Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts

Saturday, April 28, 2012

I’m Still Here…

It seems my husband and I went away for a weekend, and I never came back.  I’m sorry for the disappearing act.  We have had much to do, much on our minds, and there has been no time for blogging.

We are currently praying through what we’re going to do with our children in the fall, as far as school goes.  My son will be in high school, and I’m just not sure I am confident enough to carry either child through that at home.  I’ve had several home schooling friends cheering me on, so we’re still in the praying stages.  Our co-op will be offering some classes that will be a great help to me, so we’ll see what happens.

Speaking of my boy, he is now towering 5 inches over me.  He has this incredibly deep voice, and he’s wearing men’s size clothes.  He is eating me out of house and home.  He is still my darling, precious, sensitive young man, and I love being his momma :)

P4210028a 

My girl is 12, and will be heading into 8th grade in the fall.  She is still really tiny, and has gorgeous long hair that I hope to never cut much shorter than it is. :)  She is delicious! She and I have a very close relationship, and I love how she comes and talks to me when she has something on her mind.  I feel like I have accomplished something as a mom if my kids feel comfortable doing that.  We have had some pretty amazing conversations about life and God lately…I love it!

P4210053a

And my husband…That weekend we had in March, it was INCREDIBLE.  I have never been so in love with this man as I am today.  Our kids ended up having to come home early that weekend because of a snowstorm up north that knocked out the power.  But they didn’t come home before their daddy and I had some quality time together.  I loved every minute of having him all to myself, and I can’t wait until we have another chance to do that.  We just passed the 18th anniversary of the day I fell in love with Andy, and all of these pictures I’m posting today were taken at the place that happened.  Our kids got in on the photo taking, so MadisonE Photography now seems to be a family affair. :)  One of our little photographers is obsessed with making her parents kiss for EVERY shot, so excuse our PDA…I think she’s darling, and it gives her confidence that her momma and daddy are very much in love still :)  She’s pretty good with the camera as well.  She tried different posing techniques I have taught her, and I love how her shots turned out. Here are a few she took of us.

P4210039a

P4210100a

See? I told you she is a big fan of the kissing shots.  Here is one of my favorites she took with the tilting technique.  We’re almost standing sideways, but she captured a lovely moment…

P4210113a

I have to tell you a little story about that day.  I am always a little sad when we go on special family outings, and one of my little darlings is missing.  Truth is, she never came home with us, so she has NEVER been a part of our special gatherings.  It doesn’t mean I don’t think about her and wonder what she would add to our pictures, how she’d look at almost sixteen years old, and we try to at least remember her so we feel like she is a part of our day. 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I LOVE butterflies.  I associate butterflies a lot with Madison, because the song “Butterfly Kisses” came out the year she passed away, and about put my poor man over the edge.  He could not make it through that song without tears, and God help us if he should ever hear it in public. The “ugly cry” would quickly ensue.  And since I can’t keep a dry eye when I see others crying, we would often be a blubbering mess together! I got several little tokens from people, with butterflies on them, when Madison passed away.  We also chose a little girl playing with butterflies for the picture on her gravestone.  Get the point? We’re BIG butterfly fans.

We were doing a little family photo shoot in front of our favorite restaurant in this town we were visiting.  I was shooting Parker (with the camera :), and Morgan said, “Look momma, a beautiful butterfly”.  She went racing for Andy’s camera, and I quickly turned and shot the butterfly right before it flew away from us.  It may sound crazy to you, but it was a reminder from God not to forget my girl, and another grace from Him to remind me that she is not missing ANYTHING.  She is with Him, and that is the BEST place to be.  Yes, me miss her, but God has been faithful to give us beautiful ways to remember her, and this was such a gift to my momma’s heart.  Here is our beautiful little friend… I found out later that it is a Red Admiral.  SO pretty…

P4210033

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I promise I will try hard not to disappear again!  Happy spring to all of my blogging friends!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A Much Needed Weekend…

I’m so excited for this coming weekend.  My kids will be attending their first winter retreat with their youth group.  Parker was able to go last year, but didn’t want to go without Morgan.  So, this is the first time for both of them.  They’ll be going to a wonderful Christian camp that our church supports.  I have always had great times there, and I know the kids will too. I’m a little nervous, as this is the first time they have gone away overnight with anyone other than family and close friends.  They’ll be 3 hours away, and that is causing a bit of high anxieties as well.  I’m excited they get this opportunity…

What I’m REALLY excited about is that my love and I will have a weekend all to ourselves! The first since 2006!! WOOHOO! We really don’t have the money right now to take off anywhere, so we are just going to plan some things to do around here for Friday evening, and all day Saturday.  I have to play Sunday morning, and the kids will be back that afternoon.

Andy and I have had a tough year for many reasons.  There have been some great stresses on our marriage, and we have fought together through them, and have come out still going strong.  It’s tough…marriage is work.  But I love this man, I promised my life to him, and NOTHING will make me change my mind.  I am looking forward to concentrated time talking to just him, sitting next to him in a booth at a restaurant (instead of next to the darling girl that always says, “sit by me mama! :), walking hand in hand with him wherever we go, and getting to love on him in ways I don’t always get the opportunity to do when the kids are home.  Andy is just as excited as I am, and we are going to try to do this a couple times a year from now on.  I really think it’s important for us as a couple.

I’ll post pictures if we go anywhere cool, and I’ll let you know how the weekend goes.  I will be off the radar until at least Sunday evening, so have a great weekend! I know I will! :)