by admin -

Our Story or HIStory

Happy has asked me to write about this part of our story. I’ll try to do my best to explain what happened when she asked me for a divorce and the aftermath of that phone call. If you are new to my site you might want to read the previous chapters in Our Story before reading on.

Happy let me know that we’d been living separate lives, more than the miles required. I hadn’t been writing her and although I was able to call pretty regularly we rarely discussed anything important. She lived her life in Florida with our daughter and I lived mine in Panama with work and whatever diversion I could muster. We had no basis to remain married and Happy made it clear that she wanted out.

I didn’t know then why I fought the divorce but there was no way I was going to let this marriage end. I  didn’t know Happy or my daughter but I was determined to give the marriage my all and fight for it until I knew I’d spent everything I had to save it. Looking back, it seems so illogical and without any hope. (Aside – Writing this part of our story is even now convicting me that my passion and dedication has waned over the years. What I felt then was extreme sadness and loss but that motivated me to action. I need to regain some of that drive and serve my wife and family with the same zeal I had when I thought all could be lost)

I got leave from my command and flew home the next day. I don’t remember the ride home with Happy but I’m sure it was either frosty or hot but surely not cordial. We continued to fight for the next several days about whether we would divorce, how we would go forward and whether there was a future at all for us.

Happy told you I was an atheist. After the constant fighting and occasional cursing session from me, Happy’s parents suggested we meet with a Christian counselor. I was at my wit’s end and agreed to give it a try. The concepts he suggested to me seemed a little odd but I accepted the books he gave me and read them. Two of the books I remember are: Larry Crabb’s Inside Out and Gary Smalley’s If Only He Knew: What No Woman Can Resist.

Both books had a profound effect on me. Smalley’s book outlines how a Christian is to live for his wife. He covered servant leadership and referred me to scripture to support his claims. I recall reading Ephesians and  thinking how backwards the ideas seemed to me. I threw up my hands and decided to try some of the ideas out in our marriage – I mean nothing else seemed to be working.

Later I read Crabb’s book and leaned about the need for internal change rather than external coverings over the same  selfish heart. I knew I couldn’t be selfless on my own power so I realized I needed something, someone, greater than me to lead me to serve my nascent family. I discovered that I wasn’t the end all be all of an evolutionary process but a child of God who hadn’t been serving Him and couldn’t serve my wife and daughter without Him. I’d been nearly broken by my failed marriage but He gave me the lifeline I needed to be redeemed from within and then he showed me what I needed to to do to redeem my marriage. I became a Christian because those ideas that seemed so foreign to me worked. I tried to serve my wife in the ways the Bible teaches and began to see a change in my heart and hers. It was counter-intuitive, I worked to deny my selfish desires and to serve her and my daughter as much as I could. Something strange began to happen in me. The more I served them, the more I wanted to serve and the happier I became. I felt the flickerings of true love start in me. I have to be honest, I wanted to love Happy and be loved by her but until I met Jesus I didn’t know how. Don’t get me wrong, God showers His blessings on believers and non-believers as He sees fit. I’m not saying that non-Christians can’t love, I’m just saying that its a lot easier to love when you’ve met the source of all love.

Let me be clear, I’m not perfect and I’m not even close to be best husband and father in the world. I get angry and say stupid things all the time. I fall back into selfishness and don’t do near enough for my wife and kids. What Happy saw in me was and is not from me. It is only God’s work in me that she saw then and that I need to let shine forth for now and forever.

Thanks for letting me share a part of my side of our story.

Writer’s note: This is the story of how I became The Happy Housewife. I am writing as I have time and try to publish a new chapter every few weeks. This page will be updated when I write the next chapter. If you don’t want to miss the next installment you can subscribe to my blog.

by admin -

You Can Reach Me By Email

My husband told me the other day I was a hard person to get a hold of… really? I thought we lived in the same house. I told him to send me an email… and make the title catchy so I would read it.

This appeared in my inbox this morning…

Subject: YOU”VE CHANGED MY LIFE!! I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! KEEP WRITING!! ISN”T YOUR HUSBAND A CUTIE?

Now that I have your attention…

I’d like the take the top six here after church – I promise to get
pictures…What do you think,  can you handle the break?

http://www.aparentinsilverspring.com/2009/04/national-wildlife-visitor-center-in.html

I love you.

d

Smart guy, huh… not only does he use flattery, he also offers to take pictures of the proposed event…. a man after a blogger’s heart. <3

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by admin -

Little Things

I like my room, I like the color of the walls, my new brown quilt, the furniture my in-laws gave us. But truth be told, I am getting a little bored sitting, resting and waiting. I know it is what is best for me and the baby, but the days are long up here in my room.

On Saturday my husband took the kids to Costco for free samples and cheap pizza. They came home with these.

It is amazing how a bouquet of flowers has made my room so much more enjoyable. Even sweeter is the fact that it was my seven year old son’s idea to buy me the flowers. He even had his wallet with him and offered to pay for the bouquet.

The days just got a lot shorter with my new view.

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Visit Heavenly Homemakers for more Gratituesday.

by admin -

A Day in the Life of The Happy Housewife ~ Schedules and Real Life

In my last post I discussed my daily schedule. While I try to stick close to my schedule there are times when it isn’t going to happen. Those of you who have read my blog for a while and who know me in real life know that a few years ago my husband suffered an injury during a deployment that left him unable to drive. For about 16 months I took him to work, doctor’s appointments, therapy, and anywhere else he had to go. I was also homeschooling my kids, and taking care of my husband because many of the medications he was on left him unable to get out of bed for days at a time.

Needless to say during that time in our lives my schedule looked a lot different. Many times I was unable to plan because we would be waiting to hear from a specialist for a last minute appointment. It was almost impossible to plan for anything. Most people are not dealing with extreme situations, they are dealing with sickness, piano lessons, unexpected company, a new baby, deployments, or a struggling child. Many times these issues are temporary, but they can still take us off course very quickly if we aren’t prepared.

My advice when life happens is to prioritize. Throughout my husband’s ordeal I had two priorities, helping him and the kids. We still homeschooled but we only covered the basics. I stopped using curriculum that was teacher focused and started using books that were easier for the kids to do on their own. I still checked their work and helped them, but I tried to find materials that were easy to do in the car, at the hospital, or without me.

Some areas will have to be sacrificed. Before everything happened with my husband I was doing a great job feeding my family healthy, economical meals. When I began spending much of my week in the car or at appointments I realized that having one or two meals a week that were not so healthy were necessary for me to keep my sanity. We used a lot of paper plates that year and my kids learned to like frozen pizza.

Try to get up at the same time every day. Even though I was tired and emotionally drained I got up early and went to the gym during this time. I would listen to sermons on my iPod and it was a great stress reliever. Getting up early also allowed me to be dressed and ready to go before the rest of the house woke up. I was prepared for the day, no matter what happened.

I relied on technology to help me with the kids. There were days that I would spend four hours in waiting rooms with most of my children. (That did not include the 45 minute drive each way) Four hours is a long time for a 3 or a 5 year old to sit with nothing to do. We would have backpacks with crayons, books and other small toys, but a waiting room is still a waiting room. I finally realized that is was okay to bring the laptop and let them play a game on the computer or watch a dvd. I have never been a big fan of using the television as a baby sitter, but I realized that if your kids don’t watch it, when you do need it, it keeps them spellbound for hours.

Stop focusing on what you are not doing and find the good. Usually when we find ourselves out of routine it is for two reasons, one we are lazy or two we are dealing with outside circumstances. If you are lazy, shape up… but if you are dealing with outside circumstances realize that you cannot do everything. Focus on one thing you would like to accomplish each day. Perhaps it is making one meal from scratch, making sure everyone has clean underwear, reading a book to your preschooler, getting through math with your fourth grader, paying the bills, vacuuming the family room, or making it to all your appointments. Set small goals for each day.

If things are really tough, ask for help. If people offer to bring a meal or help with the kids accept the help! Life is not a contest to see who had it the worst and who handled it the best. By saying no and not accepting help you are preventing people from serving your family in a time of need.

Realize that in most cases the situation is temporary. If it is not temporary you will need to redefine normal, but most of the time a sick child will get better, the deployment will end, the baby will start sleeping, or the company will come and go. I tend to think about it in terms of how will my current situation affect me in five years? Most of the time I realize I will probably laugh about it, or feel thankful that I had the opportunity to learn from the experience. When things seem crazy take a step back from the situation and find perspective.

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I realize this post discusses big interruptions in schedules, for little interruptions I would encourage you to keep going with your day.  Sometimes we get so worked up with our distractions we forget to just do the next thing. Take each interruption as it happens and then move on with your day.

Coming up next… What my kids do all day.

by admin -

My First Attempt as The Happy Housewife

Do not read this until you have read the entire story.

Needless to say I did not arrive in Panama with the best attitude. It was not what I expected and I did not handle the disappointment very well. I soon found out that there were no jobs available and that the college was over 2 hours away on the other side of the country. (Remember the days before online classes?) I set out on my first attempt as The Happy Housewife.

The problem was, I didn’t know how to be a housewife. When I first arrived in Panama, our house was furnished with loaner furniture from the Army. Those of you who have lived with loaner furniture know what I am talking about. Our bed consisted of a mattress on the floor, 2 flat sheets and one pillow each. We had a couch, a table, and a few dishes. I tried to make do with the situation knowing our furniture would arrive soon, but it was very lonely all day in a nearly empty house while dh worked crazy shift hours.

I tried ironing his uniforms while he was at work, except I didn’t know how to iron. During one attempt I actually broke the VCR (a loaner) while trying to iron. How can you break a VCR while ironing, I am not sure, but somehow I flipped the iron off the ironing board and it soared through the air landing on the cord to the VCR, burning through the cord as well as pulling the VCR off the television onto the floor. The young broke newlyweds now had to buy someone a new VCR.

I tried cooking, but I didn’t know how to make anything. Our dinners consisted of fettucini alfredo, hot dogs, and frozen pizza. All other meals were cereal. I was too afraid to go to the grocery store by myself (plus I didn’t have a car) so our trips would involve dh and I walking cluelessly through the aisles, with our ration cards (remember those) and always ending up with the exactly same things in our cart. Hot dogs, noodles, Parmesan cheese, and 17 boxes of Lucky Charms. During Thanksgiving I tried to make food for the sailors and soldiers, but ended up spray painting the walls with potatoes and eating raw turkey for dinner. I was such a bad cook I didn’t realize our oven was broken for over 2 months!

When we found out of furniture had arrived I was so excited. I could finally decorate, rearrange and start playing house. Except (and I am not exaggerating) every piece of furniture we owned had been damaged by the movers. It was terrible. I was in tears as box after box was unloaded and I was pulling out our dented, scratched, and broken possessions. The legs had been broken off our chairs, huge rips covered the back of our couch, and our dining room table had warped so badly you almost couldn’t set anything on top of it without it sliding off.

I tried to bury my frustration on our now house full of broken stuff by painting. I had this brilliant idea to paint our entire downstairs bubble gum pink. I knew that regular painting wouldn’t look right so I decided to sponge paint. After about 3 and a half walls I decided the sponge painting was just too hard so I gave up. The rest of our time there was spent in a house with partially painted pink walls. Dh said he felt like he was living inside a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.

As for dh and I, and I am sure this will shock you, we couldn’t spend five minutes together without arguing. I found out quickly that marrying someone you don’t know at all, may not be such a good idea. He worked all the time and I was bored, scared, alone, and resentful of the situation. When he would come home from work I would be dying for someone to talk to and he would be dying to go to sleep. Since he works rotating shifts much of his sleep time was during the day while I was awake. I would usually let him sleep for two or three hours and then wake him up because I was so bored. Needless to say he wasn’t very happy with this habit of mine.

After a few weeks I found out there was a library on base so dh took me and I checked out every book I could. I have always been an avid reader and I was actually excited to have something to do with my time. The only problem was that I started to read Tom Clancy novels. They always seemed to be set in a third world jungle somewhere and I couldn’t help but relate these to my life. I would read all night and then lay in bed petrified that undercover agents or bad guys would come crashing through my door to kidnap me. I stopped sleeping.

One night as I lay in bed alone (dh was at work) I was trying not to think of everything bad that could happen to me. Just as I had calmed myself down I heard the doorknob turn on the front door. I completely panicked. I knew I was going to be kidnapped or killed. I tried to think of a plan, but I couldn’t even move. I laid there paralyzed in fear as I heard men’s voices in my downstairs. Then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs towards my room. I braced myself for what would happen to me… the door swung open, and standing there was dh, covered from head to toe in mud, uniform ripped, and looking quite upset. Not nearly as upset as I was since I thought he was there to kill me.

Turns out our car had broken down on the road to his work. This road was notoriously dangerous and dh was not too happy that he was stuck. He decided the best course of action would be to run the rest of the way to work and hope that someone passed him and offered help. Not only was the road dangerous it was in the middle of the jungle so there were all sorts of animals hiding in the dark as well. During his run for help dh fell into a huge pothole and ruined his uniform, became bathed in mud and bloodied his knees. Finally he was picked up by another sailor who drove him back home to get a clean uniform and return to work.

Except there were no clean uniforms. Remember my outside washer and dryer, I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t going to use them. Laundry at our house would pile up until dh ran out of clothes and decided to wash something. So dh and his friend had to wait while he did a load of laundry in order to have a clean uniform to wear to work for the rest of the night. Dh was not happy, and I was not happy that he had scared me to death and ruined a nice uniform.

Unhappiness was a theme over the next few months. I found out that dh and I were complete opposites and not the kind that attract. We fought and bickered over everything from housework to food to music. It was a strange feeling because I was truly growing to dislike dh with all my heart and yet I would wait anxiously for him to return home from work so I could have someone to talk to. Even fighting was better than silence and our fights were anything but silent. I soon found out that dh had a temper like none I had ever seen and I was not one to back down from a fight and certainly not lose one. I remember screaming matches so terrible that dh would actually lose his voice. I would lock myself in the bathroom and cry for hours.

I tried to plot my escape but I didn’t know what to do. No one back in the states seemed to understand how bad it was and I didn’t have any place to go. No friends, no family, I was truly alone. The stress was more than I could take, and one day while taking a shower I started to feel faint and almost passed out. Dh took me the doctor and I that is when we learned I was pregnant….

Yes folks, another cliff hanger. I will try to have another installment next week. Until then, I have compiled all the installments and created a separate page for them. So if you would like to read Our Story in its entirety (or at least what I have written so far)  you can click on Our Story at the top of my header.

by admin -

Panama

Start at the beginning, Part One.

It took about ten seconds once the plane landed in Panama for me to realize I wanted to take the next plane back to the States. No one spoke English, or at least they pretended not to, and the airport was not very passenger friendly. I wandered around helpless until I saw a long line of people and decided to join them, in hopes that it would lead me out of the terminal. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only 30 minutes, I was through the line and on my way out of the airport. Dh and a friend (the one who was driving us to our house) were waiting for me near the exit.

As soon as I stepped outside I was met with the most intense humidity I had ever felt in my life. Everyone was covered with a sheen of sweat and soon I was too. I got in the car which of course had no air conditioning and prepared for the 2.5 hour drive to the other side of the country. As we drove through Panama City, I talked nonstop about how much I already didn’t like it and made sure to point out every flaw and problem. Then we entered the “country.” My constant complaining was silenced by the extreme poverty that surrounded me. We passed neighborhoods in which every house was made from cardboard boxes. Garbage piled ten feet high lined the streets and the medians. Dogs ran wild and children did too.

My shock turned to terror as we then began passing checkpoints with Panamanian armed guards, and it became obvious there was a good way and a bad way to make it through the roadblocks. The good way involved pretending to speak no Spanish (even though dh is fluent) and the exchange of some money. The bad way… well I did not want to find out.

At some point we reached the Panama Canal. I thought this would be the highlight of the drive until I realized that if you arrived at the canal at the wrong time you could sit in your car for up to two hours while ships passed through the locks. I probably don’t have to tell you that we arrived at the wrong time. By the time we started moving again I was a complete sweaty, scared mess that wanted to close my eyes, tap my heels together 3 times and end up back in Kansas.

Finally we reached the base, I was relieved since now I would be living under the protection of the US Army, but of course I was wrong again. The base was guarded by the Panamanians and was open to everyone. As we entered the gate the driver started telling me stories about all the recent break-ins that had occurred on the base. I decided right then I was never leaving the house without dh. My only hope was that we didn’t own anything worth stealing anyway.

As we drove through the windy roads of the base I started noticing how beautiful and green everything looked. I guess 100% humidity is great for the environment. The flowers were the brightest colors, the trees a deep green, it started to resemble paradise and I forgot for a moment that I was melting in the back seat.  Then out of nowhere I was jolted out of my fleeting fantasy. Large cinder block buildings appeared around the corner. They were old, but more importantly bullet holes marred every building. Apparently this base was occupied by the Panamanians when we invaded a few years earlier. The ransacked barracks still stood vacant along the road. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to those who had lived in those barracks, did they live, did they die, did they leave behind a family?

Finally we pulled up to the house. It was a yellowish color stilt house with a tile roof. I remembered thinking it was pretty, sort of… then I noticed that under the house there was a carport that also housed the washer and dryer. As I walked by I remember thinking that since I had already decided I would never leave the house alone, dh better get use to doing the laundry. The washer and dryer were covered with a film of dead bugs and other items I didn’t want to touch. I hurried up the flight of stairs ready to see my new home and lock myself inside it for the next two years.

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by admin -

Shock and Awe

Start at the beginning… Part 1

My family greeted me with smiles and hugs. Everyone was anxious to hear how my trip to Pennsylvania had been. We all gathered in the family room and my family listened as I recounted my trip. Long-haired hippie sat next to me in silence on the love seat (ironic isn’t it?). The small talk went on for about 45 minutes, which was probably the longest 45 minutes of my life. I couldn’t quite bring myself to tell my family what I had done.

Finally I said something like, “Well, I got married.” Then I passed out. Okay, kidding, I didn’t pass out, but I wish I would have in order to miss what happened next.

My father, very calmly said, “To someone we know?”

Long haired-hippie raised his hand and said, “Me.”

I think they would have been happier had I married Osama Bin Laden… my sister immediately started crying. My dad settled into his seat in preparation for what was to come and I can’t remember exactly what my mother said, but I am sure it was nice and encouraging… because that is just the kind of person she is.

My brother sat in his seat smiling…..

Honestly the rest of the night is a blur, and for that I am thankful. My dad never raised his voice, although I am sure he wanted to kill one of us… probably long-haired hippie, but who knows. After a few minutes my dad looked long-haired hippie straight in the eye and said,

“Did you know she listens to Rush Limbaugh?”

And of course he didn’t know that I listened to Rush, because, well we didn’t know each other. Long-haired hippie looked at me with surprise. We had been married for about 3 hours and our first argument was going to be over Rush, this was starting so well.

My dad then spent what seemed like an eternity telling us why we couldn’t get married. The sad part was I agreed with 95% of what he was saying, but because I hate to be wrong, I argued against most of his points.

Finally my mom looked at my dad and said something about him needing to stop talking because what was done was done and nothing he said could change anything. Then she got up from her seat, walked towards long-haired hippie and said,

“Welcome to the family!”

And with that she walked over and gave dh (long-haired hippie) a big hug.

It was around this time I realized I wasn’t going to be sleeping at parent’s house that night, even though I really wanted to. I couldn’t imagine going back to the dirty apartment occupied by a crazy blind man with someone I didn’t really know. Why this thought didn’t occur to me 12 hours earlier I am not sure, but nonetheless my dad made it clear that I had created this mess and I was going to live with it. I went to my old room, packed a few things and left the house, wondering if I would ever be welcome there again.

Part 6 – Moving Out, Moving In, and Moving Out

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by admin -

Our Story ~ Part Four or How to Have a Frugal Wedding

Before reading make sure you read

Our Story

Why I Should Have High Tailed it Out of the Apartment Complex

Why You Should Never Let Boys with Long Hair Take Your Daughters to the Airport

I had just agreed to get married… to someone I hardly knew.

As I left the plane long-haired hippie was not there to pick me up. Where was he, was this all a joke, did he get cold feet, or was this my golden opportunity to come to my senses, take a bus home and go back to life as I knew it.

Before I had time to come to any conclusions long-haired hippie arrived, breathless and carrying a bouquet of flowers. Apparently he took a wrong turn driving to the airport and was delayed. The rest of the afternoon is a blur although I remember driving to the same place I had recently paid a speeding ticket, signing some papers and then reciting something about all my earthly possessions and till death do us part. Honestly, death didn’t seem too far off because soon after I was married (less than two hours after getting off the plane) I came to the realization that….

MY PARENTS WERE GOING TO KILL ME!

Did I forget to mention that my parents had no idea that their first born was secretly plotting to get married to someone she barely knew and who they didn’t know at all? And did I forget to mention that long-haired hippie was an atheist and my parents were former missionaries?

I had only been married about 3 seconds when all of this became very clear. What was I thinking, did I seriously just marry this guy? Am I going to have to move in with blind crazy guy who never brushed his hair? Is long-haired hippie really going to keep his promise of going back into the Navy? Did I just throw away my college plans?

I realized that I had to tell my parents as soon as possible because every second that passed I felt sicker and sicker about the mess I had just created. We drove to my parents’ house, and to illustrate how this is probably the absolute worst moment in my life, even as I type this 16 years later I still feel sick about it! When we arrived, my parents were not home. My little brother was though, so I decided I could tell him and practice the death march.

When I told my brother (who was 17 at the time) a slow grin came over his face. I am not sure, but he was probably thinking that no matter how much trouble he ever got in for the rest of his life, it would be nothing compared to what his big sis had just done. I had just given him a get out of jail free card for the rest of his life!

Telling my brother really did nothing to calm my completely stressed out self, so we ended up going to dinner with long-haired hippie’s family. I spent the entire meal trying to figure out a way to tell my parents that I had just gotten married in a way that wouldn’t upset them. Yes, I was insane at this point. As the meal ended I knew the time had come to meet my fate and go back home (well, I guess it was my old home) and drop the bomb.

Coming soon….  Our Story ~ Part Five or Shock and Awe

by admin -

Our Story ~ Part One

Our Story (as I remember it)

In 1993  I was attending community college, living at home with my family, and working three jobs to save money and pay for school. I was on track to finish community college, move on to a university and continue my degree in Political Science with hopes of eventually going to Law School and becoming a lobbyist in D.C.

My political science classes were filled with many others who had similar goals, but very different opinions. There was one particular person in my classes who was extremely outspoken in his opinions and unfortunately for me was a teacher’s pet.

So I sat in the back of these classes, dreaming of moving out, going to a big school, and ignoring the long-haired hippie that monopolized the class with his personal political beliefs. I just wanted an A and a diploma so I could move on.

One day in February I walked into class feeling particularly down. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was having a little pity party for myself. Long-haired hippie asked what was wrong (I think this was the first time we had spoken to each other) so I told him and he replied that he had also just broken up with his girlfriend too. He then jokingly mentioned something about us going out to which I thought, not in a million years buddy, but on the outside smiled politely and busied myself in a book.

February passed and some time in March I missed a class where we had watched a movie. Since we had to write up a commentary about the movie for a grade I needed to find a way to watch the movie on my own. It just so happened that long-haired hippie owned this movie so he offered to let me come over and watch it one day after school.

I arrived at long-haired hippie’s apartment and knocked on the door. I was a bit nervous being a twenty-year old female, alone in an apartment complex, going to someone’s house that I only knew casually in class, and I thought was extremely weird. I waited at the door and knocked again.

The door finally swung open and standing there was a tall thin stranger with dark mangled hair and a crazed stare. I stared at the stranger thinking I was at the wrong apartment and he stared at me, sort of….

Dying to know what happens next? Read part two here and part three here.


by admin -

Had a Moment

This probably does not happen to first time moms, but someone with lots of kids please tell me this is common. This week I had one of those light bulb, oh we are going to have a baby moments. With less than 12 weeks left we have done nothing, nada, zilch, zip, to prepare for the baby. No name, no baby items pulled from storage, we aren’t even sure where she is going to sleep. I still haven’t registered at the hospital and haven’t made the cloth vs disposable diaper decision. Oh, and we don’t have a vehicle that will fit our entire family once the baby is born.

This week I started thinking, perhaps we should do something! It isn’t that we aren’t excited about our newest addition, we are, but life is busy around here. Aside from some very annoying leg cramps I usually forget I am pregnant until someone else reminds me or asks how I am feeling.

Lists are a favorite of mine, so perhaps making a baby “to do” list would help? The first item on the list can be name the baby. Do you all want to help with this one? We are truly stumped for a name this time around and I wouldn’t mind hearing your suggestions.

A few guidelines for those who want to contribute; we have a common last name so we like names that are a little uncommon, but not made up. Although we are not opposed to a great common name either, we are running out of choices. The name has to mean something, and of course we have to like it! The last one will be the toughest as my husband can figure out a way to make fun of any name. If you are related to me you can leave your suggestions too, just don’t get upset if we don’t use them.

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Afterthought: Do not suggest the following names as they have already been suggested by my children:

  • Tinker Bell
  • Science
  • Lysol