12 years and counting

So you may have noticed that my "about me" has changed. Yes, I've now been married 12 years. I don't think people make a big enough deal about anniversaries anymore. You hear about big celebrations at 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. but the ones in between seem to come and go without any one's notice. To me every anniversary is a big deal. Marriage is not easy and an anniversary is a perfect time to remember and celebrate the fact that we have kept our covenant that we made before God. (To see how we celebrated this year check out Joe's blog.) Making it to 12 was especially a big deal for me. Several years ago--in our first few years of marriage--I remember a pastor mentioning some of the most difficult years of marriage. For some reason, the year "11" stuck with me. You typically hear that year 1 is difficult and the other years that he mentioned didn't really strike me as weird, but "year 11" just sounded odd to me and I never forgot it. I came to dread year 11 of being married wondering what was to come. To be sure year 11 definitely lived up to my previous pastor's prediction--it was a tough year mainly because of all the circumstances going on in our lives. A job change and a move is tough on anyone at any year of their marriage. But in reflecting on the toughness of this last year I am once again reminded that in our marriage those tough years bring us closer together not further apart. 12 years of marriage has brought me a greater appreciation and love of my husband, Joe, who seeks fervently after our Lord and my Lord who has been so gracious in pouring so many blessings on us in the last 12 years. So here's to 12 and counting...

My four

So I got this over email from a couple of different friends so I thought instead of forwarding it to a bunch of people who really didn't want to read it, I'd just include my answers here. That way if you don't want to read it, at least it's not sitting in your inbox. So here are my four:

A) Four family members: Joe, Sara, Ashley, John, Nathan (yes, I know that is five, but who would I have left out?)

B) Four places that I go to over and over: Kroger, Alco, Walmart, Target

C) Four people who mail me regularly: Kara, Lisa, my mom, Joe

D) Four of my favorite places to eat: at my dining room table, the park, Red, Hot & Blue, a cafe in the Opryland hotel in Nashville that has the best shrimp I've ever tasted (it was on my honeymoon)

E) Four places I would rather be right now: the beach, Rocky Mountains, the beach, Smoky Mountains, oh & did I mention the beach??

F) Four TV shows I watch over and over: Bones, Numbers, The Unit, American Idol (it is an overstatement that I watch them over and over--maybe once or twice a month)

G) Four movies I watch over and over: Last of the Mohicans, Man from Snowy River, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Narnia movies (I just watched Prince Caspian--excellent!)

Big News!!!

Ashley has been promoted to a......bike without training wheels! She is already experiencing the second child syndrome. She pretty much taught herself how to do it. First she requested that we take off one of the training wheels and then yesterday she decided she was ready to have the other one taken off. We didn't even help her. She just hopped on and started across the yard on it. Yeah Ashley!!!!

My deal of the week

I don't garage sale shop as much as I would like. It is kind of hard to drag the four kids along to all of the garages. But I still stop occassionally and it always feels so good when you grab an awesome deal. Here's a deal I made this week:

Drum Roll Please....... I got this for $1.00!!!

Chore time

This summer I am determined to teach the girls some chores around the house. This week I taught them how to fold laundry. Don't they look excited?

If you are a four year old boy....

this is what you do when you are bored on a rainy summer day: