Inspiring

Me and the Seven Deadly Sins

My good friend Rita is a Catholic. I love discussing her beliefs with her. The other day we got into the topic of The Seven Deadly Sins. She had to memorize them when she was in Catholic School or for Catacism or something. I really have no idea what I am talking about. Maybe Rita will correct me in the comments on where she really had to memorize these. But anyway, I came home and looked them up online. I wanted to know how guilty I was.

I guess I could feel exempt since I am not a Catholic, but, you know, I’m a woman, so I always like to find things to guilt myself over. And you know I really have a problem when I don’t have enough guilt in living one of the strictest tenants of faith, that I have to go to another religious sect for a good old fashioned guilt trip.

Here are the seven deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony.


I am pretty sure that out of all of these seven, my hardest one is gluttony. When I recently saw this picture when I was eight months pregnant and realized that I weighed less then than I do now, I about threw up. I am typing this now as I chow down on a big fat homemade waffle with butter and syrup and a glass of 2% milk. At least it’s not whole milk, right? I am trying to give myself props once in a while, along with the guilt trips.

I need to make this glutony a matter of prayer. It is time to get it under control once and for all. But food is my friend. It is my friend that I go to when things are bad, when things are good, and when things just are. I especially go to food when I have a child who sucks me dry. Because let’s face it…all kids are needy and they can take every last ounce of your energy if you let them. When little ones stretch me to the max, food is a great place to get lost. I always say that once I am done having babies, then I will be more motivated, but it just isn’t true.

I am motivated now, but I just don’t want to give up the fat grams, or the sugar, or the white flour. It’s a disease. Seriously. An addiction. I hate when I eat gluttonously. I feel like crap. I hate exercising and not seeing any results because I just eat more, guilt free, to fill the calories that I have burned. Because after all isn’t that why I walked this morning? So I could have two brownies beyond the one that I shouldn’t have eaten in the first place?

What about you? What’s your hardest sin of the seven. C’mon people. Let’s help each other feel better here.

There is one thing I know. It’s that we all have weaknesses. Some people don’t like to share any of theirs because they want people to think that they are perfect, but I don’t think that allows for God’s grace into your life. I also don’t think it’s being a very good friend.
It’s not that I want to know your trash. Don’t give me nitty gritty details. You can just tell me one of the very broad seven deadly’s. And tell me what you do to try and overcome it. Then I will be validated that I am not alone in the struggle and that you understand and you will reach out for my love and support as I do for yours.
Don’t tell me to go to Weight Watchers. Don’t tell me what I need to do, because I know what I need to do. Tell me what you do to overcome your weakness, and then maybe I can glean some wisdom for my situation. Even if your pet sin is one of the other six, I think that the help we need in overcoming all of them is universal. For instance, prayer, it would help with any of the seven I am sure. Or how about vacation time. Nobody is glutenous on vacation, right?
One thing annoys me in the blogging world. It is the same thing that annoys me in the Christmas Card world. I don’t want to hear your best bragging. I don’t want to see all the pictures of your perfectly matching children who have straight A’s and play five instruments, and went on 10 mission trips, and have 12 pen pals in Zimbabwe. I can handle listening to all of this stuff, if you just add in one or two pieces of the reality with it.
Consider this my best attempt at reality.
Moms are so competitive. I think most of them will have the deadly sin of envy because they feed into the world created by the other moms. Oh, your kid does that? Then they turn around to their husband that evening and say, “I think that little Bobby should do ballet.” Their husband says, “Heck no.” But because the kid of the best friend of your sister’s sister in law is doing it, you don’t want your kid to be outdone. You think, “Why can’t my kid do that? My kid is good. I want to be as good as them. I don’t want them to have more than me. And you perpetuate this onto your children.”
Well, my blog is not one of those places that encourages envy. What works for you, won’t necessarily work for me. And I am wise enough to know that my kids don’t need to compete with your kids. The only person they need to compete with is themselves. And that goes the same for me. Yeah, you may be a Size 2. I don’t care. I don’t want to overcome my love affair with food so that I can look like you. I want to overcome it so that I can overcome it and feel better with what I have accomplished in self improvement.
Come to my blog to feel better. Know I am on the journey with you. I’m imperfect. And I know you are too, whether you want to admit it or not.
Rita just stopped by. We were discussing sloth. I noticed all the cobwebs in the corners of my home. Maybe I have another deadly sin.
Oh no! I can’t breathe. I’m dying. Oh yeah, I’m not Catholic. It’s all good.

Snapshots

Something I love about photography is that
it forces you to live in the moment.

So many NOW moments are lost without being appreciated.
People may get too busy running around,
or worrying about building up that stash of honey.
Or if they are really bad off,
they want to control everything.
I just like to be in the state of being.
As much as possible.

And unlike a lot of people,
I have to work at it.
So it helps to have something to distract me
from worrying, or controlling, or running around crazy.
When I look through the camera lens,
I can truly focus.
And let the other stuff just be in its state of being.
And it feels good to accomplish something.
Like a beautiful picture,
especially while all I was doing was “being”.
And I love that when I get back to craziness,
I have snapshots to remind me
to just “be”.
Who wants to give me some photography lessons?
I think I have some untapped potential.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

This morning I was uplifted.
I was encouraged.
I was thanked.
I was given perspective.
I was humbled.
I was honored.
For no other reason than
I am a mother.
Because I am a mother,
I am a partner with God.
My children are so wonderful.
Because they came from God.
Therefore, He helps me,
even when I don’t know it.
I am greatly blessed.

Thank you to my God for the words of a truly inspired Apostle.

Time-Out Time

I just read this article for some great new strategies in disciplining my kids.
After reading the article, I thought that letting the kids play cards with the dog was a really great idea of disciplining with techniques of both distraction and silliness. Let me know if your dog is as good as ours at playing spoons. It kind of runs in the Gold blood. Olive would love to get together with your dog for a card playing play date.

I typically am a go-to time out mom. I am a believer in time-out. We spanked Abigail, our oldest, for a while and found that it did not work for her at all. It just made her more aggressive. I am not saying that spanking won’t work for some children, but for me it wasn’t an option because I could not spank without anger. But, the older my children have got, the more frustrated I have become with the ineffectiveness of time-out. I have found myself trying to remember what my mom did with her seven kids when I have situations to resolve at hand.
My mom spanked so well without anger that it was a standing joke at our house growing up. There was usually much laughter accompanying our spankings, which were preferably given with a wooden spoon. It was much softer than her hand would have been. She’s such a softie. Another good thing my mom did was make my siblings and I sit under the peach tree in the backyard whenever we fought. We had to stay there until we were willing to give each other a hug. How powerful and simple that technique was. I think she may have even used it on some of the neighbor kids from time to time. And, now that I am a mother, I realize how ingenious the idea was for her sanity too. She didn’t have to worry or listen to any bickering once we were outside. She also remained neutral and made us work out our own solutions with this effective disciplining strategy.
I was really excited the other day when I had a good parenting stroke of genius. I think my mom would be pleased. The idea stemmed from her insistence that I write “I love my brother 100 times” at least 100 times in my life.
For the most part my kids behave great, but I have one pretty consistent struggle between my two bullheaded children. Abigail is 11 and wants to always tell 6 year old Bella how to do things. Bella resents it because she thinks she can be her own boss. They go at it pretty good from time to time, mostly just verbally, but sometimes they will push or hit.
Well, the other day, after one of these disagreements, and after Abigail’s 11 minute time-out, that didn’t work a bit, I gave her an assignment. She was to sit at the kitchen table and write down 10 things she likes about Bella. I was adamant that she would not leave the table until she got it done.
I was so impressed and completely surprised that Abigail cranked it out really quickly. She even threw in an extra compliment for good measure.
1. She cleans when asked.
2 She is kind to others. (not me)
3. She doesn’t quit.
4. She likes cool music.
5. She leaves me alone when I ask, which is almost all the time.
6. She loves to play.
7. She is strong willed.
8. She dresses uniquely.
9. She takes charge in doubt.
10. She loves to take care of everything.
11. She is organized.
Later Abigail admitted to me that the way that she came up with the list was to think of all the things that she didn’t like about Bella and turn them into a compliment. So, when it said, she dresses uniquely, that started out with she dresses awful. She likes cool music was really that Abigail hates her music, etc, etc.
At Abigail’s admission, I could have been defeated, but I realized that even though Abigail thought she had the upper-hand, she didn’t. I had just succeeded with a truly inspired exercise in cognitive therapy. I taught Abigail how to change the way she thinks. Isn’t that what we all have to do to love our enemies?

A Summer Pace

I love summer because it allows for my Southern California beach pace of life to be lived guilt free. I have NO AMBITION in the summer and I prefer it that way. However I do not subscribe to a belief that ALL people should live this way. To each is own. I apologize profusely to you Stacey if my teasing hurt your feelings. We are definitely different animals, but I want you to know that I believe there is room for both of us in the same animal kingdom. Just as there is room for bees and sloths. You would be the bee, I would be the sloth.

I teased my new friend Stacey for her differences and she recently wrote about it on her blog. I wrote a comment back to my friend Stacey in response to her blog post about being teased for her rigid summer schedule, I thought it was worth a good share.

Here are my feelings about a summer pace. I am sure some of you will be horrified and I hope with all my heart that some of you will back me up on my lazy summer lifestyle.
Hi, my name is Alice and I am the teaser. I feel perfectly comfortable teasing people because I welcome them to dish it back.

It is 4:00 and I am sitting here in my underwear reading your blog. I just got up from a 2 hour nap. M yhouse isn’t looking so hot today and the folded laundry has been sitting out on my sewing table since Monday waiting to be put away.

I don’t have an affinity for T.V. and my kids usually get bored with it after a couple of movies, and by afternoon we explore ideas on what they would like to do with this lazy summer day.

Once a week, I get really ambitious and take my kids to play group and on Monday’s we go to the library. Besides that we try to go with the flow and try to underschedule in the summer to make up for the overscheduling during the school year.
I need to teach my kids better responsibility. I probably need more scheduling in my life and even though I tease for fun but also really think you could stand for some flexibility, I think you are great mom. Everyone needs to be comfortable in their own skin and this is what really matters.

When both of your kids get in school and you are scheduled to the second all school year, you may find yourself on some distant summer day undressed at 4:00 and you may even be totally fine with it.

I love you Stacey and I am so glad you are my friend. And secretly I am jealous of all the things that you and your kids are experiencing this summer. We aren’t too driven around here. Our only goal is to eat one box of otter pops per week.

Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me #1

I found a little gem of a book at our local used bookstore and quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth, McKay’s. The book was fifty cents and it’s filled with wisdom. A lot of wisdom is funny, go figure.

I am going to try and share the little tidbits from time to time, and of course, I will add my opinion to go with it.

Just in case you want to read the whole book yourself, it is called Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me. The author is Cynthia Copeland Lewis.
So on to #1
Jump right in or you might change your mind about swimming.
I live by this philosophy. Sometimes it gets me into things that I regret, but because I tend to jump into it and not look back, I get a lot done.
When you jump in wholeheartedly, you can’t back out. Are you midjump in something that you need to fully commit to?
Me personally, I need to jump into a freezing cold shower this morning to wake me up.

Eric Carle

This will be a post without a picture because I would never ever dream of breaking the copyrights of Eric Carle. He is BY FAR my favorite artist, writer, and illustrator. You may be familiar with his work. Two of my favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you Hear? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I was moved by this part of his autobiography in The Art of Eric Carle.

In 1935 I started school in Syracuse. I remember vividly a sun-filled room, large sheets of paper, colorful paints, and fat brushes. One day my mother was asked to see the teacher. Convinced that her son had misbehaved – why else would a parent be asked to come to the school? – she was immensely relieved to be told that her boy not only enjoyed drawing and painting but that he was good at it. It was impressed upon my mother that from now on she was to encourage and nurture this talent. This was advice she would honor for the rest of her life.

It struck me as I kept reading how this small experience of a teacher praising a talent in Kindergarten, totally and completely shaped the work of Eric Carle. His mother always encouraged him from that time forward and Eric remembered this as his initial moment of feeling talented.

I want to be the person who inspires others. I want to motivate by compliment. I want someone to do something great because I took a moment to notice something small. And what if I can multiply that by 100? And what if I multiplied that every day? And what if we all just tried to look for the good in each other? Would we all live a life that felt as nice and as happy and uplifting as any page of any book of Eric Carle?
To me, heaven couldn’t get much greater.

Noteworthy

* just a note: this is the picture I decided to use as part of this post, it has no affiliation to Adrian Burnett, except for the fact that all the staff live the Golden rule. I don’t want to get any non-believers out there up in arms.

If you live in Knoxville, Adrian Burnett Elementary is the place to educate your children.

I cannot praise the staff enough.
They help me to raise my children.
They mentor my children in one way that means the world to me:
positivity.
Every year I get choked up. Every dang year! “Why”, you ask? Those darn awards days. Yes, you wouldn’t be surprised by me crying at the pride I have in my children. They fair well, but I am always proud of my children. It’s something even greater than them.
It’s this time of the year that I get to be proud of people besides my children. I am so proud of the teachers at Adrian Burnett. They believe in their kids, no matter how hard the year may or may not have been. The last week of school, you will find EVERY child leaving the school with a ribbon in hand and a message that will remain in the hearts of the children who attended this wonderful school, full of wonderful teachers, administrators, and support staff. The teachers find something to congratulate every child for whether it be “most improved reader” or “the nicest friend in the class”. In fact sometimes, I leave, wishing that my kids would take one of these special awards home over the many others that they always get. What better message can a child earn than:
“I am good at something” and “Somebody noticed”.
My love and admiration goes to them all. And my thanks goes to God because he has made it possible for my children to have such a wonderful opportunity to be educated in ALL the things of this world. Every day, they see by almost perfect example the power of kindness and service.

God vs. Science

It had to be something good to pull me out of my blogging slum. It was an e-mail forward. I don’t know if it is accurate or true. I didn’t snopes it. I didn’t google Albert Einstein. I just know that God exists and I wanted to share some good scientific arguments in support of my argument.

I hope my children know this one thing about me. I know God lives and watches over us. I know that our lives are linked to His and that He wants us to return home to Him like any loving father would. So many people in this world act to the contrary and I wish that they could understand their Father like I do because they would never want to disappoint Him or tread on His commandments or treat His other children badly. They would pray to Him like speaking to Him was their lifeline. They would overcome their weaknesses instead of succumbing to Satan’s lulling influence because they would understand that this life is a time to prepare to meet God.

I saw a church sign the other day. I didn’t have my camera. It said, “Look around. God sent you flowers.” Yes, everyone, faith changes everything.

Who needs Einstein when you have children to tell you what you need to know?
I can’t post without a photo, but in the past 6 months, I have gone from my PC, to my laptop, now to LG’s backup work laptop which has just three photos to choose from.


GOD VS. SCIENCE:
‘Let me explain the problem science has with religion..’
The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’

‘Yes sir,’ the student says.

‘So you believe in God?’

‘Absolutely. ‘

‘Is God good?’
‘Sure! God’s good.’

‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’

‘Yes’

‘Are you good or evil?’

‘The Bible says I’m evil.’

The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?’

‘Yes sir, I would.’

‘So you’re good…!’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?’

The student remains silent. ‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. ‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’

‘Er..yes,’ the student says.

‘Is Satan good?’

The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. ‘No.’

‘Then where does Satan come from?’

The student falters. ‘From God’

‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’

‘Yes, sir..’

‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’

‘Yes’

‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’

Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’

The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’

‘So who created them?’

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’

The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’

‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’

‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’

‘No, sir, I have not..’

‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’

‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.’

‘Yet you still believe in him?’

‘Yes’
‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist… What do you say to that, son?’

‘Nothing,’ the student replies.. ‘I only have my faith.’

‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat? ‘

‘ Yes.

‘And is there such a thing as cold?’

‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’

‘No sir, there isn’t.’

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly become s very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’

‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation.. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’

‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’

‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’

The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Flawed? Can you explain how?’

‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains.. ‘You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.’ ‘It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absen ce of it.’ ‘Now tell me, professor.. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?’

‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’

‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?’

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. ‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’ The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter. ‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.’ ‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?’

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘I Guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’

‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’ Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.’

To this the student replied, ‘Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.’

The professor sat down.

PS: the student was Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs. Science in 1921…

The Nine Good Things

Some people complained that I was mean to my husband by calling him anti-social two posts ago.

First, in my defense. I wasn’t trying to be critical. I thought I was just stating the facts. He really is extremely introverted. He will be social and even enjoys being social with close friends and family, but even then I usually have to drag him to their parties. And Valerie Ader will attest to the fact. Since she is one of the only people who does invite us over from time to time.

I don’t think it is a bad thing to understand ourselves and the people we love and to discuss things freely, and I apologize to those people who feel like I should be more private. LG is also learning to understand that being more open leads to healthier relationships.

Anyhow, after some feedback, it got me thinking of my goal to build the guy up instead of tear him down.

Yes, I fail at my goals often. And I do apologize when I do, privately and sometimes publicly. Aren’t you all lucky?

So as part of my apology I would like to practice the old parenting adage that you should dish out 9 compliments for every reprimand.

Before the nine compliments though, let me make it clear that I wasn’t trying to passively reprimand my husband for being anti-social. I love him just the way he is. I don’t blame him for the fact that we don’t have friends. In fact if the blame really lies with anyone it is with me way more than it is with him.

On with it, already.

So the nine things.

But one more distraction before the nine good things. In the spirit of full disclosure and honesty I would like to admit that my husband is far from perfect. I say that not to make him feel bad or to be critical but to make those of you out there that are mad at your husbands or dealing with a difficult marital relationship know that it’s o.k. EVERYBODY on this planet has strengths and weaknesses and the beauty of marriage is that you learn to look past those things. If you are really blessed you can playfully banter about them (I read an article today describing George and Barbara Bush doing just that) And if you are really really lucky, you can watch a spouse as their weakness turns to a strength. Maybe LG will see improvement in me as he reads this nice post. That’s my ulterior motive anyhow. Can you say brownie points? 🙂

By the way, honest is probably the one word I would pick to describe myself. The name Alice means honest – I am lamely honest. Almost like that girl in Ella Enchanted had to do what she was told…it’s as if I was cursed as a child to state what I am thinking and only the truth at all times. But I am learning to turn weakness into strength. I started by not airing a single piece of LG’s dirty laundry in that last paragraph; much to the relief of some of his other loved ones I am sure.

So , really, with no further ado…here are the nine things.

LG may be the only one who cares to keep reading. Oh, and LG’s mom. And of course, you, John, because you want to see how capable you are as a marriage counselor.

1 The guy is smart. Really really smart.

2 He is extremely patient. (What a bonus for me)

3 He is one of the kindest individuals on the face of the planet. (When they say “oh, he would never hurt a fly”, that is a lie, he would swat a fly to death, and also doesn’t have too much respect for any animal he could shoot in the garden, but besides that, he wouldn’t hurt a fly)
4 He is hilarious. (He promised me that he would make me laugh every day before we got married, and he has lived up to that promise except for the days that he has only made me cry, but either way he has turned my frowns upside down)
5 He is fair and ethical, not just because he is supposed to be but because he just is.
6 He is generous. (A few years back he didn’t bat an eyelash when I told him to give up half his meager Christmas bonus for people who had a bigger TV than ours – and if anything has been the hardest for him in his new law practice, it has been learning to tell people that he can’t work for free)
7 He is an amazing father. A – MAZ – ING in capital letters.
8 He is a prodigy in the field of electronic gadgets and random musical instruments.
9 The thing that I have loved the most about him lately is that he is willing to admit when he is wrong and he is trying very hard to change.

But it isn’t wrong to be anti-social and therefore I wouldn’t feel like saying that is being critical.

And while I am still in my own defense. There may be only a handful of people as righteous as Job throughout all world history.