8 years!

Today is mine and Stephen's eighth wedding anniversary! Stephen started out the day early by driving to our favorite donut shop in Birmingham, Heavenly Donuts, (while we were all still asleep) to beat the morning rush and brought home breakfast for everyone. Tonight we plan to go to a local, yummy, non-fancy (our style!) restaurant while the boys stay with Nana and Grandpa and maybe we'll get so crazy as to take a stroll around Barnes and Noble too. We are simple people! 

I'll save all the mushy stuff for his anniversary card, but I am so thankful for the commitment that we made and a lifetime of love and laughter together. We don't have a perfect marriage but I'm thankful for a good and faithful God that is at the center of it all...that orchestrated our story from the beginning!

If you've been following the blog for a while you know that we take a picture of the whole family on this green chair every year on our anniversary. It's so fun to replace the picture in the same frame each year and see how the family has grown and changed from year to year. I hope we continue this tradition forever...I'm sentimental this way!

I wanted something practical for our anniversary....a fence so that I could sit and rock Joah this summer in the back yard while the boys run and play! He worked rain and shine (and with the help of his dad on some parts) for several weeks and got it finished just in time!
Stephen is a good man! He isn't a "words person" like me and he'll probably never write me a poem or a song, but he serves me (and his whole family) in a million, little ways not only on special days like this one but every day. He is faithful and steady, and I know that he loves me unconditionally. He supports all my wild, creative dreams for creative projects that I've dreamed up or educational ventures for the boys or whatever...We are a good balance for each other. Eight years later (and a million memories later), there is depth and richness there that I could not have comprehended in those love-sick, early days and it feels my heart with so much joy!  

Baby Joah Update

31 weeks and baby as large as a pineapple (or a small monster truck!)

32 weeks (and they are yelling "taco truck" that we got from a Lowe's kids clinic)

33 weeks pregnant with Joah!

A few days earlier we had a little scare, and our doctor sent me over to the hospital to be monitored for a few hours and watch contractions. They were able to let me rest and slow things down, but I'm supposed to be "taking it easy" as best I can with two busy boys. All of our boys have done this and I've always progressed early and slowly over weeks/months leading up to my due date, but this is the earliest. We are praying that he will continue to just hang in there until at least full-term (36/37 weeks). My doctor said they would not stop my labor after 34 weeks, but he would likely have to spend some time in the the nicu which we are definitely trying to avoid at all costs.

On the way home from James soccer game Saturday morning, Stephen commented that the trees at the entrance of our neighborhood were already changing (I had told him earlier that week when they first started to bloom that I really wanted to get a few maternity pictures in that spot because it was so beautiful) and realizing the trees were changing and the possibility of Joah coming earlier than expected, we ran home and grabbed the camera and tried our hand at some "maternity" pictures. It's definitely not as relaxing trying to attempt this yourself and I'm sure they are not as professional looking as if we had hired someone, but I was still really happy that we captured some sweet moments (and that all three boys will definitely have some "maternity" shots in their baby/memory books). These are my favorites... (and since my due date is Mother's Day we thought they would also make nice gifts for all the mother's in our life, too, since we will be super busy with a new little life at that point!)

 It's so hard to get a good family photo (with the camera on a tripod) but at least we got something...

My friend Sarah offered to come and take one in the next few weeks after the youth retreat for spring break and all the Easter activities at church... 

A few days before our 8th wedding anniversary... What a journey it's been!

They were so "done" at this point... I wanted to get a picture of the three of them but geese emerged from the pond and Jude had just been strapped into the stroller by the camera the five minutes previous when Stephen and I attempted to get a few pictures of just the two of us and everyone was ready for lunch!