Blog Category: gratefulness

his girl friday and hot apple cider

By admin,

i showed him the abnormal cake that i had pulled from the oven, the partially broken circle that was disguised by a can of icing. he had requested one for our date night, that would be a wifey-cooked meal and time with netflix. i stopped for icing and orange sprinkes on my way home – a nod to fall.

as he looked at the mangled cake doused in sugar-induced chocolate glaze, he started smiling.
“you must really love me.”
we sat with our cake, in our little suite attached to the den where he used to play indoor football with three brothers and a dad. 
little flutters of thankfulness came, quietly. so much rush in the day, so much to do at work, so much to do at home with year end insurances and medical appointments. 
but for tonight, our date night, we just existed together.
thankful.

  Filed under: "marriage", gratefulness
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a collection of friends and memories

By admin,

after a day of packing up boxes and tubs, we had a small group of friends over as a last party at our rental house. our good friends mike and jocelyn ordered these lanterns as a tribute to our wedding and first two years of marriage spent at this house. my family surprised us at our wedding by buying dozens of the lanterns that we all set off, followed by great fireworks. it was only appropriate to have them at this party.
we have many, many, many good memories here and are sad to leave. but hopeful that the work God will do through our book will have eternal impact, which makes this a very small cost. we will keep working on packing over the next few weeks and be moved before the end of the month.
thankful for family, and friends, even when we look weird and awkward.
love
i&l

  Filed under: "family", gratefulness
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a good little surprise

By admin,

after a somewhat stressful weekend, learning about the melanoma and dealing with unexpected flooding in our area, we had a great surprise treat. our roommate who moved out just one month ago was driving through the area on her way back from a weekend trip and was easily convinced that afternoon to stop in and spend the night with us, like the old days. it was simply wonderful. a great sister to us. i wish tonight was last night again.
we also got to skype with bethi and kbob and hang out with these little ones.
and jen got to love on this little dear. 
blessed by our family.
i&l

  Filed under: "family", "work/life", gratefulness
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another bittersweet goodbye, for now

By admin,

these two faces are soon to be very missed, as they travel across the country to a new home in a much sunnier state. our little brother and my dear friend, who became my sister, will leave a huge gap in our lives when they board the plane with just their suitcases and hopes.
their story is beautiful – settling far away to help beth’s health and caleb committing his life to helping her in any way that he needs to. and even in its beauty, we are so sad to see them part. 
caleb is with us 40 hours a week, a constant servant who is also incredibly gifted in his music. of caleb, ian says he is faithful to his church, his wife and his brothers. caleb has been an incredible caregiver to ian, helping him to do things that neither of them want to do, but doing it without complaint.
bethi is a dear fellow sufferer. she has lived in pain for too many years and without description, understands our bad days and the days that could be better. she is the sister that can just be with me, without needing to talk or host. she carries with her a beautiful gift of capturing life in her photography. she knows her God. she also has a lot of sass, which erupts at the best times.
most of our memories from the first two years of our marriage are with these two. dinners on red chairs in our dining room. laying around on the patio. movies. gigs. making fun of caleb. laughing at ian being ridiculous. and that doesn’t even count the whole lifetime that ian has spent with these two.
we will miss them, more than words.
thank you, bethi and kbob, for loving us well.
love
i&l

  Filed under: "family", "work/life", gratefulness
  Comments: 7

Confession

By admin,

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

  Filed under: "family", "work/life", gratefulness
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thank you

By admin,

Because of your generous purchases of our pray for Ian t-shirts, we’re able to send an extra $400 to our sponsor children in Africa. Thank you for being part of changing these boy’s lives. It’s an honor.

We’re hoping to get some more shirts in soon so that we can continue to bless others.

Thank you:)

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home

By admin,

when i asked ian what i should write about tonight, he said “why you love living here.” what a good suggestion, because i have been thinking a lot this weekend about how much i love our little rental home. and how home is such a good thing, that somehow satisfies a tiny bit of our greater longing for heaven. as i write this, we’re enjoying a beautiful warm breeze on our porch, ian sitting comfortably with his legs up. a moment of rest for us both. devon is mowing our grass. the birds are shuffling from the clothesline to the trees above. our flatmate is quietly inside. and i love it.
creating a home is such a blessing. for me, it’s one part of our lives that i can somewhat control. the decorating, the colors, the mood that it creates, are all controllable for the most part. God frees us to create homes here that we love, where we feel comfortable, where we feel Him. 
i’m thankful for our little 50s ranch house, with the big yard and porch that have created tons of memories with our friends and families. i’m grateful that Agnus who lived here before us planted beautiful flowers that still bloom and put hooks all around the porch where i can string my lights and curtains. i’m thankful that our first two years together have been spent here, on our quiet little street, tucked in by pine trees. and i’m grateful that this is but a mere shadow of what our home in heaven will feel like. now we see in part.
always,
larissa

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and be thankful

By admin,

i’m thankful that it’s the end of the work week and it is 70 degrees. i’m thankful that i can hear our wind chimes on the clothes line and that i have an hour alone with an iced drink in my hand. and even though i have had laundry sitting in my washer since tuesday (anyone remember that post??), i’m thankful that my husband doesn’t really care if the clothes are washed. 
thankful for my God who created rest.
happy weekend. 

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a birthday

By admin,

love to my husband as he starts year 27. may it be filled with knowing god more deeply and sweetly.

Ian – I’m so grateful that you were born and that you continue to pursue god in the midst of severe affliction. You bring us much joy and bring god much glory.

Love to you always, Ian

Laris

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He followed us

By admin,

she came to visit us, our life photographer, on a warm summer day to take photos to be on the inside flap of a book that was being scripted each evening after dinner.

that day was the first time he could do this,

stand next to me, with just my hand helping him, not with my arm around him, like we needed to in all of the photos from this day

 
where my arm was hidden around his back, helping him, balancing him, and we couldn’t stand and simply hold hands.
this summer came to ian in strength, upgrading to a walker, and then a cane and committing to walking by year 30. he left the house without a wheelchair for the first time and he walked out the front doors of his mom’s house for the first time.
2013 was a big year.
yet, on a day that becomes reflective for so many of us, that’s not what i most see.
what i most see is a hard-fought year, with fears and exposure and costs and crying and days sitting in front of a blank computer screen wondering why we signed a contract- that were all swallowed up by what was following us. by what was behind us and before us. 
it was a year swallowed up in God.
it was a year that He swallowed us up, taking our inadequacies that were asked to put our story into 75,000 words, our legs that were asked to learn to walk again, our hearts that at times wanted out.
He followed us with mercy, and made our hopeless mornings and our sweet, quiet date nights and our laughter at his inappropriate jokes into beautiful life canvases.
He followed us with His goodness, keeping us, with his white-knuckle grip.
He blessed us, with two new nieces and nephews, bring number seven and eight into our hearts that four years ago didn’t know that type of love.
He kept us, in each other, faithful and honorable to our covenant.
And all that we were given in Him will continue to be, so that this coming year that looms with exposure as our feebly written pages will be carried home in shopping bags and delivered with the mailman won’t be faced apart from mercy. Or Himself. Or joy, in the most unexpected places.
He will follow us, and someday, someday hopefully soon, we will dwell in His house, forever.
With love,
I&L

  Filed under: "God Himself", "marriage", gratefulness
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