my beloved and my friend

in the midst of the stomach virus earlier this week (a marriage lesson in and of itself), our 8th anniversary came and went. i just want to take a minute to notice it here... we are thankful for God's sustaining grace through many joys and struggles in our marriage thus far. i feel like our friendship has grown this year and i'm so thankful for that...there continue to be surprising and interesting things to know and learn about my husband and for him to discover about me. God is faithful and we are thankful.

i don't think i really knew what love was on this day, but God did and He has taught and continues to teach us how to love each other with Christ-like love.

today we went on a nature walk to celebrate being healthy and well again. we saw some neat things...local peeps, remind me to take you with us sometime to one of our favorite outside places.

muskrat

graham stalking the abundant dragon flies.  any anne of green gables readers remember carl meredith always taking reptiles to bed and studying bugs? graham reminds me of him...this kid could chase bugs and reptiles all day.

this butterfly was marit's favorite part of the day

bigger than the kiddo's noggins (and that's saying something!)

mother's day and such

 <----sickly ones

it has been a little wild around here since mother's day as we each succumbed to the evil stomach bug flying around our church.  it was a slow week, with many aches, lots of mess, and lots and lots of cuddling.  there were also many moments when i held each sad baby that my heart was simply filled to overflowing with gratitude at the privilege it is to mother these children.  they are precious, precious gifts and the Lord uses feeble, selfish old me to comfort, care, nurture them.  those humbling moments of realization were also a gift of grace, as all you mommies know, stomach bug week is usually one of the more discouraging ones in the year. 

so anyway, i found this picture of my mom and her brood when she was just a few years older than i am now.  here she is in the midst of life with a newborn, homeschooling the older boys.  i'm the little 3 yr old on the right.  i don't remember much from these busy days (but boy do i appreciate better now what my mom's life was like!), but i do remember being touched and nurtured and i also remember being told about Jesus all the time in life-giving ways.  and those are the two things i am most grateful for.  thank you mom for loving us well and gently pointing us to Christ as the only thing that can truly secure and satisfy.  i can never thank you enough.

i am also, deeply grateful to adam's sweet mama for raising such a wonderful son.  thank you carol!  we love you!


i failed to get a picture of the fam on mother's day, but here we are today on our "hooray, we are all well, let's get out of the house nature walk!"

this is my mother's day card this year, dictated to adam.  it cracks me up and i will treasure it always.

and for the record, we hardly ever have hot-dogs, but marit asks me to get some nearly every grocery store trip.  and when miles says "no!" he pulls his shirt up and pokes his beer belly out..."no" also means "yes" so sometimes it gets kind of confusing.  graham kept giving me hugs all day long and saying "mom, hugs are the beeeest thing."

the 'cago

adam and i went to visit my lovely sister and brother-in-law in "the 'cago" (as graham says). it was the first time we have left all three kiddos without one of us and we missed them so much. adam has just finished some intense months on the job and this trip was very timely for us. even just the time on the airplane was so restful and refreshing. there was uninterrupted conversation, sleeping in, no hurrying, running and walking together without strollers or backpacks, a concert, a museum trip, time with another couple (one of our favorites!), good food and drink. we decided we like our normal chaotic life best, but our weekend was certainly a welcome treat. we are so thankful. and also, adam and i are still best friends and actually enjoyed just hanging out, without too much agenda. sometimes in the midst of craziness with kids and wild schedules it feels like we are business partners who live together, so we are so thankful for a few days to remember who we really are. my parents rock because they acted like half their age and parented all three of the little tornadoes we love while we were away. thank you thank you! here are a whole lot of pictures of just two days...such blessed fun!

Saturday:
Jeremiah showed us the way to a scenic run while he studied for finals. this is the library where jeremiah studies, right on the lake!

adam: "i'm freezing and i have sand in my five fingers!"

loyola university...where jeremiah has been in school the last year

a freezing, but beautiful run on lake michigan

museum of science and industry was fascinating and enormous!

took this picture of incubating chicks for the kiddos, but i really wanted to hold one of those little fuzzies myself

tornado exhibit...the storms section was way cool

i couldn't get the whole real submarine in the photo because it was so long, but the wwII U-boat exhibit was adam's favorite

still freezing at the bus-stop (i was not prepared for the weather at all, but it was a nice break from the sunny and hot south!)

a house in hyde park i would like to buy

char arranged these lovely flowers from her shop

their apartment is really lovely and charlotte's decorating style is so so wonderful! i'm always trying to be more like my artsy sister...

bleu is a great study-buddy. we were so glad to meet our niece-kitty

we stopped in at the flower shop/cafe where char had to work sat to eat dinner and watch her in her element

she served us paninis, soup, pie, coffe and here we are finishing off some leftovers as she was closing up shop...scraping the bottom of the "vanilla storm" ice cream and finishing off a chocolate malt. yum.

and then, we headed to the over the rhine concert. seasoned i-phone users helping us navigate an unfamiliar city

this is my favorite band, but we haven't been to a show in several years. what a treat! it was the best i've ever seen them...all acoustic

excited!!

so close

we could read linford's set-list...

Sunday: we enjoyed visiting their church that meets in a nearby school

in the afternoon, we enjoyed turkish coffee and a raspberry/chocolate crepe. another yum.

then we did some more meandering, shopping, conversing, before heading home for traditional sunday night popcorn and smoothies.

love you guys! thanks for the hospitality. it was so good to see you doing well and we miss you already.

watermelon

it already feels like summer around here so we've been enjoying good things like watermelon. butternut is a huge fan!