Friday, February 27, 2015

5 Years

Today is the anniversary of the day I married my Husband. My confidante, friend, and partner.

In the last five years we have lost family members, pets, battled infertility, journeyed through foster parenting, moved 4 different times (Not including 2 weeks in limbo where we stayed with gracious friends) we had two children of our own, made 8 trips to the ER/Urgent care center, traveled to Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Lake Tahoe, and Chicago together. We have laughed, cried, and simply lived life together, hand in hand for five beautiful years. Experiencing our fair share of trials and triumphs, good times and bad.

And now we are embarking on yet another big and exciting journey TOGETHER! We are following God's will for our family in starting our own business.
Being self employed is not easy and not a hugely desired career these days. And it requires A LOT. We are aware that what we are doing is risky, and some may deem it unwise, but even more unwise in our opinion would be disobedience to God.

The Bible is FULL of stories where God called people to step out in faith, and a lot of those times He didn't lay out His detailed plan or give more than one instruction at a time, but "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and obey" Luke 11:28

Hebrews has a chapter referred to as The Hall of Faith. A place in the Bible devoted to listing all the accounts of people who put their faith in God even when they did not understand, could not see, didn't know, or were told to do the opposite. And it was accredited to them as righteousness because they obeyed God.

I never feel closer to my husband than when we are walking hand in hand where we know God has called us to be.

I am SO proud of my hard working Man who loves me and our children so much that he puts God first, and listens to Him over the wisdom of man. That is Godly leadership. And I am happy to follow him in this great adventure God is leading us on.

I am confident we are right where we are supposed to be and we are there TOGETHER. There is no better place.
Happy Anniversary to us! :)

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

This Adventure We Call Life

When I was young, I thrived in a world full of imagination. I read and wrote stories for pure pleasure and loved adventures!

Today I am thankful for that freedom I had to explore creativity, imagination and excitement through fiction, fantasy, and creative writing. I still hope to be an author some day but right now my focus is on other things.

My life is a GREAT adventure! I am drawing from the childlike spirit I had that was full of positive light to see my life as one of the greatest stories ever told. (And let's be honest; some days are harder than others to choose such a perspective.)

I'm a Mom, Wife, Housekeeper, and business partner (Super Hero)
My Husband is also a father, provider, business owner/partner (Also a super hero)
We are partnering in this great adventure we call life.
We have a rambunctious little two year old best described as a toddler pin ball (She literally bounces off of walls and furniture and just pops back up and keeps running around with ENDLESS energy)
Her name is Hannah-Kate. She is beautiful, sweet, hilariously funny, and VERY two (For those of you without kids this means incredibly difficult at times.)
We also have a son, Levi who is 2 and a half months old, and poor guy hasn't had the same documentation as his older sister so far... I'm gonna try to get better about that.
He is a handsome baby. Full of life and smiling and cooing so much more lately. He was sleeping really well until his 2 month well check where we got to brag about his longest night time stretches, then he decided not to sleep more than 3 or 4 hours at a time again... hmmm. Sleepless nights... that sounds like an ingredient for great adventures! ;)

My husband and I have been talking and praying about running our own AC business for about 3 years on and off. And over the past few months it became clear that God was definitely leading us in that direction. I just had no idea how soon!
A number of issues took place at Ryan's job over the last 4 weeks that lead us to the prayerfully considered decision to put in notice at work and prepare ourselves for business ownership.
That got cut short when said business decided to deduct and entire weeks pay from Ryan's paycheck from the Paternity leave they granted him when Levi was born.
So here we are, the 3rd day with Ryan at home focusing on getting the business up and running.
I have been in charge of websites, profiles, social media, uniform, business card, flyer, and vehicle advertising design and production as well as important things like health care. I'm also still the primary caregiver for both children, (This includes around the clock nursing about every 3 hours and potty training!) and am still taking care of house hold duties.
On top of all of that I am striving to seek out ways to honor, support, and encourage my husband while managing my own anxieties about this leap of faith we have taken.
THIS IS A GREAT ADVENTURE!
And some days it feels just like that! Other days I feel on the verge of panic but even in my weakest moments I feel God's hand on my shoulder, purposing scripture in the form of song to come forth in my mind when I need it the most.
My life's verse has popped up in a lot of various places and is WELL thought of lately.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.