Eleven Years

Tonight my hubby and I get to go out to celebrate our eleventh anniversary (we had other obligations on Saturday, the actual day). I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband.  So much has happened in the last 11 years.

Now, it seems like we were just babies when we got married! I was 18 and Kevin was 20; why on earth did our parents let us get married so young?! I suppose they didn't have much choice, but it really seems crazy looking back.

Even though it seems crazy now, I wouldn't change a thing. God has really blessed our little family.  We've got 4 great kids and a cute little house.  And I'm so thankful for all the other Rodies around here and my family too.  Life isn't always easy, but it's lots of fun!

Sometimes you just don't "feel it"

I've come to a realization today.  There are days that I don't "feel saved."  I have a lot of them, actually.  I don't mean days that I question my salvation, that I know with certainty, deep within my soul.  But I have lots of days that I don't feel an overwhelming presence of God, or I think I know what I "should" feel and it doesn't match up with my actual feelings.  I often finish reading my Bible without feeling, that "wow factor" from what God is saying.  Often, I'm not even sure of what He is saying to me.  


But after a string of days like that, I realized something today.  It's okay not to have that overwhelming feeling.  At Friday's service, I kept thinking my heart wasn't really in it because I wasn't feeling overwhelming grief.  But today I knew why.  Jesus' death wasn't the end.  He died, but not forever.  And while His death was a terrible thing that I am to blame for, it was part of His plan and I just have a hard time being sad knowing how the story ends.  Jesus took my sins with Him on that cross.  And He rose again that Easter morning.  That is what the story is about.  So while I may not always "feel" the overwheming feelings I sometimes think I'm supposed have.  I KNOW that my REDEEMER LIVES!  And that is awesome!

So I'm gonna allow myself to have those moments and enjoy the life my Savior gave me.  And when I pray or study the Bible, I'll wait quietly for when He will use His words to teach me, knowing sometimes it may take a while before I know what the lesson is.  And I'll continue to teach my children His word.  Because, while somedays God is silent, He is always present.  Even when we don't "feel" Him, He is present.  And today is a day to celebrate!

Beautiful...

Last week, I had the awesome privelege to visit with my girlfriend Val and her family in the Pacific Northwest.  Isaac and I flew out last Thursday and were met by Val's hubby, Andy, at SeaTac.  It was late, and dark, but I really appreciated getting to know this guy who had to be really cool to have married my bestest friend. Val and I stayed up way too late talking, but it was totally worth it.  We hadn't seen each other for over a year!


Friday, Val and I and her two girls, along with little Zac spent a lazy day visiting this cute little town nearby. It definitely had a great view from the pier.

And it was certainly a great place to let the girls run off some energy. 

Then we stopped at this cute little ice cream shop where I was forced to eat a waffle cone against my will.

Don't let me fool you though, I would drive back just to get another one.  You could smell the waffles cooking all the way down the street.  Yum!

I think Carolyn and Abbie enjoyed their ice cream too.


We had such a fantastic time.  I love that I got to spend so much time with Val's family.  I've met them, of course, and I feel like I know them, but really more from talking about them than to them.  But now, her family is my family.  Carolyn and Abbie are such great kids.  And Andy and Val are great parents and really fun people.  I am so blessed to have such an awesome woman as a friend and I feel even more blessed now that I've gotten to know her family better.


The area where Val lives is gorgeous, a photographer's dream! I missed the view from the bridge on the way onto the island because it was so late and dark, but I cerainly didn't miss it the next day.  I can't imagine getting to see this view every day.

The trees are awesome!  They seem to just stretch up forever.

And don't let reports of Washington rainy weather fool you.  I actually took this shot in the rain (you can see a couple of drops) but it's such a soft rain you hardly notice.

I love warm beaches with white sand, but there is something so awe inspiring to me about rocky beaches like this.

They are certainly fun to explore!

Andy joined us Saturday and showed me around his part of the navy base.  That was really cool, but I kept thinking, that Kevin and the boys would have loved it.  So, maybe we'll have to all come back someday.


After the base, we also went looking for tulips Saturday afternoon.  I've never been a huge fan of tulips, just not my favorite flower, but I think I may have changed my mind.

We had such a wonderful time.  Leaving was pretty tough, but I was ready to be home with my family.  Hopefully I'll get to go back with my whole crew sometime, but until then, I've got some great memories.  Miss you guys.

6 months is half a year

Wow.  That's all I can say.  Well, not all I can say.  Really I can say a lot.  But "Wow!" Isaac is six months old today. 

He's growing up so fast. He just learned to roll over a couple of weeks ago and already, I'm having to get after the bigs for leaving toys out.  He's not quite moving yet, but he's rolling with a purpose and I'm sure it won't be long before he can get anywhere he wants.


He's starting to tolerate other people a little better, Daddy in particular has become pretty fun.  Zac even teased me a little the other day when I tried to take him from Kevin.  It was just a tease though cuz he is definitely a momma's boy through and through. 


I've been thinking back over the last six months and how fast it seems this little guy is growing, but how much the next six months have in store for him.  Today was the first time he got to play on the ground (still on a blanket) outside.  The kids and I took him for his very first walk just last week.  He's only gotten to experience the outdoors as the cold place we have to go through to get to where we're going.  How fun will it be to introduce this little person to the beauty of God's world rather than the four walls man made?  He loves playing with his stuffed toys, but how awesome will it be the first time he pats a real dog or sees a real bird?


In six months, God has grown this little tiny bundle into a fun baby with real personality. What will the next six months bring?

This is the face he reserves for his mommy, his most favorite person. 

Look at those eyes sparkle in the sun!

The Real Meaning

I absolutely love Christmas, but for some reason, I haven't been able to get into it this year.  I've had fun shopping and baking and planning out our holiday, but I've been a little grinchy.  I'm sure part of it is being exhausted by the baby, but it seems like something more.

After we got the tree set up, I decided that was the only decorating I was going to do.  I couldn't find the nativity where it was supposed to be and I didn't really want to search. Besides, that would mean clearing a place for it, so I never got it out.

Until today.  Getting ready for company, Kevin asked what he could do and I told him he could go find the nativity set.  I really was kind of missing it.  He found it right away, and soon the kids were begging to help put it up.

So they carefully unpacked all the pieces. 

Then they wanted to arrange the characters. So I asked them what should they put out first.  As they started putting the pieces together, they were all telling the nativity story together.

They put out Mary and Joseph and the donkey who had travelled a long way.  They told us how they came to the inn and there was no room and how they had to go to the stable and stay with the animals. 

They added animals to the scene and told us how it was crowded and noisy and probably smelled quite a bit.

Then they told us that baby Jesus was born, so they added him to the company.

And then the angel told the shepherd about the birth, so the shepherds came to visit with their sheep.

Then the wise men saw a star and travelled very far to visit Jesus, so they added the wise men to the figures.  Soon all the people and animals were gathered close around the tiny baby. 

The kids were so excited about what they were doing I finally realized why I've been feeling so Grinchy lately.  I've been so tired and busy, I haven't been remembering the real reason for Christmas at all.  I'm so glad my kids could remind me that this tiny baby is the reason for our celebrations!

The presents and the family gatherings and the food are all great.  But we can't let them get in the way of celebrating how much God loves us to send us His Son.  Merry Christmas everybody and don't forget the real reason we celebrate.  God loves us and He is AWESOME!!

Welcome to the Midwest

In the Midwest thunderstorms and tornadoes tend to become a regular part of life. For those of us who have lived here most of our lives, we become a little callous to the realities of that. Sure, occasionally you here of a tornado that devastates a town, you might even go help with the cleanup, but then you move on. We find ourselves having little parties in the basement two or three times every summer, often Mommies and babies are down there listening to the radio while Daddy is out on the porch watching the storm go by. But then this happens.
This is where Kevin's brother, Todd lives. That mess in the middle was a great big machine shed. That cement slab across the front of the photo used to have another grain bin on it.

See the grain bin now? That's it in pieces, all across the field. That mess stretches for about a half mile.

That's the neighbor's machine shed. Oh, don't you see it? It's in pieces scattered amongst the overturned machines.

That's the neighbor's grain bins. The one smashed to the ground was in Todd and Michelle's front yard Saturday night. Right in front of the door.

Thankfully, the house is fine, except for a few broken windows in the attic and the front storm door. The trees on the other hand, did not make it. But we are all convinced that God had his hand on the house. All the trees on the north side of the house are snapped. The big maple in the back snapped at the ground and we've already seen the buildings that were demolished on the south side of the house.

The storm came on so fast that there was no warning at all. Shelly said she and the kids were on the landing to the basement when she heard a loud crash that was either the shed coming down or the grain bin landing in the yard. If the tornado had hit the house, they wouldn't have made it downstairs in time.

We are all so thankful for God's protection over them. The cleanup will be tough, but it'll get done. Todd had lots of brothers and friends cutting up trees yesterday. I'm sure there will be more days like that in the near future. Abby, my niece, is still a little shaken up by the whole thing. She told me yesterday that she's afraid to sleep at her house. I'm not certain how last night went for her, so please pray for her and her family to have a return to normal quickly.

A Christmas Promise

I absolutely love Christmas! I'm not really big on the whole Santa thing. And I actually hate answering the question about what I want for Christmas. I think it kinda cheapens the whole giving something to someone to let them know they are loved thing. But I love gifts and trees and snow, if I'm not out in it. I love the carols, and the smell of the fire burning. I love that the whole family gets together and plays games and eats lots of goodies. It's just such a fun, familiar time of year.

When I was a kid, my favorite part of Christmas was the Christmas Eve service that always ended at midnight with the candles and everybody walking out of the church so quietly. It was just so peaceful. And the best Christmases were the ones when it was snowing as we walked home. We almost always lived next door to the church so we'd walk out in the snow and watch the sky for a few minutes. It's so neat to see the snowflakes falling from a starry sky. Then we'd walk in the house and crawl into bed. In the morning my Mom would have Grandma's coffee cake ready for breakfast. And my brother and I would race down the stairs to see the gifts under the tree. That was always a great part. I'm sure at the time the presents were what I looked forward to, but the Christmas Eve service is the part that I remember the most.

But Christmas is not just about presents and snow and trees and Santa. Those things are all fun and they all have their place. It's not even just about a baby born a long time ago. It's about a promise. The promise that God made to his people many years before Jesus and Joseph and Mary and the stable. A promise of a Savior. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, the gift He gave all of us that first Christmas. He started His journey to the Cross that day in the stable.I think that's why I loved the Christmas Eve service so much. It was such a quiet reflective time, but it made everything feel like something BIG was about to happen. What could be bigger that the birth of the Savior? So let's remember that promise this Christmas. Remember that something big is about to happen. When we're shopping for that last great deal or getting all those goodies finished in the kitchen, let's remember that our God is in the business of keeping promises. He promised a Savior and He came. He promised He'll come back again. Don't forget, He keeps His promises. Merry Christmas everybody!