recently God has seemed to be opening doors for ian to receive new types of therapies and be seen by a new physician. we’re praying that these changes are fruitful for us and equip ian with what he needs to keep making progress.

thank you, always
i&l

on my worst days, the really bad days, thoughts and doubts and fears grind through my mind, “should we have done this? can our marriage really last our whole lifetime? will i be miserable by age 30?” the fears are suffocating and isolating and overwhelming. especially when i keep them trapped inside my own mind and don’t share them with ian, or a close friend, or even my journal.

these seasons are long and scary. what if i ruin my marriage? why if i become so bitter that i don’t even like my husband anymore? what if we never have relief from this?

recently as these thoughts were pummeling through my head, i think God cleverly and gently reminded me that leaving is not an option. i have made a covenant. and so spending time thinking on these fears was only producing in my heart a growing thought pattern that may someday build up to significant bitterness toward my spouse. significant bitterness that would feel trapped inside a covenant. it is not an option for our marriage to end. this is it. we’re in it. it’s too late to spend time on doubts and fears. like our wise dad told us before he passed away, someday we would have to look back on our decision to get married and know that we did it in faith, 10, 20, 50 years from now.

and this covenant is not meant to be a trap, so why waste my time there? i pray for good days and good thoughts toward my husband. and God does answer them. some days feel grueling (more to come another post on that) but even in the grinding, God can and will produce a sweetness for us. because He designed marriage. and he already has.

thank you, always, for praying
i&l

this week we head off to the lake for vacation with Ian’s extended family. it is an incredible place, with amazing family and tons of memories.

leading up to the lake, I’m praying for godly expectations. It may be super relaxing, or it may stretch me as we care for Ian. There are guaranteed to be tons of laughs and growth of our souls. but more than a tan and experimenting with our new juicer, I want to be looking forward to knowing God more. sitting on the kayak, floating on a tube with Ian, or just talking to our family, I want to clearly see God in it.

happy vacation season.

love
i&l

my post is very simple tonight. I totally love this guy. That’s all.

“what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? can that faith save him?”

james 2:14

as we have been studying James, we’ve been given a new and beautiful picture of one purpose of our marriage. as Ian now has a wife and a helper, he is able to complete works that he couldn’t do before. because as I bring our life to him, through questions for direction, wisdom with finances, how to respond in relationships, Ian equips me to complete more and different works than I would on my own.

this change, this joy, this gift, is just one more example of God as the perfect author of marriage. it is a covenant that holds more eternal worth than I think we will ever come to know in this life.

happy weekend.
I&L

two years ago today was our jack and jill shower at my parent’s house. it was a beautiful day, filled with family and sitting under trees and opening gifts and eating delicious food.

today we’re thankful for that day.

I recently did an interview with Boundless radio, which you can listen to here. We start about 22 minutes in.

Also, you can learn more about Boundless here.

What a blessing to be part of their mission!

At the end of the summer, we will be taking our first step toward what we hope will be the start of a new life mission for us. We will be leaving our comfy little rental house and moving into the room that was built for Ian six years ago at his parents house.

While it sometimes feels like a big cost to leave the perfect front porch and all of our memories, we’re trusting that God will grow us and glorify Himself through this.

Our goal in moving is somewhat simple – to finally truly focus on writing a book. Ian will be so well cared for being back with his family while I write. And I will have more time for him when I’m not writing since many life responsibilities will be on hold.

Please pray for us as we seek wisdom on the book, publishing options and for God to give us the words to write. Most importantly, that our marriage would grow sweeter each day.

Always,
I and L

If you’ve followed our blog for more than two weeks, you’ll notice that we are horrible at posting on the weekends. I think it’s because weekends tend to feel like the time that life really happens – the unexpected and the mundane.

We’re thankful that weekends seem to always mean family and often friends. Laundry sometimes makes its way in there. And we try to shut our brains off.

So don’t give up hope on us:) I have a few new posts rolling around in my head for the week. Let’s hope they make it to the laptop.

Just a few highlight pics. Thank you, always

I&L