Getaway

I am a bit behind in blogging. I wanted to share a little (not all the details...I don't kiss and tell :) about our anniversary getaway two weeks ago. I want to remember it on those days when I wonder if we will ever have time alone again...



Our anniversary was officially October 26, a Monday. However, on October 24 (a Saturday), Mark surprised me by sharing that we would be dropping the kids off at my parents' house for the night and would have basically the next 24 hours to ourselves.



What a true gift! We love our kids, we really do. In fact, I said I would be ready to start date night only after we had hiked Tanyard Creek with them. But I have also mentioned a time or two that we just enjoy our time together. Alone. No interruptions. We are different as night and day but we have a lot of fun together.



So after the hike, we did drop the kiddos off. I don't know that any of them noticed. They were too excited to be at Grams and Grampops' house (more screen time and yummier food :). We went home and got ready for our date...dinner out.



For dinner we went to a place called Theos down off the square in Fayetteville. Just being there was a treat. It is a grown up place. No crayons offered at the door. I don't think there was even a kids' menu. We did learn that reservations are quite helpful at this restaurant, but thankfully they squeezed us in.



We enjoyed adult conversation. We enjoyed not having to wipe anyone's hands or cut up anyone's food. And we (at least I) REALLY enjoyed the filet mignon which was one of the most tender steaks I have had in a really long time. Or ever. It was delicious. Lately Mark and I have been watching cooking shows like "Chopped" and "Top Chef". When our food was brought to us, we both said right away that it had a "Chopped" look to it. Quite delicious! After we devoured our steaks (and I am not afraid to say I did), we treated ourselves to a dark chocolate caramel molten cake. Usually when we share a dessert, Mark eats a polite big then I finish it. Except this dessert was delicious. Mouth watering. Really, indescribable. And we had to fight over the last bites.



It was a wonderful evening.



In the morning, we slept in. Nobody woke us up demanding to eat or asking to watch cartoons. We just woke up at our leisure. I would be lying if I didn't say...it was heavenly. :)



After we got up and around, we headed down the road to Devil's Den to tackle the Yellow Rock hike. We love taking the kids hiking, but it was a treat to hike by ourselves (well, and the several other people with the same idea) too. Here are a few pics of the fall decor...



Mark checks out the land...

One of the many little creek areas we encountered

Yes, another together picture. We cannot help ourselves. :)
The view from Yellow Rock looking down at the creek below

Apparently it is called "Yellow Rock" because of the yellow tint it has to it. I know there is a more scientific explanation, but I am too tired to research it...
This time someone actually offered to take our picture together. A rare treat! (Windblown look and all)
Climbing uphill (probably what he feels like marriage to me is like each and every day :)
Another beautiful creek to enjoy!
Me and my honey

A little off road exploring

After the hike, we headed back to NWArk for a late lunch/early dinner at Carrabas (yum). Then we decided we had just enough time to go to the movies, a very rare treat, especially if it is not a cartoon. We saw the movie "Love Happens" with Jennifer Aniston. I am pretty picky with movies; I don't like horror movies at all and only watch an occasional adventure movie. I tend to stick with romantic comedies. Well, the movie was romantic, but it was not much of a comedy. I wasn't expecting it to be quite as heavy or sad as it was. I am not saying I didn't like it. I did. It was just so emotional.

Even through the tears...loved our night/day away. A true treat! (Thanks to Grams and Grampops for keeping up with our little people so we could have the together time.)

I better get busy. I am having a hard time keeping up this week with much of anything. I don't think I am handling the time change well.

Reba

Cobwebs in the Brain

This will be short (and maybe sweet...you never know with me :)...

Every so often I get a migraine. It starts almost always on my right temple as a dull ache. Lots of times I can head it off if I get a little caffeine and ibuprofen. Unfortunately today's started when I was on a field trip and had nothing with me. As soon as we got back to the school, I took something. Thankfully I had brought a Mountain Dew with me to school yesterday but decided to wait on it. So I downed that. Then I just had to wait for it all to get into my system.

It got worse before it got better. Thankfully after about an hour, the pain had subsided and I was just left with nausea. And fatigue. I took a nap from 9-10 tonight. I would have just gone to bed but I needed to do a couple of things. And now...I feel cobwebs in the brain. That is how I describe it to people. I feel sluggish and slow when I think. And my brain feels...foggy.

I am seeing a pattern to the migraines (which are happening more as I get older), and I hope to next time be better prepared.

That being said, it was a good day.

Today we FINALLY (after two other attempts foiled by rain) visited the pumpkin patch. It was Maria's first field trip (though it wasn't a new place for her, since it is the same pumpkin patch we visited a few weeks ago). She was beyond excited to ride the bus. Her class rode the same bus we were one...on the way back, I asked if she wanted to sit with me. She said, "Yes, because I love you!" Yep, melted my heart. (Other than that moment, I didn't see her much)

When we were riding together, Maria said, "When can we go to the beach?" I told her it would be a while. She said, "I want to go today." She is a girl after my own heart!

Hunter had a field trip today too...they saw African drummers at a local arts center. He seemed to enjoy it.

Lauren has a field trip tomorrow to a discovery zone.

We are a traveling group.

Joshua has no field trips. That is too bad. He is the child who says, "I wanna go there" every time he sees a picture of a new place! He must have an adventurous spirit in there. (He did get to play outside at school though which is always a fun time for him)

A sweet moment I don't want to forget: Tonight Mark, Hunter, and Lauren were at Lauren's basketball practice. So it was just me and the younger two. They found the game "Operation" and decided we should play. Maria drew out cards and instructed me on what to operate on. Then, if I was successful, Joshua paid me with the fake money, proclaiming "12 dollars" every time. A couple times he wanted to try to operate but the buzzing really makes him nervous. It wasn't a momentous occasion, just one of those moments you want to freeze time and truly savor.

I am sure there is more but it is time for me to hit the hay (which is probably why my eyes keep watering...all that hay on our field trip). And I still have cobwebs on the brain.

Night!
Reba

More Fave Fall Fotos

I really do know how to spell photos. In Spanish, it really is spelled "fotos" (short for fotographias) , so sometimes I have to stop and think about which is which. However, the "foto" works better with fall...just looks right. :)

Speaking of fall, this afternoon after we got home and had snacks, we enjoyed our beautiful fall weather in our backyard which is packed with leaves. Have I mentioned (a few thousand times) we ourselves have no trees in the backyard. And we have a privacy fence. But we also have dead leaves all over the place. Kind of annoying, but makes for fun pictures...

Like Maria enjoying the fall weather outside (a rare treat after last year)We found yet another Wooly caterpillar, and like before, Joshua was fascinated. He is with anything creepy or crawly; yet, he has a cautious side too. I was amazed that Lauren got the Wooly caterpillar ON Joshua's hand. He giggled as it crawled around then said basically he was done holding it...no more!

I am a total sucker for this face. Isn't she growing up?
Enjoying fall once again

Joshua was just giddy, running and jumping through the leaves. I am sure it did wonders for his allergies. But for just a bit, we had a really good time.
I can never resist this face. To me, she has such a natural beauty.

Better get to bed. I am fading fast, and I have a pumpkin patch field trip in the morning...finally!

Reba

Classic Conversations with Maria

Last week at Hunter's swim meet, Hunter was swimming in a heat. His ever-encouraging sister Maria yelled out to him, "Hunter, are you a slowpoke?" Do you feel the love?


The other day out of the blue, Maria announced that she wished she could speak Spanish. I am not positive, but I think it is because the other day the mother of one of my former ESL students met Maria and immediately spoke to her in Spanish. Of course, Maria understood not a word. I felt guilty that we haven't done a better job keeping the Spanish up but it is really hard to do if you are not fluent...and I am not. Honestly, she hasn't been interested until now. Anyway, so I responded, "You do?" She said, "Yes, I want to switch out my mouth so I can speak Spanish." Oh, if only it were that easy...


Tonight we went out to eat at a local pizza place. A friend of ours from our early years in NWArk walked in the door to pick up a pizza. He nodded to me, and I responded with "hi". Immediately Maria wanted to know (loudly) why I was saying hi to him. I tried to respond that I knew him but before I had the chance, she blurted out loudly, "Is he your boyfriend?" I know at least two people blushed at that moment...it wasn't her!


More later...
Reba

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

I know technically Halloween is just one day, but we have been celebrating since Thursday. Every year my dad's office has a "trick or treat" event for families. We had thought it would be on Friday, but for whatever reason, they set it for Thursday. As soon as school was over, the big kids changed into their costumes, and I changed Joshua as soon as I picked him up. A little funny (not so funny)...we left Joshua's school and started driving to my dad's office (maybe a mile away if that). Suddenly Lauren said, "Um, Mom, is he buckled?" I had been so busy getting his costume on, getting a "beard" for him, and getting his sword and candy bag together, I had failed to buckle him...me...the person who won't leave the driveway unless we are all buckled. Even though we were so very close to our destination, the first pull off place I could find, we stopped and buckled.

Anyway, I snapped a few pictures of the first "trick or treating" which is like a practice run for the real deal on Halloween. Here is my motley crew... Notice the eye patch on J-man. Remember it. He won't be wearing it in many pictures. It drove him crazy!
I love this picture. The kids with Grampops...and full candy bags!

Heading home with bags of goodies.
On Friday, Joshua's school had a party...I think all day. I didn't want him to wear his actual costume (for one thing because it was a pain to get on and off), so I went with a spider headband. Joshua LOVES spiders. You can't see his shirt because of his jacket, but it says something like "I love creepy crawlies". I don't know that he wore it much that day, but he looked cute before he left!
Hunter is Snake Eyes if you are not a G.I. Joe specialist. :) Okay, I didn't know either except that he told me. And even then, I was convinced it was a bad guy. He finally got a book and showed me otherwise. Anyway, he might be growing out of the trick or treating stage (or so he says). That makes me kind of sad...

Lauren was Laura Ingalls Wilder. She read all of the "Little House on the Prairie" books this summer and LOVED them.
Argggg, matey!
Our little Minnie Mouse. So fitting for her. She loves Mickey/Minnie. Me too...
The whole crew, heading out for tricks or treats....

I don't think I mentioned that my sister and her family are in town for the weekend. We had the very rare treat of trick or treating together. On the left is my niece, G. She is Daphne (I think) from Scooby Doo.
Here is the youngest of the bunch, Baby G. She was Pokey the Puppy. We had trouble getting her to look at us.

Hunter and the other cousin (also G. :), raring to go...
Our little pirate...I may be wrong, but I think he might have some sickness in his future (just looking at his eyes, he has no other symptoms)

Our little Prairie Girl

It was a good night. The weather was the nicest I remember having on Halloween in years. (I remember our second Halloween as a married couple...it snowed!) I was worried about whether we would have many trick or treaters with the Razorback game (Homecoming now less) scheduled at the same time. However, that was not an issue...having enough candy was. We had LOTS and LOTS of trick or treaters this year (think of the scene from "ET" where the mass of kids comes over the hill). I had nine students from my class (that is half of them)...a record I think...stop by. By the end of the night, Joshua was my "announcer". When someone would come up the steps, he would run to me, giddy with excitement, "Somebody's here, Momma!" Then he would tell them "Happy Halloween!" Around nine, as candy was running low (and this was after the kids went through their bags and donated to the cause), we turned off the lights, the kids headed to bed, and I got to eat a little dinner. A good fall night of fun!

And now I am headed to bed to enjoy my extra hour of sleep!

Reba

Artists at Work

Well, I am behind on posts. It was a really hectic week and I have fallen asleep at the computer a time or two at night. I really want to be (or maybe need to be) napping right now but have decided it is better in the end if I just stay up.

Anyway, on Wednesday night (which seems like a month ago), we had our annual Pumpkin Carving Creations. We were a little limited on time due to haircuts, shoe shopping, and dinner. So the pictures are over a couple of days.

Each child has their own pumpkin. The three big kids all "gutted" their pumpkins. Hunter and Lauren drew their jack-o-faces with a marker first then used little carving tools to carve their pumpkins. Maria used a marker to create her pumpkin face, then Daddy carved it for her. Joshua...well, we went with pieces that stick in the pumpkin...no carving necessary. The package had several pairs of eyes, mouths, noses, etc to choose from and create with. You can see the end product in the picture below. Joshua is an equal opportunity parts man. :)
Hunter guts his pumpkin. The colander in the bottom of the picture was used to save seeds for toasting.

Lauren takes out the ooey gooey from her pumpkin.
Mark de-heads a pumpkin for one of the kids. Joshua looks on...in horror maybe? :)
Eagerly anticipating the pumpkin pieces he can create with...what will he choose?

Joshua (the inspector) checks Hunter's work.
Maria was not all about the ooey gooey parts. I ended up gutting most of her pumpkin for her, though she did pick out the seeds. Once she found a "scooper" to help, she was more willing to do her part...
This is a first for me. We found a seed sprouting INSIDE Maria's pumpkin. I had never seen that, and trust me, I have emptied a few pumpkins in my life!

Joshua helps Daddy poke the pumpkin as he creates a masterpiece. Do we have a Monet on our hands?
Teamwork...
Okay, maybe we have a Picasso instead...

This would be the back of the pumpkin. Yes, he insisted on using every single piece!

An artist at work
The finished products (taken today...Joshua was already down for a nap)

Cute little pumpkins, huh?

Reba

Skipping Christmas

Okay, I don't really want to skip Christmas. It is just that I have been thinking about and pondering a solution to how to tone down Christmas. And as I think about such things, that book by John Grisham comes to mind.



It isn't that I dislike Christmas...quite the contrary! Actually, Christmas is my favorite holiday. Of course, it is the celebration of our Savior's birth. Without that, my eternity would be uncertain. I also have such fond memories from my childhood, sugar cookies baking in my grandmother's kitchen, visiting with cousins I only got to see once or twice a year, reading the Bible story of the first Christmas before opening presents, not being able to sleep Christmas Eve night in eager anticipation.

Even now, around the day after Thanksgiving, my fingers itch to get out our holiday decorations (I just cannot do it earlier than that). I like to see the Christmas tree coming together, decorated with ornaments from my own childhood as well as the ornaments my children receive or make each year. I tear up every time I hear "O Holy Night", my favorite holiday carol. I try to instill some of my own childhood traditions for my family such as the reading of the first Christmas and making and decorating Christmas cookies together, as well as creating my own (like the Christmas books we wrap each year).

This year though I am considering how we can tone Christmas down a bit. Not Christmas itself, but the gift giving.

It isn't so much the money, though that is a factor too. It is the stuff. We have too much stuff. We have six people in our house, two girls in one room overflowing with stuff. And though they like to play, they typically only play with certain things, while other things sit on the shelves collecting dust.

Some have suggested getting rid of "stuff", and we do that frequently. We really do. But there is still a lot of stuff.

And by the time you get to the little ones, honestly, there are very few "needs" or even "wants"....(the older ones however will always have a long list of wants...they are the pioneers after all :)

Let me say that I LOVE gifts. Receiving gifts is one of my love languages. I wouldn't consider myself materialistic, I just love the surprise and the idea of someone loving me enough to gift me with something. That also means I love GIVING gifts. I take delight in trying to find "just the right thing" and seeing the joy when gifts are opened. One of our children is falling right in my footsteps on that.

So my dilemma this year is how to tone down Christmas a bit but still keep the magic. I asked for suggestions on Facebook and received some wonderful ideas. The problem is we already do some of it (we do participate in various giving projects). The other problem is the "magic". The "magic of Santa". Santa has been visiting our house for 10 years. He has established a very high standard for gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. I am trying to decide how we can ask Santa to "tone that down" a bit while keeping the magic alive. It would be one thing for me to say, "Hey, this year we are going to do some things differently". However, that guy at the North Pole...well, how does HE say that but still keep a twinkle in the kids' eyes?

Suggestions? :)

Reba

On the Way to Three...

Joshua is now halfway between two and three. Oh, the two's have been an interesting time. :) Joshua is very regimented, very routine-oriented, very opinionated...and any other "ted" words you might think of. There are days he makes me VERY tired. And days I wonder if we will survive the 2's. Except I remember all too well the 3's. A 3 year old is just a 2 year old with a year of practice. :)

Okay, we joke a lot at our house. We have NO easy going children at all. I wish sometimes we did. But they are all a bit...high strung in their own ways. :) That being said, Joshua continues to be a light in our house...he has me in giggles at times I should not be giggling. Maybe charm is a good word for him...he is full of charm.

Here are a few things (and photos) that show who Joshua is right now...

• Joshua's vocabulary continues to surprise us. Even Hunter has commented on some of the words Joshua uses. When we run out of something, he tells me I need to go to the grocery store. And he still thinks batteries are the fix to anything broken. He is quite up on the words of our time. When we get home, he will ask if he can play the "DS" (and sometimes we let him, though he doesn't really know how to play). He will also go around singing, "Spongebob, Square Pants". Lately he is using more sentences than just words...and his favorite word right now is "my". "That is MY pumpkin." You name it, it is probably his...at least in his mind.
• Joshua's favorite friend right now is "JoJo" the monkey we made at Build a Bear. JoJo gets up with Joshua every morning. He sits at our "bar/countertop" and eats breakfast while we eat breakfast. Every night, JoJo gives Joshua a big kiss and hug before they drift off to sleep. If Joshua sees a picture of a monkey, it is automatically named "JoJo".

• Joshua is almost a vegetarian...I don't think he is protesting meat or anything. (None of us do, which is obvious by our menu). I just think that he doesn't care for meat for whatever reason. He will eat chicken nuggets on occasion and will eat meat sticks (much like Vienna sausages). He shuns any and all other meats. The other day we had soup with potatoes and chicken. He happily ate the potatoes, and he happily spit out the chicken pieces telling me, "I don't want it, Mommy..." So we use beans and peanut butter to build up the protein a bit. Joshua's favorite food right now is pumpkin muffins. Thankfully they are easy to make and get eaten quickly. He can eat two of them (and they are quite filling with the pumpkin in them) in the blink of an eye. He also loves fruit snacks, bananas, cheese, yogurt, fruit of any kind, french fries, and popcorn.
• Joshua's favorite toys (beyond JoJo) is a train set. He gets it out, puts it together (with assistance every time), then takes it apart and returns to it a little later to repeat the process. He loves cars of any kind, and he still can sit and look at books/magazines for hours.
• Yes, Joshua is still in diapers. I am not afraid or ashamed to say it. He hasn't even reached the "average" age of boys to be potty trained. I think it will happen sometime in the next year, but I am in no hurry. Life is simple now. We do not have to stop at every public bathroom. No accidents. No stress. He is slightly interested...loves to sit on the potty and does at school and at home when he wants to. But he is just not mature enough yet nor completely ready. And I am A-OK with that.
• Joshua loves his siblings. He loves to let Lauren mother him. He thinks Maria is hilarious. And he thinks Hunter hung the moon (and the feelings are quite mutual on that most days). He calls them by name if he thinks they have wandered too far from us when we are out. My favorite is listening to him call Maria..."Bia! Bia! Come back!"
• Joshua surprised us by counting to 10 one day about a month ago. We had no idea he could do it. He loves to count. (8,9,10 are his favorite numbers). He also sings most of the ABC song. He does not know his colors yet, though he knows color words. Again, I am not worried about that at all. I actually just read a study about how boys have more developed "rods" while girls have more developed "cones". Guess which one controls color? Cones. Rods are responsible for the big movement...what is happening right now. And it is also more of a gray/black/white picture. Colors will come soon enough.
• Joshua definitely likes to test his limits. We are working on full obedience, rather than the "partially sit and turn halfway" we get at times. He is a bit territorial and can be excitable at times, but he is typically a pretty fun kid.
• Joshua's favorite song right now is "I am Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee". We sing that one alot. His favorite books...he has so many. He does love "Go, Dog, Go".
• Though we thought we knew where Joshua should be this school year...we didn't. In fact, he ended up exactly where I didn't think he would...a daycare center. And the first couple weeks, he was really sad. But now for the most part, he really enjoys it. We tell him he is going to school, so he thinks he is big stuff. We are hoping next year he will be ready for actual preschool.
• I would guess J-man is about 24 pounds. We haven't checked recently. He isn't a big kid in physical stature, but he makes up for it in spunk!
• I would continue to guess physical touch is his love language. He loves holding hands, "rocking" together, hugs, etc.
• Joshua is fairly independent, depending on his mood. He usually undresses himself for his bath (with a little help when needed) and is trying to dress himself at times. He wants to walk everywhere...and if there is a curb, it is a "balance beam" in his mind...he must "cross it".
• Joshua loves creepy crawly things. He is always looking for a spider or some other kind of creature. Now if they make any sudden moves, he might get upset or "scared", but otherwise, he is ready to be their friend.
  

• Joshua may resist naptime on occasion, especially if he is doing something he wants and doesn't want to quit. But for the most part, he LOVES bedtime (and its routine). He is fairly pleasant in the morning, but he is slow to truly wake up/warm up.
  
• I could probably go on and on but I am ready for some shuteye. So I will leave with just a few pics showcasing our big boy.

Joshua being silly for us one night...

That would be the "rolling" of the eyes. Gotta love older siblings and what they pass on to the next generation. :)
Hamming it up...again!

More later (I hope)...Night night!

Reba

Sleepy in Seattle

Okay, I am not REALLY in Seattle, but lately NWArk is what I envision Seattle to be. We are having rain constantly. My students' field trip to the pumpkin patch was canceled for the second time due to the weather, a first in my years of teaching. Even my kids are just praying for the sun to shine...we all could use a little sunlight in our day!

So I really want to share about our anniversary weekend (especially our hike Sunday afternoon), share Joshua's 2 1/2 year update which was technically last week, get a little Christmas advice, talk vacation, share kid stories, etc. But it won't be tonight. I am wiped out. I don't know if it is the weather, my lack of discipline (in officially going to bed), the time of year, or just life...but I am wiped out. I fell asleep during Chopped, one of my favorite t.v. shows!

Hopefully more tomorrow!
Reba

13 years and Counting...

13 years ago, Mark and I stood in front of family, friends, and some of my students and vowed to love each other through better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. I am pretty sure neither of us could truly fathom what we were promising, nor would we ever dream what our lives would become. (And maybe if he had...he would have run the other way :)

I have been thinking about 13 years of marriage. I cannot say every single day has been a joy. This is life. Some days are harder than others. But through it all, I am blessed and grateful to have this man walking beside me...

Come, take a walk with me as I do a quick tour through 13 years of marriage...

1996- We were married in Little Rock, where we both lived. Above you will see a picture from our honeymoon to Gatlinburg. We were so excited to visit the Smokey Mountains during the peak of fall. We went hiking, explored some historical sites, and rushed out to buy the video "Toy Story" (which we had seen on one of our first dates at the theater). We often joke about the wind that came through one night as we snuggled in our honeymoon cabin...the wind that knocked almost every single leaf off of the trees! It was a happy time...
1997- I am not sure how Mark would classify this year. Our first year wasn't all bad, but it wasn't an easy one for sure! It was a year of growth (and a lot of tears...mainly on my part :). We were so excited about the wonderful tax refund we were sure to get because of our marriage...except that Mark's boss at the time hadn't been paying any taxes for him. So we had quite a shock on our hands when we found out how much we OWED instead. Financially, this was a rough year. We both brought debt into the marriage on top of the taxes owed...our fun consisted of anything free, like exploring Hot Springs on foot. Just to add a little excitement to our lives, Mark switched jobs that year and began working in Northwest Arkansas. I was still under contract in Little Rock, so during the week, Mark lived with my parents (and loved every minute of it :), while I stayed in LR. We saw each other on the weekends. Life was a bit tense at times. Finally that summer, we made the move to NWArk. together, living in a duplex on the other side of my sister and her husband (married just a few months before us). I also got a job with the school where I am still teaching.
1998- We made a trip to Disney (with my family)...always a favorite place to go. That spring, our first house got a foundation, and we found out we were expecting at the end of the year. Sometime that year, Mark took another job, then lost it soon after we moved into our first house. It was scary coming home from a baby shower and finding out that we were minus an income. Thankfully (and as usual), God provided. Mark found another job shortly afterward. And in December, we welcomed our first son to our family.
1999- A year of adjustments. We were first time parents struggling to figure out how to be the parents we needed to be...still working on that actually. I imagine a few more tears were shed that year as we battled the fatigue of caring for a newborn.
2000- Though our life as a family of three was delightful, we found out in the fall that we were going to be adding another little Cloud to the family. For some reason, being pregnant while being a Mommy to a toddler was a little more difficult than the first time around.
2001- Little Miss Lauren entered the world in June. Whew! I just thought running errands with one kiddo was difficult...until I had two. Suddenly going out into public seemed very daunting!
2002- The theme for us this year was job changes...Mark started a new job (same industry, different company), and for part of the year, I taught part time so I could have the best of both worlds...I got to stay at home a few days a week, but I also got to be in the classroom.
2003- I continued to work part time throughout the year. Hunter started pre-school which was a new season for all of us.
2004- I returned to the classroom full time. And in the fall, Hunter started kindergarten, while Lauren started preschool. We moved into our current house (my "dream house") that fall. Life felt very full and blessed.
2005- Well, we just thought life felt full. We had a family trip to Disney World in the spring. Little did we know that that summer, a yearning would develop in my heart to bring home a little girl from another country to join our family. Shortly afterward we accepted the referral of Maria from Guatemala (with a visit to follow at the end of the year). Let the paperwork chase (and the endless prayers) begin!
2006- We made a family trip to Guatemala to celebrate Maria's second birthday with her. After much prayer, tears, and fasting, we were able to bring home our little Maria from Guatemala that summer. Again, our marriage faced new adjustments as we adjusted to life with a not so happy toddler with a lot of her own adjustments. Mark, ever the "steady" one was a rock during the transition (for both of us :).
2007- Again, we thought our family was complete. Until that spring. Then suddenly I felt that yearning start all over again. (Yes, less than one year after finishing the first adoption) Suddenly the paperwork chase was on yet again. We made our fourth and fifth trips to Guatemala, the last trip right before Christmas to bring our little gift home...Joshua.
2008- Suddenly, we were a family of six. This year we enjoyed a trip to Gulf Shores. We also learned the fine art of "tag teaming". It is the only way we are able to parent at this point in time. :)
2009- Mark changed jobs, I stayed in mine. Maria started school, and Hunter is finishing his last year in elementary school. Where did the time go? We are still exploring the world together, though sometimes in a new way (with extra people :). (See picture below of our anniversary hike)

13 years of changes, of laughter, of tears, of sickness, of health, of financial ups and downs...God has been faithful. And so has Mark.

I love you, Mark Cloud. Thank you for the life and family you have given me.

Rebs