united

one of my favourite feelings is "us against them."

jeremyhiebert.ca

does that require some explanation?

ok then.  what i mean is, one of my favourite feelings within my family is "parents against the kids."

there are days that husband and wife struggle to see eye to eye on parenting (or life in general).  but there are those better days when the kids are bananas and the parents can't help but laugh together, conspire together, and plan to put the kids to bed early just to be together.

those days are great!

...so much better than feeling like i'm smarter and know more about how to handle every parenting situation that comes our way.

...so much better that feeling right.

...so much better than being on the side of the kids.

being on the same side with him is much more fun.
i need to remember this.

mushy

i always get a little mushy on this day.

valentine's day.

i know most people are "chill" about it saying it's a made up holiday to sell cards and flowers, but i love it.  my feeling is, if there's one day when you're kind of forced into telling the people in your life how much you love them and why, that can't be a bad thing!  let it propel you into lovin' on your loved ones for the other 364 days of the year!

so today i'm a little mushy and i'm thinking back once again.

and when i get mushy, i pull out old photos.

this is the first photo i have of just the two of us.  

it was an anniversary party for my aunt and uncle and i asked my dad to try and "sneak" a picture of us together.

this one is from Christmas Eve.  

he started coming to our traditional family gathering in 1995 and we still go every year (with our 3 kids!).

this was his birthday party thrown by his mom.

was i surprised to see party hats at a 29th birthday?

why yes, i was!

this was the last summer before we were married.

we're at camp - "our" camp.

the place that brought us (and many others) together;

where we fell in love 

(and always fall a little more in love when we serve there each summer).

the next summer!

august 8, 1997

someone gave me this snapshot of us just after we said 

"i do!"

this was taken at our dear friends' wedding.

we had just celebrated our last christmas as two.

little did we know what the Lord had in store for us in 2000!

i am so thankful to have many happy memories to look back on

even when there were (and will continue to be) 

rough patches and deep waters.

i know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are an excellent fit as partners and i praise God that we continue to have lots of fun together - with the kids, and plenty without!

love u, G!

won't give up

part of what my husband and i do in ministry is offer pre-marriage counseling.   we really enjoy getting together with (usually) young couples with stars in their eyes and so much hope...

we always say how good it is for our own marriage to go through the basics over and over again.  we do the sessions in our home around food and hot coffee, and we've always told our kids that they are part of the ministry with us.  their job is mostly to stay downstairs playing wii (not fighting) and to pray for our friends that come.  it's so sweet to hear their voices lift up these couples as they "remind" God that so&so are getting married...

this spring we've had 4 couples lined up (and one more come fall), so it's been quite busy!  we try very hard to have fun with them, build a (hopefully lasting) relationship with them but also be very honest.

  "without the Lord at the centre of their life, I don't know how people make it," we tell them.

  "there will come a time where being a good person is not enough motivation to do the right thing, where wanting to please your partner won't matter enough to treat them well.  only Jesus will carry you through. without Him, you will give up."

my cousin (in law?) posted a video on her shop's blog of a very young duo doing a very cool rendition of "call your girlfriend."  i had to hear more of them!  in my searching, i found this version of "i won't give up" by jason mraz.  something about these sweet 12 and 8 yr old voices.....

I won't give up on us

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up

if "looking up" means looking to Jesus for His grace, forgiveness and acceptence.....

if it means seeking Him for completeness and restoration.....

if not giving up means not giving in to the lies of devil...

it'll all be ok.

you won't give up.

you will go the distance.

lightbulb moment

Tomorrow we head out for our first week of CAMP this summer!  Let me clear: it's camp, not camping.  This is the Bible camp where my hubbie and I grew up and later met and fell in love. (awww....) Now we've continued this tradition with our kids who've been going every summer since they were babies.  Early spring, the question is never if we will go to camp, but how many weeks we'll be there.

We love it, but there is a fair amount of prep that is necessary to move our family of 5 out there for a week. As I avoided getting the laundry started (can you tell I do that alot?), G and I talked about some of the things on the "don't forget" list.  I mentioned that I had the bright idea (haha) of bringing one of the kids' nightlights, which looks more like a mini lamp but has only a 4 watt bulb.  Since we'll all be in one room, I thought, the kids would be happy (since I've crippled them to be content in the pitch black) and I could keep it by my bedside for night time reading.

"It works for everyone!" I proclaimed, but quickly added, "oh, except for you...."

(For my dear husband prefers to sleep in the blackest of black rooms.)

"I guess if I were better at being a submissive wife, I would leave the light behind and lay with the kids in the dark so they wouldn't be afraid." I said, half jokingly.

"No," he replied, "as servant-leader, I would put the need of you and the kids ahead of myself and the light would stay on."

"But a good wife wouldn't even mention the light and just give you what you prefer..." I tried again.

"And a good husband would look for ways to lighten your load, and make the family comfortable," he countered.

"Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ." I quoted religiously (haha).

"As your husband, I'm instructed to love you as Christ loved the church and gave up His life for her.  If Jesus gave up His life, I'm pretty sure He'd be willing to give up a night's rest."

"So I guess if we really made every effort to look out for each other's best interest (Phil 2), marriage would essentially be a piece of cake."

"Yeah.  I guess so."