I'm grouchy and I know it.

I've written three blog posts this week, but have yet to post one. 

I don't like writing when I am discouraged. But here's the problem. I've been discouraged.

So I am going to keep it short and not so sweet. Maybe I'll post those others sometime. Maybe I won't.

Pray for me.

 

Pray for Eli.

Pray for our family. 

I am struggling to be a nice mom. 

The kids fight alot. 

I feel crabby. 

They are crabby. 

Eli is busy. 

There you have it. 

valentine

when i met eli, i was still a kid. 18 year old. and clueless. 

we found each other to be fun and exciting and started our relationship that way. 

 2 years later i made one of the best decisions i have made.

we started our marriage committed to each other and a life of adventure.

after we graduated from college, we started having thoughts of "settling" down. 

in those first three years we moved 5 times to 3 different states. 

all the changes made me feel like i was living out our adventure story. 

babies started arriving at out house. yearly. we moved one more time and committed to creating a secure life for our little ones. 

our adventures became different than they had before. a bit milder, but not less exciting. 

as our babies grew, so did our trust in GOD to be the orchestrator of our adventures.

and as time continues on, 

i'm so thankful that we made a commitment to live a life of adventure. to welcome change. to seek to stand out and be different. to continually evaluate if we are moving forward. to avoid ruts.

and i'm so thankful that we included GOD's plans. for ours could never truly be as exciting as his.

and i'm so thankful that i get to share it with you. 

i love you, eli. always yours.

moving mountains

Baylee: "Mom, how did the mountains get there? Did they grow?"

Me: "God put them there."

Baylee: "But can he move them?"

Me: "The Bible says that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. So yes, God can move them."

Baylee: "What does that mean?"

Me: "It means that God answers our prayers."

Baylee: Silence....

Baylee: "How come they didn't move?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Baylee: "I prayed that they would move, and they didn't."

Me: "God does things for a purpose. There isn't really a purpose for him to move the mountains."

Landon: "God doesn't answer my prayers either."

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Landon: "Remember in Three Lakes, when we got lots of snow. I got stuck in the snow, and I prayed for God to get me out, and he didn't."

Me: "You got out, didn't you?"

Landon: "Yes, but you helped me out, not God."

WOW!

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Do we see God answer our prayers, even it isn't the way we expected him to?

Go in Peace, my Friend

GOD has given me a gift.
it is the ability to live fully in the present.
i truly believe it is a gift.
along with this gift is the potential to leave people from the past feeling neglected
and a temptation to treat older relationships as unimportant.
this potential has really been on my heart and mind the past couple of weeks.
i know i am guilty of it.

a song has been forming in my head to share the importance of my friendships.

i think it's probably a little bit cheesy, but being a wisconsin native, i'm allowed to do cheesy, right?

to write the verses to this song, which i may or not post later, i just sat down and thought of my favorite memories with my friends. most of them weren't huge out of the ordinary events. they were the living life together events. dinner. coffee. breakfast. games. parks. swimming. camping. painting. crafting. setting up the trampoline. it makes me cry in thankfulness to remember them. 

may we have many more memories together!

1 samuel 20 is a tragic story of the deep friendship between david and johnathan.
as i was reading this passage,
1 Samuel 20:42 really stuck out to me.

Jonathan said, “Go in peace! The two of us have vowed friendship in God’s name, saying, ‘God will be the bond between me and you, and between my children and your children forever!’”

so when i reference the words, "go in peace," this is what i am referring to.

"this is a friendship that God has sent,

so go in peace my friend.

and know, i'll love you til the end."