Encouragement

Every once in a while you meet a genuinely NICE person. I have been fortunate to find many wonderful people in my life. Yesterday I was blessed by a truly NICE and thoughtful person!

I received the best thing ever and it came at such a perfect time for my soul! What a way to uplift a friend's spirit.

If you read my posts here and here about mail this will make much more sense to you.

Low and behold a package!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from a wonderful friend of our family. 

What a perfect Surprise to end my day!

It was so thoughtful and so generous and so fun to show the boys. It was fun for me to remind Carson of his friends back in PA and show him the pictures she sent (twins, who are only less than a month younger than Carson, who he used to play with ALL the time at church) (it's sorta sad to me that he is missing out on all that)

Thomas Water Paint Activity pack for Carson

Coffee and Chocolates for me! Best/cheapest Coffee in the Whole Wide World

(you see my friend knows how much i like this, 

and is thoughtful enough to supply

me with it every 

once in a while. Now that

is a true friend)

Thomas Trains for Landon

There was something in there for Everyone! Richard got some recipes of food she makes that he loves. I guess I need to get cooking :)

P.S. I hope she doesn't mind that I show cased the package. And I hope this makes everyone want to send me a package so you can get mentioned on my blog. hahahahahaha jk. 

It just once again brings me out of my feeling sorry for myself and makes me realize how truly blessed I am with the friends and people God has placed in my life. 

Thank you from the bottom of my Heart

Beauty

I titled this post "beauty" b/c I'm going to write about 2 things - Beauty in marriage, and Beauty in Colorado. :)

As I sit here during nap time with my zucchini muffin and coffee thinking about what to write - I am blessed and thankful. I might not always respond to situations or lack of a situation correctly - but ultimately I want to remember "the good things in life".

If you can see - I'm dying laughing! these kind of pics
just make me giggle! But still cute! :)

Marriage = Boy, where do I start. I'm am a thousand times thankful for my marriage and for my husband. It's amazing to me that way back in college I didn't even know how good it could be or how wonderful of a man Richard actually was, but boy am I glad we are together. Without going into detail about actually how wonderful Richard is and what I admire about him (b/c I doubt all the readers really care about that, suffice is to say he is THE BEST) I will just say that God has a perfect way of giving us pleasure and happiness in this life despite our sinfulness and selfishness and for that I am thankful.
Marriage truly is a beautiful thing. I in no way want to paint a perfect picture or say that we have a perfect relationship (we definitely have our moments especially when you decide to move across the country where you know no one or nothing) but to see how unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness is given to me in human form makes me appreciate so much more my salvation and relationship with Christ.

As we started our journey of 5 hours over the mountains to Western Colorado, Grand Junction, to spend thanksgiving with Richard's parents and extended family our thoughts and minds were flooded with memories of our first year of marriage when we lived in Grand Junction and drove parts of that road many times. 

How much has changed. 

How many memories we have.

How many stories we have.

Who we are now compared to who we were back then. 

Joyful memories mostly of a blissful first year of marriage. But how rewarding to be able to look back and say how much more we love/know each other since then. How much God has molded us closer to his image through our marriage. 

Now going back with our 2 kids is something different too! But what fun!

So we celebrated Thanksgiving with the family and ate tons of food and had a lot of fun catching up! Friday morning Richard and I decided to capitalize on babysitters and celebrate our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary.

It's wonderful to be in CO and have so many towns and places available to us to go and visit and see and do things. We drove straight to Aspen on friday and spent the afternoon and evening there. Boy is that a cool little mountain town. All i can say is a LOT of MONEY goes into that town and not very much comes out! :) It was fun to walk around and see things and look inside the stores. But definitely felt like everyone knew that we did not fit in that town. Over half the people there did not speak English (and it wasn't spanish either) and the stores were outrageaous. But fun to just explore and look around. We were able to find a "cheap" little local "diner" type place and got some GREAT food! (Spanikopita - I had never had that, but boy was it good)

Saturday we had the entire day - and boy let me tell you, when you have all day with no kids it feels like a whole week. Things get accomplished super fast, no timeline to operate by, and no naps, eating, diapering schedule, or buckling of a zillion seatbelts or strollers. 

We first went to the resort with the Natural Hot Springs.(what the town is known for). Got a day pass. What a weird phenomenon that it is. Huge pools with water 104 degrees and 35 degrees outside the water, steam rolling off the water and people's bodies as they get out of the pool. Basically a bunch of people scantily clad standing around in hot water trying not to act like you're watching anyone, but not wanting to make conversation with the one you came with b/c you know everyone is listening. hahahahaha. But it felt so good! Pure minerals, hot water and a relaxing environment. (It was just so funny to look at the pool as you were getting in and see all the people).

After a while we went on a hike to "Hanging Lake" So Beautiful!!!! (this is where the beauty in CO comes in :) ) The path is about 1.2 miles long and pretty steep and as you got higher it got icier and snowier and colder. It was a little scary walking up and down trying not to slip b/c the last thing you needed on a vacation getaway was to end up with broken bones. it was a little treacherous but so worth it when you got to the top! Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery all around and all the way up the hike! It was amazing and so fun to do!

AFter our "vigorous" hike what better thing to do but to go back and soak in the natural spring water!!!!! So that's just what we did. Then we ate out again! Then went back at night! It was way nicer at night b/c between the dark and the steam it didn't feel quite as busy and a little more "private" but so relaxing! 

Sunday we drove back to Rifle to meet up with the boys at the Church Richard's Father pastors. Spent the morning there and then ate lunch with them and drove back home over the mountains to Rifle.

What a Great weekend! One that we will remember always!

I love you Richard

Thanks for a great 

5 years together!

Can't wait for the next 5 years of memories!

http://lovelinkin.com/2011/11/29/lovelinks-33-open/?utm_source=lovelinks+is+open&utm_campaign=6fe23eb1f3-lovelinks+%2333+campaign&utm_medium=email

Thanksgiving Day!

We had a great day of celebration Yesterday! 

Complete with a run (so I could eat guilt free), family, great food, sunshine and great company.

I have a lot of things for which to be thankful.

Onto our Anniversary Celebration! 

Our Plans

This is a time of year of much traveling and family gatherings! I love this time of year. The fact that it's a change of pace and schedules coupled with a road trip makes me super excited! I'm always up for a family trip and a change of pace. I get bored easily - so I am super excited for this week I can hardly stand it and am trying to enjoy today and not just look forward to tomorrow evening.

This year will be really different for us. It's our first year as a married couple or a family that we have been in CO to celebrate the holidays. Other years we have split between Richard's 2 siblings (and families) in PA and my sister (and whatever other of my family can make it) in PA. This year we are spending both holidays in Grand Junction. We are so excited to be able to go to Richard's homeland for this joyous season. (But I am also sad to be missing the family out East. I always feel pulled in so many directions. B/c also, 2 of my siblings will be in Ecuador with my parents and we were supposed to go too :( )

Anyways back to the week's plans -


Tomorrow night after Richard's work we will head out for a 5 hour trip to Grand Junction! I love road trips and it's been a good 3 months since our last one, so it's about time. hahahaha (I'm not even joking or being sarcastic at all!).  We will spend Thanksgiving with Richard's parents, grandparents, and a few Aunts and Uncles. (I'm hoping to have plenty of babysitters for my daytime/warmtime runs). Other years I have cooked the turkey and much of the dinner (which I LOVE doing) but this year will be nice to not worry about very much. :)

Friday is our 5 year Anniversary! And if you haven't heard about that until now - where have you been?!??!? I'm super excited about it and feel like I've told everyone I see! ;) i love a good reason to celebrate.  When we first picked our date for a wedding we knew it would interfere with Thanskgiving every year, but we secretly hoped it would provide good opportunity for Grandson/grandparent time! This is the first year it finally will work out. We will leave the boys with Richard's parents for 2 nights!!! Did you hear that???!!!? 2 NIGHTS!!!!
We plan to go to Glennwood Springs - which is a natural hot water springs town in the mountains!
Then meet up with the family again Sunday  morning for church and after church drive back home!

I'm sure I will have plenty to write about after our trip - but until then

Happy Thanksgiving

And Happy Anniversary to US! :)

Entertainment for the day

One day we had a crew of guys outside our house all day long cleaning up all the branches that feel after our 2 snow storms, and cleaning up all the leaves. Our parking lot had been a mess for a very long time which was a little annoying, so we were all thankful to see them cleaning it up. That's one nice aspect of living in an apartment Complex - we don't have to shovel or rake. :)
This day Carson sat at the window tons of time during the day just watching them work. He loved watching the big machines and the lawn mowers and things. He talked about them non stop. :)

Mail

Many of you know my affinity towards mail! If not read here.

My mom also loves mail as you may have read if you clicked on the link above. and she is also the best person I know at sending mail. Nevertheless she cannot mail things very easily or with the ease of mind that it will actually get to the destination. But she is faithful to always mail things when she is stateside. She even leaves letters with other ppl asking them to mail it out to get to me on time for an occasion. I love that! It's so special to know she cares enough to think ahead and get it ready. She loves it. 

Yesterday when checking the mail (almost a daily routine for us b/c we have to walk to the mail box on the other side of the parking lot of our complex) we were greeted with wonderful items in the mail.

The boys saw my excitement for the cards and in turn got all excited for them. Just picture me excitedly saying, "look what we got, it's so fun, open it" to them all giggling and smiley. They just look at me and smile too but have no idea what to do with it or what it is. :) They did carry the cards around for a few minutes and Carson even showed Daddy when he got home from work.

We also got an anniversary card and gift. And a cool advent calendar for the boys starting Dec. 1st. Which was a wonderful surprise. I cannot wait to do that with the boys this year. I think Carson will really get a kick out of it!!!!

Thank you Mum(that's what we call her from New england) for being so incredibly thoughtful. For taking the time to send us mail. and for making us all feel loved and special. We love you!!!!!

It's a daunting task

Look at my two blessings!!!!!!
How could I ever get frustrated with those two little
ones running all around???!?!!?

Motherhood - is a daunting task! Well parenting in general, I can't forget that Richard also has a huge responsibility to raise children and feels the weight of it too.

I'm busy! I fail miserably! I get so selfish in my own desires and in turn get frustrated when my desires are interrupted.
There are days when I feel so irritated and frustrated at the events that happen. Or to be quite honest with you - listening to Carson talk literally NON-STOP. No break! and repeating himself a gazillion times. Do other toddlers do this? I have never heard a toddler talk/repeat as much as he does! How do I get it to be toned down a little???? (my natural reaction to things is getting frustrated, I rarely cry about anything, but I get "mad" very easily about situations, i always wish i cried instead, it seems less sinful)

Now that Carson is getting older I'm sensing the urgency to teach him about life and godliness. He understands and speaks so much! To teach him about the wonderful God who gave his only son, to redeem us, even though we do not deserve it. About a Loving God who desires our hearts praise and obedience. A God who I want to serve with my whole heart, and love and praise, THE KING- but also the God that I fail daily, minutely. How do I teach him these things?
I've heard it said before we have to breathe it all day long for it to overflow from us. But I fail at that. It's so daunting to me this huge responsibility. I realize as days pass me by that I have already failed.

But this is where the good news comes in. God is bigger than me. He gives me wisdom to handle the situations and he can calm my heart and mind. I have the Holy Spirit in me to guide me and help me throughout the day. And God's ways are bigger than my ways. His Will will be done despite myself. And I will revel in his goodness and grace towards me, b/c I know that if any good happens in this household it is not b/c of me or my "good parenting" but b/c God is gracious to me to give me that gift. I just need to trust Him and obey him and show my children love.

I compare my "parenting skills" to other mothers or families and I am either encouraged or very discouraged. I need to just focus on our lives and what my boys need from me.
I pray that I don't waste this precious time with them. I pray that they see, through their mother and father, a loving God that wants to see them accept his gift, . It's daunting to say the least - and I feel very inadequate  or "not godly enough" to be the one to teach them these things. I wonder if we have enough purpose in our parenting (sometimes I feel like we are flying by the seat of our pants for each new "fit" that happens) - but I need to trust God, I need to learn and obey his Word.

Any advice?

Here's to trusting God to poor grace into our lives despite this sinful mother!!!

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