10 and Counting

I planned a really clever post about my anniversary today- great pictures from the past and funny commentary summing it all up.  But real life happens and I have one little guy that wants to be held and another little pair of hands that can't stay away from the keyboard, or the scissors, or the stack of papers waiting to be filed.  Ten years sounds like a long time.  At least it did ten years ago.  Now I know how fast they can come and go.  Ten years ago I married my best friend and the best guy in the world.  Here we are 10 years, 7 houses, 6 states, 5 deployments and 4 kids later and I can say it's been 1 great adventure.  Real life happened all along the way, and it's been amazing!  Here's to many more years of real life together!

Christmas Card Bloopers

We've been pretty busy recently. Last weekend, I suddenly realized how quickly time was slipping by and decided I needed to start working on a Christmas card. You might remember that last years card turned out to be a New Year's Card. I vowed to do better this year. So I got everyone dressed, we drove out to our location and set out to make a beautiful picture. Somehow, not everyone got the memo. Fiona was unhappy about her staging and thought the lighting was all wrong. Finally, when conditions became impossible to bear, she decided it was time to walk off the set. I don't know why I thought it would be easy with two parents standing there to entertain her. Everett said we should have had a video of me. We did finally coax her back and were able to complete the project on time and on budget. After we got home, though, I got to thinking about next year. I think know it is only going to be more challenging interesting next year with four little ones to corral. Yes, I said FOUR! We are expecting our fourth blessing to arrive in May next year! Plenty of time to get wiggly for Christmas pictures! We are all so excited and hope that you will rejoice with us. Oh, and of course, you'll have to wait for your card to see the good picture! We don't want to ruin that surprise!

Times A-Changin'

I got a little caught up in my UK pictures. I've also been busy on a bunch of projects that I will share over the next few posts. But I realize that it has been a little while since you've seen pics of the little squish. She's still squishy, but she's not so little. Her newest role around here is as the local King Kong.

"I will destroy your puny, miserable train track! And then I will eat this bridge!"



The repair crews hurried out to replace the bridge so that train traffic could get in and out and around the city. But the giant attacked relentlessly.



And this is only the beginning of the story.

Easter in Real Life

When I woke up yesterday I was excited to be spending the day celebrating our risen Savior. First a sunrise service at church, lunch with friends and then a relaxing afternoon and evening for Ev's last day off for two weeks. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. After showering and dressing, it became clear that I would be spending the day in bed, sick with the same virus the boys had last week. I'm not going to lie, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I missed the boys hunting for their Resurrection Eggs that I had hidden the night before. I barely got to see Fiona in her pretty Easter dress on her first Easter. Everett took all three kids to church (Super Dad), and I was left home alone, feeling miserable. I turned on some praise music and started to reflect on Christ's suffering instead of my own: Sure, I was feeling pretty rotten, but not compared to what Christ went through. In fact, though we are told that we will suffer for our faith, I've never come close to experiencing what many Christians around the world suffer each day. I was feeling lonely, but what do I know of loneliness? My Lord knew true loneliness as he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." That spiritual separation from His father, with whom he is one, is unlike anything I will ever experience.

I was still sick, but it did give me a chance to reflect deeply on some things that might have been missed otherwise in the bustle of activity. I also experienced blessing through an unusual avenue- Facebook. My pointer finger was still functional, so I was able to check FB from my phone. I was so encouraged by other brothers and sisters in Christ posting praises to God. I admit, I'm still a little sad there isn't a nice family picture for Fiona's first Easter. In fact, these are the only pictures form the whole day. By the afternoon, I was feeling a little better so I snapped these from my spot in bed.



Somehow, the boys' Easter shirts managed to make it through the whole day without any stains and still looked nice enough for a precious picture. Fiona had long since been changed into a pajama shirt, but I made her Daddy put on her Easter bow. (which he purposefully accidentally neglected to do for church)



Maybe next year these pictures will help remember to be more focused on what Easter is all about.


But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:1-5

Praise the Lord, He is risen!!

Sick Days

I kept thinking how amazing it was that we hadn't had anyone get sick in a long time. I guess I jinxed it because yesterday both boys were sick. I'd like to tell you that we spent the day cuddled up on the couch enjoying some down time and reading classic children's literature. But I can't do that. Instead, they enjoyed a rare day of back-to-back movies. Wait- does it count if they were movies of classic children's literature? While they vegged, I ran around trying to decontaminate the house. All the moments like this from the past few days went from sweet to germy.



I spent the day doing mountains of laundry and washing my hands every minute, hoping that no one else gets whatever-it-was. Fiona spent the day as far from the contamination zone as I could keep her. It made me thankful for days like today when I make forward progress. I can't wait to show you some of the progress I've made today, as well as the progress Fiona has been making over the past few weeks. So exciting!

at home

We're home from vacation, and it was wonderful! Very relaxing, very beautiful. In fact, I've had a few moments to go through my pictures, and they just don't do it justice. We praise God for many days of safe travel. Sadly, I am leaving today to head up to Minnesota for my Grandma Ring's funeral. She left us suddenly, but peacefully. We, too, have peace knowing that for her it is only the beginning of an eternity with her Savior in Heaven. She will be dearly missed by all those who loved her, but we rejoice in her life and the many years we had with her!

We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8

Small Successes

Well, folks, this is all I have to show for garden success this summer. At least I sunk less money into it this time- I'm learning. Out of three Dahlia tubers, all three came up, but only one has survived long enough to bloom. Thanks for persevering, Little Blossom. We enjoyed having you visit for a while!

Walking on the Bottom

This is by far the most exciting thing that we've done all week. (I know, it's sad.) For the kids, though, it certainly was a novelty. We've been at home a lot- so it's been nice to have something interesting happening in our own backyard. Literally. I'm trying to make some headway on a couple of projects and generally getting ready for house guests next week. Meanwhile, the kids have been checking the progress of the garden hose at refilling this. Yup. It's been a good diversion.

We're Here

I guess it's pretty bad when my own husband asks me if I've abandoned the blog. No, I haven't abandoned it. We've just been busy doing our thing, with nothing much to report.

We've been catching up on sleep,










doing lots of reading,














and generally enjoying some quiet days together. Don't worry, we're here. We're well. And we'll try to do better about blogging in the near future.