Me on Marriage #2

I was really having a hard time deciding what to write on this blog.  For some reason every time I sat down to write I had this huge block.  So then I remembered ummmm...the reason I was doing this was b/c God gave me something I wrote in my journal..so me being super smart, I went back and read it and you know what...it was all there.  Everything that I wanted to write, I had already written.  LOL...sometimes I just need to stop and take a breath and realize God's in control. 

 The beautiful bride and her dad walking down to meet her man: Jessica & Bobby's Wedding

"It takes two to make a thing go right...it takes two to make it outta sight" 

Going back to what I was talking about for our vows.  I believe that just as God spoke, "let there be light and light was," when we speak our vows it simply is. The hard part to that is this thing called LIFE.  After we speak our vows, how we choose to deal with life is how our building looks.

For example if I as a wife choose to neglect submission (i.e. respect, acknowledge his leadership, listen to him, praise him), I am building something with holes and something that will begin to crumble with time. If Chad fails to love me (no matter if the dishes are undone, dinner uncooked, laundry piled high), he is building something with holes that will crack over time.  What the Bible says he must do: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." (Ephesians 5:25)

The key is to create a sure foundation and to follow biblical example. We not only look at the specific scriptures on marriage but on the ones preceding those marriage scriptures...AND we look at the scriptures describing Christ's instructions for the church b/c that is how He likens a marriage.

If you look at how the book of Ephesians is set up, Paul starts off describing our redemption, he then goes on with a prayer for our spiritual wisdom, next he reminds us of God's grace through faith...(are you starting to see what I'm talking about?) Next Paul tells us we were brought near to him by his blood...then he says Christ is our peace....OUR CORNERSTONE....THE MYSTERY REVEALED.

Paul then shows us the purpose of the mystery and how to have an appreciation for the mystery of Christ.
Before I begin my next part, I feel I must explain the above with a diagram...the way the I put the "blocks" is just how I see the Bible describing them...(I'm not a Bible scholar...just a lover of Jesus). =) I also did not finish the building because that is different for each marriage.

When we first are saved we start to see these things for ourselves: Christ's redemption for us, grace through faith, wisdom, and how we are brought near by Christ's blood.  All of that doesn't change when we get married...BUT as a married couple....you have to build something together and it starts with your experiences as a married couple. You may have a "sure foundation" for yourself but what are you building together?

So in the last blog I finished with a story of Chad and I having an argument.  We do really still love each other. =)  It made me go back a while though and I realized that I needed to forgive him of hurting my feelings over 3 years ago...geesh.

Me on Marriage #1

Just a pic from the most recent wedding I attended (last Saturday):

Why I want to post this:  For the past couple years I have seen marriages that I thought could withstand (or were withstanding) anything....fall apart.  I've seen couples divorced who I personally was friends with, people who I ministered to and in some ways it seemed like an "out of the blue" decision. I'm sure it was not a quick decision but it prompted me to write in my journal...at midnight one night. CRAZY I know but when the inspiration hits you gotta go with it.

One thing that really struck me is how these couples that I know have children who they put in the middle of their issues. Not only are the actions of the parents extremely detrimental to the children but to each other. I believe when a marriage happens a spiritual union happens also. In order to break that union you have to give a part of yourself away AND you tear a part of your children in the process.  I really believe it must be a three-fold cord (you, spouse, God) and it must be checked for breaks and frays at all times.
 
In the breaks that I have seen or heard about...it typically is one spouse blaming the other for everything.  That really gets to me.... I understand that a spouse can be terrible at times BUT in marriage no matter how you put it...it takes two.  (I am not talking about abuse in any form here).  I am talking about marriages that have simply fallen apart because one spouse simply quits and starts blaming.  I fully believe in order for a marriage to work there has to be a humility from both sides.  Humility must be present to recognize that neither is perfect and that always blaming will not build up.  Humility must be present to realize when to give up your own wants and desires for the good of the both. 

ALL marriages need to have both sides working FOR the marriage at all times.  If you think about the vows you spoke...for better or for worse...most people only stay true to the for better part. Have you thought about your marriage (if you're married) and what you will do in the for worse parts?  Have you thought about the words till death do us part?

Maybe it's really just being a man or woman of your word...maybe it's trusting God that He can bring good out of any situation...maybe it's taking the situation out of your own hands and trusting God to bring your spouse around...maybe it's letting go and letting God and being obedient to doing what He says to do.

What's really funny (or not really) is last night as I was starting to write this post, Chad and I had an argument. He said something about the kids that I took extremely personally.  He was simply making a suggestion and I took it as a negative against me....ok so we all know this probably did not turn out to be very romantic...'nuff said'.

...to be continued...

A Big Girl and A Big Boy

This post is about Amaya and Makiyah....

So I know the last post was all about Mak and it's made me realize how quickly he is growing again.
A few things that I didn't post that he does:

• say amin (for Amen) after we pray
•  he looked at me yesterday morning as I was feeding him breakfast (grits..yum!) and puts out his hands and says "all none" (for all done)...now that's so cute to me...we've been doing that for a looong time and all we've been rewarded with is "aghhhhhh"....whines and grunts when he wants something.
• He is started to recognize and say people's names.  

I'm sure again I'm missing a few things but I just can't believe how quickly time goes....love love love him.

Now on to Amaya:

She truly is my big girl.  In the past two weeks she has peed in her diaper 2 times and has been in underwear for nap time the past week.  I still put her in a pull-up at night but she always keeps it dry.  The not-so-good part of this all is that she now wakes up in the middle of the night to potty but actually it feels pretty good that she is able to do that.  She also has been climbing onto the toilet and doing her business then wiping and washing her hands all by herself.  The first time she did that was Saturday morning...even going #2 she has done a good job wiping...all I can say is wow!  If you don't have kids yet...one day you'll have this proud feeling of your kiddo wiping her own butt. =)

She is such a sweetie and although she has her 3 yr old moments, my heart is so full of love for her too. 

One thing she absolutely does not like: to be woken from a nap...she is in a terrible mood for a while then all of a sudden someone does something to make her laugh and it's over....totally a 3 yr old with no control over her emotions.  I find myself being more and more patient with her...but at times I am super impatient and then it's not good. 

On another note: Pastor Renee asked us to write our decrees for our life...I have to admit, I have not thought of what mine are for a while. I do believe I know what mine will be but I don't confess them every day.  One thing I have been praying more recently is that God would make me more humble.  I find that the more humble I am, the more I am able to do what God asks me to do.

Makiyah is 15 months...er I mean 17 months old.

Ok ok so this post was supposed to be done 2 MONTHS ago. I wanted to do a post in honor of his 15 months.

So here is that update for Makiyah at 15 months to be followed by one of 17 months below:

15 months:
Mak loves climbing on the couch
He has 2 molars and 4 upper and 4 lower teeth
He loves my phone
He knows when he is in trouble and will run away from me

His words at 15 months:
meow
moo
turkey
oink
duck
apple
ball
boon (balloon)

Recognizes:
cow, cat, pig, dog, duck, monkey

Gives:
Hugs, kisses

Loves playing with his big sister Amaya.
He throws tantrums by stiffening his body and stomping his feet...it's pretty hilarious..when I'm not too stressed. =)
One of my favorite things he knows: how to spin. He will spin, make himself dizzy then try to walk.  It's pretty cute.

At 17 months:
He obviously knows all the above and more.

He talks so much...much of it is just babble language but he can tell you a whole story and look at you like "what do you think about that?"

Right now his absolute favorite thing is: "bubbles"...no not those floaty things..."bubble" are bugs.  He has a great eye and will play with the smallest of ants until it goes out of sight. He loves to play with a daddy long legs spider....can I say YUCK!

He has started to respond better to no but still has his little tantrums.

He has a mouth full of teeth now including two of his I teeth...the most painful ones to come in..I think.

He has a total of 12 teeth (I think). Since he is currently asleep I cannot confirm that.

He loves to climb on things..anything in fact. I've found him standing on the stove door several times (don't worry it wasn't on...but still scary).
He climbs on beds, couches, little chairs (not adult table chairs yet)...he keeps trying and trying something until he finally gets it.
He's climbed in the dryer when I left the door open.
He climbs on Chad or I when we are laying on the floor...(he learned that from Amaya)..she loves a good horse ride. =)
He still has not had his first haircut but I have to do it...it's in his eyes for pete's sake. I just don't want to mess up that pretty red hair and get rid of the little baby look.

words:
I believe his favorite word is Mommy...he now wakes up saying "mommy...mommy...mommy"
He clearly says Reggie
He mimics almost anything...the other day we were asking "where's reggie"...and he clearly repeated it.
He's not as quick to repeat things as Amaya was at this age but he takes in everything!
He loves...loves his Poppy (great-grandfather)...his eyes light up and he drops whatever he is doing and runs to him every time he comes to our house (love it...it's a really sweet thing to see and I think it makes Poppy feel really good) =)
He's finally started to say milk (at times) but still grunts for just about everything....he's not very patient.
He's learned how to navigate our porch steps without help...I think he falls halfway down each one but he's not very patient and doesn't want to wait till I can help him. =)
He's very curious and has many spills but has a way of holding his head so that he never falls on that.

So this post is getting really long...that's it for now...here's a picture of him meeting his cousin for the first time since she's gotten bigger. He's a loving little boy. =)  Love this picture. Look at his little curls...I mean if you were me you wouldn't want to cut them either..would you? Isn't my niece super cute?...she's in a house full of boys too so she's the princess.

5 Years!!!!!

So my last full post had pictures through our time together.  For our 5 year anniversary Chad and I headed to downtown Bloomington to eat at Chipotle..then we walked around for a bit and got some yogurt at Campus Candy.  We had a lot of fun just being together...it was actually kinda funny but when you don't spend a whole lot of time together without the kids it's hard to find stuff to do.

Sean and Samaria had offered to watch our kids for a date night...umm several months ago and we hadn't taken them up on our offer so what better time to do it then our anniversary.  It was even short notice...and they still agreed. =)  Thank you for that!!  We love and appreciate you both very much!! Samaria also took these pictures of us...didn't she do a great job?

So I have a question for you all:  I really like all of these pictures...I edited them all a bit differently and I can't decide which one is my favorite since I like all of them.  I really want to put one of them on my living room wall so can you help please? =) (I apologize about the quality...I can't stand what it does to the quality when I upload them.) =(

Let me know which one you like the best in the comment section. Ok trying to number them is not working sooo...just number them from 1-4 starting with the top one.

Thank you to all!!

I have so many more blogging stories to post...I gotta get caught up...Memorial Day, Mak's milestones, a fun recipe, Amaya...etc..whew..I'm gonna do it soon!!

I'm still alive!!

Just wanted ya'll to know I'm still alive...just been on vacation and been a bit more busy since it's summer. Still no excuse to not blog for a MONTH!! Yikes...please stay tuned!! Samaria took some awesome pictures of Chad and I on our 5 yr anniversary.  They are frame-worthy. =) I will post later. The images are on the other computer.

Our Life....it's been 5 Years!!

Happy Anniversary to us!  5 years ago today I married my best friend. It was a special day!  The ceremony was absolutely perfect...NOTHING could have ruined that day..not tuxes coming in late..not a few tears early that morning..NOTHING!!  God had designed that day and it was perfect!

Our ceremony was exactly as we wanted it...the praise team singing a few songs...the dance team dancing...then the fun part started. =)

We had a bridal party of 7...woohoo!!  Loved that all my special friends were a part.

I love music so I had 3 songs...I'm a big fan of people that I know singing them so my sis-in-law LoraLee with her beautiful voice sang two...Pastor Renee sang along with her in one and then Patrick Harris and Katrina (Gilbert) at the time sang in another one....awwww...I can still remember. =)

Then we did our own vows that we had written...I wish I had them memorized still.  I know I have them in a special notebook but don't know where that is at the moment. =) Something about love submission...blah blah...LOL  haha...it was a big deal and Samaria helped make sure I had them memorized...I love that I have a picture of that in my wedding album...I will never forget how we practiced that day. (I held her hands and everything) haha

Then we had our first kiss....it was really special. (big smile!!)

All in all it was a super special day!!  But the best part of everything was being able to finally go "home" with my husband...now that was a big deal.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE!!

a few pictures of us dating and married - check out all my different hairstyles...I don't think of myself as having many different ones but it's a little different in each picture..=)

This is the day we got engaged...in our old church parking lot...see I'm showing off my ring. =)

The next one (brown tone) is at Bonneyville Mill Park (I think this was the weekend Chad asked my dad if he could marry me)

The one where we are all bundled up is at the firetower where he took me to show me the "helicopter" seeds that fall off a tree...he had a whole bag of em and he dumped the out so we could watch them fall.
The next one was after we were married we were at Niagra Falls...I would soon find out I had my first teaching job at Cloverdale Elementary.
The next one was on our honeymoon.
The last one was on the cruise boat on our way to the Bahamas (my all-time favorite picture of us).

Then you ask why I have no wedding pictures...well simply cause I have none...they are all in an album.  I guess I could take pictures of the album....maybe someday.