In sickness and in health...

My poor hubby has been sick for the last few days. He came home from work early in the afternoon yesterday and was on the couch for the rest of the day and most of today. It's 5:00 PM and he just got up a little while ago. Last night he even fainted in the middle of the night! He had gotten up to get a drink of water, and he remembers feeling somewhat light-headed at the sink, and the next thing he remembers is waking up on the floor in the livingroom -- we're both very thankful he didn't hit his head on anything on the way down, or break any bones when he landed!

He could not get warm today (even though it's not that cold outside)...so he put on his slippers and a sweater over his pajama top and got a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon, and I put a snuggly hat on his head to help him warm up even quicker...here's a picture of my suffering sweetie:

So even though we won't get to go out for a romantic dinner or anything to celebrate Valentine's Day, I am so thankful for the privilege of being married to this wonderful man and of loving him "in sickness" today. On this Valentine's Day I'm celebrating true love (better than anything those fairy tales try to convince us we need to be happy). This is a love that picks up used tissues off the living room floor, takes a trip to the store for headache medicine, and brings glasses of water, juice, or tea when needed. This is the love I signed up for when I said, "I do." And I wouldn't have it any other way!

I had to share this...

One of my favorite bloggers is Ann V. over at Holy Experience. She never ceases to amaze me with the beautiful way she writes about the things of the Lord.

I thought Ann's blog entry for today was especially worth sharing (although almost anything she writes is...I'd encourage you to read through her archives).

"When the Artist captivates, beauty rousing us from lumbering, slumbering ways, we spontaneously desire to emulate His brushstrokes—to walk and create and live like He does. We kindle, wanting to be like the Artist. To co-create beauty and holiness with Him. When the love that exudes, drips, floods from all His work wakes us up, we too fill with a love that is His. What law cannot wring out, gazing at Creator's beauty ignites. Esteeming God as Creator, knowing Him as Painter, Weaver, Poet, the Color-Saturated, Singing, Dancing, Joy-Soaked One, transforms us in the ways we yearn for."

Click here to read the entire entry... (Some soft piano music will come on, so be aware of your speaker volume!)

I don't know Ann personally, but her words minister to me. What an amazing thing that we can use this medium of blogging to touch hearts and lives, pointing them to the One who gave us the gift of language and, more importantly, the gift of His Son.

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in my home city, and I am thankful to be alive and to belong to Christ!

I may never ride in the...calvary?

I don't know if this bugs anyone else as much as it bugs me, but I can't stand it when people use the word "calvary" when what they really mean is "cavalry". They are two entirely different words, with two entirely different meanings. I was watching a TV show the other night and one of the characters mentioned something about the other one "calling in the calvary", and I could not restrain myself from saying to the screen, "It's cavalry! Cavalry, not calvary!"

This mix-up commonly occurs in the little Sunday school song most of us grew up singing:

"I may never march in the infantry, ride in the ________ , shoot the artillery, I may never zoom o'er the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army! Yes, sir!"

Most kids grow up singing about riding in the calvary, whatever that might mean! And hey, since this song is sung in church, where the word "Calvary" is used quite a bit in its proper sense, I can't fault the little ones for not questioning its placement in the song. But it makes a lot more sense for them to sing about riding in the cavalry!


Calvary

Pronunciation: \ˈkal-v(ə-)rē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Calvary, the hill near Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified

1 : an open-air representation of the crucifixion of Jesus

2 : an experience of usually intense mental suffering




Cavalry

Pronunciation: \ˈka-vəl-rē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian cavalleria cavalry, chivalry, from cavaliere

1 a: an army component mounted on horseback b: an army component moving in motor vehicles or helicopters and assigned to combat missions that require great mobility

2: Horsemen: "a thousand cavalry in flight"


No real point to sharing this with you...I just wondered if this bugs anyone else, or if I'm the only one that notices when people make this very common mistake!