9 years

Jason and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday amid 38 friends and family at the local custard shop just across town. Church friends and Jason's uncle Steve (the one that married us) all crammed into the little mom and pop shop and had a great time of celebrating and fellowship. We are so blessed to have such loving and wonderful friends (and yummy frozen custard!). Couldn't think of a better way to celebrate.

A mommy-cation

Jason and I were supposed to have gone to Louisiana this past weekend, so my parents were going to take the kids. Well, when our trip was postponed, they had vacation time still off, so they still said they'd take the kids -- giving Jason and I a vacation from kids. For 3 days we just enjoyed the quiet, and then Sunday I went and spent a few days at the woods and then brought the kids home. They were big helpers planting the garden (sunflowers and pumpkins) and helping pull weeds in the woods (yes- weeds IN the woods. Dumb garlic mustard!) Course, they also had fun riding the ATV and enjoying post-bathtime popcorn (a grandpa special!). Ashleigh said it best as we were leaving this afternoon: "mommy, when can we go back?" I think we may have started a tradition...but I may need to give my parents a bit of a break first... I know I enjoyed mine. But I'm also glad to get them back. It was too quiet without them home.

Mommy Devotional

Copied from my friend Julie. Just too beautiful not to share:

"mothering has grown me in ways i did even know were possible. you see, though i always wanted to have children, i am not the "kid type"... well, more like not the "baby type". pass me your baby & he or she will surely be crying within minutes. that said, sam & i waited a bit to start our family & wow.... how God has blown me away at the pure joy of mothering.

it is an awesome blessing & responsibility to nurture my little ones into adults who will someday spread their own wings and fly out into the world. who knew my heart could love so much? so endlessly. so selflessly. so unconditionally. i try to with my hubby of course, but really, in a marriage relationship there is give & take. a thank you. a smile. a gesture of love given back.

but, a newborn?! they sleep. they poop. they cry. a lot.
and yet, the instant i met my miracles, my heart fell fully in love with them forever. not based on what they did or who they would become, but simply because they were MINE. flesh of my flesh.

and, that gave me just a glimpse and realization of how our Heavenly Father loves us. definitely NOT because of what we have "done", but simply because we are His. He is all-out-fully in love with us. we are His."

5 to go!

Just 5 more days left in the school year! We were going to be packing up and heading down to Louisiana for a mission trip while the kids stayed with my parents for a week, but with recent severe weather and the threat of flooding, that event has been postponed. We're disappointed, but the kids and dads that have been waiting for this annual event have to be crushed. If you're the praying kind, please remember these over 750 kids and their fathers in prison.