Gautreau Christmas Greetings

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A meaningful Tradition

"But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”
Luke 1: 30-31

Over the last few years we have taken our boys to A Journey Through Christmas. It is a 15-minute drive through of the Christmas story with live actors and animals. The first stop you come to is the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. Every year as I watch and listen to the scripture I mentioned above being read, it brings tears to my eyes.
As a mom, I can’t imagine how overwhelmed Mary must have felt about the news the angel shared with her. God chose Mary for a very special purpose. I believe God chooses us specifically for the children he gives us.
There are days where I feel overwhelmed and extremely inadequate for the task at hand, but like Mary, God tells us, “Do not be afraid.”
Mary is a beautiful example of a woman who trusted God with her son. I think the reason I get emotional as I listen is because I know the rest of the story. It just doesn’t end with the joyous and happy celebration of a new-born baby.
Mary as a mother experiences what it is like to have her son face a very cruel death. I also get overwhelmed with the fact that He died for you and me so we could have a personal relationship with him.
At Christmas we think a lot about giving and receiving gifts, so maybe this would be a good time for you to think about receiving a gift of eternal life and forgiveness, if you have not already received that gift.

I wrote this article for our mops newsletter to correspond with our theme for our December meeting which was "Holiday Traditions.”What do you want your family traditions to reflect? 

The drive through the Christmas story has become a tradition for our family as we want our boys to be able to reflect on what Christmas is really about amidst all of the other business of the season.  
We actually took our boys this past weekend to this event, as we watched and listened  to the scene of Mary and Joseph in the manger with the baby, our youngest M was sitting on his dad's lap and he made the comment, "that makes me want to cry" and his dad asked him "why"and he said "because a baby was born". It is interesting as mom was getting a little teary eyed too :)

Comparisons

Recently I overheard someone describe me as being a creative person! I remember being surprised, as I really don't consider  myself to be particularly creative, at least compared to other people.

Exactly, that's it, we spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people that we can't see who we are? We can't see the unique person that Christ has made us to be.
It seems it is much easier for us to see ourselves as other things which aren't always positive.
Inadequate, unlovable, worthless, failure, weak, small, boring, unattractive, stupid and the list could go on! When we think on these things and let them take root in our lives, we start to believe them! As we continue to compare ourselves to other people around us, we become disillusioned  with ourselves and other people.
And when we believe these lies we feed ourselves,  it affects  our relationship with others and more importantly with God.

 Thankfully God reminds us in His word :

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.  " Psalm 139:14


Therefore if He has made us then we can't be all these things, because we are made in His image. It is so easy for each of us to fall into a negative pattern of thinking that does nothing for ourselves but drag us down and takes our focus of who God is and the purposes He has for each one of us.
One of my favorite verses is

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Philipians 4 :8 

I write out of personal experience, but I am thankful that God uses His word to speak truth into my life and to know that none of that stuff is true about any of us!

 A picture of me helping my son be creative decorating his gingerbread house at school

My mum came to visit

Last week I was truly blessed to have my mum come to visit for a week. Time with my mum is always treasured since we live ocean's apart :) Mummy visits always consist of a suitcase filled with goodies for our family, lots of extra cups of tea and a shopping partner for me. Yes my mum loves to shop as much as I do, although she tells me she hardly ever does it at home! Not sure I believe that? :)

I am always thankful for the time to talk with my mum, to laugh, hash out different topics, figure out life and do the things that I can't do on a regular basis. The boys were in school while she was here, so we had extra time to chat and catch up.
I love that when she is here I can be real and open, yes we sometimes get irritated with each other, but one of the things I appreciate about my mum is how she is honest with me. She tells me the things I need to hear even if it is hard for me to hear them. She is usually right and you know what mum's do know what is best and my mum knows me well :) She is kind, loving, fun and thoughtful. My mum is a busy lady always putting other people first, especailly her family, when she came here we really wanted to make sure that she would relax and enjoy her time here and I think she left feeling that way! The week went in too fast, but again I am thankful for the time with her and look forward to when we can do it again, either here or over in Northern Ireland.

I hope and pray I can be the kind of mother to my boys that she has been me :)

Thank you God for mothers :)

Pumpkin Patch kindergarten fun

M started kindergarten at the end of August, this past Monday I got to go with him on his first field trip. We went to a pumpkin patch at a local farm :) Our bus was full of very excited little people :) When we got to the farm it was raining but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. One of the first things they got to do was run around the corn maze.

 After a yummy snack it was time to head out to the much anticipated pumpkin patch, we all piled onto the tractor, it was pretty crowded and we all ended up with soggy bottoms from sitting on the wet hay but again no one seemed to mind :) Once we got to the patch, M set off on his mission to find his perfect pumpkin!

Is it this one? No, I think I will need something a little bigger if I am going to decorate it :)
So as the rain started to pour down M set off and finally he found the one

Once we got home M was very anxious to carve his pumpkin so we started the fun task of taking the seeds out so we could bake them in the oven :)

 M seemed to have in mind exactly what he wanted to do with his pumpkin, it wasn't mom's idea but we had fun doing it!

He is very proud of his creation and was sure to show it to his friends and anyone who came to our door, including the Edward Jones lady who came to our door to tell us about her new business in town!

Ask God!

This morning I went for a walk, I often call it my think and prayer time. I had spent most of my walk listening to a preacher on the Christian radio, but as I was getting closer to home, I turned it off and started to pray.
I was praying for my children when God brought to mind something that had happened yesterday with E.
I had picked up my boys  & our neighbor kids from school, E had been playing with his Nintendo DS but when we got back home it came to my attention that the little pen that goes along with it that you use to touch things on the screen had gone missing. M had been using it and in his excitement to go show his little friends his pumpkin he had got the day before, he lost the pen as he was leaving the van. E and I started to look for the pen, trying to get M to help. It wasn't very successful and I found myself getting more and more irritated and very frustrated. In the midst of my ranting and raving, I heard E say "ask God", ask God", but I was frustrated and wasn't paying very much attention and instead I chose to rant more. The more I ranted the "ask God" got louder, then he said loudly "Ask God, He will help you, remember at Sunday school they tell us to ask God he will help you". As I write I have tears in my eyes for many reasons. We have often told E when he is in a situation where he needs help, that he can stop and ask God to help him. One of the times was when he couldn't find his shoes, so we often hear him say when we ask him "Where are your shoes, he replies, " ask God". But he also obviously has heard this at Church too :)

This morning as I was praying and God brought to mind this incident yesterday. I am humbled, but thankful to God for reminding me through my own child that we should "Ask Him". I was also just really in awe of how God is working in my little boys heart. Very often he seems so distracted, focused on his own little world that we never are really sure of what he hears or comprehends, but Praise God this little boy is hearing and comprehending and God is using Him to speak to my life. I am also reminded this morning though of how often we get angry, loud, we rant and we rave when things are difficult, things aren't going our way, we go to others first to ask for help! Wouldn't life be so much more simpler, if we just "Ask God"!!

Friends

I am linking up again today with The Gypsy Mama and five minute Friday

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes:

GO!
On Friends.........................

A friend is someone you can
play with
cry with
laugh with
share with
pray with
love with
forgive with
trust with
respect with
talk with
hug with
pour out with
check in with
dream with
honor with
admire with
hope with
blessed with
be thankful with
be funny with
praise with
rejoice with
mourn with
heal with

I am blessed that  God has given me friends to experience all of life's "with's"

STOP!

I love that my boys are friends and can experience lots of "with's" together

 

 

 

A trip home

This Summer we were blessed to be able to go back to Northern Ireland to visit my family. I was pretty anxious about the long trek back there, as I was going to be traveling with the boys on my own without daddy there to help and support!

After a delayed and missed flight we finally made it there! As our plane was making it's descent into Belfast International Airport, I took this picture :) I was home, it had been over 4 years and I had a feeling of excitement and anticipation, looking forward to seeing my parents smiling faces, hearing familiar accents, smells and sounds. It was all very exciting, we were tired and worn out from travelling for 2 days, it was raining but I didn't really care, I was "home"!

I was really struck again by the beauty of the Emerald Isle, one you don't always think about when you grow up there.  I found it very refreshing and enjoyed the spectacular sights. I had a hard time not taking scenery pictures as I wanted to have lots of picture memories when I got back to the US, my other home!

 Our days were fun filled times with family, lots of cousin time for the boys, catching up with friends and just really enjoying the Northern Irish way of life again :)

We were there for 3 weeks, on our last week Sabin was able to join us

  I always enjoy seeing Sabin take in and enjoy my home country's culture and history. One of our favorite days was spent on Rathlin Island, a small working island.

We enjoyed hiking, geocaching and just taking in the peace and rustic nature of the island. It was just a really beautiful and great day!

Sadly it was time to head back to Oregon. But we returned with suitcases full of goodies and a heart full of precious fun memories. We look forward to when we can return again, hopefully sooner than 4 years time.

My heart!

This is probably one of the most difficult blog posts I am about to write. I have written this post in my head many times, but this is the first time I have sat down and decided to type, to try and  put those thoughts that have been in my head for a while now, on paper so to speak!
I just want you to know I am going to be sharing something very near and dear to my heart and so I want you to be prepared for what your about to read! I want to share this with you, because I know many of you have been through this similar journey or know someone who has been through it.

Back in December of 2010 I learned I was pregnant with our 3rd child, yes what great news! I remember being a little surprised but also excited.  A few days later those feelings of Joy and excitement turned to fear and sadness as I started to miscarry our precious baby.

Yes I was pregnant for a very short time, but I had no idea how that short time was going to affect me or impact my life for months  to come! I grieved terribly for my baby, I longed to be morning sick and have all those early feelings of pregnancy that we do not like or enjoy, because in my mind if I felt that way then I was still pregnant. I hoped that it might  be a bad dream and I would wake up from it and everything would be ok or maybe the dr. was wrong?  But however that was not going to happen. In the past months since our miscarriage God has taught me so much about Himself, about myself and also how much He loves me. I went through a wide range of emotions over the last few months and at times I was very angry with God and bitter, but I also realized that for me to stay that way was of no benefit to me or anyone around me! It was not helping me heal and was not honoring God or my little one either!

The reason I write this now is because my little one was due around this time, mid August :) I have found myself this past week thinking about our little one a lot, what they would have looked like, thinking about how their tiny body would have felt in my arms, how my husband and I would have greeted them into the world and what the boys would have thought of him/her. Experiencing a miscarriage has been one of the saddest times of my life, but through it all I still have hope.  I know that although I won't get to hold our baby here on earth, they are in Jesus arms and one day we will most definitely be reunited and what a glorious day that will be :) 

Since my miscarriage I have talked with many women, many of them  whom I did not know had gone through the same thing. Everyone's story is a little different and yet the same in regards to how they felt and dealt with the loss. I feel that in writing this maybe I can bring some hope, but also help other families. I heard 1 in 3 women miscarry, something I was not aware of until this happened to me. Most people don't talk about it or share their story, miscarriage and infant loss is a taboo subject it seems. I think partly because none of us really know how to respond and sometimes when the news is shared the response from others is not always helpful in our grief.  I have been cautious in how I have shared it, but I feel it has been important for me to write this down. Our baby was not with us for very long but, he/she has left a lasting imprint on our hearts and we will carry that with us forever! One of the verses that gave me comfort during the early days was:

Isaiah 55:8-9 

 ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I may not understand why this happened, but yet I know I have to continue to trust and lean on Jesus.
For those of you have walked with me through my time of grief and have been there for me when I needed to talk, needed someone to pray, a hug or just let me cry, I want to say a huge thank you!

Why my husband Rocks!

It isn't hard for me to say why my husband rocks! He is the love of my life, my best friend! When we met I had never dated anyone else. I was 23 years old and wasn't sure if a husband was in God's plans for me? My husband and I met when I came to the US in 1998 as an exchange student  to Moody Bible institute. For me I wanted to marry someone who loved God, was a man of integrity and served God will all His heart, I definitely found all those qualities in my husband.

We have been married for 10 years, the last 4- 5 years have probably been the hardest 5 years for us as a couple and family. After 6 years in youth ministry my husband felt God was leading him out of that for a while. One of the main reasons being our oldest son was having some major developmental issues, which we later found out was Autism. Since an Autism diagnosis, my husband has been a rock. I heard divorce within the Autism community is extremely high. Although it has been tough at times, I can't imagine raising our son with Autism or our other son apart from each other!

He is always there willing to listen, helping calm my fears and anxieties but in all of that pointing me towards Christ, encouraging me to look to Christ for my strength, wisdom and guidance. He brings a calm and stability into my life, he also makes me laugh which is another quality I appreciate since I can be very serious at times!

In April of 2009 my husband and I started to build our own home through a self help sweat equity program. One of the reasons we did it was so we could have a home of our own, one that was safe for our boys and a place of rest and tranquility for when our days were crazy! My husband put in 40 hours a week of work on his regular job and then on the weekend he would put in 20 hours on our house :) 

He loves our boys, you can often find him riding bikes, doing yard work, wrestling, making up stories at bed time, playing and just being silly with them and they too love their daddy :)

So as you can see, that is why my husband rocks, and I only feel like I have scratched the surface, but I am thankful I can honor him in this way. Happy Father's day to my love!

Five minute Friday- "On Distance"

It's that time again :) I am really enjoying doing these!

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button in my right side bar}
3. Go leave some comment props for the five minute artist who linked up before you {and if you love us, consider turning off word verification for the day to make it easier for folks to say howdy}

Today's topic "ON DISTANCE"

GO!
You were my firstborn and I was so delighted to have you in my life, yet for some reason something didn't seem right? I watched you as you lined up your cars, you tried to communicate but you couldn't, you would wake up from a nap and cry and cry, I would hold you and pray  and seek God for wisdom as something with my sweet baby boy wasn't how I thought it should be? There was a distance, you were locked in a world I didn't understand, I couldn't reach.

I was determined not to let you stay there, determined to bring you closer. I did everything I could to reach in, help you! Thankfully after lots of appointments, questioning, testing, therapy, researching, we found out. Autism created a distance between you and me, but I was so determined to not let it, I knew God had blessed us with a very special little guy who would change us in a way we would never understand.

The day you were diagnosed, I felt a burden lift, I felt I could finally reach you, finally help you.  The last few years have been very hard work, but finally I feel like the distance between me and you has been lifted. To see you laugh, smile, giggle, talk and enjoy life has brought so much joy.



April is Autism Awareness Month, this is a great time for  all of us to understand Autism, to not let the distance come between us and to enjoy the special blessing of a child with Autism.

STOP!

Five Minute Friday- If you met me...............

 
Today I’m linking up with the http://thegypsymama.com/2011/04/five-minute-friday-if-you-met-me/who  challenges us to write for 5 minutes without stopping,  without editing – about a particular subject. Here is this Friday’s topic 
 
If you met me...............

Go
You would probably notice that I have an accent and no I am not Canadian, I grew up in Northern Ireland, which I am very proud to tell everyone :)
I would probably share with you the story of how I came to America to attend Bible school, but also found my sweetheart that year!
 If you met me, I would love to share my story with you, I love to share it with anyone who will listen. I love to share how good and gracious God has been in my life in the last few years. If you met me I  would probably share with you how God blessed us with 2 precious boys and that one of our boys was diagnosed with Autism. You will probably notice how passionate I am about Autism and also so thankful for how God used something painful and difficult in our family to show us His love and provision in our lives.
I may also share with you some of the other things God has been doing recently in my life, how he is healing my heart.
If you met me I hope you would also laugh with me, I have 2 very crazy boys and I love to share their funny stories and silly things they do. If you met me I hope you would also meet my wonderful husband who I can't imagine doing this journey without. If you met me, I hope you would leave knowing most importantly I love Jesus and He is everything to me. 

Stop!

Adversary or Advocate? Reaching the heart of your child and a giveaway!

Adversary or Advocate? Reaching the heart of your child and a giveaway!

A few weeks ago I  discovered this author, her name is Sally Clarkson ( if you click on the title above you can link to her website) . Recently the Lord has been really working on my heart about how I view myself. This has been through a bible study I have been doing with a group of friends, but also it has been reinforced to me through the things I have read on this blog and in another book I am reading currently!  I realized that my view is often shaped by lies I believe about myself. Those lies have come from things that may have happened in the past or things that others have said to me or have been done to me!

As I read through Sally's blogs I am just overwhelmed by her wisdom as a mother. I have also been made aware that those lies we believe can also carry over into our parenting. Those lies leave us feeling exhausted, disappointed and frustrated with ourselves.
Her blog is so encouraging and I think any woman would be blessed by it. I appreciate her no guilt approach and the understanding of we are all in this together and lets encourage each other!

She is doing a give away right now for one of her books, so if your interested hop on over to her blog and leave a comment :) The link above should take you to it!

Blessings

The song I have posted below on this Blog post  is one of my new favorite songs! A few weeks ago I was folding laundry in my living room and I heard this song playing on the radio, it really caught my attention! As I listened I was aware I had wet cheeks, this song spoke right to my heart!  It talks about how the difficult times in our lives can also yield many blessings. Our blessings don't just come from the good things that happen in our lives. I had never really thought and processed that concept before and yet as I thought more about it, I could see different situations in my own life where that was very true!

There are some things that happen in our lives that are often very hard for us to understand  why they would happen? Or even why God would allow them to happen?  As I listened to this song it made me realize that even in our very difficult times, that God is working out His purposes in our lives &  hardships can also have blessings.

When E was diagnosed with Autism, I most definitely would not have said "oh my isn't that a wonderful blessing my son has Autism"! Yet 4 years in advance I can look back over the last few years and  see now the blessings that have come from having a child diagnosed with Autism. I have met some beautiful families and made wonderful friends. I have also been able to understand and learn about something I otherwise would never have maybe thought about! Also when we built our house I remember feeling a little resentful in some ways that we had to work so much and sacrifice a lot during that time to get a house for our family, but now I can truly see the blessing in why God had us do the project. We are blessed with great friends in our neighborhood ! I pray that as you watch and listen to this song you will be able to see the blessings in your life that have come from the good and the bad situations.
 My favorite line  is  " what if the trials of this life are your mercies in disguise" .

Friendship

five minute Challenge

This is one of the blogs I like to read
http://thegypsymama.com/2011/02/five-minute-friday-prompt-five-years-ago/
Today on her blog she was having a challenge so I am going to give it a try :)
Here is my challenge:
On Fridays around these parts we have a little tradition. We throw caution (editing, revising, and worrying) to the winds and just write.
For five minutes flat.
You’re welcome to play along. The rules are easy.
1. Write your heart out for five minutes and then show us what you’ve got.
2. Tell your readers you’re linking up here and invite them to play along.
3. And most importantly, go visit, read, and encourage the fellow five-minuter who linked up right before you. 

This time 5 years ago, my family and I were living in  a small town in No. california, where my hubby was working as a youth pastor. I actually had just had a our 2nd son about 6 or 7 weeks prior :) I have to say that time in my life was a bit of a blur, I was still recovering from a c- section and adjusting to being a mommy to 2 little boys. Our oldest son was 2 years and 8 months old. At that time I was feeling some concern over E's development, we were going through some steps at that time to figure out reasons for his speech and development delays. Thinking back I was actually pretty stressed out and I think and  I cried a lot. It is amazing to think that sitting here 5 years onward that E who was later diagnosed with Autism, is doing amazingly well and M just celebrated his 5th birthday.  My days were full of taking care of my 2 boys and also supporting my hubby in his ministry at that time too. I wish I had more exciting things to share with you, but that is pretty much what I remember right now along with remembering I watched American Idol as the new season had just started and that was something that brightened my day.........ooops times up :)

Lighthouses

During the storm
or in the darkness…
follow me…
to a safe harbor.
~~~
From far away…
A friendly light.
~~~
Lighthouses:  Guides to friendly harbors.
~~~
Lighting up the night so bright…
For all those who sail by night.
~~~
Lighthouses blow no horns;
they only shine.
(D.L. Moody)

Our fun, crazy day at the beach

The beach has to be one of our boys favorite places to go. We packed up our van this morning with a picnic,  rubber boots, coats and a change of clothing for the boys as we know our boys well and we never go to a beach without a spare change of clothing. We  headed over to the coast, it was windy & misty, but the fresh cool air felt refreshing, we certainly got the cobwebs blown out today :) 

 

The boys had fun exploring with dad on the beach 

but for some reason the water seemed more appealing, at first they were pretty cautious. But as time went on they became more adventurous

Much more adventurous!!!  Boy was I glad I had packed extra clothing. As you can see we have 2 boys who are very full of life.

 

We had a great day, but it wasn't without it's excitement, either! E lost one of his rubber boots, it got washed out to sea :( He was very sad, he was crying in the car and he said "I am not super cute, I lost my boot!"  I guess we need to find a new set of rainboots for him!

After getting some fresh clean, dry  clothing on  and some welcome food in their belly it was time to go home. Just another day of memories in the making for the G family.

Peanut Butter Cookies- a new recipe which we loved

At Christmas a dear friend of mine bought me a cook book called "The Cake mix doctor bakes Gluten Free" by Anne Byrn.
Today I decided to try out a recipe and we were very pleasantly surprised, they had good flavor, texture and looked like a peanut butter cookie.


Here is the recipe

• 1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.
2. Place the cake mix, peanut butter, butter, egg, milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients just come together and the cookie dough is smooth, 45 seconds. The dough will be stiff. Place the sugar in a shallow bowl. Form the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball of dough in the sugar and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet 2 to 3 inches apart. If desired, press down on the balls of dough twice with a fork to make the classic cross-hatch pattern.
3. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough. 

http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/recipe/gluten-free-peanut-butter-cookies/

I made some adjustments to the recipe to make sure it was Gluten and casein free

This is what E thought of the cookies, we will definitely be baking these again. Dad didn't even notice that they were GF. 

Our Gluten free journey

So our Gluten free journey started almost 4 years ago. A preschool teacher of E's gave me a bunch of information on how the GF diet can help children who are on the Autism spectrum. As we started to eliminate gluten from E's diet, I was totally overwhelmed. It was a whole new world of learning for me.  I would stand in the grocery store reading labels and trying to figure out what to feed my dear child.  I wanted to give in so many times and let him eat whatever he wanted, but my dear husband kept cheering me on and encouraging us to not give up. About 3 weeks after eliminating Gluten we were amazed at the changes in our little boy! His once glazed over eyes cleared up, he became less puffy and red faced, he also became much more aware of the world around him. His sleep pattern was much better, he started waking up less through the night! It was amazing, I feel that it also helped him to learn and make the progress he has made. We also eventually eliminated Casein, which is the milk protein in dairy products. Again seeing amazing results in our little guy! He started to be interested in communicating, he had more regular bowel movements and became potty trained :)

At the beginning the variety of products was much less than there is now. It has been hit and miss with some foods, but he never complains and is happy if he has an alternative to what others are eating around him. It means planning ahead sometimes, taking food with us everywhere but again it has just become part of our life.

God Gave Me You :)

In December my husband and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary :) We were married on Dec. 28th 2000 on a very cold, snowy but beautiful day in Northern Ireland!

As I thought about our last 10 years this song that I have heard played on the radio sums up a lot of our marriage :)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7M7cJ4DydQ&feature=related

We have been through a few bumpy times, but through it all we both know that we could never have got through those times without each other and more importantly without God! Together we have accomplished much :)  We were blessed with 2 special boys, we built our own house, we served together for 6 years of youth ministry, we also survived an Autism diagnosis for our son. Through all of our good and bad times we learned to love, understand and appreciate each other and also to see God's hand in it all, guiding us each step of the way!

 

We are excited to see what He has for us and our family over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years :) The picture above was taken in Seattle. We spent a weekend there to celebrate our 10th anniversary!