my 9 favorite things about jason

9. he's a romantic. he buys me flowers, takes me on dates, opens my doors, tells me he loves me. there's not too much that has changed in the last 12 years as far as how he treats me. i know he's still chasing, even though he's totally caught me (shh, don't tell him though).


8. he doesn't let me win when we play games. and although i hate losing (which i don't do most of the time...) i am glad that he gives me a run for my money, even if it's just while playing settlers of catan.

7. he's fun to be with. after 9 years (and 12 if you count the time we were dating), we still find fun things to do together and i genuinely love being around him. a trip, a night out, a game night at home, watching football, drinks on the back deck - it's all a great time when we are together.

6. he's a good fighter. i know that sounds a little weird, but it's a good thing. i am glad that he fights for what he wants, what he believes in, and what he thinks is best - whether it is with me or with someone else. he's a good listener and is willing to see the other side of an argument, but he also forces issues and doesn't just back down, which i know makes us stronger. 

5. he's a bad ass. as much as i complain about how much time rugby takes - it is pretty awesome to say my husband is a rugby player. and a good one at that.

4. he is a kind person. not just to me, but to people who really need some kindness in their life. i don't think of myself as a particularly kind person, so it's good for me to see and i hope it's rubbed off a little.

3. he's a great dad. seeing jason love our kids is really awesome.

2. he loves all of me, even the crazy sides. i don't think of myself as a particularly crazy person, but i know i have my moments. and somehow, he makes me feel loved, even because of those crazy sides, not just despite them.

1. he is just the best. and that's a fact. you can't beat facts.

9 years down, many more to go. if you told me 9 years ago where we would be today, and where we have been, i don't know that i would have believed you. but i'm sure glad we're here, i'm glad we've made it this far, and there is no one else i can even imagine doing life with. 

weekend round-up: community

this weekend, i felt really blessed by our little church community. when i think about our church, and that fact that we've stuck around, it's kind of funny. to someone on the outside, our group probably doesn't make a lot of sense. but it just fits so well into our lives right now and is always a blessing to be around our r street peeps.

for about two years after we moved to little rock, i didn't feel like jason and i had a place together. he had is friends, i had mine, and we crossed over to each others sides - but we didn't have a group. and that was hard.  but somehow, without really looking, we stumbled onto r street. and for whatever reason, we stuck around. and i'm so glad we did. because now we have "our" group, we have "our" friends, a place for our family to be. if you had asked me two years ago what kind of a group i would be looking for, i don't think this would be it. (haha - sorry guys :-p) but - i am so thankful and blessed to be a part of this little community now. 

once a month, we try to do a service sunday - taking our church service somewhere and serving in some say. we've sorted clothes at a homeless shelter, we've raked leaves at a women's home, we've built wheelchair ramps. it's always a fun time and a good reminder to be doing as a community, not just being.

this last sunday, we held a church service at a nursing home here in little rock where the mother of one of our church members lives. and it was really neat. in the middle of singing "come thou fount", i looked around at our little rag-tag group and was so thankful for where we are, so thankful for these people in our lives, so thankful for the way that we have weaseled ourselves into each other lives. after leaving palestine, i was not confident that we would find another place like kinestish*, but this church family is turning out to be a pretty amazing addition to our life. it's the perfect place for our family at this point in our life.

i don't have anything really profound to say about them, other than i am thankful that they are in our life. i'm thankful for the way they love our family - me, jason, and the kids. i'm thankful for the way we love them. i'm thankful for the way we are in each others lives and business. i'm thankful that we can pray together, share communion, go out to lunch, and share a beer. i'm thankful that they have invited us into their lives and that we have invited them into ours.

real community is a great thing. and i love ours.  

super grateful for these people.

*a made up arabic word meaning "not church", which we used to describe our little group that met together, shared a meal, read the Bible, prayed together, and just did life together.

silver linings of a snowstorm

well, we are all back home. and honestly, the weekend turned out to be great. it was kinda chaotic, and definitely not what i had planned, but i was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

jason got to stay in little rock, he had a warm place to sleep, he got to work (which isn't super exciting, but he was out of vacation days for the year, so it's always good to make money), he got to work out and play touch rugby (which he broke his nose doing), and he got some guy time since me and the kiddos were gone.

hiba and matthias got a few more days to be the center of everyone's attention. we got to see my nana, who was visiting my parents house. i got to spend an evening out with my "little" sister (who is a real grown-up now. so crazy!), sleep in two days in a row (!!!), spend an entire afternoon with my bff, and see her and her kiddos again at church on sunday. bailey and hiba were instant friends and they kept saying they would be friends forever. it was super sweet.

so, it seems the snowstorm turned out to be a blessing. i am thankful to all be back home, in our own house, but i am also thankful for the great weekend that we all ended up having. 

christmas, round 2

we celebrated christmas day in little rock at our house. jason's family came over (minus his dad who was sick with the flu, or who "had a flea" according to hiba).



christmas eve - stockings are ready, presents are out, and new
christmas pjs!

before she went to bed, hiba told me, "you know what i really want in my stocking? it is so funny. and santa won't be able to bring it. but it would be so crazy to have a stocking INSIDE my stocking!" and lo and behold, santa delivered! (thanks to a random little stocking we had laying around. i have no idea where it came from. it's a christmas miricle!)

the kiddos loved their stockings. it's nice that they are so easy to give to and so happy with whatever they get. it was fun to see their excitedness.

after a big breakfast, we opened presents. there were just a few of them. 90% were for hiba and matthias.

after presents, jason and i went to see les mis, while gramma and lizzie stayed with the kids. it was AMAZING. if you haven't seen it, go see it. so good. while we were in the theater, it started sleeting. no big deal right? well, we got back home and liz and kathy went to go see it, and about a third of the way through, the theater lost power. it hadn't even started snowing yet. just sleet, and a little ice. it was here. SNOWPOCOLYPSEMAS 2012!!!!!!

christmas, part 1

what a week it has been! two christmas celebrations, eight inches of snow, power outages, one night in a hotel, two trips to siloam....i actually can't wait for next week when things go back to normal. fingers crossed. anyway, here's the start of the recap for the last week or so.

last friday, we drove up to siloam to celebrate christmas with the piston family. we were all here, and it was so fun to catch up with everyone. the weekend included lots of food:
 

lots of fun toys and activities:

fun with shaving cream!



matthias the hillbilly, hiba's name out of blocks, shaving cream
fun, and stringing beads. yay for grammy and oscar's house!

rachel's birthday:

hiba's gift to rachel

rachel and kane - her "family friend"

christmas and presents, of course:

singing christmas hymns

and the present chaos begins!



it's just what she always wanted! and art set!!



new baby from aunt kristin and uncle nate

and lights on the square:

downtown siloam - this is what hiba and matthias got to see

the real lights with the siblings

jason had to work on monday, so we headed back to little rock for round 2. stay tuned!

ebbs and flows

life has had a lot of ebb and flow lately. some days, it seems like nothing is clicking. the kids are cranky, they are constantly fighting with each other, they are constantly fighting with us, jason and i don't take the time or energy to parent like we should, family time just doesn't happen - things like that. and those days are not fun. they are exhausting. and they make us (or at least me) feel like i am failing as a parent. it seems like no matter what i do, no one is happy and nothing works out. fail.

but then there are times when things do click. hiba has less anxiety about life in general. matthias is happy and snugly. family dinners happen and get eaten happily. rooms are cleaned up before bed time. life is good. and days like these are also exhausting, but a good kind of exhausting. and at the end of the day, i feel like a pretty great parent. i feel like my hard work is paying off and that our family's success is pretty much due to my awesomeness.

the important thing for me to remember is that i probably have little to do with it. i think that i can contribute to bad days very easily and i can relish the good days, but i sure don't cause them. family's grow. kids grow. their job is to test boundaries and see what they can get away with. my job is to enforce those boundaries. sometimes that will result in good life lessons. sometimes it will result in kicking and screaming fits (by my kids, not by me. most days.). and yes, i can make the best out of the good days and take advantage of the good days, but it's important for me to remember that it is just the ebb and flow of life.

last week, we took advantage of a good day. some friends of ours were playing on the patio at a restaurant downtown, so we fed the kids a quick dinner and headed down to enjoy the beautiful weather, good music, and company of friends. and for the most part, the kids listened to us, got along, and had fun. it was great. it clicked.  it's nice when things click.

vacation is awesome.

last week, we got to go see some really great friends from jbu. they live in fort worth, so we don't get to see them very often, but every time we do, it's good for our souls. the kids got a long great and we enjoyed talking, laughing, playing games, cooking, eating, and relaxing.

on our way!

jason reading to a captive audience

yo gabba gabba!

 

matthias is addicted to electronics

breakfast time!

that's a lot of young kids

he found another game....

jason beating up the kids

walk to the park

the kids did a lot of swinging

and a lot of egg collecting/terrorizing the chickens

what reunion would be complete without a game of catan?

sassy boy

train ride!