Catching up

I sit here typing having just got back from dropping Bryan off at the airport. I'll be honest, I miss him already...miss knowing that he will not be home at night and that I will not get to wake up with him in the morning. Times like this are good, they just can be hard. It is good to be reminded just how precious marriage is, two becoming one so that you forget what it is like just to be "one". I love that! I love Bryan...I am so thankful for the almost 12 years of marriage God has given us, thankful for each year of growing and learning, of fighting less and less as we learn to appreciate more and more the differences that would often lead to an argument, the familiar beauty of living with someone who knows you so well and yet still loves you and wants to be with you. I was reading through the Song of Solomon in my daily reading this past week and was so blessed by the descriptions of love...they DELIGHTED in each other. And, by the grace of God, I am so thankful that each year it keeps becoming more and more of truth...the beauty of delighting in each other, delighting in the friendship, the fellowship and the love that is shared between just the two of us! I will miss my other half this week but I am also thankful to realize just how much I will miss him!:)

The kids will miss their daddy...their words and water filled eyes have already spoken to that...and that was just on the drive home!:) I keep reminding them that our joyful heart in letting Daddy go minister to pastors and their families in Mexico is OUR way of serving the Lord through this ministry and is how WE can come alongside of Daddy!

Okay....almost 12 hours later, I am back and going to attempt to finish my post! :) Caleb had his stitches taken out and bandages taken off this afternoon. WOW! I couldn't believe just how big is incision was under the bandages!!! It's amazing how well children recover! Having said that, though, he got on a bike after the appt. (a BIG no-no) and pulled at one of his incisions, started bleeding and ended up laying down for the rest of the afternoon in a lot of pain. Thankfully, they said I did not need to bring him back in and he is doing much better tonight.

Last Thursday was our last day of fevers (I am so thankful that we all got it at once even though it was a little insane for a couple of days!) and, as a result, we were joyfully able to open our home to Kimberly, Aaron and my sweet little niece Linnea!!! They got to our house Sunday afternoon and left Tuesday morning. I can't even begin to tell you just how precious those 40 hours with them was!!! It was such a gift from the Lord to have even seen them at all...and then to be able to spend a full day and a half with them was just beautiful!!!

My brother-in-law blessed my socks of with his sacrificial love for his nephews! He took all the boys to Lowes Monday morning and bought everything necessary for making "ladder golf". He then proceeded to spend the rest of the day with the boys cutting, painting, threading, drilling and piecing together this very fun game that we will use for a long time to come!
My boys adore their uncle and they LOVED every minute of their time with him! And, with the boys with Aaron, that gave us lots of girl time as well as the chance to sneak away to my favorite coffee shop (North Town) with Kimberly for some precious time of fellowship. What a treasure it is to have a sister who loves Jesus and loves to talk about Him!!! The kids also had fun playing some very serious games of "Jenga" with their aunt and uncle! We had some good laughs and some unbelievable saves!



My little niece, Linnea Joy, is just precious and we all enjoyed cuddling with her! Aaron and Kimberly are wonderful parents and it was a joy to watch them as a family!

I sit her with a smile on my face...recognizing that this past week was not how I would have planned it but it is exactly as the Lord had intended...and I am so thankful for the many lessons learned and the many undeserved blessings that we were able to experience! And, looking back helps me to look forward to this week, as well. It may not go how I plan, but I can rest assured that it will be exactly what I need so that I can be refined and made just a little bit more like Christ. And that is all I could ever ask for!