Brother/Sister Outing

Mary and Kris arm-wrestling at a bar somewhere along the way. Randy served as judge.

Playing Auction Dice...Mark lost three times in a row and

had to wear the "hat" a.k.a. colander.

Sandy getting ready to hand out poker chips.

The guys "getting ready" to grill the shish-kabobs we put together. Yum!

Mike and Kelly catching a nap after our seven hour rafting trip!

I survived!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I survived the weekend! Save for a bit of a sunburn on my shoulders and knees, I was unscathed! I seriously thought I'd break something (ie. an arm or leg) on our white-water rafting trip.

This year's annual "Brother/Sister Outing" was planned by Randy and Kris who chose to take us on a seven hour rafting trip on the Wolf River. It was a lot of fun, but I ended up getting sick. It's ok, I knew I would as I have severe motion sickness. I wore SeaBands and took Dramamine but they just couldn't hold up past hour five of the trip.

The whole weekend was great and it was nice for me to be able to have a few drinks and a good time without worrying about having to drive or worrying about whether or not I'm pregnant. I may have mentioned that Mark and I aren't really trying, but we're also not preventing anything. I'm always leery about having even one drink until I know for sure each month. Luckily with this trip I knew for sure so I could enjoy myself.

I have a few pictures to upload from my digital and then the whole disposable camera from rafting that needs to be developed, so I'll do a longer post about the trip with lots of pictures probably on Wednesday.

Until then we'll be busy. We've got volleyball league tonight and we're meeting with another builder Tuesday night. Friday is the 4th of July parade and then the party and fireworks at Mike and Kelly's place. Whew! I'm still tired from the weekend and we've got a busy week ahead! Time to get back to work....

It's a girl!!

Hooray and congratulations to this fun mommy who gave birth to a little girl this morning! I've been a faithful follower of In A Shoe blog and was so thrilled to be able to read as she updated the blog throughout the labor process. This is her eighth little girl and there's one son thrown into the mix...it will be fun to see how the little guy handles growing up in a house full of women! Check out her blog...you'll love it!

On another note, we're leaving this afternoon for the annual Brother/Sister Outing. We're heading "up North" to go white water rafting...I'm very excited! I'm sure there will be lots of fun pics to post next week. I bought a disposable, water proof camera to use rafting (I obviously wouldn't want to ruin either of our new digitals) so it may take a few days to have them developed the "old fashioned" way.

Hope you have a mosquito-less weekend!

Courage is

The Strange Familiar have a new song entitled Courage Is .

I love this song...it says so much about life. When things are all wrong, and

everything in life seems upside down and wrong the only way to survive is to

search for that little bit of something that keeps you going.

My courage...

is in my husband and family.

My courage is in my godson's eyes and

in the hope I see in every sunset.

My courage is in my faith and

the uplifting lyrics of my favorite song.

My courage...

is in knowing that that I've got somebody to love.

"Courage is...when you're in pain, but you keep on living anyway.

Courage is...when you've lost your way, but you find your strength anyway."

Something my husband hates....

This is my nightstand. Mark sighs every time he looks at it. He just cannot fathom why I need so much lotion. The fact is I don't need it. I want it!

I love to have a variety to choose from and while I use lotion off an on throughout the day, my nightly routine includes lots of moisturizing! I use a non-scented lotion for sensitive skin after I wash my face, then I choose the "flavor" of the evening and lotion up my arms, legs, and feet.

Mark doesn't understand the need for lotion or why I want to make sure I smell nice before going to sleep. He also doesn't understand why I put on deodorant before bed time, even though I've explained my reasoning... I'm a girl!

Hmmm...good thing he hasn't seen my desk at work -I have four lotion "flavors" there- or the center console of our car where I've stashed two other bottles!

The grandparents I never met...

John and Marcella Woelfel

A love without end...

Mark's grandparents, Marcella and John, shared a very special kind of love. Together they celebrated the birth of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and 60+ years of marriage. Their bond was so deep that when Marcella passed away in November of 2003, John was only able to carry on living for a few months before he joined his valentine in heaven on February 14, 2004. They truly had a love without end.

Mark was quite close with his grandparents and has often told me how sad he is that I never got to meet them, that they couldn't be there on our wedding day. This weekend, he shared with me the eulogies he wrote and read for both of their funerals. Mark has never been great with words, but those memories of his grandparents were heartfelt and beautiful - they helped me see a new side of the man I love. It was very touching, and helped us on the very long path to forgiveness and healing.

This weekend has been very trying for us, but also very good for our relationship. We took a lot of time to talk about the things that were bothering us (in regard to our marriage) and ironed out several things that we've been "too busy" to consider discussing.

As you can probably gather from my last post, I was seriously about to lose it last week. In all my anger and frustration, I simply couldn't remember anything that was "good" about our relationship. I lost sight of the things I love about Mark and the way we used to be.

This weekend, I started to see it again. After we talked things through, we were able to laugh and joke around and we even had a heated kissing session on the couch! I'm sure you didn't want to know that, but seriously we haven't done that in over three years!

I know that we have a love as true and as deep as his grandparent's and I look forward to spending the next 60+ years at his side. We've both got some work to do, but the main thing is - we've agreed to work at it... A love without end, Amen.