how it's from his personal pain yet transcends to those who need to remember beyond the current sufferings where our home is. Blllaaaaahhhhhh - I need a tissue.” (P.S. I love Evita.)

I've thought about "home" a lot lately. For the past couple months, I've been restlessly homesick. I'm homesick for a human home that doesn't exist anymore. I'm torn between the grief of that loss (longing for home) and the knowledge that I'm only a stranger in this land (longing for Home). I want to go home, but I never can again, and that impossibility underscores for me the unsettled nature of a Christian's life on earth. I've always known this, as an Army brat, but that understanding has felt especially final lately.

To me, “Heaven is the Face” addresses the tearing we feel between Heaven and earth, between desiring God Himself and desiring human things. I want to eagerly anticipate Heaven because God is there, and I'll fully be with Him. And I do. But sometimes I look forward to Heaven because it's the solution to all the earthly losses. Sometimes the earthly pull feels stronger than the Heavenly tug—maybe because we see the faces of those here more readily than we see His, and so the human overshadows the divine.

I do value God Himself over all earthly things, and I know nothing ultimately is lost, if I gain Him. Yet even in light of that incredible truth, these tiny human losses still hurt. This splintering of the heart is what I feel in "Heaven is the Face."

Oh God, I know, it’s so much more than I can dream
It’s far beyond anything I can conceive
So God, You know, I’m trusting You until I see
Heaven in the face of my little girl

God, You know. God, I trust you. But right now...I just want to cry.

28 Things I Love About Matthew on His 28th Birthday

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:32:47 GMT

Actually, his birthday was the 10th. But we just got back in internet-land from our trip to San Francisco, and it's after midnight. In "random order" (love that old America's Funniest Home Videos oxymoron), here are some things I am appreciating about my husband as we celebrate his birth.

1. His speaking voice. He has a very pleasant and expressive voice. I could listen to him talk for hours. (Which is a good thing, as I often DO.)

2. His coffee palate. Our discerning coffee tastes have grown in tandem, and we both appreciate the fresh stuff. (How did we ever drink Java Dave's?)

3. His writing and editing skills. (He won my heart with a red pen.)

4. His willingness to watch endless hours of JAG with me. (We are almost done with season 9 of 10.)

5. The fact that he has actually teared up at the end of more than one episode. (Thanks, The Don.)

6. The fact that he's not going to be angry that I just told the Internet the above. (“My office! Now!”)

7. His joie de vivre. He loves life. (And French, but that's sort of negative points.)

8. His spider sense for tasty noms. (Food is near? Let us obtain it!)

9. His generous budget category for said noms. (Scrimp on heat in the winter: Yes. Scrimp on delicious things to eat and drink: No.)

10. XXX (xxx).

11. His green eyes (and the way they crinkle at the corners).

12. That he creates nicknames for everything. And gets other people using them. (The Turdcel. BBD. Bungleton.)

13. He values children. (And wants more.)

14. He is the best Bradley husband ever, according to my midwife. (And me. Hips!)

15. Same Page Dot Com. (It's dot com!)

16. His hands. (Big enough to carry in ALL the bags of groceries at once!)

17. The way we fit perfectly together when we walk side by side. (You and me / we go together like equality / goes together with fraternity ...)

18. Taking them all on as one. (More Than You and Me)

19. His superior photo-exposing skills. (“Expose yourself to art!”)

20. His ability to command a crowd and serve as the socio-emotional leader of any group. (Also that he taught me the term socio-emotional.)

21. He is man enough to read one of the Twilight books, just because I asked him to. (Though he did refuse to make out with me in a meadow, worried that it might lead to my asking him to ice down his lips before kissing and apply body glitter before going outside.)

22. The way he loves his mother. They say to look at how a man treats his mother, because that's how he'll treat his wife. I knew the first time we visited his family that he would be a loving, caring, tender husband, because he's a wonderful son. (Though I do think Barbara was more than happy to hand him over to me.)

23. He baby wears. (Joshua rides in style.)

24. He pushes Katherine around the floor in a box on Wednesdays. And that is his idea for teaching her the days of the week. (Maybe now is not the best time to tell ya'll we're planning on homeschooling.)

25. His desire for us to homeschool our children. (Along with his firm anti-denim-jumper stance.)

26. “Richmond” (“We Dance”)

27. He puts up with the tassels. (Just not The Tassel.)

28. His taste in women. (Er, woman.)

Happy birthday, M! Love you!