thirty

Today, there is much celebrating at our house. It's Cale's 30th birthday! Last week we were discussing his birthday and how old he feels and he commented that I've been a part of his life for the last decade, a third of his life. (And of course I had to add that it was the BEST third!)

That conversation got me thinking about our life and the evolution of our relationship. We first met at a college retreat in the spring of 1999. I had traveled with my roommate 6 hours to be at this retreat and we arrived late that evening. Everyone was gathered in the main room of the lodge and my brother was running me around the room introducing me to new people. It was in that rush that I met Cale and for the life of me couldn't remember his name. I knew that both his names were kind of different and so in my mind he became the boy with the strange name. I never thought he'd make me the girl with the strange name, too!

Cale circa 2001

We've come a long way since then. Our friendship grew and developed over the next few years, even going with me to Benin, West Africa where I'd get a random email from him once in a while. When I returned to Cleveland our friendship escalated and before we knew it, we were dating. A blink of an eye later (literally- it was 3 months later!) we were engaged!

Newly engaged at college graduation May 2002

And before we knew, we were married, had moved to a new city and Cale had started his first full time job. It was a crazy year!

Newly married- on our honeymoon at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada

Now we've been around the world and had all sorts of adventures. Life has not been slow or dull over the last decade. I've had the best person in the world by my side.

Cape Town, South Africa January 2005 (pardon my crazy, wind-blown hair!)

We've grown up a lot and I've witnessed first hand Cale becoming the man God intended. I watched him throw himself whole heartedly into being the best dad he possibly could be and loving his children more then anything.

New family February 2006

Together we've had more fun then should be allowed. We've laughed until we've cried and have a slew of inside jokes and nicknames that would certainly reveal our ridiculousness if ever shared with another. But to us, they're golden.

Chatauqua Lake, NY October 2007

We've also walked through lots of hard things, just like any other couple. We've had to choose to love and hold tight to the promises we made. It isn't always easy, but it is certainly worth it.

Heinz Field November 2008

We've stood hand-in-hand and watched God do things that we never dreamed possible. He's led us places we could have never imagined and Cale has followed hard after those things, sometimes pulling me along. We are overwhelmed with blessings.

Our growing family July 2009 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Thirty years old today and a humble, kind, servant-hearted man. And I get to claim you as mine. How lucky am I?

See, Cale? It's been quite the decade, don't you think? And I've got a feeling we're just getting started!

Happy Birthday, my love!

ps-25/30

September=fall, but it's still hot out there

Don't you love the start of a new month? A clean, fresh start. And September 1st is extra special because to me that means fall has started. I don't care that the calendar says we've got a full 3 more weeks of summer.

September = fall. Anyone with me?

But, it is 90 degrees out there today. Not necessarily fall-ish per se. So let's look at some pictures of our favorite activity of the summer: the pool. My kids LOVE to swim. Haven has always been pretty comfortable in the water, but this summer her confidence grew by leaps and bounds and she's now swimming on her own and even daring to go underwater. She earned herself a pair of goggles for that feat. Cale and I learned early on that we just had to let her go at her own pace. She didn't like us to try things with her in the water. She wanted to do it on her own and then she'd practice with us.

Don't you love the yellow and pink goggles she picked out?!

And then there is my son. He has NO fear. Jumps in, doesn't care who's watching or if anyone is around. This video that I captured so perfectly sums up his pool experience. I couldn't believe he did this and that I was fortunate enough to capture it. This kid is crazy!

Friday Favorites

Here's a few things I've been enjoying lately...

--A few weeks ago, I ordered this great map and it arrived bent up. Not good. But the customer service people at Uncommon Goods were awesome and a new, unbent map arrived at my door yesterday. They asked me questions, cared about my feedback and did everything they could to make sure I was a satisfied customer. I will definitely shop with them again. And, how cute is that map?! I love eeBoo things! We have this game and the illustrations are just too darn cute!

--I am loving these cool morning and evenings like nothing else. Gives me hope that fall is on its way. But I really am trying to soak in as much summer goodness as possible. Promise. (But can I just say how badly I want to wear jeans and boots and maybe even a sweater!!) But I love sleeping with my windows open and this week has been perfect for it!

--I had the pleasure of attending Beth Moore's Living Proof Live two weekends ago with a few of my favorite girls. It was a wonderful weekend in every way. We had so much fun together- worshiping, learning, shopping, eating, talking, laughing, praying- it was just so good. Of course, we had to peruse the bookstore they have on site and I picked up a copy of Beth's Jesus: 90 Days with the One and Only . I've only done the first 10 days, but I would already recommend it! They are relatively brief (compared to her usual 5 day/week studies), but deep and meaningful. It's been great motivation to get back into my early morning quiet time.

--Of course we have had a few new recipes recently and two of them are good enough to share. We tried Zucchini Deep Dish Pie and it was great served with a salad on the side. We also had Lemon Orzo Chicken Salad. It was really lemony, but we enjoyed the bright flavor of this light meal. As written, it makes pretty small portions if you're eating it for dinner, but it was full of vegetables, easy to throw together ahead of time and really tasty.

--I've been trying to get up earlier lately and really wishing I was a coffee person (well, beyond my beloved Iced Capps!), but I'm just not. So a few mornings this week I've been trying some tea. Tazo Vanilla Rooibos Tea has hit the spot! I bought some several months ago (in bags, not the loose one this is linked to) and then kind of forgot about it. I've rediscovered it and am loving it! I have loved Rooibos since we lived in Namibia and it was a staple of our diet. I am so glad it's easy to find all over now.

Happy Weekend!

Eyes wide open

Last night I went somewhere I've never gone before. It wasn't for fun or entertainment or even curiosity. But it was eye-opening and left me with a lot of questions.

I've walked around all day unsettled, restless. Thinking too much about things that don't matter and thinking for the first time about things that do. And wondering where I fit in to all of it.

How can I be part of the solution to the problems I've seen?

What does He have for us in this new place of eye-openess?

What is our response? What should it be?

Tonight it's hands open and a heart that is ready to hear.

a tuesday

today...

-i drew a "tattoo" on my daughter's arm; she thinks i'm cool. (it's haven in chinese characters.)

-i took a walk with a friend and loved every second of the cool morning air. fall is coming.

-i did puzzles with my son and sang him "spider song" the crazy way, just the way he likes it.

-i was grumpy to by husband and he responded with grace.

-i put dinner in the crock-pot and walked away.

-i read this post about adoption and it makes me want to adopt again. (read this blog, daily. you won't regret it.)

-i thought about our crazy fall schedule and decided to be excited about all that's going on rather then stressing about the details. it always works out.

-i crossed items off my to-do list with satisfaction.

-i listened to worship music while going about my work. i need to do this more often.

-i sat on the couch and let the cool breezes blow through the house and thanked God for pleasure in simple things.

-i got to go on an unexpected date with my man. he's good to me.

-i tried to be more aware, more present, more thankful. (key word- tried...)

it was a good day.

Cousins

Thanks to the ever talented Amber, we were able to capture some great shots of our kids with their cousins last weekend.

Anna (9), Ailey(6) and Haven(4)

Owen (3), Anna, Haven and Ailey

Jon (7) and Ethan (8)

This is what the 2 youngest family members thought of pictures- Grumps!

Levi (18mths) in a sweeter moment

The Big Six huggin' it out

The Babies finding some common ground

And the only picture of all 8 of them! Mati would not sit with the other kids til right before we left so this was as good as it got!

see more here!

Eight is Enough

We had the pleasure last weekend of hosting our annual "Cousins Weekend." Four of our six nieces and nephews all fall in a row in the summer and we decided a few years ago that a fun way to celebrate all their birthdays would be to have them all come to our house for a fun-filled weekend. So our house was just a tad busier then usual with these eight hooligans running around! Honestly, they are all great, well-behaved kids and we had so much fun with them.

How many kids can fit on one small swing set? We got our money's worth on this thing just from how much it was played on this weekend!

We had a camp out complete with mountain pies, s'mores and lots of laughing.

We tried to wear them out on a good long hike, then refueled them at Chick-fil-a.

Legos were one of the favored activities by the boys and Haven received an education in Star Wars from her older cousins. (Seriously- we were walking through Target and she called out, "Look! There's Dark Maul!")

The Big Six trying their hands at some craftiness.

We also hit the playground, took in a movie at the park one night and went to the pool not once, but twice. We played some Wii, read lots of books and so enjoyed being together. A fun weekend all around!