When I got home, my husband had no idea what was going to befall him that evening. As far as he was concerned, I would be gone in 45 minutes and he'd have to occupy himself for the rest of the night. We proceeded with dinner as planned (Lamb and snow peas in sweet peanut coconut red curry!) and ate quickly. I tried to keep looking at the time as if I was worried I'd be late. When I saw that he'd eaten a whole serving, I asked if he was done. He said no, but that he'd take more after I left. I couldn't wait any longer or he'd start to get suspicious. I rose from my chair and said "Ok then, time to go." I went to our bedroom to 'get my shoes', but grabbed a blindfold instead. He approached to say goodbye and I slid the band over his eyes and grabbed him round the middle. I guided him into a chair and brought his shoes and coat. After telling him to put them on, I hastily gathered my own stuff. I guided him out the door, down the steps and to the car, where I declared myself in charge of the evening.
"Here are the rules," I said. "Tonight I'm in charge. You'll have to be smart, you'll have to use your brain, and at the end of the evening there will be a prize." I told him that there would also be questions throughout the night. "Here are a few to familiarize you: where were we the first time you told me you loved me?" He answered correctly and with confidence (which made me feel good!). He also remembered where we were the first time I told him I loved him. I explained that for every question he answered correctly, he got two points. We'd tally his points and the end of the evening and I'd reveal his prize. We'd arrived at our destination by that time (very exciting place - Target!) and all my attention was needed to get him into the store without being struck by a car or a shopping cart. I emplored him to run through the crosswalk and he refused, which held up the red necks in a stopped pickup long enough for them to see what was going on and laugh. I waved my thanks to them and we went inside.
Once in, I removed Stephan's blindfold. His face was pink with excitement. He loves this kind of stuff - surprises I mean - so he was bursting. I pulled a piece of paper out of my curse (I think you ladies call it a 'purse') and explained how the evening would proceed. He'd be given a riddle to solve, each riddle would flow into the next, and these riddles would reveal our activities for the evening. His first clue had a series of red and white stripes, and a little poem:
What is this?
We need two-
But you've only $2,
then get the next clue!
Another thing Stephan loves is exercising his mind. Anyone who knows him knows how he devours books and is a fountain of information on any topic. I could see that he dove into these riddles immediately. He was on his task.We need two-
But you've only $2,
then get the next clue!
Anyway, he put it all together immediately. He needed two things, had only 2 dollars, so he headed for Target's "One spot" (where all the dollar items are kept). His eyes lighted on the old fashioned, red and white stripped popcorn buckets immediately. He grabbed two and brought them to me like a child who'd drawn something for his mother at school, so proud and positive she'd love it. I dispensed the next riddle directly. This one said:
They lined your pockets in Europe,
The adorn our walls.
They're probably our most prized possessions from time in-country.
They're as seen from the sky
with all the details of the ground
but the rendition we seek only allows 7 miles sight
and won't let us fall of the edge.
Again, he was on it quicker than fire. "It's a globe" he said as I trotted after him, trying to keep up with his long-legged stride. We walked to the toy section and found the globes, and I instructed him to pull one down. I gave him the next clue, a set of longitude and latitude coordinates. He found the country quickly: Madagascar. "We're going to rent Madagascar!" I said. We replaced the globe and were off to pay for the popcorn buckets. On the way to the checkout we bumped into Mike and Janelle Bradshaw (whom we miss, but wish well with their new clique - I mean caregroup =). While waiting in line, I pulled out of my curse the list of questions I had mentioned earlier. I asked a few while we waited, ("What French dish were you and I excited to get in Paris, but the rest of the travel group was disgusted by?") then paid for the buckets and we were off to Blockbuster. I asked some more of the questions while we walked over ("What was my snack of choice while backpacking Europe?" "What nightsky spectacle were we surprised by on the rocks in Spain?" "What was Nico's one goal before leaving Italy, which he finally accomplished minutes before our train departed Ventimiglia?") He answered most correctly. We got to Blockbuster only to find that Madagascar was all checked out, so we rented Charlie and the Chocolate Factory instead.
On the way home, I inserted a surprise bonus question: I told Stephan that if he could tell a story from our time together that elicited a noticeable emotional response from me, he'd be awarded double points. He chose a story of when we were hiking in the Scottish Highlands. You must understand that in Scotland there are no trespassing laws. Everyone owns the hills. We followed a fence for a distance, then passed through a gate and found ourselves in a field full of long haired cows. Proceeding on, the grass grew tall and the ground grew squishy. We ignored the signs warning us against the path we were taking. Suddenly, Stephan (who was leading) shrunk about 3 feet. He'd stepped thigh deep into a bog puddle. He imitated his response to this perfectly. After a few steps, he stepped knee deep into another bog puddle! We'd finally crossed the bog, however, and arrived at the foot of a hill. Stephan went off into the bramble to change his pants (which, unfortunately, had already been ripped and mended earlier that day!). The memory was so vivid to me, and his imitations of himself were so perfect, I laughed hard and long, and decided to award him 5 points instead of just 4.
We returned home and set the popcorn to popping (three different kinds of popcorn that I'd surprised him with on Thanksgiving). While it popped, I gave him riddle number 4:
The recipe for our next treat:
Add one jalap to a handful of Norse chic-ps, then shred a dec eech.
He instantly unscrambled the ingredients for the next treat: jalapeno, corn chips and cheddar cheese - Nachos! We set them to baking and Stephan readied the computer to play the DVD. We rounded up the snacks and relocated to the library. I asked a few more questions before we started the movie. ("What poetry book did I flip a coin to decide whether or not to buy in the Borders in London?" "What small animal befriended us near the vineyard in Sienna, and what did you name it?" "What gift did you buy your father in the Baumer's gift shop in Interlaken?")
We watched the movie and ate our snacks. When the movie was finished, we went through the last of the questions ("What embarrassing incident almost made us late for our 3rd snorkeling trip during our one-year anniversary vacation to Jamaica?" "What did I earn for myself by befriending a Sri Lankan in Paris?") (Note: Ok, I have to tell you this: In Paris, I ate crepes about 6 times a day. I befriended the Sri Lankan man near our hostel that sold crepes. After a couple days, he allowed me to design my own crepe - a custom crepe - and not only did Stephan remember this, but he remembered the kind of crepe I designed: banana chocolate. This seals it: I have the most observant husband in the world!)
I digress. We tallied his points, and they totaled 81. I told him then that he'd been earning not points, but minutes all evening. He could use his prize minutes any time he wanted for any activity he chose, and I'd drop whatever I was doing and participate. (I trust his discression in calling me away from something to use his prize minutes, so this was safe to say.) He can use his minutes all together or in pockets, but they're his to spend however he wants.
The last clue was to close the evening. I told him that it was in something that was priced more than we paid, and was worth more than it was priced. He instantly identified it as my new Reformation Study Bible (which EVERYONE needs! It's awesome!). My parents-in-law had given me a gift certificate to my church bookstore, so we didn't pay as much as it was priced, but it's unquestionably worth far more than it was priced. I'd stuck a bookmark in Ephesians 3:14-21. I prayed this verse over my husband before we went to sleep. I'll close this post with the same passage.
Ladies, I'd encourage you to pray this prayer for your husbands and dads as well. They can often be wearied and sometimes discouraged by obstacles encountered daily in the Herculean task of leading a family. They need to be reminded that God loves them deeply, can stregnthen their spirit, and do more than they can ask or think! This passage does what we should all always do: pray for a stregnth of spirit that springs from knowing the love of Christ, ultimately demonstrated on the cross. Pray like Paul did for the Ephesians: that your husbands and dads would have "the strength to comprehend...The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge." Paul closes with ascribing glory to the God who can do abudantly more than all we could ask or think. Remind them of this. They need not let that weight of worry burden their hearts. Encourage them to take it to God in prayer, because he - and only he - can accomplish much more than we can imagine. What sweet promises. Pray them over the men in your life as they have the special calling to be leaders.
Prayer for Spiritual Strength
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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