Refilling Soap Dispensers and Buying Spices

Recently I was refilling hand soap pumps around our apartment from one of those large refill jugs. Then, several days later, I actually wrote “ground cinnamon” on my shopping list.

I can see how these two details might not catch the attention of a typical wife/mother, but to me they almost brought tears to my eyes. You see, as an Army family, we have moved so much in the past 18 months that I have never reached the end of a hand soap pump. Instead, moving day would arrive and we would have to toss a 1/3-full one and then buy a new one at the next place. Spices -forget it! I love my spices, but moving men are insistent that they won’t pack anything open or perishable – so the amount of cardamom and ground cloves I have sprinkled in dumpsters across the continental US is rather sad. But here we are – I got to use all of my own cinnamon! Nearly seven months in beautiful Germany and we are finally feeling established (it is all relative). My 14-month-old son is in a real crib and we actually have a land line for the first time since we have been married. It feels good. As we settle in for Holy Week and I pull old craft projects down off of our kitchen cork tiles to replace them with paper palms and cloak-draped crosses it feels peaceful. I feel great joy for my children and husband that the Army has granted us a few years to make our house a home.

Though I suspect there is still some sort of subconscious adrenaline-junkie lurking inside of us, because we haven’t accepted this new sense of calm whole-heartedly. Now that things are finally settling into place around here, we have found out that we will be welcoming an AWOL newborn in late October! Nonetheless, what a nice feeling to be able to welcome this new baby into a home he will grow in and learn to love, rather than cradling a 3-day old while the packers tape boxes around us. Thank you, God. A blessed holy week to all.