Mister, the Papa

Six years ago I sat in the Teens For Christ office and across the room sat a guy I'd never seen before, but everyone seemed to know.

"That's Chris Massie."

"Oh as in Paul's brother and Wyatt's brother?!" [I had met them previously.]

"Yep."

"Gotcha. Okay."

End of conversation. End of thoughts-about-Chris. [For then. ;)]


Needless to say, I wasn't overwhelmingly smittened by him or immediately head over heels. Not that I can figure out why I wasn't as he is definitely worth butterflies in the stomach.

Now I won't give y'all the whole run down as to how "Paul & Wyatt's brother" became the love of my life over the past 6 years, but it happened.

Looking back over that time, it was quite evident that I was marrying a great man. He's a hardworker, compassionate, loyal, intelligent, and has a servant's heart. In many ways, we when said "I do." I was thinking about how I wanted to do life with him forever, and the kind of husband I was marrying. And then 9 months and 25 days ago, that changed.

No Chris didn't become a jerkish monster, yet rather instead of seeing him as a wonderful man and husband, I now saw him through the lense of Ainsley's amazing Papa! I've continued to be amazed by his compassion and love for her and  the way his heart comes alive when playing with her or even just talking about her.

Mister can make Ainsley laugh like no other.

Giggling as she blocked kisses

He loves to teach her all about life. I'm constantly asking, "what?!" only to get the response that he was explaining ______ to her. He wants to give of himself to Ainsley.

Sharing a peach

Chris wants to give her experiences. When I was still in school, it wasn't uncommon for me to get a run down of the new experiences she shared that day with him while I was gone.

Playing in the Slip 'n' Slide.

From touching grass for the first time to "learning" about gardening, Chris wants to "do life" all together.

Just this past week, we had a tiny--in hindsight--scare that Ainsley was seriously hurt. While I was preparing supper, Chris and Ainsley were playing and giggling in the kitchen as well. Chris decided to "fly" with Ainsley and so he bent down with a flat back and laid her on his back loosely gripping her spread arms. He soared and she giggled through the kitchen.

I'm not 100% sure what happened next as I was getting butter out of the fridge, but as I went to shut the fridge door, Ainsley was turning and Chris was quickly turning to catch her, I reach my arms in the tangled mess to catch her from falling just as we heard a loud "POP" and Ainsley began screaming! Cradling her close to my chest, I tried to calm her but couldn't dismiss the fact that her arm hung against her little chest, not moving. I continued to hold her arm near her chest, fearing that if I let go, it was going to dangle out-of-socket and focused on calming her. 

In the meantime, Chris paced in the kitchen confident he heard a pop and with a look on his face that I had never seen before nor desire to ever witness again.

The thought that he had caused such pain to Ainsley was more than he could bear. I attempted to mask my worry and reassure him it'd be alright as he repeatedly apologized to Ains.

Ainsley's tears soon dried up and I slowly let go of her little arm, preparing for the worst. It hung still for just a moment and then she was moving it around as if she didn't know what the fuss was all about!! It's amazing how durable lil' ones are and how they can bounce back so quickly! I locked eyes with Chris' fearful eyes and reassured, "Everything is okay! I was scared too."

I could tell his heart wasn't at ease, but then, Ainsley looked at her favorite person in the world and it was as if she knew exactly how to give him a bit of peace about it all. She looked at her Papa and with out hestiation, she reached both her little arms towards him snuggling around his neck.

Despite the worry/fear in the moments thinking Ainsley arm was dislocated or broken, I was reminded again of the compassionate, loving man that I walked down the aisle to 3 years ago.

I married a great man. I married a great papa.

My view

Chris' view

-Rachel

As a funny side note that makes me love this man so much, this is a text from Mister this morning: 

I can't make this stuff up!!

My response? "You're the sweetest man I know!"

'Green' Update

Well, a lot has changed in our garden since the last post.  Lots of things are growing and producing food already, and a few are not even close.  First, though, I wanted to tell you about our berries.  It could be a post all to itself!

The best blueberry bush

The one that started over at ground level

My mom ordered some blueberry plants online.  She got about a dozen plants total of 4 different varieties.  I took 3 plants home to plant, and she kept the others.  You have to have at least 2 plants so that they can cross-pollinate with each other, in most cases.  There are special plants that can cross-pollinate themselves, but most cannot.  Before we planted them, we prepared the soil.  I picked out the spot I wanted to put them, had my dad bring over his tiller, and we worked it up.  It was terrible soil, almost entirely clay.  That’s one joy of living in Ohio—the large amounts of clay soil.  Unfortunately blueberries need well-drained soil, and clay does not fit that category.  So we got some peat moss and tilled it in, which loosened up the soil a lot.  We did the same thing at my dad’s house.  We watered them and waited.  We watered them and waited.  We watered them and waited.  We watered them and then contacted the company.  We watered them and then received a full refund because only 2 seemed to have survived.  I have one of them.  Most of them pretty much started over, because there are small sprouts at ground level with dead stalks that should have sprouted.  Only 2 completely died, and I have one of those too.  I almost went to a local nursery and bought some bigger ones, but I figured we would have enough blueberries in a few years anyway with two bushes.

Raspberry

Blackberry

I did put in some blackberries and raspberries as well.  We prepared the soil the same way we did for the blueberries, adding lots of peat moss to loosen up the clay.  I got two of each.  They aren’t growing as well as I thought they would, but I really haven’t had any experience with them either.  So I’m not entirely sure what they should be doing.  They are still alive, and flowering a little bit.  So I’ll let you know when we get our first berry!

I transplanted some bushes to help separate the berries too, which made that side of the house look a lot better.  I still need to mulch it, which would help the berries and other plants a lot more.

Transplants and Rasp-/Blackberries

I did get some mulching done around the front of our house.  I started by mulching around my raised beds, which I think looks pretty sweet.  Then I used the rest on the front of the house.  It was the perfect amount, down to the last shovel full going right where I wanted it to go.  So that was pretty cool!

Garden, mulched around the beds

The garden is growing, mostly.  I did reap some ‘fruits’ already.  We shared our first snap pea, which tasted ….very green.  I liked it, Rachel didn’t.  She’s not too much of a pea eater anyway, which means I get them all—and I am by no means complaining.  

Snap Peas

We also got a huge bowl of lettuce and a small bowl of spinach.  I was nervous about the lettuce because I tried some when I was cutting it, and it was really bitter.  Once I got it inside and washed it and trimmed off most of the stems, it was good refreshing lettuce.  I will welcome any tips on growing lettuce.  I enjoyed a salad already, and I think we’re going to be giving most of this bowl away to some friends.  This is way too much lettuce for us to eat anyway.  We’re planning on freezing a lot of spinach to cook with at later times.  And I’ll be sure to have some fresh spinach before it’s all as cold as Santa’s toes.

Spinach on left, Lettuce on right,
2 beets in the middle, 2 peppers at top and bottom

Pole Beans

Our squash (summer squash and spaghetti squash) is by far the best growing plants in the garden.  They’re so arrogant with how quickly they grow and how much they take over.  I had replanted some green beans right next to them, and I had to trim back a bunch of leaves from the squash just so the beans can get some sun light.  Maybe they’ll grow better now.  The beans and peas haven’t really done all that well yet.  They’re growing, but they aren’t thriving.  The only thing I can think of is to give them more water, but I’m having a hard time giving them a good drink every day as it is.  We’ll see if anything changes soon.

Remember all of those seedlings of tomatoes and peppers I started and then had to restart because our house was too cold for them?  Well, they’re barely bigger than when I put them in.  The tomatoes are still alive, but not really growing.  A couple peppers became rabbit food and insect food, but a few are still hanging on.  No idea which colors they’ll be!  












The cool thing about getting topsoil from my dad is that they used to grow tomatoes there and they used to throw out some food scraps there.  So I have 5 tomato plants growing that I didn’t plant.  And they’re growing better than the ones I wanted to grow!!!!  And potatoes too!  I didn’t plant them.  They grew on their own.  So I’m excited to see what they do.

Asparagus

Asparagus is still growing, getting bigger and thicker.  I filled the trench in the rest of the way with good dirt and some peat moss.  I never did re-read the instructions with them, but they’re still alive and growing.

I had planted an avocado seed last year just to see what would happen.  I also researched to find out if they would even grow around here.  Avocado trees don’t like frost at all.  It will kill them.  And I live in Ohio.  So.  I would have to keep it inside in the winter like I already have done, but it wouldn’t produce very much fruit, if ever.  So I put it outside to toughen it up and see what happened.  I think it got too much rain….and sun….and wind….and became a snack for some insects too.  But I’m not concerned since Ainsley will have one less plant to attack and less dirt to eat come next fall and winter.

Almost all dug up!

Lastly, this is where we are currently with the patio.  It's taking so much longer than we anticipated, but it's still getting done.  We feel like we know what we're doing with it and how to do it.  And I'm learning that I'll probably never do it again without either a lot of help from friends in a matter of a weekend, or heavy machinery.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  They were taken on our brand new Nikon D5100!  It’s a perfect camera for us to share.  It can do with it what I want from a photography standpoint (which I really haven’t done much with taking photos in a while anyway), and it takes good pictures quickly and easily enough for Rachel’s desires.  So it’s great.  Thank you, Nikon.  Thank you, Amazon.com.

And thank you for reading, whoever you are.  (I apologize for the crazy formatting.)

Dear Ainsley [9 months]

Dear Ainsley-Girl,

Papa & you in his fav position!

You have become so. much. fun!

You are moving all about—scooting, crawling, couch surfing, and even walking as long as you have a death grip on guiding fingers! While this is an added challenge for just about everything when it comes to watching you, it’s amazing to watch your development.



Grandmomma-cita & Ains
sporting Harley gear!

You also have a voice and love for it to be heard. I’d love to have a translation of what you rant and rave about, but in the mean time I’ll imagine you are saying how happy you are and how much you love your Papa and I. I can dream right?! Even though I’m sure it’s a stretch [especially since your chatting has sometimes been after an ice cream cone while standing on a picnic table!] I’m guessing I’m not too far off because you are such a happy baby! You are constantly smiling and laughing and playing and observing. We are so fortunate to have such a happy babe to have the privilege of parenting.  And all our family and friends are equally as fortunate as you lovingly interact with them as well—most of the time.



Great-Grandma Clum, Ainsley & Grandpa Clum

 In addition to the leaps and bounds you’ve made in moving and talking, you’ve also popped another tooth through in your gummy lil’ smile! A week or so ago, I went to do a paper-swipe of your mouth [paper, dirt and ice cream seem to be your three favorite food groups]. As I swiped I noticed the paper didn’t move…which is because that paper was a new tooth. J Now your bottom two middle teeth popped up at the same time right before Easter, but this tooth was a sole emerger and it was to the side of your mouth. My first thought was how did we miss this?! And secondly I certainly hoped that it wasn’t supposed to be your middle tooth or we need to start right now saving for your orthodontic visits! Thankfully Papa and I hung you upside down—it was the easiest way to see the top of you mouth that way—and we could see your other teeth in the appropriate places. Whew!Keep growing and learning and becoming who you were made to be--even before your first birthday--but try not to move too fast! Just this morning I felt like someone stole my little baby and replaced her with a toddler!

Toothy smile after bathtime

 Love you this much! I'm looking forward to the summer "off" with you! We'll be clocking in lots of quality time and likely a lil' sun bathing!

  


These usually remain
on your face for 4.2 seconds!

Sunbathing Bug
You enjoyed your first pool experience
until splashed in the face by your
big cousins!



Splashing in the slip 'n slide!

Love,

Momma