"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts!"

Family is something I become increasingly more thankful for every year. When I was a kid we really didn't live that close to many of our relatives, plus we don't have any first cousins, so while all the adults in our lives really worked hard to make sure they were a part of our lives (love my aunts and uncles!), many times we only got to see each other once a year or even once every other year.

Now that my sisters and I are adults (don't tell my Mom - we grew up!), we don't live that close to each other - which honestly sucks. I hate living so far away from my younger sister, Molly, who is out in Indiana. I live closer to my older sister Kate and her family, but we still don't see each other often enough because we're about 2 1/2 hours apart (thank you rising gas prices - ugh!). My parents also moved away from the DC area and out to Oklahoma about 4 years ago, so they aren't nearby either. Thankfully we all keep in touch through the magic of e-mail, blogging and Facebook - not to mention regular phone calls, but I can't help but wish we all lived at least in the same state!

Since Aaron and I got married in October, so many people have told me how lucky I am to get along well not just with my husband's parents, but with his brother, sister and their families too. I have to say, I feel like I was welcomed into the entire family with open arms and immediately gained 2 extra sisters, 2 brothers, 2 more nephews and 2 more nieces - it has been fantastic. I love my extended family and unfortunately for us, we do live about 3 hours away from most of them...but sometimes we get to have impromptu visits...like this weekend!

Aaron's younger brother Adam, his wife Christina and their kids (Jade (2) and Thatcher (9 months) surprised everyone by driving down from PA to visit for 3 days. It was so much fun having the house full of laughter, Jade's piping high voice and music as Adam and Aaron both play too many instruments for their own good. Those are the types of moments I always look back on and smile...those moments that help me keep my sanity until we get to see each other again.


I can't wait til April - BOTH of Aaron's siblings and their families will be staying with us. It's going to be a packed house, but I can't wait til we're all under one roof again. It's going to be loud and crazy and fantastic...and I'll be sad to see everyone leave again.

I know it probably won't happen, but I still hope that one day we'll be lucky enough to live close to both sides of our family...that our future kids will be able to grow up surrounded by their cousins and the kids of some of our best friends...I can dream right?

"A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold." ~Ogden Nash

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma Bombeck

"In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start out having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured." ~Robert Brault

"The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst." ~Marge Kennedy

Sweet and Simple

I'll make this blog post short and sweet...a fabulous co-worker of mine (Karen Cherry) inspired me to take a moment out of my busy Monday to update my blog...

So what to write about?

Today is Valentine's Day and I could wax poetically on the meaning of love, get all gushy and weird about it and make all of you extremely uncomfortable. But since I like having people actually READ my blog without gagging (I hope), I'll just say this:

I am extremely blessed to have a fabulous husband who despite my grumpy mood this morning (for no reason) surprised me at work with flowers, seriously dark Lindt truffles and my absolute favorite root beer made in PA.

I am one lucky girl!

Putting it All Into Practice

"It has been an interesting week."

I feel like I say this sentence constantly! Constant repetition doesn't make it any less true, it just is a reflection that Aaron and I are in an "interesting" phase in our lives at the moment. I think I need to come up with a new catchphrase to use when people ask me how I'm doing...

How about, "It has been a shockingly bizarre week" or "I did things I never thought I'd do this week" or (my favorite) "I'm trying to hang on and at the same time become a better version of myself this week, how are you?"

This week has mostly been good. Aaron was able to get a shift at the new surgery center where he works and it looks like business might be picking up there, plus he got another 2 shifts at the hospital for March. Any news in that area is good!

Our first small group meeting was last Sunday and it's only been a week, but we've already started really developing some relationships with the people we met. It truly is an amazing group of people - we're all so different and even though we're at different phases in our lives, we're able to encourage each other and study God's word together...pretty incredible!

It feels good to be connected - the series our church is doing is called "freegrowthreport.com" and is really centered around taking a hard and honest look at your spiritual growth, identifying what areas need work and then taking those steps to grow. I love the sermon series and our small group is really built around expanding those Sunday sermons into practical areas of our lives.
One of the areas Aaron and I have really committed to working on together is reading the Bible. We were both fortunate enough to grow up in Christian homes and in the church, participated in memorizing verses, AWANA and even Bible quizzing...yet somehow that area of our lives has really fallen by the wayside. Not a good thing when the Bible is a major way God speaks to us!

I am proud to report that we've both been reading daily this week, both together and separately. Together we're working through the book of Proverbs, taking 2 chapters at a time. It really is an incredible book, full of so much practical wisdom. On my own I'm reading a book my sister Kate lent me (If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy) along with a Psalm a day.

The Psalm I read today just really impacted me, it was an incredible reminder of just how amazing our God is...we try to put Him in this little human box, to try to understand his vast awesomeness and it severely limits our view of Him and his power.

Psalm 29 (Excerpts from)

³The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
⁷ The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
¹⁰ The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
¹¹ The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.

I think too often I am guilty of putting my own human limitations on God, of brushing off problems in my life as not worth of His attention or of being too big for Him to handle...which is insane considering we're talking about the omniscient, omnipresent being who created the entire universe, right?

Now that I have started reading His Word daily, I've noticed a difference...I look forward to that time, it sets the tone for my entire day. I read on my own in the morning and again with Aaron that night...its the perfect way to begin and end my day.

Of course this is only week one of trying to make this a habit, so I could absolutely use your prayers that I keep putting God's Word as a priority in my life and please let me know if there's anything I can pray about for any of you!