Made for Each Other

It took a few glances for people to understand that I wasn't putting names on these two camels.  I thought about it, but these two weren't meant as children's toys, however silly they may look.  And now one is in DC with Jonathan, and one is here with me.  I thought long and hard whether I should put on them what our wedding rings say: "My Love" and "My Beloved" (from Song of Songs) and decided that was too much and too private for me to put on a public sheet being passed around for orders.  But that's what I really meant to say with these silly camels.

The book Jonathan and I are reading, "What did you expect?" by Paul Tripp, relates marriage to gardening, in that when you see a beautiful garden, the correct assumption is that there is a lot of hard work that goes in to making it look so vibrant.  The gardening involves both clearing the ground at the start, weeding out the harmful and ugly plants, and planting the desired plants in place of those weeds...and weeding, and watering, and planting, etc.  This is the way we're trying to view our marriage.  As easy as it may be to say "well, we're far apart so it's hard to grow close" or in other cases "well, we'll have more time when we're both done with school" or "once we're through the infant stage, we'll try harder at our romance," we honestly desire to see our marriage and love for one another grow and are trying to leave behind any excuse we'd like to (and would in many ways be justified to) make.  So please pray for us and our marriage, and we will be lifting up those marriages around us at the same time.  God is good, and he is good all the time.

Explanation: the camels are sewn from the material of the uniform that I wear to work here.  Of note, this same material may be seen on various non-US military organizations because it is the old Vietnam era style, as I have been told.  This is what the Navy gives its people when they send us to work with the Army.  Hooah.

Side note: Yes, Adeline has her own similar camel.  See the adorable Niece Adeline with her sweet baby rolls and giggly smiles where Charles and Charissa post most of their pictorial memories for all of us enjoy.