Thankful

Lighting is poor ... quality is not the best ... but oh how I love these two pictures.  I was in the kitchen washing dishes and the rest of my family was snuggling in together on the couch. I had to stop what I was doing to capture the moment. Daddy had been gone all day long and the children just wanted to be with him. Nothing else mattered. 

I am so thankful for these 5 amazing people. What a joy it is to be in this family. I hope they grow up knowing that I love being the wife and Mommy of this family more than anything in the world. My heart is full.
My days are busy, full, and loud. I have moments that I want to run for the cover of silence. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of my life. I just want to pause and have a heart of thankfulness. I want to be thankful in all of my moments.  I want to live my faith in front of my children.
What are you thankful for today?

15 Years in 10 Pictures

Today, I am thankful to officially celebrate 15 years of marriage! I can hardly find the words for how thankful I am for my husband. Our journey has been marked by mountains and valleys, good times and bad times, sickness and health. I can say without hesitation that there is joy in this journey we are traveling! I am thankful that we make a really great team. I am thankful that he knows what makes me frustrated, he understand my stressors, and clearly does everything he can to make things easier for me. The following pictures are just a glimpse of the last 15 years we have shared together. 

July 19, 1997

August 2002
(we always asks each other the question: what did we do before we had children? Well, according to the pictures we don't have of the years between getting married and having children - we must have only worked, ate, and slept.)

Fall 2003

Summer 2005

Summer 2007

Summer 2008

Summer 2009

Summer 2010

Summer 2011

Summer 2012

Our Anniversary Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Rich and I packed up and headed for a 3 day/3 night mountain getaway. We decided last summer that we would plan a 15th anniversary vacation for just the two of us...and after we gave it a great deal of thought, we decided to go to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. We both love the mountains, and it was still not all that far away from our children. My Mom and Dad kept the children while we were away. 

We stayed in the small mountain town of Hendersonville, NC. It had several stores and restaurants and a whole lot of character. We ate out, window shopped, and even got ice cream at the local ice cream shop. It was so much fun spending time with each other and having a very relaxed agenda.

 On one of our days in the mountains, we took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a beautiful ride, and we stopped at most of the lookouts just to enjoy the beauty of God's Creation!

We also drove up to Mount Mitchell. We were able to park close to the top, so the climb to the summit was only about 300 yards. It was a fantastic view and we couldn't stop talking about bringing the children back one day soon. Rich is planning a tent camping trip to Mount Mitchell for him and the boys in the near future.

Did you know that Mount Mitchell is the highest point east of the MS River?  Pretty cool!

This was the view from the Mount Mitchell Restaurant where we stopped for lunch.

Our trip was full of rest and relaxation and the pure enjoyment of being together to celebrate 15 years of marriage. We are both so thankful that we have such a strong and committed love that still grows stronger everyday. We are thankful for our precious children that we are raising together. I pray that God's blessings will continue to be upon us as we seek to serve Him, follow Him, and love Him with all of our hearts, soul, and mind!

A Story About Marriage ...

Years and years ago ... we had a beautiful german shorthaired pointer named Katie. We got her when she was only 8 weeks old. The backstory to that is this:
Not long after Rich and I were married, I started really wanting a dog ... and making my requests known. Rich's response was pretty adamant that we would never get a dog. He went on to say that he is allergic to dogs ... and there was just no way we could have a dog. So ... I completely respected him and agreed that we should never have a dog ... ever.  (how many of you believe that is actually what I said?) That was actually what I wished that I had said.
What I actually said ... or more accurately whined ... is that surely you would get used to the dog after a while. I've heard that you can be allergic to cats or dogs ... but can get used to your own pet and not be allergic to it anymore.
It was an on going fight in our marriage for many months and no agreement was going to be made! I finally decided that I would just pray that either God would change his heart or mine.  I also silently made a decision that I would not mention the word dog again. About 6 months later, out of the blue, Rich said that he thought that we could start thinking about getting a dog. I was shocked! He went on to say ... as long as it's a german shorthaired pointer. About 3 months after that, we had our dog!

This dog that I had wanted for so long ... was Rich's dog. She adored Rich. He took great care of her and was very fond of her. As you can see from the picture above ... she thought she was a lap dog... all 80 pounds of her!

We got Katie as a newly married couple ... about a year and a half in ... It was a lot of fun to have a dog and I loved her like a child!(or at least thought I did ... until I had my first human child!) However, I have often thought of those conversations that Rich and I had about getting a dog and cannot believe how selfish that I was! It is quite clear that my desire for a dog was far greater than my concern for Rich. Now that we are almost 15 years into our marriage ... I can say without reservation ... that I would NEVER ask that of him now! I wouldn't consider it! I asked him to put aside the fact that if a dog even touches his skin, his skin becomes inflamed ... and put aside the fact that dogs make him sneeze and sniffle ... and put aside the fact that dogs make his eyes watery and miserable! I did that! He, on the other hand, just wanted me to be happy. He did put all of those things aside because he thought that getting me a dog would make me happy. His was sacrificial love. Mine was just pure selfishness.

Marriage is a journey, though. I am pretty sure we never really get "there". There is no question that there are good days and bad days, bumps along the way, and many lessons to be learned ... especially in the area of laying down your life. Sacrifice. I will still make some terribly selfish mistakes, but I also know that I will learn from them and hopefully not make them again. (although I am sure I'll find new ones to make) I have thought a lot about our dog over the years...and while I am thankful that she brought us many years of joy...I am even more thankful that I have learned from what I went through to get her.
Philippians 2:3-4
³ Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

I'd love to hear from you on this relevant topic! Have you struggled in laying down your own desires?

The Small Things

Have you ever thought about the small things? You know ... all of the pesky details of life ... the ones that aren't particularly fun, but still have to be done. Have you ever counted them? I haven't actually put a number on all of our small details ... but I have decided that they count!
I've said a lot of things about my husband in the past ... his incredible integrity, his unending loyalty, his amazing work ethic, it just occurred to me, though, that I've never talked about the small details.
My husband takes care of me in ways that are hard to describe. The ways that he takes care of me may not even appeal to other women. However, those ways are perfect for me. He takes care of our family in ways that require great forethought. He is always thinking ahead, planning, and figuring things out. (all of that may sound vague - but it applies to all aspects of our life - especially the details)
We've been married for 13 1/2 years and I've never spent a single second worrying about finances (including the 9 months that we had absolutely no income and lived on our savings account). He takes care of all of those financial details in such a way that it's downright admirable.
He does thousands of small things on a daily basis that make my life easier. I spend a lot of time thinking of ways that I can serve him as sacrificially as he serves me. I think that at the end of a day ... we can both say that we work hard at serving one another.
Sometimes those small details are easily overlooked. The reason that "small details" may seem vague is because they are so small that they probably would bore my readers to death. However, thousands of small details equals a great deal of stress free time for me. I don't ever want to overlook the small things!
It's worth taking a few moments to think about all the small things your spouse does for you. You might be surprised when you start to count them.
I've spent a lot of time missing, forgetting, and overlooking the small details. The lesson that I've learned is that it's worth it not to miss, forget, or overlook those details. I am certain that if you really start to count them ... your admiration for your spouse will grow exponentially.

My question for you today ... are you counting the small details?
If you have a moment to comment - I'd love to hear about some of your small things!