I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day weekend. I know we did! It wasn't the traditional way to celebrate but we live in the lower forty eight now, so road trips are a must haha. Kyle and I went to Florida to visit family and meet the newest little members and also to take some time to celebrate being nine years together. Our trip was short and sweet.
It felt so nice to sleep through the nights and we even slept in quite a bit in the mornings. (Such a luxury after having kids haha).
It's our Anniversary today! I can't believe it's been nine whole years already since that chilly summer day in Alaska when Kyle and I said our vows to each other. It was a sweet day, I love how genuine and innocent we both were. I finally get why everyone kept saying "you are so young", now that we are "older" looking at teenagers and how young they are makes me realize how young we actually were. I needed a "permission" slip from my parents to get married lol. But to this day the Lord hasn't failed us and still helps us on our everyday journey.
I didn't realize until now how busy May and June are for our family, kids activities and camps, birthdays, holidays, and our Anniversary. The only other time of year it's as busy for our family is November-December. With so much going on all I can do is slow down and embrace it all. Soak in every moment and enjoy the life I have.
For little Alistairs and my dads birthday we went camping the first weekend of June.
It's not easy work to be a dad. So I want to say thank you for being a good daddy to our children. I am so proud of you and the wonderful father that you are!
When I finally saw you with the possibility of being more then just a friend, it was while doing ministry together at a kids camp in Alaska, just a few short weeks after we both graduated.
Dearest Papachka :)
First of all I want to begin by saying thank you for being my dad, I'm so proud to have you as my father. You've taught me many things by living and modeling life for me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't reflect on something from my childhood, that helps me in life today.
Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you. I haven't had time to sit down and write but I do think of you often, I hope and pray everything is going well. Can you believe that May is almost over!?!? I'm enjoying all the moments and here's a few I'd like to share with you.
Becoming a mother is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I did not plan to become a mom as young as I did and I also did not plan to have four kids in four years! Haha but that's the story of my life and I wouldn't change a thing about it! The last few days I've been thinking back on all the precious memories I have made with my four little ones and that makes me realize how fast time goes. We can never stop time or even slow it down, all we can really do is learn to savor every precious moment that we get.
Dear Mamachka,
You are such a treasure in my life. I wouldn't be who I am and where I am without you. You are always there when I need a shoulder to lean on. You never say no for an answer, when it comes to helping someone out. Your servants heart is so loving and compassionate, anyone who crosses paths with you is touched and changed in one way or another. Your wisdom and words of advise are always an answer from God and the time you spend in his presence is felt and seen in your daily life. Over the years you have learned to change, let go and grow. I love watching your life because you never cease to teach me by the way you live.
I cannot believe it's been two years since I started to blog! I want to start off by thanking you, for following along on my journey for reading, supporting, commenting and encouraging me in one way or another. Without you I wouldn't be where I am today. There have been many times that I wanted to quit. But whenever someone reached out and says that they have been touched that helped me change my mind and press through the hardness of it. I still have much to learn but it's been a fun journey for me. I don't think I've ever shared the story with you about how and why I stared blogging. So I'll do it today. :)
Over two years ago at the end of 2014 I stared having this feeling that I can and should be doing more in life. At that time I already had my four kiddos, life was busy and fun but I felt like I should still be doing more. I wanted to find something to work on that I could do from home. A few opportunities came up and I thought for sure one would be my answer from God. I prayed for a specific yes or a no...
I'd like to start by thanking my dearest mother for having my kiddos for a few hours, so that I can have a moment of quiet to journal. *Thank you Mamachka for loving my kiddos as much as I do ;) you are a blessing in my life more then words can say. I love you!*
I hope all my rambling will make some sense to you guys, as I sit here on a rainy day and try to put my thought together. :)
So this past weekend we celebrated the Resurrection of our precious Savior and in my last entry I wrote about Life with Jesus and all that he is to me. He doesn't sees to amaze me! His love for us is more then we can comprehend and I am so overwhelmed yet again at how much he loves me and how near he really is!
As I let myself "feel" about an incident that happened the other day, I realized how bad I was hurt. I started sobbing and you wouldn't believe the amount of thoughts that started flooding my mind.
It's Easter Sunday tomorrow and I thought it would be appropriate to talk about Jesus and all that he means to me. And what he's done in my life and how to me he is everything.
Without him I wouldn't have had the family I grew up in. I don't have any idea what my teenage years would have looked like because he literally was my life! Every spare moment I had I spent locked up in my room spending time with the lover of my soul. He was the one who opened my eyes and had my heart skip a beat when I saw the man who would later become my husband. That man has been the greatest gift ever, I can't imagine life without him! Together now we have four precious little gifts, whom we love more then words can say!
Without Jesus I probably would have quit on my marriage a few years ago. Without him I might have not had my precious twins. As a family we wouldn't be where we are today.
As I sit here alone, on this cozy spring morning with the birds chirping outside, I am so overwhelmed by the love that our Father has for us. I am learning how to embrace it and understand it but sometimes I just have to receive it. I just finished journaling in my personal paper journal and felt like maybe someone else out there needed to hear this too, so I'll share what I've been going through with you guys.
Last few weeks have been hard for me personally and I feel like my family as well. We were on the edge with each other and I was disappointed with myself and started to question the Lord. There are things I've been praying about for many months and even years. I felt that it's been long enough and the Lord probably forgot to answer. When clouds like that come over, one thing triggers another and it feels like your whole world is coming apart.
No matter what season you are going through in life, contentment is the key to being happy. You might be a young mom hardly sleeping through the night, or a faithful father who needs to work a lot to provide for his growing family, or in any other busy or hard time you find yourself in life. We might not always like the season we are in but it's truly up to us if we will be happy in it or not. Accepting who you are will help you live life to the fullest. For me the most difficult time was having kids shortly after getting married, we had four kids in four years! That all felt like it happened way too fast and I had to learn how to process it all and find true joy in life despite my circumstances.
It's been over three years now since my twins were born. I had very mixed emotions about their birth story and couldn't get myself to freely share about it. But a few weeks ago a family situation made me re think about how I feel. I realized that this is really not even my story to hold on to. So I prayed and released it and since then I've shared it with a few people and it gets me excited to be reminded of how great and awesome our God is! I want Him to get all the praise and glory that He deserves and I want everyone to know that God still does miracles today.
My last pregnancy was hard, emotionally, physically, mentally and in every way possible. But how I love it when God uses such hard times in life to bring out the most incredible stories.
So when I was pregnant with the twins I was at high risk of having them prematurely.
I wrote about why we moved to South Carolina in my last post HERE. I wanted to do a follow up of how we like it here so far, I hope you enjoy!
We left Hawaii September first, from Kona we flew to Vancouver, Washington. I really wanted to visit friends and family on our way down and my honoring husband agreed, tickets turned out cheaper that way so it was a win win for us. It was a great visit we stayed with a friend and used the fireplace to it's fullest! It was so cold and cozy, something we haven't felt in years! Our kids did't know what it was and kept refusing to wear sweaters, socks or shoes it was a battle haha.
My husband and I had such a sweet weekend together. We left our kiddos with my mother and went to Gainsville, Georgia to a marriage conference hosted by the church we attend now. Two days and two nights away from our kiddos, leaving the twins over night was a first. I cried when we pulled out of our driveway and I watched all my babies wave good bye to us. To be honest though I expected it to be much harder leaving them but I know they were in awesome hands and I actually let myself enjoy my husband all to myself. ;)
We had time to talk, dance, meet new people, go out and be together and even sleep without having to wake up! Although I will admit I felt guilty for not getting up to check on the kids in the middle of the night lol. I woke up feeling like I was in a debate all night, like I knew I could sleep but at the same time I kept having this guilty feeling hat I should have woken up to go and see them. (Maybe one day I'll learn to sleep "normal" again.)
I cannot believe it's almost Valentines Day!! It feels like we just celebrated new years! Yet another month has flown by and its been a great one for me, I hope it has been for you as well. I am such a goal oriented person and had so many plans for the month of January but the Lord seems to enjoy coming in and rearrange things his way, which in the end are always much better.
At the end of December I felt that I needed to start the new year off
Whenever I'm in the mood to write the kids are usually awake and very needy. By the time I'm done with them and it's nice and quiet in the house I'm all out of energy and have no desire to think. But today I am writing with kids crawling all over me and Star Wars ships crashing on every side of me! My background "music" is the sound effects of my little ones playing with action figures and I'm actually enjoying it. :)
I haven't been writing much because I feel like I don't have anything interesting to share with you guys. So I've decided to just share life with you as it is. I'll start with a little glimpse into our week so far, so here it goes..
Since it got cold here we have all been sick one after another, by the time the last one would be over it the first one would get sick all over again... Its been this way for a month now if not more. But this week Kyle and I got sick pretty bad and we were trying to stay away from the kids as much as we could. For a few days I've been living inside the room and getting to hear my kiddos interacting on their own without us hovering over them. It's been very interesting actually to hear how they do life together, help each other or how the older two try disciplining the younger two.
