Celebrating 5 years!

On July 30th, 2005 I married the man of my dreams. He is my best friend and as cheesy as the saying is, it's definitely true..."he completes me" .

When we started dating on April 9th, 2000 (yes, I know the exact date), I knew that I was going to marry this man. I'm not sure I can explain it and looking back if you would have asked me then, I'd have probably given you some silly teenage answer like, "because he's HOT and totally brilliant" which is true. He is hot AND brilliant but that's not why I knew. Again, I just knew - sorry I can't explain more for those of you looking for "steps to finding the man of your dreams" but I just can't in words.

I'm not sure Matt felt the same way about me but that makes total sense if you know us well. I jump into most things head first, making gut decisions and then later worrying about whether they were right or wrong. Matt, however, thinks looooooong and hard about anything and everything and then once he has decided is totally content with his decision. Can you see why we were meant for each other? We definitely even each other out.

In July we celebrated 5 years of marriage! This past year has been especially wonderful (and sometimes hard) with our baby girl joining our family. I didn't think I could love him more but seeing him as a Daddy is the most beautiful thing. (we are totally going to end up with a ton of kids!) BUT we needed some time to ourselves. So we sent Lily off to spend some time with her grandparents (which she and grandparents LOVED) and Matt and I took off for Cancun!

I did have some personal goals for the trip. 1) I wanted to reconnect with Matt and just enjoy spending my time with him 2) I wanted to RELAX.....as in do NOTHING. I wanted my biggest decision to be pool or ocean. 3) I wanted to feel beautiful. What I mean is that I wanted to do my hair, put on makeup, a pretty dress, new shoes, and go out to a nice restaurant and have my husband look at me with those eyes that say, "Wow....just WOW". And it's not that Matt doesn't make me feel beautiful or that I don't get out much but when you are trying to keep the house clean, take care of the little one, make dinner, etc. things like putting makeup on and curling your hair just don't happen. So I'm happy to say that I was able to accomplish all three of my goals and we had a wonderful time. It felt way too short. We got home a week ago today but it already seems like it was months ago. *sigh* We are already thinking about our ten year anniversary trip (or maybe our 6 year anniversary trip :)

The view from our balcony

Every night the maid came in and made fun towel animals.

The waves were huge! Matt jumped right in. I however, didn't feel like being pummeled into the sand.

I mean, who wouldn't LOVE this man!

1st Birthday!

This past weekend we celebrated Lily's 1st birthday! It was quite the event and had lots of family and friends come over to celebrate with us. Now looking back, I think I may have went a little over board being that Lily is only 1 and probably won't remember this birthday but I truly wanted to create some great memories. My goal/hope is that Lily will look back at pictures and hear stories about her party and feel very loved by Matt and I because she definitely loved (maybe a little spoiled too!) by her parents (grandparents, great grandparents, friends, etc.). I also think this party was for me as well. I realize that sounds a little selfish but hey we worked really hard this past year. A whole year ago I gave birth to our little beauty and we can't even imagine life without her. I think I would liken this year to the first year of marriage. Granted there are some VERY big differences but what was that same for me is that my first year of marriage was one of the best years of my life yet probably the hardest and I feel the same about our first year of parenthood. Now looking back it went by really fast and she is changing so much. I feel so thankful that God has blessed us with her and that he has blessed our family in a way that allows me to be a stay-at-home mama. I get to experience all the ups and downs with my baby girl. I'm also thankful that Matt loves and supports our decision for me to be at home with her.

One year down....many more to come! I can't wait!

On the move!

Lily is crawling everywhere! She has definitely been a happier baby because of her new ability to explore the house.

We finally had to drop Lily's bed down because she is pulling herself up. (Note to Lily: Please stop getting so big....your mama doesn't want you to grow up so fast! )

Pulling herself up on the couch. (Seriously...are those not the cutest thighs you've ever seen!)

I heard Lily fussing in the Living room yesterday and when I came in she had managed to get the laundry basket on top of her but couldn't get it off. So instead of immediately saving my child from her awkward position, I got my camera instead. I couldn't help it. It was just too funny!

Twirly Bird Craziness!

Annoyed...no, that's not strong enough. Angry....well maybe that's too strong. Frustrated...that might be more like it. This year our backyard is COVERED in twirly birds. For those of you who don't know what a twirly bird is well that's what we call maple tree seeds. (Not sure where the name came from or if I just made it up.) Anyway, after last week, we have SOOOO many of those little, what will soon become, weeds in our yard, garden, flower boxes and landscaped areas. So now I have to decide if I want to pick them up or just get the Shopvac out and seriously go to town on the back yard not caring what gets sucked up along the way. I've also had the pleasure of cleaning out the gutters, which is really fun if you're sometimes clumsy and accident prone, like myself.

This is the scene of the accident...the one where I break my leg and possibly my arm too. As you can see the ladder doesn't actually get you right up to the gutter so you have to stand on the very top (kids don't try this at home) to get the twirly birds out. Which is EXTREMELY dangerous and a super bad idea - not to mention there are warning signs all over the latter telling me not to do it. BUT I did it and thankfully I didn't actually break my leg or my arm. I was just freaked out and clinging to the roof the whole time. So at this point you might be wondering why I was doing this instead of my super agile and coordinated husband. Well...he was at work and it was supposed to rain pretty hard that afternoon. And well, the last time our gutters overflowed, the water washed all the mulch in my landscaped boxes out into the yard, AND my wonderful husband decided that he had to go out in the storm, with lighting i might add, and clean the gutters out so the rain wasn't overflowing them. So to prevent my hubby from getting struck my lighting or knocked off the roof by hail or strong winds, I decided that maybe I should just handle it. So this is why I now hate twirly birds and will be reminding myself that should I lose my mind and decide to plant a maple tree. Oh and by the way, we are going to start pricing gutter guards. :)

Baby Dedication

2009 was a big year for our church as far as babies are concerned. Eight new additions(seven born and one adopted) were dedicated at church this past Saturday, which for our little ministry is a LOT of kiddos. We parents all lined up with our little ones and made a few VERY important promises to God, with the church as witnesses, about how we will raise our children.

Do we, this day, dedicate Lily to the Lord and to His will for her life?
(we do)
Do we promise to pray regularly for Lily?
(we do)
Do we promise to faithfully share the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ with Lily both by our words and through our actions?
(we do)
Do we commit to training Lily in a way that honors & reflects God, His Holy Word, and the Bible?
(we do)

After we stood up and promised to do these things, I was immediately struck by just how significantly important our jobs as parents truly are. And I was reminded how much of a blessing my child is and how much love God bestowed on me when He thought me worthy of having her.

I realize that I'm going to make mistakes and need forgiveness but it is truly freeing to know that God is in control of Lily's life and He has a plan for her. A good plan.

Easter!

Sorry it's been SOOO long since I've posted anything. We've been so busy with church, house projects, trips home, and tending to the garden that I haven't posted anything since February! Anyway, we had a great Easter a couple of weekends ago. We enjoyed spending time with family and Lily had her first ever Easter egg hunt. She is so cute!

Honduras kick-off!

Well tonight was our first team meeting for Honduras and we leave on May 17th for a week of serving and loving God's people. I feel like the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of events and planning for the semester. This year is bittersweet for me. I love going to this country God has put so deeply in my heart but leaving my little girl for a week is hard for this mommy. It will be the first time I've been a way from her for more than one night. I know she is going to have SO much fun and be totally spoiled by her grandparents but I can't help but worry that I'll miss something big - like her first steps! However, I'm know that God has a plan for us in Honduras and I pray for guidance and peace about leaving.

On the other hand...I'M GOING TO HONDURAS IN MAY! YAY! And truly I am excited. Our team is full of friends and interesting people that I'm excited to share this experience with. If you'd like to be praying for our team and for us then please pray that our support raising goes well/smoothly for our team. Pray that God would prepare people's hearts to be sensitive to our mission and support us. Please pray that I can lead these people and love them well - that God would give me peace, patience, understanding, etc. Also pray that Lily's mommy will enjoy her week serving the Lord and will remember what a wonderful gift grandparents are to her child.

Here are some pics from last year: