8 Days with NO KIds...

Well we did it! We left all three kids for eight days, or should I say eight lovely, romantic, much needed days with the love of my life!! You might be asking yourself who would take three kids that aren't there's for eight days? Well Ryan's parents offered to take all three children and come up and stay at our house so we could go celebrate our 10th/11th Anniversary. I know that's sounds funny, but last year we celebrated our 10th Anniversary and just had four weeks earlier had a baby. So it was going to be hard to get away on a trip let alone a dinner together. So last year we planned to go to Mexico for a week with no kids. It sounded great at the time we planned it but as time came closer for us to go I got a bit anxious about it. I had never left them for eight days, the longest had been 6 days. I had a few good friends of mine Kim, Jill and Zephyr who a few times had to talk me down about my worries and said to go and enjoy our time together and once I got there it would be so fun that it would all go away. Wow was it nice! I have to say this was probably to date the best vacation we have taken together. We are at a different point in our marriage and we were able to talk, laugh and cry together. It truly was a growing week for Ryan and I just being "one together". I found myself looking at my husband still seeing that nineteen year old boy I married but realizing WOW what an awesome MAN God has blessed me with and seeing how God has molded him and changed him into the person he is today. I feel like we were able to really capture and talk about what has gone on in our life these last eleven years of marriage and fifteen years of being together and how far we have come. Boy has it come far. This has been a growing eleven years. God continues to put things in our lives that we find ourselves saying "Really God?", "Why this?" But then you come out of that and you see behind you this story he is creating for you. He has showed us this awesome glimpse of how wonderful life is when you leave it in his hands and let him carve this path for you. Those of you who have walked through some of toughest times of our life like Ryan going to War, loosing our sweet Mackenzie, a job loss, the stress of Ryan returning from war and several moves. We want to thank you for your friendship, prayer and support. This has been a major factor in us getting through these years and our marriage coming out stronger. Thank you! God is good and continues to be good! I am excited for the coming years to see what he has in store for us. Enjoy our pictures.