As a young girl I used to read Janette Oke books that were gifted to me. If you're unfamiliar with her writing, she writes Christian historical romance novels. I'm sure if I were to reread them now I would find them a bit cheesy, but to my young heart they gave a vision to the kind of man and the life I wanted to live if I were to get married, minus the covered wagons of course; they wouldn't exactly fit into this 21st century (sometimes my heart wishes they did, but I'll leave that for another post). It was precisely the scene of the newly married couple, sitting in their covered wagon along with their few belongings preparing to go West, that has stayed in my mind all these years. The adventure, the risk, and the act of truly leaving family and clinging to one another was and is absolutely beautiful to me.
I haven't thought of these books for years, but as Casey and I started off on the road, substituting a 26-foot Uhaul and tow dolly for the covered wagon, that scene popped back into my head. Here I was, a bride leaving family behind and setting off "West" with my husband to a place neither of us knew, but would soon be calling our home. I imagined along the way the hardships that those traveling West did experience, and thanked the Lord that that wasn't the case for us. Thank you, Lord, for paved highways! We arrived at our new apartment safely and soundly, and that's when the real fun began: unpacking. Praise the Lord for my super strong and hardworking husband! We both started bringing boxes into the apartment, but I really wanted to start unpacking the kitchen boxes. I knew Casey would be working up an appetite with moving all of our belongings. My wonderful husband didn't mind at all bringing in the rest of the boxes himself, and this allowed me to take care of at least one room.
It's been exactly one week since we arrived, and today was Casey's first day of work at his new job as Director of Faith Formation at a local parish. Casey and I both would like to live off of one income and hopefully have me available to stay home with our children, if God so blesses us. We decided we would like to start off living this way from the beginning, so today was my first day not going to work while Casey did. I have to admit, it's been a bit... different - of course, because I've never been a wife that didn't work before! But really, I've had continuous thoughts like these throughout the day: so this is what this is like? hmm... so I'm not teaching? and there are no papers to grade? and I can go to a holy hour at 8:00 in the morning? or get needed groceries? and fix the fan, etc.? There's so much I can do and get done! I'm sure, like any job, things will get redundant, dull, and/or boring, but right now I'm excited to be embracing my vocation as a wife, and offering up my work of taking care of our family (even if it's just two right now) and making a home - and being the heart of the home, Ex Corde Familiaris - to our Lord who in His goodness has blessed us so abundantly.
Today also marked a new beginning and exploration of new territory. Today I started on a seven day cleanse. For the past couple years I have been experiencing digestive troubles and with that a slew of ugly side affects of which I'll spare you. While there are many types of cleanses out there, and not many I would recommend, I've found one that seems as if it will help me to recover from what is ailing me. My next post will discuss and show (!) more of what this cleanse entails!
