Reflecting on 10+ years

Yesterday was Our 10 year anniversary,  10 married and 15 together!  I can only imagine the next 10 will get better.  I wanted to post a timeline of our life together, my memory is already failing me.

 

 

1997-Switched schools to Calvary Christian and met Ben.

1998-Ben asked me to our Jr./Sr. formal, we started dating that summer.

1999-graduate high school, Ben goes away to college.
 

2000-Still dating long distance :)
 

2001-Ben's 1st summer on the book field in NY, Ben proposed on my front porch (December 7).

Best moment of Ben's 1st summer selling books.

2002-Ben sold books in Maryland, we married August 31st!! Antigua for our honeymoon and Mexico in November for SW sizzler trip.

Honeymoon

 

Year 1 (02-03)- Ben's 3rd yr. selling books, from home. Jack was born in June.

 

One year anniversary 

Year 2 (03-04)-Ben graduates college, Get's a big boy job with GA, spend a 4th summer selling books from home, We become the head YL leaders at Ryle and we buy our 1st house! Joy, Ben's sister is born.

 

Year 3 (04-05)-Kate is born in March.

Year 4 (05-06)-We spent this year learning how to disciple well, how to be parents to 2 kiddos, this was a year that prepared for the things to come.

Year 5 (06-07)- We sold our 1st house and bought our 2nd house.  Ryle YL was rocking and rolling we wanted to be in the community that we ministered to. Ben was told that he was going to loose his job.  In turn this year was difficult, Ben fought hard to prove himself in his job and kept it after lot's of uncertainty.

Year 6 (07-08)-  Lucy was born in April, Started to phase out of Ryle YL. We took Lucy to Ireland at 9 wks old.  Jack started kindergarten.  Life started to feel more balanced.  We spent this year growing up a bit.

Year 7 (08-09)- Our heart is growing for adoption. We become foster parents and receive our 1st little boy.  He leaves after two months.

 

 Year 8 (09-10)-September we find out I'm pregnant and put foster care on hold.  Jack starts 1st grade.  We go to Hawaii for Christmas to visit Uncle Don.

 

 

Year 9 (10-11)-The kids start at a new school, Cornerstone.  Kate is in Kindergarten and Jack 2nd.  Over the summer we started College YL, this lasted only for a year.  Kate got her appendix out, 2 nights at Children's. We went to Florida and North Carolina with the kids and Bermuda just the two of us.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 10 (11-12)-We were approaching a year of change.  We switched churches, started volunteering and quickly felt at home.  God would not get adoption off our minds we knew that's what He wanted and felt led to start the process in May.  We submitted our application to AWAA.  Jess and Morgan moved in, in November, we experience a new level of discipleship.  God prompts us  to home school the next school year.  Currently we are 2 weeks in.  We go to the Bahamas just the two of us.

Participating in Our Thanksgiving challenge.

 

 

 

 We often look at each other and can't believe where the Lord has taken us.  It's so exciting to think of the next 10 years!

 



Summer is here!

This is a post I started in June and never finished so I am going to finish it now!

The kids are home, it feels great...I love spending time with them!  The last day of school was May 25th, after a closing assembly in the morning we headed right to Timber Wolf YL camp in Michigan for the long weekend.  The week leading up to this I had gotten a nice cold and several stressful circumstances had happened that week, I felt pretty run down.  The beginning of the trip I let life get to me and did not handle it very well but by the end I could stop and appreciate the people we were with and the incredible environment we were in.  This will be something we do every year, the kids loved it!  Some of the highlights were:  Joy (Ben's sister) came with us, Joy, Jack, Kate and Lucy all did the zip line (I am even scared of that), Jack did the ropes course and drove a slick track race car, Lucy caught some fish, we all kayaked, we ate as a family 7 times and I didn't have to cook,serve or clean up any of it!

This week my excitement has mounted as I have the kids home with us I can see changes in them, positive ones.  Jack has become softer, Kate has felt rested, Lucy is growing confident in who she is and Sam well his cuteness meter is off the charts.  I feel like this is a result of our time together as a family and the amount of  time we can encourage them individually.  We actually have time and energy to do the things we always long to do through out the year.  I am talking about simple things like reading to them, all of them!  Playing games, watching movies and helping Ben date them individually.  I love summer break and I think I am going to love schooling them at home even more next year!

This is going to be another year of changes and major faith steps, we are looking forward to what's ahead but any confidence you see in me comes from the Lord.  Like I said we will be home schooling and as of May 5th we started the adoption process, eek this is so scary!  I feel like this is something we have talked about for so long, but now it's happening.  We wanted to start about a year ago and we over and over again felt like the Lord was telling us to wait till Sam was 2.  That was hard to swallow at times but now looking back I can see that it wasn't the right time and I appreciate the ways He has grown us since to prepare us.

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As I read and looked over the things I wrote I think I was just too chicken to post it since I said that we will be home schooling next year and adopting, those are just really big things for us.  I know I was putting pressure on myself to have answers for those that might ask me "why?" are we making those choices.  I still don't have all the answers but the Lord has built up more faith in me that we are walking in the right direction for our family.

So we are 2 1/2 months into the adoption process!  I am officially paperwork pregnant.  We are adopting through American World Adoption agency from Ethiopia.  I feel like God asked us to move forward in faith, each day I can see his vision for us more and more clearly.  We are of course only in the beginning stages and it will likely be 2 years before we meet our daughter or son.  So we will continue plugging away at paperwork and praying for the Lord's provision and guidance.

Wrapping up the summer

School has started and we have finally gotten used to the schedule and change.  I am really enjoying my time home with Lucy and Sam, it's easy for them to be neglected when the older ones are home.  It's funny after four kids and 9 years of marriage.  I feel like God is still teaching me so much about my role as a wife and mother. I think this next year will be a year of growth and time to reflect on what's next for our family.  Since I have taken very little time to document our summer I thought as always I will try to play catch up.

In June we celebrated Jack's 8th birthday.  His birthday marked a really sweet time full of great memories.  We watched a video Joel made of Jack's 1st year, it touched Jack to the point of tears to know that people love and care for him. It is one of our sweetest moments with Jack.

Ben created a surprise birthday scavenger hunt.  We had a outdoor movie and a fire, it was a great night.

After Jack's birthday Ben and I went to Bermuda together,  I really wanted to take time to write about that trip and some fun memories later.

On the 4th of July we attended the Forth Mitchell parade and celebrated my 31st birthday!

A soldier stop to give Jack one of his badges it was so touching.

Lucy covered her ears most of the time, those darn firetrucks.

Sam enjoyed all the candy thrown to him.

We ended the night at my parents house with fireworks.

Lemonade stands are usually the highlight of the summer but this year we only had one.  Lucy quickly got tired of the heat but Kate stayed out there for a long time.  Kate looked so darn cute. At one point she had a umbrella she was holding and a fan blowing on her, it was quite the setup. 

Sam and Jack became a tight little duo this summer, it's sweet to see the love they have for each other.

In August we went camping with Ben's side of the family, it was a wet night :)

 

August 21st 1st day of school!

Jack in 3rd grade.

Kate in 1st grade.

August 31st we celebrated our 9 year anniversary.  Ben came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which he got a total deal on at the Secret Garden (I love that place).

We had a nice night out, we did pizza at Via Vite on the square, a wine tasting at Party source (very fun) and ended the night with Starbucks.  It was great to be together and just talk.

We ended our summer with a trip to Chicago over Labor Day weekend.  We attended a wedding for my cousin and stayed with my friend Nicole and her husband.  They babysat our kids, this was from their time with them.

Some other summer highlights include Joel and Kerry receiving their referral for a little girl from Ethiopia who is around Sam's age.  We are all looking forward to her coming home in the next year!

Dave and Meg having their second child Gordon.  He is so precious.

Micah and Andrea had their forth baby Paul.  Paul is currently still in Nicu.  We have spent a lot of time as a family praying for Paul, he is one very special guy and a true blessing to the family.

I look forward to this next year with so much anticipation to see God work in our lives and those around us!!

21 people, one house and lots of fun!

Every year we take a family vacation with my parents and most of my siblings, their wives and children.  Each year we have gone some place different.  This year we went to the Outer Banks N.C. . My mom is such a champ she spends far to many hours searching for just the right house for 21 people to fit comfortably.  This year she landed on a 7 bedroom, 4 story house with a pool and hot tub.  The time with everyone is invaluable.  We spent most of our days by the pool and relaxing while kids took naps.  The days were filled with laughs and meaningful conversations.  We didn't spend much time on the beach due to the giant dunes you had to cross to get there, not fun with kids.  Each night for dinner we took turns cooking meals so that the burden didn't fall on my mom alone.  Most of our evenings were filled with back deck talks and cigars, movies together in the theatre room or card games.  Being together for a week with so many people has it's moments but overall it's wonderful to be a part of a large family and be able to share our walks with Christ together.  

Random memories and highlights:

-family dinners, always full of chaos but entertaining

-Our entire family went to ice cream out, the things we ordered were not good the kids were a mess and Kate threw up in the car on the way home.  

-Ben, Sam and I took a walk one night along the road in search for a ice cream place that might be close.  We didn't find one so we bought frozen fruit bars from a camping convenient store.  We decided to walk home along the beach, it ended up being a long walk but a great evening together.

-Ben and I went jogging one day it was short but fun.

-Lots of time just lying on the air mattress with my sister in laws in the pool.

-Yummy margaritas by the pool, compliments of my mom :)

- HGTV in the mornings with Dave and Meg.

-Sweet time with the Lord.

-Kevin making orange juice using a funnel and a narrow mouth container, so entertaining.

 

We don't have many pictures, I think they are all from one day.  That's what happens with four kids.

Evening walk to the beach.

The camera work is terrible but this is a taste of a car ride with us.  This was such a long ride home.

By this time Sam has thrown up everywhere, it was terrible.  We have stopped 4 times in the first 2 hours, yikes!  We just finished breakfast and Lucy is now saying she has to throw up, which she says often but has never done in the car.