This week I bought Natalie Merchant’s new album “Leave your Sleep.” She says on her website that she set out to capture the universal experience of childhood through music and poetry. I haven’t had a chance to listen to all the songs yet (there are 20!) but so far I really love the music.

There’s just something about the album that reminds me of when we were kids dancing around the family room to “Joy to the World.” I can’t remember the other records we used to play – but I remember that song and I remember standing on dad’s feet as he pranced around, swinging us round and round.

Probably my new favorite song on the album is a poem written in 1924 by Nathalia Crane – who at the time was only ten years old and experiencing her first boy crush….on a red-head!

“Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,
And the janitor’s boy loves me;
He’s going to hunt for a desert isle
In our geography.

A desert isle with spicy trees
Somewhere near Sheepshead Bay;
A right nice place, just fit for two
Where we can live alway.

Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,
He’s busy as he can be;
And down in the cellar he’s making a raft
Out of an old settee.

He’ll carry me off, I know that he will,
For his hair is exceedingly red;
And the only thing that occurs to me
Is to dutifully shiver in bed.

The day that we sail, I shall leave this brief note,
For my parents I hate to annoy:
“I have flown away to an isle in the bay
With the janitor’s red-haired boy.”

I’m in love with the janitor’s red-haired boy too!

My mom posted this picture on her blog today and it invoked some feelings worth blogging about.

(First, though, for anyone here in Dallas – I’m going to shamelessly advertise for a photographer friend at church. This photo reminded me of her recent blog post saying she’s offering mini-shoots in the bluebonnets and I love her work!)

This photo makes me happy and more specifically proud to be a Thompson. My name may have changed, but I still carry with me everything that these two are and are called.

Recently my dad reached out to me and WE to ask for some family advice. Not that I was surprised….but He’s still the patriarch (even though we’re all grown up and gone) and still considering the needs and desires of every last one of his kids. There are certain times when you pause for a moment and see your parents for who they really are  - the people that sacrificed everything to get you to where you are today. Seeing this picture for some reason was one of those moments for me.

This one’s for you Ry…WE tells me you are pining for the pad.

I’ve been working on this post ever since our 6 month anniversary when WE and I danced to our *newest song.

Don’t get me wrong - having lovingly labored over this post for more than 5 minutes doesn’t mean that it will be exponentially more insightful or clever than any of my other posts. But it does mean that this one means alot to me.

As I think back on the last year – my first year of marriage – it has been the happiest yet of my life.

Here are a few of the reasons I’ve found this year that Two is, in fact, Better Than One:

- Re-routing the GPS after a wrong turn is 10X easier when you are not simultaneously driving but rather have a designated navigator.

- PTO tends to be used more for adventurous vacations rather than catching up on sleep.

- Having someone to force more water down my throat when I’m sick

- A living space that is not a rental but our own with our very own fenced yard! (even if it is un-landscaped still) I realized this week that when we got married, I had spent a more than 1/3 of my life living in apartments with landlords and cleaning checks! Crazy. Now, I am my own cleaning check lady

- Joint accounts and more responsible (transparent!) spending and savings.

- Always having someone fun to sit by at church on Sundays

- Graduating from the singles ward, period.

- Good excuse to try new things and to change old bad habits

- Magically made bed for me and magically clean clothes for WE

- Someone to push me to develop talents and skills I might not see in myself

- Goodbye and welcome home kisses!

- A good reason to dance in the kitchen

- Practice for retirement as professional B&B critics

- Holding hands at Thunderbird rollerskating

- Courtside tickets to the NCAA Bball tourney and twice the volume of Cougar cheers!

Thanks to WE for a fantastic first year! Can’t wait for the many more to come!

(*Don’t worry, we haven’t ditched ‘Someone to Fall Back On’ – but in this era of digital playlists and mobile, downloaded hits…I’m pretty sure we can claim more than one as our own)

Well, last night for the first night ever in our 11 months of matrimony… (more…)

After a week of surprises and snow days, I just want to say here’s to My Valentine!

I love you way past the moon, WE!

I’ve been on hiatus from blogging for the winter But now that I’m back I want to hit you with a big one. As I like to put it, “Go big or go home!”

Over the past month, I’ve had something on my mind and I’m going to try and put it in words. I want to write about God as a Father. I haven’t written much about religion on my blog – not because it’s not important to me but it’s sometimes fairly difficult to verbalize – especially to the impersonal, faceless land of bloggerdom. But I’m going to try and if anyone reads this, I hope they have a chance to pause and consider their own understanding of God (existence, attributes, character, role, etc.) as I have had the chance to do the last few weeks.

This all started one morning when I was listening to NPR on the radio (as I often do) on my way to work. Only this time, I was struggling to see the road as my eyes welled up with water. I was listening to a detailed report about the death toll in Haiti and the destitute survivors left to fight for food and shelter. I heard about tens of thousands of bodies piled in the streets and chaos everywhere. I asked myself – where is God in all this?

That night, WE and I went on a date to the DSO. As if my morning wasn’t enough, we then experienced Franz Schmidt’s Symphony No. 4, otherwise known as “A Requiem for my Daughter.” Schmidt, a widower, wrote this haunting piece shortly after the death of his only daughter – who died unexpectedly giving birth to a grandchild. Almost as a metaphor for life, the piece starts how it ends with the mourning cry of the trumpet. In between, there’s 40 minutes of beautiful orchestra – nonetheless heavy, including a more upbeat funeral march in the middle.

I don’t necessarily blame anyone who may at some time wonder if there is a God. And if so, why so much pain and suffering? What could be so great about life for the innocent child who just lost his mother and father? Surely, if God exists, what I’m experiencing now must be punishment because an all-powerful Being could have stopped this from happening, right? And if God loved me, wouldn’t He have made some way to stop this?

Last Saturday, I attended a baptism of a 16-year-old girl I know. She had decided that she wanted to enter the waters of baptism and thus, be associated with the name of Christ promising to her unseen God a life different that the one she had lead up until then. I asked myself – what made her want such a drastic change and commitment? Could this be one of the most proud and happy moments a Father in Heaven could have for his trusting child? After the ceremony as the guests waited for her to finish changing into dry clothes, we listened to an audio clip about Jesus Christ. It covered the ministry, final week, and resurrection. I found online a portion of the clip that seemed to be etched in my mind as I listened:

In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always sought–His Father. “Abba,” He cried, “Papa,” or from the lips of a younger child, “Daddy.”

This is such a personal moment it almost seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the night–together.

I  remember my mission president kneeling in prayer with me and offering up to God his desires in Bulgarian. President Johnson rarely used the formal word for Father – rather he preferred to say  ’татко’ – meaning ‘Papa’ especially mid-sentence when he seemed to be pleading more than just asking.

I came to the conclusion that some children trust their parents and some parents trust their children. This trust allows for the relationship to withstand it’s fair share – and it’s trust, or faith, or hope, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it that allows us to make it through the night together.

Everything is falling into place for Christmas this year – shopping is mostly done, the house is getting cleaned as we speak, WE and I are watching EVERY Christmas Special known to man, and then after Christmas we’ll have a house full of family to entertain! I splurged and bought some table linens to match our wedding china that we haven’t used yet – so we’re excited to give everyone the full treatment too. I’ve been stealing Christmas recipes/ideas off my old roommate’s blog and my friend in the YW presidency that makes a killer gingerbread cookie. (I haven’t told WE this yet but I decided that I’m going to be in charge of all the desserts and he can do all the meals!) We’ve already done all of our special musical numbers and concerts. Everyone is gone at work so I can finally get some quiet time to finish all the little this’ and thats. I posted my e-Christmas card this week. I’ve lost a pound a week for the last three weeks (hey, gotta prepare for those gluttonous holidays you know!) We are going to a Dallas Stars game this after noon (vs Detroit) with some friends.

AND

now all I really want for Christmas is SNOW!

Well, WE and I officially have the Christmas Cheer!

We finished putting up the outside lights last night (Ha, I got up on the roof but got too scared to finish all but one section so we had to go get the Ricks’ extension ladder – weak sauce! I know. But hey, it was cold and windy too). Aside from being out in the freezing cold alot this weekend (two late night co-ed softball games and an Evening Song Christmas concert at the West Village Mall downtown) we also watched our first Christmas Special. This was the cherry on top for WE since he has such fond memories of watching Specials as a kid.

I also stayed up late last night making my Christmas gift for my picked name on my side of the family. (TLS – if you are reading – your gift is in the mail and should arrive this week!) My family decides to keep the name-picking a surprise – so I can’t tell who it is for. But it’s definitely the little things that make Christmas so much fun.

For instance, I decided to put up both of our Christmas trees this year (WE and I both brought one into the marriage). The nicer tree is in the front room with all the super pretty red and gold ornaments. The Charlie-Brown-ish tree we put up in the family room. But the best part was pulling out my Christmas ornament box that Mom had saved all those years and putting them all on that tree. It’s a first and I had a fun time laughing at all the Little Mermaid, Fievel Goes West, Precious Moments, and Primary Popsicle stick ornaments that somehow have lasted. My favorite was a rotating ornament with a little mouse dunking a basketball. =)

I also made WE try some of my favorite herbal tea from Bulgaria last night. Just the smell reminds me of my winter spent there and brings floods of good memories. I don’t think WE appreciated it as much as I did – but when you add a spoon and a half of sugar and a slice of lemon to the tea – the flavor is absolutely perrrrfect! (PS. Celestial Seasonings comes no where close to this stuff and in fact – I don’t think that we even have the fruity herb in the tea here in the U.S. – or at least not that I know of. )

So I say bring on the cheer. There’s plenty of good to go around and it’s always fun to celebrate the most Good of all – that is the life and mission of Jesus Christ.

Here’s a fabulous rendition of “The Shepherd’s Carol” that I just LOVE. “Our love, our hearts, ourselves – we give to your Son.”

WE and I drove through the great state of Kansas on our way to Colorado this weekend. We got a kick out of the propaganda billboards – most of which mentioned Jesus in some way, shape, or form.

But my favorite, however, was the huge billboard declaring

“Happiness is a Crock of Beans!”

On our way back from CO, we streamed the BYU vs Utah game on WE’s iPhone. So that was pretty exciting. I actually turned it off right after the game even though WE insisted we listen to the post-game and revel in the victory. I’m kind of glad that we didn’t listen considering M. Hall’s super poor post-game performance (not to mention the 4th qtr). Not that I condone the crazy fans that do horribly mean things to the opposing fans during this the most unholy of ‘holy wars’, but I certainly don’t think that “making it personal” is a justifiable excuse for using the h*** word I do agree with Bronco – that M. Hall let out his emotions – but “speaking from the heart?!” Come on.

We also practiced notes for our upcoming choral Christmas performances. Check out our 2009 winter Evening Song performance schedule here.

And we started an all-comprehensive study on parenting. (Everyone always says that you’re never ready to be a parent, but I think this is THE #1 most popular excuse for NOT preparing) ***Note: We are currently accepting recommendations on great reads***

Of the books and articles that we have read so far, this one about helicopter parents I found particularly interesting. And for the funniest thing I’ve read so far, here’s a summary of the anti-beatitudes found in a book written by one of my old college professors.

Beatitudes for an Unhappy Family:

1. Blessed are they who tell the truth 99 percent of the time, for they shall be known as “basically” honest people.

2. Blessed are the deceitful, for they shall avoid disappointing others.

3. Blessed are they who use sarcasm, for they shall be known as funny and humorous people.

4. Blessed are the critical, for they shall look good in the eyes of others. Yea, confess thy spouse’s sins.

5. Blessed are the selfish for they shall have the most toys at the end.

6. Blessed are they who shout the loudest, for they shall be heard.

7. Blessed are they who are right, for they shall win arguments.

8. Blessed are they who insist on getting their own way, for they shall obtain their independence.

9. Blessed are they who swear for effect, for they shall influence others.

10. Blessed are they who are the biggest, for they can intimidate others with their size. After all, might makes right.

However humorous, unfortunately for most of us, these come a little too close for comfort and are good reminders of what NOT to be.