...and another!

Yes, another snow day.  It's actually Mark's second in a row.  Roads were icy yesterday morning and since a two-hour early dismissal was already scheduled due to parent/teacher conferences, they couldn't just delay and decided to close for the day. Today is day #10 for him.  I estimate he'll be in school until June 20th at this rate...but he did say there is talk of just adding 30 minutes to the school day for the last couple months of the school year, rather than make up all those days.  Sounds like a good plan to me, but at the rate teachers are being targeted by the politicians these day, I'm not gonna count on it actually happening.

Karis was scheduled to have oral surgery this morning at 8:30. When I got up at 5:45, I couldn't even see the neighbors house across the street. I knew that it was only supposed to get worse in the next couple of hours, so we decided to cancel the appointment.  The drive was about 45 minutes in good weather, and we it just wasn't worth it! Hopefully they'll find us a new appointment in the next couple of weeks.  

The plan for the day is to be thankful that we don't have to go anywhere and we have a nice warm house to play in {and hopefully the play will include happy kids}! I do have to say, though, that I love all the snow. You won't catch me complainin' about it until the middle of March :O).

In honor of our blizzard here are some pics of our beautiful snowbunnies from back in January {...you've already seen them, though, if you're on facebook}.  

Another Snow Day!!

Surprise, surprise, right?!?!? This one was actually a bit of a surprise in that Mark only got a two-hour delay, but the kids' district cancelled. That very rarely happens because of his district's {ridiculously} horrible country roads. I'm usually all gung-ho about snow days, but I was a little torn this time around since we had MOPS this morning and I was scheduled to share a testimony, as were some other ladies that I was looking forward to hearing from.  When schools cancel, so do we, since there would be an overabundance of extra kids! 

Aside from a few "incidents", we enjoyed our time together. There were messes made, video games played, Newsboys blasted while we cleaned up around the house a bit, a batch of soft pretzels made, and, of course, some snow fun enjoyed!

Did you know?

Did you know it's National Marriage Week?  

I love that, nine and a half years into our marriage, God has put us both on our own little journeys towards making our marriage a better one. I'm working through the book Feminine Appeal by Caroline Mahaney right now in my ladies' Bible study. Mark is working through Loving and Leading by Bruce Wilkinson in the guys' Bible study at church.  I'm learning to be a better wife and mother...I'm being challenged to cherish Mark and our kids in ways that I've been too tired or comfortable to do in recent years, to have more self control in the way I manage my time, and to honor the call to homemaking in the way Scripture commands, among other things. Mark is being challenged to love, invest {two things he's already great at}, and lead us.    

We've always had a good marriage, and I'd be foolish not give God the glory for that, because there have been times that it's been on the back burner and could have easily gone downhill. When you start out buying a "fixer-upper" house, have your first two kids in the first 2 years of your marriage, and deal with near crippling back problems that lead to surgery by the end of year #3, survival is about the only thing on your mind.  

We've always been good to each other. We've compromised when needed. He's been way more patient with me than I've ever had to be with him. We've laughed at each other and with each other. I could probably count the number of fights {if you could even call them that} we've had on two hands...and 98% of them were my fault. We've held each others hands through the worst pain of our lives. 

It seems cliche, but we're perfect for each other. Yet, I know, in no way, does this make our marriage immune to falling apart. Too many of them are today because we're all so darn self-centered, busy {perfectionsts and workaholics}, and materialistic, and this whole marriage and parenting game gets in the way so much more than we expected. Unless you've been living in a cave, I'm sure you've seen the statistics on the failures. As teachers and parents of kids with friends, Mark and I are all too familiar with the results of all the dysfunction. 

We're feeling a new call to work at this, alongside the Lord, like we haven't done in a while. Not only do we refuse to become one of the statistics, we refuse to be one of those marriages where we go through the motions. For us, this doesn't mean fancy dates every couple of weeks {just not possible in our financial situation}, or chocolates and flowers. "Quality time" is no good if it only happens once a week, and "quantity time" is no good if it's not quality time, too, in my book. For us, this means being present to help each other {quality + quantity everyday, if at all possible}. Asking each other how we can best serve each other. Sitting on the couch together when the kids go to bed and actually talking to each other. Setting a lot of less important things aside make sure our kids know they are loved every day by both of us. Taking the focus off of what Valerie wants to do or what Mark wants to do, and asking God what He wants us to do for Him. I pray that our next ten years are even better than our first ten because of it.