Valentine's & Fishing...

I love this guy so much, sometimes I wonder if I could ever love him more! But I always end up doing just that as time continues to go on. I'm so thankful for him & grateful God brought us together.

Raindrops on the window

We’re on the couch

Fire in the fireplace

Best seat in the house

Feet on the dashboard

Wind in my hair

As long as you’re beside me

I’ll go anywhere

When God made you

He already knew

That we were meant to be

With love as deep

As the big blue sea

We were meant to be

Our love will bend

But it won’t break

When we give more than we take 

-jj heller

I love the lyrics to that JJ Heller song. The last line there especially makes me think of Josh. Whenever people ask him for marriage advice he always sweetly says, "Outserve your spouse. Outlove your spouse." And I'm always so humbled when I hear him say those words, because he truly lives them out. He gives so much more than he takes, and he always inspires me to do the same. I'm so thankful for his heart and the man he is, and that he always points me to Jesus.

My love language is time and words of affirmation (from The 5 Love Languages). So pretty much any birthday or holiday Josh knows that I love the gift of time, with a cup of tea, and a card full of sweet words. :)  So for Valentine's Day, that's just what he did! Plus we went to the movies and he got me a gift and we played some competitive cards. ;) (Thank you Mom for watching the kids!) And because I know his love language, I gave him inexpensive chocolates. ;) Ok, maybe that's not one of his love languages, but I'm sure it met a deep need somewhere in his soul.

Jude recently worked hard to get to the next Awana book and was so proud of himself for for doing it. He asked if we could celebrate with some frozen yogurt. I was so glad he asked because I was looking for a reason to go!

Josh and I got to help out in Ben's Awana class last week and I just adore those little kids at his table! There are two little girls that are so funny, the things they say make me wish I were taking video for their parents. They're so adorable! Anyway, I was helping at Ben's table and the kids were learning about Abraham, and I looked over and saw this... I think Ben was a bit confused about which Abraham we were learning. ;) Or was he? #smartaleck

We've continued to enjoy our regular spades time with Matt and Jana. Lots of laughing is usually involved.

One morning the kids were excited to show me this new discovery they had made!

Selah and I love seeing all of the flowers begin to bloom around the farm this time of year. I stepped outside one afternoon to snap a few pics of what's coming up. I love that spring is just around the corner!

Today we got to see the honeycomb from my dad's bees. 

It was really neat to see all of the honey they made last year!

Last week we went out to Josh's parent's place on the river. The kids love this area by the creek.

We walked down and visited Great Grandma & Grandpa. They were out gardening and so cute. It's always fun to stop and chat with them.

Grandma Chris watched the kids while Josh, Mike and I went out on the river to fish for steelhead. We had a great time! It was so peaceful and beautiful. Mike spoils us by getting the boat all ready to go, and all of the gear perfectly in place so that minutes after getting into the water we're ready to fish. He rowed the whole time and perfectly maneuvered the boat, stopping at all the right spots. At one point he said, "there's always a steelhead in this hole," and it felt like less than five minutes later I had a 6 lb. steelhead fish on!

Here's a little two minute video of our time on the river: http://youtu.be/eKsiP2IkGaQ

Such fun! Thank you Mike for the great day, and boat time! We cherish your words of wisdom.