Weekend....doing what you wanna do

Hello. How was your weekend? Our was great- we actually went bowling on Friday night to commemorate our first bowling night 10 years earlier. The kids loved it. And we found out that night that we have a signed contract on my dream home! We are beside ourselves with excitement. We went to look at it yesterday and while we were on the deck we saw two deer on the other side of the backyard fence. It's like being in the country in the middle of the city. I LOVE it so much! We should close at the end of March. Saturday we went up to the engaged encounter and spoke to the couples. Two of the brides there were 18. I was so shocked- they were mature and loved the Lord and just wanted to get married. I didn't know that ever happened anymore. I thought I was a child bride at 22. :) We are gearing up to celebrate Valentine's day and to prepare for Lent (Ash Wednesday is the 17th). I'm starting a Bible study on Christ's redemptive suffering and I'm so excited about it. Alright- gotta run- hope you are well.

Picture it....

Montgomery....February 5, 2000....the night I met my husband- exactly 10 years ago. Yes, this picture is from THAT night.

During Christmas break I remember distinctly sitting in my church and telling God how my heart was ready to find my spouse and said, "please, Lord, let me be engaged by next Christmas." The problem was that I had no one in mind that I thought I could share my life with. Flash forward to February 5th. I was a senior in college and on top of the world. I had just that month gotten a scholarship to law school and was ready to head out to my future. My friend Jill was having an engagement party and her fiance's roomate, an attorney living in Montgomery, would be there. He sounded very interesting- handsome, smart, funny, Godly- I was definitely curious to meet this guy. I was driving several of my sorority sisters who lived in the sorority house with me to the engagement party. Our formal was coming up and one of them was going to look into this "Marc" guy and see if he would be the one for her to ask.

I got to the party and he wasn't there at first. Eventually I walked out of a hallway and saw this 6 foot 4, handsome guy standing by the fireplace and I knew that must be him. Marc will insist that I tell you the first thing I thought when I saw him, which was "what nationality is he?" :) Throughout the party I noticed how funny he was and when we played games we ended up on the same team and he always got my clues. After the party- the four of us in the picture (me, Jay, Shana and Marc) went cosmic bowling. Marc brought his own bowling shoes. We all laughed so hard- it turns out he's really great at bowling and playing pool so he got to show off his skills to a very interested audience. The four of us had the best time that night and acted silly and danced and cracked jokes. Shana and I gave him a ride home and got to inspect his very cute house. We pretended to go to the bathroom in his master bedroom and quickly investigated his room looking for the other shoe to drop. What we found was a lot of pictures of his family and dogs, a piano with sheet music, a punching bag and Bible study materials. I kept telling her, "nobody is this well-rounded- there's got to be a catch." The whole ride home she and I tried to figure out HOW this guy could be single. He had EVERYTHING I was looking for. (He STILL has EVERYTHING I'm looking for).

And sure enough- I got an e-mail two days later from him saying how much he enjoyed meeting me and would really like to get to know me better and asked if he could have my number. This was the beginning of my fairy tale and I have to say that I thank God every day for the gift of my precious husband. And yes, we got engaged December 15th of that year- God answered my seemingly impossible prayer. And what an amazing 10 years we've had!

P.S. If you look closely at the picture you will see two lines on it on either side of Jay- that's where I folded it over to make it look like Marc and I were side by side. I did that all the time- oh, young love! :)

The week so far...

Having a nice week over in our neck of the woods. I had a viris over the weekend, but I'm better now. Was excited b/c I lost more weight, but then when I recovered I was really hungry. :) Marky had his first violin recital on Sunday. It was precious (although maybe a tiny bit underwhelming). He went first because he was the youngest and it was his first recital. I thought he would be nervous and not go up there, but he mustered up courage and did the piece, bowed and ran back to his seat. And he's playing the viola by the way, not the violin. That' s a BIG deal to him and he insists on people recognizing the difference. (Viola is a bit larger and has lower note range) .

"School" is going fine- I realize I have not really planned anything for Julia to do. I'm going to work on planning ahead some activities for her. One more thing on the to-do list! The biggest news of the week is that we've made an offer on the home of my dreams. I'm not kidding you. I LOVE this house. And I cautiously wonder if all the turmoil with us not being able to buy any house we try to buy (because it's already under contract, they decided not to sell, etc.) is because we were being saved for this house- a house that I actually adore- not just "like". But I can't get excited yet- I'm trying to stay calm and trust the God knows what we need and will handle all things as He always does. And a precious story to end- today we went to Children's Holy Hour and the priest blessed all the children's throats in honor of St. Blaise's feast day. Marky didn't say anything about it. But tonight at supper as he was telling Daddy all we did today he said, "yes, I had my throat blessed, and now it doesn't hurt anymore when I yawn." He's been complaining about his throat hurting when he swallows and yawns for a week now, and he's sticking to his story that he feels better. I think that's so sweet. Don't freak out guys. :)

I've been thinkin....

Photographer's note: Tucker ALWAYS has his ankles crossed- it's his signature move.
So everywhere I look I see this "life is good" emblem. This week was a tough week. Nothing major, we just seemed to have bad news after bad news and bad moods and miscommunication. And I thought about how we are living in the shadowlands and only see through a mirror dimly. We aren't experiencing the perfectly "good" world that God created in Eden. We are living in a fallen world with troubles left and right. And I wonder how people like my sister-in-law, who are living a parent's worst nightmare, feel when they see the "life is good" stamped on tire covers, t-shirts and overpriced mouse pads. The truth is life is tough- it's marching through sand- and the rain falls on the good and the bad just alike. GOD is good. And HE can make life good too and give us Divine peace, but LIFE is tough- just wanted you to know that- and know that I know that- in case I ever seem like I have it all together and have no worries- it's not true. We are all of us on a journey with mountaintops and valleys.
P.S. I'm posting this b/c I've been told by more than one person that it seems I have it all together- I'm not sad or anything- in fact, I would probably say I'm in a "mountaintop" time of life right now, but that's not to say that there aren't troubles in my world just like yours. :)

Ever find yourself....

yelling very loudly at your children "STOP ALL THIS YELLING- WE DO NOT YELL INSIDE!" and while the irony is not lost on you, you continue....?

Moving on....

Hello friends. Tell the truth, did you miss me? :) I missed you. I'm just trying to figure out how to manage my time better and the blog has suffered. We've had a great January. We went to Virginia two weekends ago and had the BEST time. We went up to the Peaks of Otter and saw tons of snow and the kids played and threw snowballs and had the best time. Then we went in the lodge and Paw Paw, Marc and Marky played checkers by the big fireplace, while Memaw, Julia, Tucker and I played with blocks. I love spending time with my grandparents- they really enjoy our kids and I'm so grateful. And yes, I forgot the camera card and have no pictures of that precious time.

I could write a book on how blessed I've been this month having all my babies home all the time. You can feel the difference in our home now that we are less rushed and I'm less stressed. I just enjoy motherhood so much more when I'm not rushed. The kids have gotten less needy because their love tanks are full, and they are less clingy. (All except Mr. Pacifier- he's mommy's lap baby). And I'm doing weight watchers and have lost 5 lbs- only a million to go. :)

A great blessing with being home is that my friend Catherine did the same thing at the same time so we can help each other. Today we spent the morning at this wonderful park with lots of trees and a creek. We were the only folks there and the kids had the best time being out in the sun. And we had a picnic.
Our bambinos-

My friend Catherine and her beautiful babies-

So, that's a quick update. Still looking for a home. I'm on the verge of moving to the country- if we don't find a great house in town soon, I'm outta here. I just have this urge for land and go carts and camp-outs and REAL trees. I know I'm a city gal at heart, but don't you have the urge to up and move away sometimes?

Coming back...

So it turns out that having us all home together all the time has messed up my ability to keep up the blog. Not sure where to fit it in. Sorry for the lapse- hopefully we can catch up soon- and I'm sorry I probably haven't commented on your blog or responded to e-mail- I've got to get plugged back in!!!!