Happy 2nd Birthday Caleb!

Two years ago, we met you for the first time.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  So many people assumed that we were hoping for a little girl to be added to our family, but when you were born and we found out we had our fourth baby boy,  I was overjoyed.  I remember your dad telling me that "you were big, healthy and perfect" when you were born and the tears flowed for both of us.  You were born after we experienced loss.  Life is always a miracle but after losing one, the thankfulness we felt for you was overwhelming.  Sometimes I worry that you will think you were "just another" boy or that we were trying for a girl when we added you to our family.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  You...you are so wanted and loved.  You are the answer to many,many months of prayers. 

Your brothers nicknamed you "Baby Pancake" before you were born and now affectionately call you "KK".   For months, we dreamed about you, talked to you and prepared our hearts and home for the joy of another baby.  The joy that you've brought our family in the last two years has far exceeded anything I was prepared for in that hospital room two years ago when we introduced you to your three big brothers.

On June 23, 2011--we celebrated your original BIRTHday with a cake and today we'll celebrate again because you are cherished.  You are loved.  You are loved by friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, mom, dad and the God that knit you together.

In the last two years, its been fun to watch as your personality has emerged more and more.  You entertain us with your dancey-dance.  You make us laugh with your sense of humor.  You amaze us with your climbing skills and physical feats.  You scare us with your dangerous and mischievous endeavors.  You love us with your hugs and snuggles.  Your belly laugh fills the house.  Your dimples melt our hearts. Your independent spirit challenges us.

Just a few of your antics from the past year.  You definitely keep us on our toes!

We cannot wait to see what the future holds for you Caleb.  We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.  Today we thank God for you and the blessing that you are to our family!  We love you more than words can express.

Happy Birthday to our sweet and spunky KK!!

Happy Belated Father's Day!

In this season of life, I'm behind on almost everything.  I'm usually the last one to call my dad on Father's Day or his birthday.  It doesn't mean that I love him less than my siblings, it just means that I like to procrastinate.  This year, I swore I would not be the last one to call to wish him a Happy Father's Day and to say "I Love you!"  So, I tried calling him at 1 pm, but we were at the beach in Michigan and apparently had terrible reception, so the call didn't go through. At 9 pm, we were on our way home from the beach, I gave my dad a call and once again was the last one to talk to him.

My dad becoming a father for the first time when my brother Travis was born in 1973.

This year at church our pastor was talking about how we need courageous fathers.  Fathers who are willing to leave behind the ways that they were raised and to do it differently for their own families.  For many fathers of previous generations, physical and verbal affection was not expressed easily or often for their children. This was not the case for me with my dad.   My dad regularly told me how proud he was of me, how much he loves me and was physically affectionate.  He use to call me "Miss Flippy" as a young girl because I was always twirling around in my dresses.  I always, always felt loved.  Even now, he greets me with hugs and kisses.  I'm so thankful for his willingness to show affection to me and for how it built me up as a child and young adult. 

Becoming a father for the second time when Dan was born in 1975.

Our pastor also talked about how courageous fathers will set boundaries & discipline, set a good example in their behavior for their children and seek after God.  As our pastor was going through the list, I realized how fortunate I was to have a dad who did all of those things.  I'm not going to say that my dad is perfect, but if you had to divide it up into a "got it right" and "got it wrong" chart....he'd have almost everything (especially the important stuff) in the "got it right" column.

Me and my dad circa 1979.

Specifically, I think about how my dad was so committed to telling the truth. Once in high school, I wanted to skip out of school and head out to a long lunch with my friends.  "Everyone" was going and just having their parents write up excuses that weren't true in order to be excused from school (They have a doctor's appointment, etc.).  My dad refused to do that saying that he would not lie.  Instead, he wrote a note stating that I wanted to go to lunch with my friends and did not have a reason for this to be excused.  I turned the note in at the office and they allowed me to leave.  I'm pretty sure that my dad was flabbergasted that they allowed me to leave with that note, but I still remember to this day how he wouldn't lie even about little things that seemingly didn't matter.  You could completely trust his word.

My dad becoming a father for the 4th time when Natalie was born in 1987.

I also think about how hard my dad worked and still works.  He was done with medical school and residency by the time I was born.  As a young child, I remember proudly telling people that my dad was an ophthalmologist (I refused to just say eye doctor).  I remember him making house calls to take care of his elderly patients who couldn't easily get out.  I remember him getting calls to the emergency room on weekends, especially in the summer when people insisted on putting dangerous fireworks off around my birthday (July 3rd) and "shooting their eyes" out.  I remember him often having to go back out at night when we were getting into bed so that he could take care of someone at the hospital.  I never once remember hearing him complain about it.  He joyfully took care of others.  Now that we're all grown up and out of the house, he and my mom have started going to Mexico and running eye clinics for Indians there. My dad became a doctor to help people keep their vision and he has spent his life doing just that.  I'm so proud of him for that and so thankful for the example that he showed me each and every day about treating all people with dignity and respect.

I remember this so clearly, I thought it was crazy that he was shaving off his beard.

I'm also thankful for the priority that my dad made for us to have regular family vacations where we all got to get away,be with each other and just relax.  His favorite place is the beach and I'll always think of him when I'm at any beach.  First, there is no one I know who can sit in the sun longer.  I'd challenge him to a sit-off on the beach, but I don't stand a chance.  The man LOVES the beach. 

The Beach 2012

Patty-cake with James in 2007

Secondly, we've had so many great memories there.  As a child, I remember going to Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head island.  He would take us out in the ocean on rafts and play paddle ball with us on the beach.  As an adult, he has gone to the beach with my family several times and now I get to see him play with my boys in the surf, teach them bocce ball and treat them to frozen lemonades when the cart comes past.  My heart is full of great memories from the beach that I treasure.

Christmas 2007 in Orlando with Andrew

 There are a million other random things that I love because my dad passed it along to me.  For example, Oldies music.  I can probably beat almost any other 30-something year old at a trivia game of 50s and 60s music (with the exception of my brother Dan) due to listening to my dad's tapes as we drove around in his Subaru.  I also love comic book and superhero movies especially old stuff like the original Batman with Adam West.  I like reading mystery and crime books and take them off my dad's hands when he is done reading them.  I can drive stick shift because he taught me how to in order to get my driver's license.  I can throw and catch a baseball because he spent a summer when I was in third grade playing with me so I could try out for softball (I chickened out on trying out, but I can throw and catch because of him). 

Walking with James the night before Aaron was born.

Introducing the twins to Aaron--2008

I could go on and on.  You get the point.  My dad is the best.  I love you Dad!  Thanks for being the kind of courageous father that I needed.  Happy Father's Day!!!

Aaron's first Crosscutters game in 2009

At Willow Creek's Dadfest in 2011

Playing Patty-cake with Caleb at Disney in 2011.

With the "big boys" at Disney in October 2011.

Our 10th Anniversary!

Ten years ago, my dad walked my down the aisle of a church and gave me away to be married.  On that day, I loved Jon more than I had loved any other person at that time, but its nothing compared to my love for him now.  On that day ten years ago when we were babies, we said our vows and walked into our future.  We were surrounded by friends and family as we promised forever to each other and then celebrated with dancing.  Many of those same family and friends have been the ones who have celebrated our babies' births with us, grieved the loss of our miscarriage, helped us move, and supported our marriage in a thousand different ways (most tangibly by babysitting).

Ten years ago, I had no idea what the future would hold for us.  I didn't know we'd usher in our parenthood with a set of baby boys and call our family complete when we had four boys.   I had no idea that c-section recoveries and athletic injuries would push us to rely on each other in a much more physical way during different seasons.  I didn't know that we'd move, run marathons together, or that I'd have different part-time jobs along the way.  Each of those adventures has challenged us and eventually drawn us closer together.  It hasn't all been picture perfect, but some of my most cherished memories are the messy ones.  The ones where we struggled through when things fell apart.  Ten years later, I can honestly say that I love my husband so much more than I ever imagined possible.  He has demonstrated his love for me daily in the myriad of things he does for me and the boys.  I love our life.

That being said, I love getting away from the daily grind and just being with each other.  What better occasion to get away than a milestone anniversary.  Six months ago, we saw that our favorite band (Over the Rhine) was playing a concert on their farm outside of Cincinnati on May 25th--our exact anniversary.  So late one winter night, we bought the tickets and said we'd figure something out to do with the kids.

My parents came through for us and drove out to stay with our four rowdy boys so that we could take a full weekend away.  It is truly amazing how 48 hours without diaper changes, loads of laundry, homework, and a million interruptions seems like a full week's vacation.  While we were away, the boys had a blast with Grandma Mary and Pa Lynn--making their own memories with them.

The road trip was a vacation in and of itself.  We drive everywhere with our kids, so almost 6 hours in the car without Barney or a Disney movie playing in the background was ah-mazing.  It is such a rare occasion that we actually forgot to bring along our own music.  Thankfully, we found two cds from our pre-kid years mixed in with the ten veggie tales ones, so we found something to listen to.

When I was telling people that we were going to Cincinnati for our anniversary trip, many gave me strange looks.  Cincinnati?  Really?  Why on earth?  Well...for starters...our kids and all the distractions of our daily life aren't there so we can really "get away."  Secondly, our favorite band is playing there.  Lastly, we've never been there ourselves so why not?  One of my favorite things to do with Jon is to explore new places.  I still dream of exploring more interesting locations with him like Rome, Cabo, El Salvador...the list could go on and on.  But those are places you cannot get to for a two-day weekend, so Cincinnati it was.

I think we were both surprised at how beautiful the city ended up being.  Hand in hand we walked across the bridges from our hotel in Kentucky to the city and back.  We stumbled across new restaurants, Findlay market and a gorgeous patio garden for lunch.  We strolled along the riverwalk and through the streets of the Over the Rhine neighborhood.  We had nowhere we had to be.  There was no one else we knew there asking or demanding anything from us.  We finished our sentences.  We lingered over dinner.  We slept in.  We talked about our past trips, dreams for the future and a million other things that slip our minds on our normal days.  We needed this.

After sleeping in late and roaming around the city, we packed up a picnic dinner (thank you Whole Foods) and drove out east to The Farm for the concert.  It was a delicious evening.  We filled our bellies with yummy treats.  As night fell, we sat under a tent and our favorite songs floated over us and hung in the air. 

 A simple trip to Cincinnati turned into the best anniversary gift I could have imagined and reminded me once again its not important where we are but who we are with in life.  I'm so thankful for Jon.  Happy Anniversary babe!  I can't wait to have more adventures with you.  I love you!

 

At the Farm we explore the edges we already know

New acquaintances reminiscing like old friends

Close your eyes and hum the melodies that brought us here

Do you hear the soundtrack of our marriage fill the sky?

Hand in hand on the river walk I recall how

We are commanded to cling to what is good

But I want to do more than just cling and

Your grip tells me that you do too

 

Happy Anniversary to Natalie & Mack!

A year ago today, my sister eloped and married the man of her dreams, Mackenzie Shane. 

Their romantic nuptials took place on the beach.  The ocean waves crashed in the background and beach goers looked on as they took their vows and started their life as a married couple.  It was dreamy, laid-back and beautiful. 

As her big sister, I had high hopes for the man who would steal her heart and spend his life with her.  I have to say that Mack has far exceeded those hopes and expectations. 

Since we live hundreds of miles away, we've only know him for about 18 months, but he has quickly become dear to us.  Uncle Mack won the boys hearts with his playfulness and for introducing them to Sonic and other "old school" video games.  He can talk sports and food with my husband.  He won my heart with his apparent love and devotion to my sister as well as his sense of humor. 

Over the last year, I've gotten to see my baby sister fall in love, become a wife and then enter motherhood.  Its been fun to watch it all and my heart overflows with happiness for her. 

Happy 1st Anniversary!  We are thankful for God's blessing in your marriage.  We look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries with you.