Mr. Fix-It

When I was little, I loved Richard Scarry's "Busy Town", in which there is a character named Mr. Fix-it. My memory is a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure he actually usually broke things instead of fixing them, which is hilarious to a four year old.

Today I live with a real, live, and fully-competent Mr. Fix-it. One thing I love about Ben is his amazing ability to solve problems. Somehow he can look at a situation and figure out how to fix things. I realized this about him after about 8 months of dating. It was the end of the summer during which my dad, and subsequently sometimes the rest of the family, had spent quite a bit of time working on the water feature in our backyard- a waterfall that cascades through the top two tiers of the yard. All summer long we could not get the second tier to work correctly. Ben came to look at it, spent some time walking around and studying it and told me he was pretty sure he knew what the problem was and he could fix it. I was skeptical and a little offended. Didn't he know how much time had already been put into that dang thing? If there was a solution don't you think we would have figured it out by now? However, my persistent Ben insisted that he could fix it, and fix it he did. He spent a morning out there with my dad and brothers and soon the waterfall was beautifully cascading down the rock wall. Will came inside, happy and relieved that it was finally working properly and said to me, "He's a genius! Can we keep him?" Long story short- I kept him:)

Living down here in Dominica with our limited resources has made me even more grateful for Ben's problem solving skills. I got the flu this past weekend and I was so achy and tired. I just really really wanted a hot bath.

Problem: Our bathtub can only fill with luke-warm water.

Ben's solution: Fill the tub with the luke-warm water and then boil pots of water on the stove to pour into water. Get another pot of water boiling so when that water starts to cool he can top it off.

Did that sound like we stepped back into 1920 to anyone else? We already make all our bread, spin our laundry and hang it up to dry, and don't have a car. Now we heat our tub with boiled water from the stove. However, it worked! And I felt so much better after a nice hot bath.

Another example of Ben's handiwork can be seen below in his version of a child lock on our kitchen cupboards:
How great is that? Some twine and a carabiner, and it works great. It keeps our little munchkin away from the propane tank and cleaning chemicals. This is especially handy because our baby can commonly be seen doing the following:
At least some things are off limits! He can't do much damage with tupperware and towels:)

Anyway, I just love Ben and I'm so thankful for his ability to solve problems. I think it will be an excellent quality in a doctor, I know it is sure handy in a husband. Chase and I are sure lucky to have him. I think these pictures will show you that although Chase isn't old enough to voice it yet, he agrees.