12 years

12 years ago, on a cold, snowy but clear Chicago day, I said "I do" to this guy.

I have not regretted it even one day since!

I love you Chad!

Happy Anniversary!

Weekend

I know my birthday was the beginning of this month.....but one last present was waiting. 

On Friday afternoon, we (meaning Chad & I, not the kids) took off for a little jaunt to Hershey, PA.

And that evening we went to this concert:

 

Christian music fans.... can you tell who we went to see?

How about now?

(It says "Let my lifesong sing to you")

It was Casting Crowns.

It was an amazing concert!   Wow.

I love when you leave a concert and you feel like you might have just tasted a little bit of what heaven will be like...

 

 Thank you Chad for the awesome birthday present!

(It was also such a gift to just be able to be together without kids.  No offense, kids.  We love you with all our hearts, but it sure is nice to go out to eat without cutting anyone's food and without having to remind anybody that poopy talk is not appropriate table conversation....It was also nice to sleep in, sit on a couch and read a book, eat meals out, and shop without navigating a stroller!)

A big ol' thank you to our friend Jacki  who stayed with our kids overnight.

Anyone who knows her knows that she is a saint!  And my kids had so much fun with her!

Anyhow, we also stayed at an amazing place.

This was the view:

Horses grazing in the pasture

Little ponds and gardens scattered around the property...

It was just so, so lovely.  

And I am not someone to use the word "lovely" in everyday conversation, ha! :)

(Downton Abbey must be affecting my speech patterns....)

I also started reading Hunger Games in the car. 

I know, I know.  I am the last person alive to read it.

And now I know what all the hoopla is.  It is SO. GOOD!

This is one of those rare times that Chad and I both are interested in the same movie....so I want to finish reading it so that we can go see the movie together in the theater!

Yesterday (Sunday) was filled with church, our church's egg hunt (at which I did not take a single picture.  I was busy doing face painting... so fun!)  Then straight to a birthday party with 2 out of 3 kids.  A very full but fun day.

So back to reality this week.

Not only is Chad out of town all week, but one of the kids is on Spring Break, and the other starts hers on Thursday.  So my hands will be full.  Thankfully I had a little break already.

But there is also something fun about just me and the kids.  Like I don't feel obligated to make dinner!  Tonight was hot dogs and chicken nuggets! :)

(Don't worry they also had strawberries and carrot sticks to make up for that processed junk....)

I am still running but I did not get my run in this weekend.  T-minus one month til the big race!

AAAAGHHHH!

(Shhh, don't tell my running buddy Rebecca that I skipped out on my run!  And Rebecca, if you're reading this?  Well, just pretend you didn't see it!)

How was YOUR weekend?

Catching up

This is only my 3rd post of 2012.  I don't know what it is, but I am having blogger's block.  I feel like at this point in the "life" of my blog I just keep saying the same things over and over (another birthday!  another holiday! etc....) and I feel like I want to say something original....

In any case, there has been a lot of just livin' life going on here.  So here is an update on us.  For the 3 people who still read this blog. ;)

I'll start with me.  The big news with me is that since January I have taken up running again.  So I have been running about 2-3x a week for the past 6 weeks.  I am up to the point where I can often run 3 miles at a time!  I was thinking about having some kind of goal - when my friend Kathy invited me to run the Broad Street Run in Philly with her on May 6.  I kind of toyed with the idea, then jokingly invited my former college roommate (and current runner) Rebecca to come up from Atlanta and run the race too.  The next thing I knew she had booked a flight....so I guess I was in!  The hitch is:  this is a TEN MILE RUN.  TEN MILES, PEOPLE!  People keep saying to me "But you can already run 3!"  Yes, I can run 3.  But there is a big difference between 3 & 10....  Anyhow I am training.  This is a big year for me (and my other aforementioned friends).... we all turn 40 this year.  So if I can finish this race?  Well that's not too shabby for an old lady.  (Now if running would just get rid of this baby belly I would be a happy woman indeed!)

Chad and I got away for a night last weekend, thanks to my parents watching our kids.  We had a great time together, and it is always so nice to just get away.   But we had to laugh.  So many things went "wrong" with our time away.  Our hotel package was totally misrepresented.  Then we went to the Movie Tavern and they had to restart the movie 2 times because there was no sound.  Then our food order was lost (I guess?) and our food did not arrive until almost the end of the movie... then we came home to one kid with a fever.  But we did have a leisurely walk around both Lowe's AND Home Depot and could pick out what we wanted for our new bathroom...

Yes, we are remodeling our main bathroom. {Sigh} I always thought I would be someone who enjoyed choosing decor and such but I really find it all so overwhelming.  Maybe it would be easier  if I had no budget...and a designer.  But I don't think that will ever be the case. :)  So it is always figuring out how to make it look the best for a limited amount of money.  I don't say that as a complaint, I think it is good to learn how to live within your means and I don't have extravagant taste.  But I find all the choices so overwhelming sometimes, and for an indecisive person like myself, it can be painful at times!  (for me and for Chad!)

The kids are doing great.  We had conferences with Audrey's and Carter's teachers a few weeks ago with all great reports.  And the other day I registered Carter for KINDERGARTEN!  Is this really happening?  (And Chloe is all registered for preschool next year too....)

Speaking of Chloe....she has discovered a few new talents.  I added a few pictures to demonstrate:

 

 She is SUPER into puzzles these days.  She put all 4 of these 12 piece puzzles together by herself.

I seriously think she is better at puzzles than Carter.

(See him studying her handiwork in the background? haha)

She has also put together a number of semi-complicated wooden puzzles that we have.

Got another bright one on our hands. :)

And then there is this:

I posted this on fb earlier, but Chloe has the "special" ability to cross only one eye.

It totally cracks me up, because she will be doing something and then out of nowhere she'll just look at me with a big grin on her face and cross one eye.  I think she just might have a sense of humor. :)

Well, that's enough about us for now.  Hopefully it won't be April when I next post!

A Party, the Phillies & Surviving the Heat

This past weekend was a scorcher.  Friday, Saturday & Sunday were all well over 100 degree days ... with heat indices up to 115 ....

Of course this was the weekend of Chad's 40th Birthday Party ... and it was OUTSIDE, folks.  After I got used to being coated in sweat, it actually wasn't so  bad.  There was a breeze and we were under a covered pavilion, so it was all okay.  We only had one family not come because of the heat.

It was really fun to have a lot of our friends and some of our family all in one place.  Chad's parents really wanted to be there but his sister just had a baby and that kind of messed up that plan.  In a good way, it messed up that plan, just to clarify!!!

 I put out a few pictures of Chad through the years.

This was about the extent of my decorating, other than a Happy Birthday banner that kept falling down.

I mentioned getting some balloons and Chad said "why do we need balloons?" so I said to myself "forget it."  It was just one more thing to do ... that I didn't have to do after all!

Chad blowing out his candles. 

Surrounded by many eager children just dying to eat some of that big cake!

 Chad wanted to have a wiffle ball game with friends.  That pretty much went by the wayside given the heat.  But then he and some of the guys ended up just hitting the ball and playing frisbee anyhow.  (Once it cooled down to a relaxing 99 degrees....)

 

I don't know what is going on in this picture but it makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Audrey and some of her friends.

I don't think the heat fazed the kids at. all.

Oh to be a kid again!

 

Andrew & Jess brought their 3 week old baby to the party in the heat.

In true kid fashion, he seemed oblivious to the fact that it was hot out!

Most of our awesome neighbors were able to make it!

I'm not sure what Brian is doing with Thomas here, but I will vouch for the fact that Thomas is indeed still alive. :)

My Dad helped clean all the frosting off of Chloe. :)

She loves her Pop-pop!

Audrey looks great here and I look like I am melting...

Despite the heat, I think most everyone had a good time.

Okay, maybe not our friend Katie who was 3 days from her due date ... but she still came.  What a friend!

So for Chad's birthday, I got him tickets to see the Phillies (my favorite team) play the Padres (Chad's favorite team)!

Can you believe that after I planned this out in advance and bought the tickets (I thought I was so clever and such a great wife for thinking of this) ... well, then a business acquaintance offered Chad 4 tickets to the very same game?

The only difference is that his tickets were WAY better than the ones I got.  :(

Like, 4th row from the field tickets.

Anyhow, we ended up sitting in the awesome seats and giving away my tickets to a neighbor. 

But the nice thing is that my neighbor got to take his son to his very first Phillies game!  I am so happy about that.  

I told you they  were good seats.

Again, it was EXTREMELY hot.  So hot, they were giving out water & ice for free.  (This from the stadium that charges $5 for a hot dog ).  But about halfway through the game a bunch of clouds rolled in and brought a nice breeze along with them.  It made it much more bearable!

We had a really fun time. 

And woo hoo!  The Phillies won!  (Sorry Chad!)

And just for fun:  This afternoon Audrey & Chloe disappeared into Audrey's room for about 20 minutes.  When they came out this is what Chloe looked like - in full princess attire, complete with makeup and nail polish and a new hairdo. (and of course with her baby in hand)....

I think Chloe is like Audrey's own personal doll baby. :)

Father's Day et al.....

First of all - I want to thank all of you who commented on my last post.  I am glad to know that I am not alone in struggling with the "day-to-day" life of being a mom.  But I am even more thankful that something so awful (meaning Gabby's battle with cancer) can bring about a little bit of good in all of us (meaning giving us more grateful and loving hearts).

I had a really fun weekend.  On Saturday Chad and I took the kids over to the Y pool and just enjoyed splashing around with the kids.  Later on Audrey and I went on a little date with her friend Kaitlyn and her mom Kelly.  Kelly & I each got a deal through Living Social to take the girls to Sweet & Sassy (basically, a little girl salon).  So the girls got their hair done in updo's, their nails painted with sparkly nail polish, and their faces done up with "makeup"

 ... of course you can't be all dressed up with no place to go, right?  So we took them out to dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.  Our server even brought the girls drinks with little umbrellas and a parrot made out of fruit.  They kept saying they were in a "hawaiian" restaurant ... guess they are too young to know that Jimmy Buffett is actually more of a Floridian .... anyway they had a great time together.

So yesterday was Father's Day.  I admit ... there was no breakfast in bed.  BUT, that was mainly because today Chad spoke in church so he was doing a final review and went to church early.  He spoke about Science & the Bible, and he did a great job, if I may say so as the proud wife!  If you ever want to take a listen, it should be on the church website in the next few days: click  Grace Valley Fellowship and then click on "listen to messages online" and it should give you a list.  (In case you are wondering why Chad would be speaking on this subject - ie, you don't know him - he is a geologist and science is one of his true loves, right behind Jesus and his family!)

Anyhow, we did give Chad a gift:  a new wallet.  He had been carrying his money/cards in a money clip and it broke a few weeks ago.  So guess what he has been carrying his stuff in?  A plastic baggie.  Classy, huh?  :)  We certainly had to remedy that situation!!

That afternoon my parents and brother came over and we grilled out and sat around on the deck till it was dark out.  I like to try to get a picture each Father's Day of the kids with their Daddy.  As usual this was not an easy process.  What is it with my kids and cooperating with pictures??  It seems like every family I know says "Let's get a picture" and the kids all line up and smile sweetly and it is over in a minute.   I guess I was "blessed" with the camera shy/strong-willed types, because family pictures for us usually involve me getting stressed and sweating and starting to make all kinds of threats and then someone always ends up crying or yelling or something.  Lovely, huh?  :)

I will say - this does make for some hilarious outtakes (and I will also say, thank God we no longer are using film cameras or I would have rolls of this kind of stuff....)

 Carter & Chloe refused to take part initially ... so I told them they were not allowed in the picture and started snapping away.

 HA!  Reverse psychology worked!  But Carter would only stand a distance away.
(at least he smiled I suppose)

 Come on Carter!  Come over here!

 Chloe can charm the pants off anyone... including her big brother. :)

 Okay, it has now devolved into a crazy group hug ...

This was the best we could do.  

Not too shabby.  

At least everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves! 

A super special Happy Father's Day to Chad, my Dad, and my Dad-in-law!!

Updates ... and more than you really wanted to know about us

My mother-in-law sent me a friendly reminder across the miles that she is missing out on the blog updates.  As a grandma, these things take on great importance!

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.

I don't know what has happened but it's like after we all were sick at the end of January I lost my blogging mojo.  Or perhaps I have just been busy playing catch-up after almost 2 weeks of being out of commission and have had little time for blogging.  Or some days I feel like I don't have anything much that is worthwhile to share with the general public.  For example, does anyone out there want to hear about my trips to the grocery store, the latest kid tantrum, or what I'm making for dinner?

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?
[Insert sound of crickets chirping here.]

Yeah, guess not.

Okay, well there is more going on in my life and churning around in my brain than dinner and shopping for the family.

I'm going to start off with kid updates, because let's face it - this is what many people family members want to hear about.

Audrey was off from school for the past six days.  After I adjusted on day one to all the chatter and constant stream of questions, I really enjoyed having her around.  She is so, so helpful these days.  And she is a great big sister.  Well, she is a great big sister to Chloe.  Carter is sometimes left in the dust, poor guy, but she kept Chloe busy quite a bit with all things girly.  She is really becoming such a responsible and pleasant kid.  This was confirmed when we went to her school conference the other day.  Her teacher had only very positive things to say.  She is excelling in reading and math, and her teacher raved about her handwriting.  She also mentioned that Audrey has not missed a single spelling word all year.  She has me to thank for that ... I was the spelling bee champ in school when I was a kid.  :)

Anyhow, Audrey will have a new teacher starting tomorrow, and I am a little concerned about that.  (She has had a long term sub all year as her teacher was on maternity leave since day two of the school year.)  It took Audrey a number of months to really adjust to first grade.  There were many days early on of "I want to stay home with you" and "I don't want to go to school" and "My tummy hurts."  Since Christmas she had really turned a corner and I don't want a regression.  So, besides trying to stay positive about it, I just keep praying and putting Audrey and the whole situation in God's hands - which is all I can do anyhow.  I know that she will ultimately be fine but I do feel for her and her classmates having to adjust to a new person so late in the year.

On to Carter.  We also had a very positive conference with his preschool teacher back in January.  He is a smart little guy so no concerns there.  The main thing I am trying to accomplish with Carter right now is having him take more responsibility for himself.  He is a kid who would be happy to have me dress him, feed him and wipe his bottom for the rest of his life.  Okay, maybe not the rest of his life.   But for now he is quite happy for me to do things for him despite the fact that he is quite capable of doing things himself when he puts his mind to it.

Well, apparently he is not going down without a fight.  The other day before school I asked him to put on his socks.  Something he is absolutely able to do.  He wanted ME to put them on and I said no, he would need to do this.  He had a meltdown about it, and to make a looooong story short - I ended up putting his socks and shoes on, Chad ended up taking him to school because he would NOT get in my neighbor's car to go, and he lost TV & Wii all day.  (HA! This always give me the upper hand!)  So guess who put his socks on the next day .... and the day after ....

Despite his sometime helplessness, gosh darn it, that kid is such a joy to be around.  Today we had a little friend over (last minute) and he was so kind - he offered to share his beloved cars and marble race and was just so sweet to his friend.  It made me as a mommy so proud of him.  He is also a very loving brother and he routinely tells me "Mommy, I love you" out of the blue.

Oh, and he is officially done with nightime pull-ups!  (Really I should've ditched them awhile ago - he always wakes up dry.)

And then we have Miss Chloe.  She is now 19 months old, and in the past month her verbal skills have taken off!  She says so many words now... and she just communicates so well now verbally and otherwise.  However, my least favorite word that she has learned is "No" (while shaking her head).  The other day she sat in her booster seat like a princess, while turning down everything I offered.  "How about yogurt?"  "Noooo."  "Okay then I'll give you a grilled cheese"  "Nooooo!" as she points to the snack cabinet ... ugh.  And if you dare put something on her tray she doesn't like, over the side it goes.

She is also a singer these days.  Her new favorites are the ABC song (she can get to about  J or K and then she's done) and today she picked up "Are You Sleeping?" which she would sing every time she put her baby in the cradle.  So cute.

Lately, she is in a total "Daddy" phase.  The past number of days she has actually cried when Chad left for work.  I absolutely LOVE this development.  :)

Now for an update on the parents.

Chad and I went SWING DANCING last weekend!  Woohoo!

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away (also known as Chicago in the late 90's), Chad and I used to go swing dancing here and there.  Chad is actually a really good dancer.  Well, a really good swing dancer - he refuses to do any other "freestyle" kind of dancing.  But back in the day we would go with friends and it was always a great time.  Well, this past weekend our church (yes you read that right, our church) hosted a Valentine's swing dance and boy did we have fun!  It has been awhile but I think we've still got it!

Chad has been busy working on our closet.  We hired a friend of ours to widen the opening and now Chad is finishing it up by caulking, sanding, putting  in shelves, installing the door, etc.  This is great but it is also depositing copious amounts of dust all over our bedroom, our clothing .... I see a lot of dusting and laundry in my future.

He is also becoming quite the expert at Mario Kart on Wii.   :)

And now for me.

I have all kinds of things on my mind lately - from the light to the heavy.  Sometimes I think that when I stop blogging it's because I have too much on my mind and - being more of an internal processor type of person - I need time to process it all before I can write.  Or should I say - before I can write and hit "publish post".  I have quite a few blog entries that have never been posted because I was kind of processing on the screen but ultimately felt they were not for public consumption.

Anyhow, a few things I've been thinking about:

How can I listen to and hear the Holy Spirit speaking to me more clearly?  (courtesy of my Bible study)  I really am trying to "listen" better ... and then obey.

What should I do/ what gift should I get my Mom for her birthday? How can I make her feel special?

How can I encourage a very close friend who is struggling with a deep sense of grief and depression?  And why has God allowed her to go through so much and deal with so much pain?  When and how will she ever be healed and functioning in her daily life?   And why has He spared me from that kind of suffering?  And trying not to feel guilty about that.

On a more happy note, I have 2 friends who are about to have babies in the next couple weeks!   So I've been thinking a lot about them and all the changes that are coming for them.... I've also been thinking about God's goodness.  Both of them had trouble getting pregnant and one also had a miscarriage in the past year.  So I am praising God for these babies and so thankful that so many prayers have been answered.  Such a gift.

All right, I'm losing steam on this post, so I'm going to go ahead and wrap up.

So - Mom S. .... this one is for you... :)   Enjoy!

10th Anniversary

So we're back.  It's amazing what 24 hours or so away from home can do for one's spirits.  Refreshing is the word that comes to mind.  It was nice to be away, it was nice to be away with Chad, and it was nice to be away with Chad in the city of brotherly love. 

We started out with dinner at Bahama Breeze in good old nearby King of Prussia ... because we couldn't leave til rush hour and we certainly didn't want to spend our precious time sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway.  So we ate and talked and enjoyed the time alone! 

We stayed right across from Penn's Landing and down a few blocks from "Old City".  Penn's Landing is supposedly where William Penn "landed" in Philadelphia.  Now it is the home of a seaport museum and a few old WW2 submarines, as well as being the place to go for fireworks on New Years or July 4th.  (I will admit that I did not know all this before, despite growing up only about 30 miles away.  Actually, much of this trip was an informative history lesson for me!)

 View from our hotel window out toward the Delaware River/Penn's Landing

 Another view toward Market Street

Bundled up out front of the hotel in boots and down jacket, and ready to hit the sights!

This is what stinks about having a January anniversary ... it is never, I repeat NEVER warm out.  Unless you fly off to the Caribbean.  Which we will probably never do until the kids graduate from college ...

 We started at Christ Church .

We saw (and sat in) the pews belonging to George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross.

We also ran into Audrey's teacher & her mom here, no lie!

What are the chances???

Next we headed to the visitor center and saw a 30 minute movie called Independence - a good intro for the things we would see later on.

Independence Hall, which is currently covered in scaffolding.

But we had a great tour and I actually learned a lot!  Probably helps that this time I was actually paying attention and not counting the minutes until the school bus stopped at McDonalds.

I have a totally renewed appreciation for the history surrounding our city.

 

... since we are the "Keystone State"

This is where it all began ... the decision to separate from England, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the making of the Constitution ...

The tour guide made a point I hadn't really realized before.  When our founding fathers signed the D of I, they really thought they were signing their own death sentences.  After all - they really did not want to start a war.  And if they lost the war (which they realistically thought would probably happen), then they were sure to hang for treason.  But they still felt they needed to take a stand for what was right and fair.

Thank God for people of principles.  I don't feel there are many left these days.

 

We headed over to the City Tavern for lunch.  This tavern has been around since colonial times.

And the founding fathers came here to debate what to do about England way back when.

But ... for us -there was no debating.  Just chatting about our day.  And wondering what the kids were up to.  (Yes it was nice being away from them - But we still missed them!)

We also took a stroll down Elfreth's Alley, also known as our nation's "oldest residential street".

It is so cute and quaint, and people still live in these houses (and have to deal with tourists like us walking through ...)

What a great day.  It is so great to just get to hang out together and have no one asking for snacks and drinks!  Here's to many more great years together (and many more fun trips like this)!

Outta here!

Tonight Chad & I are headed down to Philly .... OVERNIGHT!  (And without children I should add...)

Woo hoo! 

It was our 10th anniversary on January 6th and some awesome friends from church offered to come stay overnight with our kids ... so off we go.  We are planning to spend the day tomorrow checking out the historical stuff that I haven't seen since I was on a field trip in grade school and ran through it all at lightning speed.  Maybe visiting Independence Hall sounds nerdy to some but it sounds fun to me.  Anything that exercises my brain (beyond resolving sibling arguments or thinking about what to make for dinner) sounds good to me right now! 

TTFN!  (Ta Ta For Now!)

Wordless Wednesday

Nine years ago today ...

another reason I'm glad I married my husband

Today when I got up I found this on the kitchen table.

Sorry that it's kinda blurry, my camera isn't super duper with zoom. It says: "Amy, Hope you have a good day.  Thanks for all you do at home.  I love you, Chad".  He also had notes for the kids! Gotta love this kind of start to your day....

How God brought Chad and me together ...

I frequent a blog called "The Barefoot Mama" and Kelly (awesome writer of the blog) is sponsoring a "Feminine Friday" in which you write about how God has brought you and your husband together, in honor of Valentine's Day. I have been wanting to write down our story for quite awhile ... mostly so that I can remember God's grace in blessing me with my husband Chad. I think it's important to document these important spiritual milestones in life ... so here goes. Hold on and grab a cup of coffee, because this may take awhile ...

So, this is the long story of how I met Chad and how we ended up Mr. & Mrs. Smith (no similarity to the Mr. & Mrs. Smith of the movie obviously!) The short story is that I met Chad at our church, we started dating a few months later, got engaged a year after that, and married in January of 2001. Kind of boring, huh? But the longer story is much more important to me ... for me it is a story of God's goodness and how I learned to trust in Him more deeply.

As a teen, I always dreamed of getting married some day and raising a family with my own special someone. (I refuse to say Prince Charming because ... we're marrying human beings after all, not fairy tale figures!) Really, it was my biggest desire ... although I hoped to go to college, and have a career as well. But being a wife and mother was always most important to me. I kind of figured that I would go to college and meet my husband-to-be and get married shortly thereafter. I even sorta planned to have a baby in the year 2000, when I would be 28 years old. I thought that seemed perfect. But God had other plans for me. I did date someone during college - a nice, Christian guy - but as time went on, and we both decided on graduate schools, our paths began to diverge. And I seemed to sense deep down that he was really not the one for me anyway. Something was just missing. Shortly after we graduated, we broke up, and although I was heartbroken at the time, I still felt that I had my whole life ahead of me. Meanwhile, I also had a busy life in a new town, at a new school, and I threw myself into adjusting to life as a hard-working graduate student and got busy making friends in my new home of Wheaton, Illinois. I ended up dating someone towards the end of my time in grad school, but again, this relationship was short-lived and again, I was busy -- finding a job, an apartment, and settling my life into a new "normal." So I moved on and figured that my someone special would come along shortly. I was just 23 years old when I finished my master's degree, and felt like time was on my side. However, as I began working and settling into life "post-college," I realized that having a social life and/or dating was not as simple as it had been before. I had new responsibilities, and much of my time was taken up with work. I began to feel a little lonely, as most of my former grad school friends were in the same boat, all of us working varied hours and not having the freedom to just drop in on each other, or meet up for lunch, or spend late hours talking at a coffee shop. Fortunately, I had a fun roommate, and I attended a church with a great group of single young adults that soon became some of my closest friends. We had a great time together and I spent a good bit of my 20's staying up too late, going on great trips, and embarking on all sorts of crazy, fun adventures that I would not have been able to do, had I been married at the time. However, deep down, despite all the positive aspects of being single, I still truly longed to find and marry my own someone special. Meanwhile, "it" began happening. My friends, one by one, began getting married. I attended countless bridal showers and weddings throughout this time. While I was happy for my friends, each event highlighted for me what I lacked and yet deeply longed for. Now as for me, I wasn't lacking in dates or even boyfriends. Throughout this time, I did a lot of dating, and even had a number of important relationships. In fact, before I met Chad, I had been dating a great guy, but again, this relationship did not work out. I began feeling hopeless about meeting the right man to marry. I was facing my late 20's now. Time did not seem to be on my side anymore (although even writing that makes me laugh now... I was only 26!) But at the time, it seemed as if I would never get married. I asked God what was wrong with me. I promised him that I was not one of those who had the "gift of singleness"(whatever that is!). I prayed and asked him to show me what I was doing wrong. And ... He answered that prayer. He showed me what I was doing wrong ... and it was this: I was not trusting Him to provide me with a husband. I was trying to control it and take matters into my own hands. Through this time of learning and growth, I actually got to the point where I said to God -- whatever You want for me, I trust that Your plan is best ... and even if that means I'll never get married, I will choose to trust You. I tell you, that was a PAINFUL thing for me to say to God. I knew that what I really wanted, again, was to get married and have a family. But even more, I knew that what I really needed was to surrender my will to God's Will. However, after I prayed this, I felt a huge amount of peace. Finding a husband was no longer up to me -- it was up to God. And meanwhile, I purposed to go on with my life and wait for what God may have for me. For a number of months, I chose not to date anyone. I just wanted to clear my head. And I wanted to make sure that when I did choose to date someone, it was someone that God had for me, and that I was dating them for good reasons. A few months later, Chad began attending our church and coming to our single young adult Sunday school class. My initial impression of him was that he was attractive and seemed to be someone with a head on his shoulders and his heart in the right place. Yet upon further observation, I thought he seemed a bit too quiet and serious for me. It didn't help that the one time I tried to initiate a conversation with him, he seemed aloof. I later learned that his initial impression of me wasn't so great either - he thought I was only interested in shopping and shoes (okay, I am interested in both of those things ... but they aren't my main or only focus in life!) Once we got to know each other better, however, we both realized that our initial impressions were totally off. Chad actually has a great sense of humor. And while he does tend to be quiet, it is mostly because he is someone who thinks through what he is going to say, rather than spew off at the mouth. I found that quite respect-worthy. I also realized that he had great spiritual depth, which also drew me to him. And over time we found that we were drawn to each other, and our relationship developed from there ... we spent many hours at local coffee shops talking about life, we took many walks together, and Chad even set me up with my first real email account. And from then on we spent quite a bit of time emailing each other. (It makes me laugh to think about how much time I would spend composing nightly emails to him...) We spent a year "dating" and one of my most treasured memories of our dating time is when we read and discussed a book together called "The Secret of Loving". The title sounds totally dorky, but the book talks about many aspects of being in a relationship - communication, conflict, etc. - and it gave us opportunity to talk about these issues in depth before we decided to spend our lives together. These discussions pretty much sealed the deal for us. When Chad asked me to marry him, I had no hesitation in saying "yes" because I KNEW that this was the man that God had in mind for me to marry. Knowing this gives me GREAT comfort to this day because even when times are tough or he drives me nuts ... I know, I know, I know, there is no question in my mind - that I made the right decision in marrying him. I never wonder "what if" I had married someone else, because I am certain that no one else was/is right for me.

So there you have it. The whole long story. Looking back, I feel so thankful - one, for finding such a great and loving husband in Chad, and two - for the lesson God taught me in letting Him be in control of my life, and trusting His plan for my life. I've learned you can never go wrong in letting go and letting God.

Happy Anniversary, Late...

On January 6, Chad and I "celebrated" our 8th anniversary. I put celebrated in quotes because we really didn't celebrate then... although I will fess up and say that while Chad had a card and flowers for me on our actual anniversary, I had nothing for him. So sentimental of me, I know. :( However, we had already decided that we would go away for a night later in January to celebrate, so I kind of considered that my opportunity to celebrate, and I did have a card for him then, lest you think I'm a total loser!

Here is a picture from our wedding day, January 6, 2001 - excuse the grainy photo, but I took a picture of a picture so that I would have something to put up here. This was before the days of digital photography ... It was a cold but beautiful day. My greatest fear was that the Chicago weather would prevent someone important from attending, but despite a record snowfall that December, the weather that week cooperated, and everyone made it!

And here I am 8 years later, pregnant with my 3rd child. Hard to believe how much has changed.

So ... for our anniversary, my parents came to our house and watched our kids overnight while Chad and I traveled to Philly for the night. We stayed at a brand new hotel downtown, went out for a fabulous dinner at Roy's (which sounds like a cheap diner, but is an awesome "Hawaiian Fusion" restaurant), slept like babies in a comfy bed with no kids to wake us up, and then ventured to the Phila. Museum of Art the following day. It was great!

Outside of the Art Museum

And here is Chad by the "Rocky" statue. I tried to convince him to hold his arms up in the air
like Rocky but he was too cool for that. :)

So thankful for the chance to get away. As I said to Chad - it will probably be a few years before we get to go away overnight again!

So I haven't posted in awhile. This is mostly because I have been quite tired and grouchy for a good part of January. I actually started a post last week and then decided that if I didn't have something nice to say, I shouldn't say it at all. And I was getting tired of hearing myself whine on top of it. :) But Carter is sleeping better these days, I am renewing my attitude with God's help, and sickness has left the household, at least for now! So hopefully I will be posting more in the following weeks.