It is finished!

This is not a spiritual post, but a celebratory one.  Last night Brent completed his MBA.  Whoop, whoop!  After a year and a half of online posts, web conferences, homework, finals,etc...; IT IS FINISHED and last night we celebrated.  I've learned my lesson with surprise parties with Brent.  Don't do them. :)  So we had a very low key celebration, just us.  It's been a loooong year and a half, so we are very thankful that it's over.  Now, we can breathe again. :)

South Haven, MI

In celebration of 8 years of wedded bliss (let's be honest, it's not all bliss, but it is an amazing journey!) Brent and I packed up, dropped the kiddos of at Grandma & Grandpa's and headed north to the highly recommended location of South Haven, Michigan.  We really had no idea what to expect.  A quaint town by the water, but that's about it.  It did not disappoint!  It was so beautiful and relaxing.  We wanted to go somewhere that we didn't feel like we had to tour and do a whole bunch of stuff.  This is the place to go for that.  We ate, laid on the beach, rode bikes and watched movies.  This was the longest we had been away from the kiddos.  We missed them, BUT I can't say we didn't enjoy the time away alone. :)

Sunset at Lake Michigan

Downtown South Haven

We love the beach!

Our means of transportation most of the week.  

Breakfast at the B&B.  We chose the 10:00 slot every morning.  No waking up early for us!

Our first experience at a B&B.  Very fun.

A shout out to the grandparents.  This was a huge blessing to Brent & I to be able to get away.  It was a very long summer with him being out of town.  Time away was quite refreshing.  Looking at my last post, I am realizing how much refreshment I need. :)  I heard a quote the other day that I LOVED.  "Marriage isn't hard, life is."  Marriage would be so easy if life was too.  To all of you in the midst of life, I am praying for you, because I'm pretty sure I have felt or am feeling exactly how you are now.

One Night Refresher

Brent gave me the best birthday gift ever.  An overnighter in Cincinnati.  We pretty much slept, ate & watched movies, but it was so relaxing and just the refresher I needed to keep on keeping on!

Trainer

Three days after Deacon's 3rd birthday and totally on a whim, we started potty training.  I've finally realized that I am not a planner.  Deacon got a diaper rash on Wednesday evening & I decided to leave his diaper off & go from there.  On Thursday when he woke up, we started all over again & have been going strong.  I'm pretty proud of him.  He's doing so well.  Still working on getting the {#2} part, but he can only hold it in so long. ;)  It's been an adventure.  He's eaten more M&M's in the past week than he's had his whole life!  I don't care what anybody says, bribery works...well, at least for our son. :)

I probably wouldn't want my photo like this either :)

Nora has been a great help in the training process.

Yep, we even eat our breakfast on here too.

We do some of this too when the waiting gets long.

*3*

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Deacon's 3rd birthday.  It seems unreal to think that we have a 3 year old.  Brent & I decided this year, that we would start a new tradition on each of the kids birthday.  They get to choose dinner out and a fun thing to do and it will be a date with just Daddy & Mommy.  This is something I was very excited to share with Deacon, because I feel like he gets pushed aside too many times because Nora is at a very time consuming age of, "don't touch that," "don't do that," etc....  You mom's of 1 year olds' understand. :)  Deacon chose Fazolis for dinner & an evening at Jumpy's.  We all had so much fun celebrating with Deacon!

Horrible picture, but had to show some of the "jumpy" fun.

Rest for the Weary

The last 5 weeks have been some of the hardest I've experienced.  Without going into much detail, I've had sick kids and a sick husband (numerous times!), a husband in Germany 3 times in 2 months, and two a week trips to Cincinnati to heal our daughter of her allergies.
   
                                         

 All of this leads to one. weary. mama.  I've been built up & encouraged by dear sisters' in Christ who have been where I've been (and most cases have had more difficult experiences), but sometimes even that doesn't feel enough.  I've been blessed with an *amazing* mother in law who gives of her time to help with my kiddos twice a week and yet, I struggle.  I want out of this constant repetition of inadequacy and unworthiness.

Just this week I was listening to Mark Driscoll, a pastor at Mars Hill church in Washington state and something clicked.  Who is Jesus to me?  Is He my children, my husband, my friends?  Is He a "perfectly" kept home, a healthy, homemade dinner, a date with my husband?  Am I lifting them up to the same scale as Jesus? The Spirit quickly told me.  I am Jesus.  Your Savior, friend.  You are MY child.  Only I can fill the void you're feeling.  Let me go out on a limb and be real here.  Have you ever felt the Spirit speaking so clearly to you, but yet, you don't hardly believe it?  Are there times where you're just so ready to throw in the towel to everything you believe?  Sometimes it's just so hard and exhausting, but (you knew a but was coming :) )  God is so faithful.  When you're down and tired and weary, He says, "come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  He doesn't promise physical rest, but spiritual rest.  While life is hard, tiring & sometimes void of immediate results, Jesus says, "I am your rest.  Come to me."  So, while this journey that God has had me on in the last several months has been exhausting, I choose & will continue to choose, to come to Jesus, because only He is adequate and able to fill every crevice of my soul.  

*and as for physical exhaustion, maybe I should be in bed before 11:30. :)

Sweet girl turns *ONE*

On September 21st, we celebrated Nora's first year of life.  The last year has been some of the best & hardest all wrapped into one.  Through it all, I see how God's hand has been in it all.  Here is a recap of how we celebrated.

It amazed Brent & I that the moment she opened up her baby doll, she started kissing and loving on it.  So sweet.