Tim and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this past Thursday! I remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. During our wedding reception, my dad dedicated a song to me (well actually to Tim too cause my dad is like Tim’s other dad). It ended up being a song Tim and I play often to reminisce about our wedding day. I thought I would share it....My Wish by Rascal Flatts
We were unable to find a babysitter for dinner out….so we took things into our own hands. After the kids went to bed Tim went out and picked up Japanese food. Yes, we ended up eating dinner at 10 pm but it was a wonderful time of conversation and reflection about the last five years. The food was absolutely delicious, and the entire quiet night at home seemed absolutely perfect. If you don’t already know, I have an awesome husband who loves Jesus, his family, his friends, and maybe a good football game or two. ;-) Really I couldn’t have dreamt of any better man. God is so good!
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. 5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall[a] on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them! 18If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. 20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.[c] 21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
I find this Psalm to be of great comfort. Tim and I miscarried our first child 3 years ago. I will never forget how broken we were before God. But we serve a mighty and loving God who knew that we would make it through, and be stronger in the end. I have several loved ones who are going through difficult times right now. Please know that God will never forsake you, and He will always carry you through those hard times.
"It’s the best of jobs. It’s the most difficult of jobs. It can bring you the greatest joy. It can cause the greatest pain. There is nothing as fulfilling and exhilarating. There’s nothing so depleting and exhausting. No area of your life can make you feel more like a success when everything is going well. No area of your life can make you feel more like a failure when things go wrong."
(from The Power of a Praying Parent, By Stormie Omartian)
I am now a mom of 2 kids under age 2! I cannot imagine a better or more fulfilling job in this life, but at the same time it can be challenging. I pray to God that I will have the energy I need to give my children the attention they deserve on a daily basis. Eventually, and hopefully soon, we will have a routine down that flows more smoothly, but for now I just roll with the punches. Over the last few weeks I’ve been wondering (and worried) how I’m going to balance everything in my life. Well, I’ve finally decided to stop worrying about ‘balancing’ and just do what needs to be done the best that I can. The first 3 weeks after Jackson was born were pretty exhausting since I was trying to recover from a c-section, anemia, 3-4 hours of sleep per day, and Makayla’s demands for more attention (I can’t blame her though-her world just got turned upside down). I remember when MG was born I was totally unprepared for the lack of sleep but this time around I felt more prepared mentally…which I think has sped up my recovery!
Thanks to everyone who brought us meals those first 2 weeks after Jackson was born; each of you are a God-send! Thanks to my mom who came over to help right after Tim went back to work. The 2nd week was demanding & I couldn’t have done it without my mom’s help. And of course, thanks to my fantastic husband who has been changing many diapers and getting peed on in the process! HAHA! Makayla has begun to be Mommy’s helper and really adores her baby brother (finally). Whenever he cries she runs up to him saying “Jackson, Jackson, AWE!” It is so cute. I really look forward to those years when they will start playing together and building onto that sibling bond that will last forever.
It was about a month ago when I forced Tim to go to our pcp for his stomach problems. If you know Tim you would know that he doesn’t go to the doctor and I had to beg him to go. I just had that ‘wife’s intuition’ and it was eating me up. He said he would go only because I didn’t need to be stressed out, being pregnant and all. Our pcp referred him to a gastroenterologistand he ended up getting a colonoscopy. After the procedure, the doctor told us that the visit that day saved his life, and if he hadn’t of had it done soon he would be dying of colon cancer. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I was so very thankful in a million different ways for God taking care of this problem. Tim ended up having a very large polyp removed that ended up being precancerous. It is actually very rare for someone Tim’s age (just 27) to have polyps at all. He will need to be re-screened once a year to check for growths. My praise is that the polyp was removed before it became cancer! I know that God was completely in control each step of the way. My prayer (and prayer request) is that everything will look good when he goes back for a follow-up sigmoidoscopy this Friday, Nov. 19th. My husband is the most amazing man and would never want to burden anyone else with his problems; that is why he didn’t even want me to share this initially. However, we also know that prayer is so incredibly powerful, and we should lift up prayers together & for each other. Please pray for Tim this week, specifically Friday, that he would find comfort in knowing God is always in control.
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…”
Today and forever you are my dear husband, my best friend, the one God made for me, and my one and only love. I love you Tim!
Four years ago today I married the man of my dreams. I searched and searched for the perfect anniversary card, but year after year I can never find the perfect one. Of course I ended up buying one, but it just doesn’t say everything I feel in my heart. I started this blog as a way to preserve memories and precious thoughts. I will eventually print all the entries and make them into a little book my family can look back at. So while I’m not going to include the letter I wrote for Tim, I am going to include the words to a song that really became ‘our song’.
When God Made You
Its always been a mystery to me,
How two hearts can come together,
And love can last forever.
But now that I have found you I believe,
That a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one.
So gone are all my questions about why,
And I've never been so sure of anything in my life
Oh I wonder what God was thinking,when he created you.
I wonder if He knew everything I would need,
Because he made all my dreams come true.
When God made you, He must have been thinking about me.
Ooo ooo,I promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you,
With all my heart I'll be there too.
And from this moment on I want you to know,
I'll let nothing come between us, and I will love the ones you love.
So gone are all my questions about why…about why
Oh I wonder what God was thinking when he created you,
I wonder if He knew everything I would need,
Because He made all my dreams come true.
When God made you He must've been thinking about me.
He made the sun He made the moon,
To harmonize a perfect tune,
One can't do without the other they just have to be together.
And that is how I know its true,
Your for me and I'm for you and my world
Just cant be right without you in my life
He must have heard every prayer I've been praying
I've been praying He must've knew everything I would need
When God made you, He must've been thinking about me.
Tim started college in January so we have been adjusting over the last few months. He is going to be a teacher! Woo-hoo! He is great with kids and loves math, so I know he will do a great job once he graduates. I am not bragging (okay maybe a little) but I am so blessed to have the best husband ever! He helps me with so many things around the house. We are a team. After being together for 8 years, we still talk to each other on the phone everyday during our lunch breaks. Tim's co-workers tease him about this but he just tells them that he enjoys talking to his wife (that's me!). Tim makes me feel special, and I do my best to make him feel special too. Our marriage is not perfect by any means. It bothers me a little when he plays his video games until 2 am Saturday, and then sleeps in late. But I have to remember that 'playing video games' is his recreation, and at least he does it when Makayla and I are sleeping. And I know I drive Tim absolutely nuts with my obsessive compulsive behavior. And he wishes I would cook dinner more often and opt out of the frozen pizza 3 nights a week. I know..I know. LOL! But of course these are all little bothers, and in a marriage you can't let the little bothers bother you a lot. We try not to dwell on the negatives but think of the positive attributes that each of us brings to our marriage. We forgive each other (Think about it...God forgives us and we don't deserve it). I am reminded of these beautiful verses...
Ephesians 5:23-32
"23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."
My prayer tonight is for marriages all around our nation be strengthened. Also, that couples will put God first and not sweat the small stuff.
There was some worry that I had an appendicitis so I was sent to the hospital for a ct scan this week. I couldn't help but think how completely inconvenient it would be if I had to have any kind of surgery. I am a wife, a mom, and a full-time teacher. The funny part is that I said to Tim, " I really hope I don't need surgery because I have my last evaluation at work Monday. I don't want to be in pain while I'm teaching!" Tim told me that I was nuts. Later, I realized how silly I must have sounded. So many other thoughts raced through my mind: Would I be able to hold MG, give her a bath, feed her, wash the laundry, clean the dishes, play with the dogs, cook dinner for Tim?? Wait a minute...my cooking usually consist of popping something in the oven and I could still do that. Anyhow, I did not have an appendicitis. All those little things that make me tired sometimes are really things I welcome everyday. I love every moment I can do something for someone I care about. I thank God for all the blessings in my life.
p.s. My CT scan did find cysts on my right ovary and inside my kidney, cervix, and uterus. This could be causing my pain. However, my pcp doesn't think these are a real concern considering all my blood work is okay. The cysts should go away on their own in 1-3 months.
So far the month of November has been cram packed, and I've barely had time to relax. But we've had some really special moments too. Makayla Grace was dedicated at church on November 1st, my 30th birthday! On that day, Tim and I publicly promised to do everything within our power to raise Makayla in a godly way, prayerfully until she can make a decision on her own to follow God. I actually made that promise to God when I first found out I was pregnant with her. I remember having a scare when I was about 6 weeks pregnant. I didn't want to lose another baby, but I promised God that I would have peace in whatever happened, but that if He chose to continue my pregnancy that I would raise her up to know Him and all his goodness. God has truly blessed me in a very special way. Being a mom is such a gift...the best ever!
I turned 30 and it's hard to believe. I don't really think 30 is old...it's just older than I was before. Honestly, turning 30 made me think about the many years that have passed too quickly. I've been thinking a lot about my quiet times with God. These days my quiet time is more likely to include singing to God before my work day begins, praying during the 'moment of silence' "silently" at work, and praying before I go to bed at night (that is if I don't fall asleep first). It is time to get back on track...the right track. I am reminded of Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
One more update..a pretty important one! My sister, Summer got married to Joe on November 7th. I am so happy for them and hope their marriage is filled with many happy memories and much love. I pray that she will be as happy and in love with Joe as I am with Tim. I will have to say that I have the best husband in the world and I am majorly blessed to be married to him! MG had a very long day meeting so many new people. She got to meet her great grandmother which was really special. I was really proud of Makayla; she didn't cry once for the 8 hours she was out of the house that day. Of course, I felt so bad for messing up her schedule, and by the end of the night she was exhausted (we all were). So that is the update for November so far. It's been very busy, but I am going to slow down, take time to enjoy every moment, trust in God, and make time for Him! I know that doing so will make me a better mommy and a better wife. God Bless.
Makayla's Baby Dedication
My Birthday Cake and MG's Cake (Summer made these!)
