The One With Gifts

So my husband is incredibly thoughtful! I cannot believe how much thought he put into this gift. He gave me a few bags w/ gifts numbered 1-11. The first gift was a card. Inside it said he was giving me traditional gifts... one for each year.

1. Paper ~ The card.
2. Cotton ~ A beautiful 100% cotton scarf
3. Leather ~ A leather journal
4. Flowers ~ 1 long stem rose
5. Wood ~ A wooden garden tool
6. Candy ~ Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffles. *YUM*
7. Copper ~ A bud vase he made out of copper. Very nice. :)
8. Pottery ~ A planter
9. Willow ~ A willow tree memory box w/ the 'embrace' figurines etched in the front
10. Tin ~ A tin candle holder
11. Steel ~ One of his figurines made specially for me w/ "Nuts About You" written on it.

I'm going to have to take pictures & share later. I have to say I am extremely touched by his thoughtfulness. He put a lot of time into this. <3

The One Where We Got Married

11 years ago we married. 11 years of wedded bliss... well, not all blissful, but 99.9% of it has been. We've both made mistakes and have hurt each other, but in the end we're still as in love, if not more, than we were 11 years ago when we said "I do" We've been through a lot: 7 moves, 3 house purchases and 2 house sales, 5 pregnancy/births, 2 losses, job loss & financial hardships. I wouldn't change it tho... There's no one else in this world I'd rather have by my side as I go through life.

I am so very blessed with this man and am forever grateful that God brought him into my life.

The One With a Sermon, Shopping & an "At Home" Date.

Pastor Roland had a really good sermon on Sunday. He preached about doors... yep. Doors. He started w/ explaining the difference between your front door and your kitchen door. The front door is for salesmen, strangers or acquaintances that aren't real familiar with your home & your family. They knock, you stand in the doorway and talk and then they go and you go on with your life. Then there's the kitchen door... the people who come to the kitchen door are your friends and family. The people you say "Come in! Let's sit down, have a cup of coffee/tea and chat." The people you gladly give up part of your life to spend with them. His point was... what is Jesus to you? A front door kind of guy or a kitchen door kind of guy?

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My husband took the WHOLE weekend off this past weekend!! It was WONDERFUL! Saturday we shopped @ Moms store. Between Fri night w/ Rachael & Saturday w/ Matt we are 95% done Christmas shopping!! WOOHOO!! After shopping we came home and decorated the house. Everything except for the tree is done. Matt is never home for that part of Christmas decorating so it was a lot of fun to have him here this year. He was very helpful for getting things up high and coming up w/ ways to make things stay in place a bit better.

Saturday evening we put the kids to bed around 8 and then made cookie monsters. Warm homemade chocolate chip cookies (which Matt made) with ice cream & toppings on top. Yumm... and soooo bad for you! We watched Fireproof together. We had been putting it off expecting it to be hokey... but it wasn't. It was pretty good. It was encouraging to us both. While we don't have the problems the couple in the movie had, we do tend to take each other for granted or forget to put the romance in our marriage. There were some really good points in the movie like "fireproof doesn't meant you won't have fires... it means you can withstand them." It was nice to have that time to spend together. He's been working so much that I've forgotten what it's like to have him home in the evenings... it was nice. :)

The Mushy One Combined With a Normal One

I love how connected Matt & I can be at times. I love that he knows my thoughts without me even hinting towards them and he can still finish my sentences. I love how he understands me and 'gets' my goofiness. I love how patient he is with all my 'new ideas' and how he fully supports me in all my efforts. This all really hit me this morning with something so simple. It was 6:30 am and I was nursing Alyssa, hoping she'd go back to sleep. Beth was awake to use the bathroom and then went back ino the girls room. I thought " I wish I could tell her to rest on the couch so that she won't wake Alyssa when I put her back in her bed." but I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to wake Alyssa. Matt walked into the living room not a minute later and said "Want me to ask Beth to rest on the couch so she doesn't wake the baby?" Awwww... see. I didn't even say a word and he was thinking about it. :)

IN OTHER NEWS:
Another showing today. This makes 2 in 3 days. I *think* people have to have a house under contract by the end of October to get the $8000 tax credit, so I *think* it's spurring last minute people on. We had a showing on Saturday and now one today and the open house will be on Sunday. Praying hard that this week someone will bite. My sisters were here this weekend & they were both a bit overwhelmed by how much it takes to keep/get the house perfect for showings! And they had lots of help!! (and WERE lots of help! I can't believe how much extra stuff I got done because they were here!)

Would it be bad to take a fall vacation? I NEVER take extra school vacations other than Christmas or when a new baby is born. But man! I feel like we ALL need a break. I think I might go ahead and call this 'fall vacation week". The kids will be THRILLED.