Today is Father's Day. Even as I write this it is in-between catching a tiny bouncy ball with you (pig in the middle with Liam), the girls are running around shrieking (with joy but it is still incredibly loud) and all the yumminess of the breakfast the kids made for you (with a little help) is covering every inch of counter top we have. It's your eighth Father's Day and we are closing in on our 16th year of life together.

Funny thing when you get married when you are barely out of high school, you don't talk too much about whether/when/how many kids you want. I wasn't one of those women who always wanted to be a wife and mother and you weren't one of those men who always wanted to be a husband and a father. Both of us were just barely out of our we never want to have kids cynical teen years so I guess we believed we would figure it out as we went along, if we thought about it at all. When I hear how people thought about what kind of a parent their partner would be as a part of the decision-making process before they joined their lives together, I can't relate.

So all this to say, as I said when I hugged you this morning, I love our chaos Aaron and I love you even more than I did fifteen years ago - but I sure didn't see it coming.

I didn't think to think about whether you would be open to parenting much differently than I am sure either of us would have guessed. I didn't imagine about whether you would watch me birth our babies in our own home. I didn't wonder about whether you would support them in their own journey, not yours.

I didn't ask whether you would take them on special outings and teach them how to cook and build things and how to climb mountains.

I wouldn't have wanted to think about whether you would put down boundaries, boundaries you never would have imagined having to put down, because you put us first.

I didn't know you would work this hard, at work and at home, yet still have time to be funny and play lego and coach soccer and make crafts at the kitchen table.

I didn't worry if you would still love me as motherhood and life changed me and my beliefs. If I thought of anything it was that our love was strong and our desire to live out the journey of this life together was firm and that you believe in a God of love and grace and forgiveness. And darling, as far as you being a father is concerned, I was too young to know it - but that was all I needed to know.

Last year I wrote about Aaron on Father's Day too

I always enjoy reading people's "things they are enjoying right now" type posts. They are just fun to read, I like gleaning ideas from them and sometimes it's just really nice to enjoy the good and beautiful isn't it? So I thought I would share 'Seven Sweet Things' I am enjoying right now. 1. Reading Harry Potter with my oldest. I read and enjoyed these books on my own but am so enjoying rereading the adventures out loud and experiencing them alongside his wonder and excitement. Reading them out loud with the knowledge of the whole series plot is making me appreciate how Rowling weaved such beauty into the characters relationships from the very beginning. Also how creative she was to set the plan for the whole series from the very beginning. We finished the Philosopher's Stone and are starting in on The Chamber of Secrets. We won't read all the books yet as he just turned eight but I am thinking the first three are okay for his age.

2. Watching Call the Midwife. This is a BBC drama based on a book series by Jennifer Worth about midwifery care in London in the 1950's. I watched season one when it aired on PBS last year and snuck ahead on season two when it aired in Britain. It is currently showing on PBS and was so good I'm watching again. The writing is wise, the dialogue has me writing down quotes and the characters are so real and relatable.

3. Expanding on my tea snobbery. This David's Organic Breakfast has lifted me to a whole new level. A friend gifted me some for Christmas and it has been in my morning rotation ever since. It is the perfect black tea and it really makes the never-ending winter we are having here a bit more bearable in the mornings.

4. This recipe for roasted broccoli is so good. We have been eating it a lot.

5. I have started knitting after many years of wanting to learn and learning very little then quitting. My daughter should actually have a scarf by the end of the week!

6. I have stopped going on Facebook. I haven't quit altogether as there are a few groups I volunteer with that manage things on there but unless I have to add something to those groups I haven't logged on in over three weeks. I cannot express all the ways this has made my life better. Facebook when you quit logging in starts sending you e-mails (different from notifications, which I haven't received any of for a long time.) They say things like you missed a top story: so and so commented on so and so's status. I am sure this is to make me want to log in again but ironically every time I get one I just feel more happy I don't actually know what so and so's status says. The introvert in me feels so freed and peaceful I don't know why it took me so long to cut back.

7. My baby is growing up. I have photo evidence. This day she fell down running to me in excitement in her rubber boots in a gravely area. She skinned her arms, elbows, knees, hands, one knee quite badly. A big kid injury. See how big kid her face is looking? (List this under bittersweet.)

I'd love to hear some of your sweet things too.