Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

Your hard work and dedication to our family speaks volumes of your character. The countless hours of seen and unseen hard work that you do to provide for us, to keep us safe and secure does not go unnoticed.

The kids adore you and clamor to your side the minute you come home. The boys copy your every move and want to be just like you. Nothing gets a squeal out of Macy as the sound of the garage door opening and you walking through the door has her running to greet you.

I am so thankful to get to do life with you and look forward to many more birthday celebrations.

You are deeply loved and I hope you can feel just a smidgeon of how vast that love is today.

So, happiest of birthdays, ol' husband of mine! We all love you so.

Adventures at 4am

This does not happen at 4am.

If you were to stop by our house around 4am, there is a good chance that someone will be awake.
It will mostly likely be all of us, except for Colin. Colin is the best sleeper and doesn't want to be bothered. Don't wake him up, don't sleep in his bed, don't move him. He likes his sleep.

I wish his other siblings would get that memo.

Also not at 4am.

Little Miss likes to wake up between 4-5am for a feeding, so we both are usually up at that time.



And Jack...oh, Jack...  he has decided to completely revert back and sleep in our room, preferably in our bed, wedged between us.

We have a queen. It is not big enough for an 5 year old boy who seems to grow arms and legs in the night that wrap and surround you like an ever-growing octopus.

Only one will be sleeping at 4am.

He has learned two very important tricks.

1. Mom wakes up WAY easier than Dad. Sneak past Mom at all costs, for she will put you back to bed.

2. Dad does not wake up. Ever. Go to Dad's side of the bed, and even lay directly on his back...for if you hit Mom in the face while sleeping, she will take you back to your bed.

Jack has been making beds on our floor sometime in the middle of the night. He also wakes us up to let us know that Macy is crying. (Something I am well aware of). He wakes us up if he hears a noise, or a car, or a creak.

Or the cat. That blasted cat.

The cat has figured out where our bedroom windows are. So he will want to be let outside around 8pm and than around 5am...right when everyone is back to sleep from our 4am party session... he will summon us to let him back inside by meowing at our window.

It is not cool, not cool at all.


SO, if you would like to party at 4am, come to our house. We have lots of conversations about noises and fear, we feed crying babies and we sport dark under-eyes circles during the day.

All are welcome.

Upward and Onward!

2013.

What a year.

The highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

My head is still reeling from most of it.

2014 is really a fresh start for my family, in every way possible.

New state, new job, new house, new school, new baby. Every major area of our life is starting from scratch again.

Last Christmas, as we drove through the mountains in Pennsylvania on our way back to Virginia, Ryan and I discussed 2013 and how we really wanted it to be a year a change. While we loved our friends and church, Ryan needed a change in his job for many reasons.

Well, change we got.

Loads of it.

I am ready for all the changing to stop for a bit.

In 2013:

Ryan got a job offer in Detroit, Michigan.

We sold our Virginia house to the first people who viewed it.

We fly to Detroit and put an offer on another house.

We packed up everything we owned and the evening before our trailer left, we found out that our house was given a bad appraisal.

The buyers broke contract with us, even though we fixed everything they asked for and the appraisal was illegal.

We lived in my parent's basements for 7 weeks instead of 2.

Ryan worked in Detroit for 6 of those week and was only around on the weekend.

We moved to Novi.

Jack started Kindergarten at an incredible school.

Macy Elizabeth arrived!

We sold our Virginia house, 6 months after the original close date.

Our faith has been tested, we have struggled, but we were never abandoned. The Lord has been faithful to us, even in the little things. We are believing for a year of Bounty in 2014. Bountiful friendships and relationships. Bountiful finances. Bountiful actions of love.

I am looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us.

Life is always an adventure!

Today I Choose

 Real life photo: convincing Colin to take pictures. I was not successful.

Today I Choose:

~To tickle and kiss my 3 yr old instead of folding that load of laundry.

~ To play on the bed with him instead of rush out the door, trying get groceries before Kindergarten pick up.

~ To feed them pasta and applesauce packets because I have not one single fresh item in my house.

~ To talk with a friend and listen instead of multitask.

~To {try} not stress out at the mess that is my house.

~ To not look at our savings account and freak out, instead be joyful that we sold our house.

~To be at peace with life, even when it is not going in the direction I think it should.

~ To {try} to enjoy the little daily things that make up life, glamorous or not.

~ To not compare my life through the rose-tinted, instagram -filtered life of others.

~ To be joyful in all things, faithful in the little things and intentional with my actions.

Some days you just need to choose your attitude, regardless of the circumstances of the day.

Today was one of those days.

Give thanks in All circumstance; for this is God's will for you, in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18