How did we Meet again??

HAHAHA!!

A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell

We have been married for 9 years today and this is the best reminder I can think of to post as a celebration not just of our marriage, but also of the institution of marriage and the grace of God.

I am so thankful for the work and faith of this man, Bonhoeffer. His book Discipleship is probably my most favorite aside from the bible, ever.

A Wedding Sermon From A Prison Cell by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Happy Valentines Day!

In the opinion of the world, marriage ends all, as it does in a comedy. The truth is precisely the opposite: it begins all. ~Anne Sophie Swetchine

Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks. ~Henri Bergson

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV)

A man isn't poor if he can still laugh. ~Raymond Hitchcock

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. ~Victor Hugo

A kiss is just a pleasant reminder that two heads are better than one. ~Author Unknown

What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work. ~Author Unknown

"To laugh often and love much... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give one's self... this is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a Lucky Lady

One of the reasons I am thankful for old saved emails from my husband. One of the reasons why I love holding his hand so much even after nine years. One of the reasons I still look at him and see as pretty spectacular person! One of the reasons I know I totally lucked out when God was giving girls spouses! I am so thankful I cannot really give the right words..... So here's a little piece of our private lives...I hope our Kiddos enjoy readin this one day....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hey sweet girl,
i know that i am not exactly an expert counselor or woman-understander-person but i am able to tell my best friend that i love her. so i just wanted to say that i love you. even in your worst moments i still don't want any body but you. so just know no matter how sinful, hormonal, moody, or womanly you get i will still be right there beside you, i may look at you funny but i will always be by your side :) just wanted you to know.


much love,


me

Guess The Year!

Do You know what year this was?

It was the year I turned 20 and now I am nearly 30!

CRAZY!!

33 years and Counting!

Even as a teenager...

With the kiddos...

Just hanging out....

Playing outside...

Meeting a new addition...

Enjoying His favorite hobby...

Holding his babies...

Even going to weddings....

Or sightseeing with the inlaws.....

and even when indulging my fancies.....

He's ALWAYS smiling! I love his dimples and His laugh, the resonance of his voice and the childlike excitement he holds for life! I am glad that God saw fit to give me a big and burly teddy bear! Don't be fooled by the fierce exterior...he's the nice one....as if you couldn't tell by the smile! Happy 33rd Birthday, Sweetie! I am glad you are my hubby and you have such a sweet temper! I suppose anyone grumpy wouldn't be as willing to put up with me, eh?! :D

Down Memory Lane

Dodio and a snowman, winter 2006-07.

Pie Pie fall 2009.

Dodio, enjoying a slush in cali, summer 2010.

G-man, bath time because of cereal bar blunder, spring 2008.

Uno with his six shooters, 2006

Dodio and Uno fall 2006.

Three amigos, fall 2008.

Dodio and Pie Pie Winter 2008-09.

G-man spring 2008.

My sisters and I with out grandma, our fathers mother at our fathers memorial, summer 2010.

Silas and momma at the botanical gardens in KCMO, 2007 summer.

Prob one of our first family photos august 2004.

Daddy and Pie D, summer 2008.

Daddy and Uno, summer 04.

Kansas City, 2007.

Spring 2003.

Lulu fall 2011.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I enjoy looking through some of our old photos and seeing how different our children are today and yet their personalities are essentially the same! Uno has always been willful and funny, sensative and loving--Dodio has always marched to the beat of a drum only he hears, active and tenatious with a workers heart--G-man is simply enjoyed living, sweet and tender, a joy to watch living his life, always with a hug even at the MOST inopportune times, gentle and reflective--Pie Pie...bossy and snuggly, always happy and laughing in the morning, commanding and independent, resourceful and nurturing. All these different Personalities all together in one curayzee family. Now we have our newest addition and we know a little about her, Lulu loves to be with others, sweet and anxious, smiley and busy, we are waiting to see what else we will learn about her.

After 8 Years and....

 Five children....

Five moves....

Five cars....

Three years of seminary....

A cancer scare....

Death in the family....both sides....

Kace's Broken arm....

Silas' neutropena....

Living in three states....

Driving across the entire country....with our children...

Many Many movies....

Date nights a plenty....

Thousands of kisses....

Child birth times four....

Morning sickness.....

Turkey Season.....

The pastorate.....

Making our biggest sacrifice to date (albeit relatively small in comparission to many in this world today)....

Working together.....

Encouraging one another....

Raising our family....

Like you said last night......I'm still kinda STUCK on you!!!

How Much IS a Brood?

Announcing Crazy-Five-O



I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused.
-Elizabeth Prentiss


So I ask you, do we qualify as having a brood yet or not?

10 Reasons Why...

10 Reasons why I love my husband so much and know that he is the greatest blessing that the Lord has seen fit to grant a superior sinner like me.

1) He is the best friend I have ever had--bar none. He has absolutely proven that it is possible to be a completely loyal, loving, sacrificial, kind, sympathetic and tender friend. Only a good God could have interviened in the life of my husband so completely to bless me so deeply. He has been and continues to be the best friend God ever brought into my life, even when he drones on about the genetive or ablative cases in greek (or at least that's what I think I hear!) he is still a fabulous friend!

2) He is patient. I think that my husband is simply THE most patient man ever! Especially since he still loves me!

3) He is smart. My husband has learned a whole lot over the time of our marriage and has had the grace to share that knowledge (in my own language) with me! Even when they are concepts that are eons outside of my understanding he takes time to explain these things so I can understand. Bless him!

4) He is generous. Let's face it, we aren't getting rich by worldly standards in the ministry, but he still trys to be generous with the money we do have. Not just to me and the kids, but to many others. It is such a reminder to me to be a good steward and have a generous heart.

5) He is merciful. Honestly there have been times and situations where, had it been me in the midst of them I would have given as good as I got, but he has not done so. He chooses frequently to pursue relationships and situations that are not easy (as I am daily proof) with an exceedingly merciful heart. Have we mentioned that mercy isn't my greatest spiritual gift?

6) He is funny. Even though often I DON'T laugh, he is still funny. Unless the jokes on me...well then....it's not that funny. ;)

7) He is a reader. If my husband didn't pursue a book often I doubt I would have read even an iota of the books I have been exposed to and absorbed. He is always reading something to challenge him and strech him and I admire his dilligence.

8) He loves our family. If my husband never gets all the things I ask from the store, forgets to refill the toilet paper, and even leaves his socks on the floor for the next 60 (here's hopin'!) years, the fact that he loves spending time with us would be enough! I love spending time with him, but I Love even more that he loves hanging with a bunch of crazy nuts like me and my four munkins!

9) He is quick to seek reconciliation and quick to forgive. I, admittedly, am not so quick, but I am always hearing his words in my head when situations crop up (as they inevitably do) where I am involved in a disagreement (often not with anyone in my household). "What does it help to prolong forgiveness, Larissa, you're gonna do it anyway so why not do it quick? Jesus forgave you!" Yeah, yeah, yeah....So it turns out I am listening!!

10) I just do. It may sound simple and unromantic, but I just love the big goof! I don't know how we came together, unless it is a work of an almighty God and I don't really know why I love him so fiercly now, but the fact remains that I simply do. I love him deeply and I know I always will.

AND A VERY HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY, WILLIAM!

On Our Anniversary

This is our anniversary! Looking back on that day makes me smile and blush! I suppose every girl thinks the same thing! I have learned so much and grown up a WHOLE lot along the way (I am certain William would second that thought)! We also have added to our family four times over and hope to get a dog at some future time! Some days I laugh at the girl I was then....never dreaming she would bring me here! I am thankful for what God did with her then to bring me here now! He is always so Good! Have a great day!

Reposting: A Must Read For ALL Women!

Our family has been so blessed by My ABC Bible Verses I had to write to Mrs. Susan Hunt and thank her sincerely for such a wonderful book!!! So I emailed her and she emailed me back very quickly. She is exactly what she makes herself out to be and was so gracious and humble, just such a wonderful example of a Titus 2 Woman that I had the audacity to write her back several times and finally asked for some book recommendations that had encouraged and helped her in her calling as a wife and mother. She very simply said Stepping Heavenward and Aunt Jane's Hero both by Mrs. E. Prentiss. As I had already read Stepping Heavenward, and although I absolutely loved it, I was a little disappointed at first by such a short list.

Then for Christmas my little sister, okay younger, asked me what I wanted and on a whim I suggested Aunt Jane's Hero, never thinking she would remember that title, I mean how many 21st century girls remember a mid-nineteenth Century title....But she did! So I got it and my noisy husband opened it and I was excited and began reading!

IT IS PHENOMENAL!!!

I wish now that I had a reading book club going for any women who read this blog, they would all benefit so much simply by this quote that I will share! I want to challenge every woman who is married or unmarried to read this and I bet that if this quote doesn't stop your heart dead in it's tracks, you are already fully sanctified or something else entirely! Read what follows and then don't buy the book--I dare ya!

They were living to themselves: self, with its hopes, and promises, and dreams, still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they has asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by "as a refiner of silver," till they should reflect His image; they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it out to them, it lacerated their hands. They had asked they knew not what, nor how; but He had taken them at their word, and granted them all their petitions. They were hardly willing to follow so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought they had seen the spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. They could almost pray Him to depart from them, or to hide His awefulness. They found it easier to obey than to suffer--to do than to give up--to bear the cross than to hang upon it: but they cannot go back, for they have come too near the unseen cross, and its virtues have pierced too deeply within them. He is fulfilling to them his promise, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

"But now, at last, their turn is come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery, but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and they cannot but choose to follow. Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams the mystery of His cross shines upon them. They behold Him lifted up--they gaze upon the glory which rays forth from the wound of His holy passion; and as they gaze, they advance, and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for he dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship; willing to lack what others own, and to be unlike all, so that they are only like him.

"Such are they in all ages who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Had they chosen for themselves, or their friends chosen for them, they would have chosen otherwise. They would have been brighter here, but less glorious in His kingdom. They would have had Lot's portion, not Abraham's. If they had halted anywhere--if He had taken off His hand, and let them stray back--what would they have lost? What forfeits in the morning of the resurrection? But He stayed them up, even against themselves. Many a time their foot had well-nigh slipped; but He, in mercy, held them up; now, even in this life, they know all he did was done well. It was good for them to suffer here, for they shall reign hereafter--to bear the cross below, for they shall wear the crown above; and that not their will but His was done on them."

-Aunt Jane's Hero By Mrs. Prentiss, page 3-5.

The Anniversary of Your Wretchedness

With Valentine's day fast approaching I  thought it pertinent for our readers here , I hope you are encouraged more to mercy this Valentine's day!



Happy Anniversary!! This is a common statement said millions of times during the year to dating and married couples all over the globe. It is a wonderful thing to remember and celebrate years and sometimes decades of faithful (though difficult) unity. Yet, I am convinced there are other types of anniversaries being remembered. These other types of anniversaries are not worth remembering and must not be celebrated. They come in all forms. For some, it is the anniversary of their spouse’s infidelity. For others it is the day their spouse gambled away their nest egg at the local casino. All kinds of sins are faithfully remembered year after year by untold numbers of people convinced they are completely justified in their recollection of someone else’s wretchedness. But such anniversaries are dangerous endeavors indeed. In every way, they are like slow poison for relationships and must be seen as hard-hearted attempts to remember that which must be forgiven and laid to rest.



Of course, forgiving sin and laying that sin to rest are easier said than done. Good thing then that this is not a work we do in our strength. In fact, we couldn't even do so if we wanted to. This is true for two reasons. First, we are not in a position to do so. You see, we are just as wretched as the individuals whose wretchedness we quickly call to account. Think about it for a moment. Who have you greatly sinned against? Maybe you are having trouble thinking of someone who you have hurt as much as your spouse has hurt you. So let me ask you a bit harder question. What about the sin you have committed against your Creator? Remember it was YOUR SIN and not just your spouse’s sin that brought suffering, pain, and death to God’s only Son. Unlike us, Jesus neither sinned nor warranted being sinned against. NO ONE has been more wronged by people than Jesus Christ. For this reason and many more only Jesus is in a position to continually bring up anybody’s sin. Second, we lack the ability to forgive and lay to rest someone’s sin against us or our sin against someone else. But the same One in position to continually bring up someone’s sin is also the same One with the ability to forgive and lay to rest all sin.



Is it time for you to let go of some anniversary? If so, just remember how much sweeter mercy is than condemnation. Aren’t you thankful that because of the cross of Christ your sin is forgiven and will be remembered no more. May God grant us the strength to be mercifully forgiving like His Son.