life's treasures

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I recently spent ten glorious days in my dear Indiana with my beloved family.

Andrew wasn't able to come this time (which was *really* not fun for us!).  The weekend before I flew out he took me on TWO dates!  One on Friday night to watch Jurassic World (loved it!) and one out for a nice lunch on Saturday!  Between a tight budget with a baby on the way and me not always having tons of energy, we don't go out on "official" dates very often.  This was such a fun treat for us both!  I so love dating my hubby!

By Monday evening, I was in my old house with the best people on the planet (with the exception of Andrew, of course!).  We had to keep our plans simple because of bad flooding in the surrounding areas (plus some intense storms!), but that didn't stop us from having an absolute blast!

One AWESOME thing we did was attend my sister's piano recital!  Being so far away, I miss out on a lot of stuff like this.  How wonderful to be able to hear Sammie play (she did incredibly!) and be there to support her!

Isn't she beautiful???  Check out her amazing Rapunzel hair, by the way!

We were all able to celebrate Father's Day together along with my wonderful grandparents!  It might be a while till I see Pop and Nana again, so being together for a couple days was SO good (and it gave Nana the chance to buy a few adorable gifts for Serenity with me!  Rennie happens to be the first great-grandchild on my side of the family... so they are just a little excited!).

My dad got his first "Grandpa" shirt (little gift from Serenity).  <3

Yeah... we are goofballs.

Most of our days were spent sitting on my parent's front porch talking, drinking coffee (at home AND at beautiful local shops), and watching some of our favorite movies.  We also worked together to do a special music piece at church (oh, how I miss singing with my family!!!).  

Another super-awesome thing that happened was Jessie's beau, Jacob, coming to spend a few days with us!  My big-sister-ness wants Jessie to stay too young for relationships forever... but this guy is pretty great.  He loves the Lord so much and is doing a really good job of making my sister happy.  We've become good friends over our two visits and that is a wonderful blessing!

And when I complained about how much I was craving pancakes, his first response was a set up a midnight outing to IHOP.  *brownie points!... or pancake points... either way!*

;-)

This visit was so beautiful... God kept the days from going *too* quickly (though, once it was over, it still seemed too fast).  It is hard seeing how much my siblings change between our visits (especially the four youngest!).  Josh is now fifteen (gasp!) and as tall as me... Samantha is becoming more mature and so kind-hearted... Daniel is getting way too tall and is so energetic and adventurous... Bekah... the clock just needs to stop with her and let me breathe in her incredible sweetness.

Love is so beautiful.  It can also break your heart.  It hurts me so much that to be with the man I love more than anyone else I have to be away from these dear ones.  Love means sacrifice.  And I know my family makes big sacrifices too as they wholeheartedly support Andrew and me (and Serenity) as our own family.  I am so thankful for their love-that-never-stops-giving.  Even though it is painful, we would all so much rather have this love than not.  Even if some people don't understand how we work... our dynamic... it's okay.  That just shows how special it is.  :-)

If the Lord brings us to thought, please be praying.  The next time my family sees me, Serenity will be here.  My mom and Natalie will be coming out mid-September (when she is probably a couple of weeks old, depending on when she arrives!), but the rest of my family won't meet her till November.  I have two baby showers to attend without them... I will be giving birth without my mom with me (something we never anticipated)... It is hard for us all.  BUT we have to keep trusting the Lord's timing in all of this.  He keeps teaching us all that His plans are always better, even if they aren't carried out the way we expected.  And, on a light note, the next time I see them I WILL HAVE A BABY!!!  How amazing is that?!!!

Seriously... what a blessed time this was!  It is one of those times to be stowed in my treasure box of memories.  So very thankful!

<3