Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Guess what? TODAY is my best girl friend's birthday. Today. The 29th. Not the 28th. Are you catching on here? Leap day! Every year, Sarah has to celebrate her birthday a day early, on February 28th, but not this year! This is cause for extra celebration!

I've known Sarah forever, really. I mean, she moved to Des Moines in 3rd grade or something like that, but we didn't really become friends until 2003. Our youth group took a missions trip to Jamaica. Our youth pastor encouraged us to pick a prayer partner for the trip. It was supposed to be someone that we might not normally pick right away and we were going to be rooming with them and checking in with them during the trip. Sarah & I paired up & I'm so glad we did. We became good friends that week. The picture above is from our first night in Jamaica. That bed was bigger than a king size! For some reason, I couldn't find our more awesome pictures from that week. You know, the one with our hair in braids and snorkel masks on our faces? It has disappeared...

When we got back from Jamaica, we just never stopped being good friends. We started spending time together regularly. If I remember right, I would pick her up from her school every Wednesday and we'd hang out until we had youth group that night. At some point, while spending so much time at each other's houses, I took notice of her brother. Or he noticed me. Those details are fuzzy. Either way, Matt and I started AIMing each other (remember that?!). I remember afraid that Sarah wouldn't approve of Matt & I and would think I was just her friend because of her brother. One Wednesday afternoon, after Matt and I had declared our "like" for one another, she asked me straight out. "Do you like my brother?" terrified, I said, "A lot. I like him a lot." Luckily for me, she was happy about that.

A few short years later, we officially became sisters...in-law, but sisters none-the-less.

&She stood beside me as my maid-of-honor while her brother & I pledged our lives to each other.

I got to return the favor a few years later when Sarah married her best friend. The guys are not pictured because, obviously, this post is about us.

We have gotten to serve together,

laugh together,

cry together,

&grow & pray together.

Basically, Sarah, you are the sister that I never had. I'm so thankful for your friendship &am grateful that we truly are family, in every sense of the word. I love you! Happy 6th birthday!

Moments

There are times, in the middle of a normal, everyday activity that I realize I'm experiencing a moment that I never want to forget.

Tonight was one of those times. Bennett insisted that we go into the kitchen to play "basketball". I brought in a laundry basket, but it turned out that he just wanted to play catch. About five minutes in, I knew that I had to capture this time so that I could remember it forever (that is, if I don't end up deleting all my pictures again).

I don't even care that you can see that the floor hasn't been swept in days, the trash is overflowing &Bennett's face is dirty. Because, honestly? That's how it is. Shouldn't that be how we remember it? How it really was? &this is how it was...messy &oh-so-much fun. Someday I will want to remember the genuine smiles and laughter of this innocent little boy.

Crentist the Dentist

Bennett had his first dentist appointment the other day. I was a little nervous about how it would go, because Bennett only likes to have us brush his teeth sometimes. Other times he clamps his mouth shut and will not open it. Annnd it went pretty much how I expected it to. He was scared of the chair, so he sat on my lap. He refused to allow them to brush his teeth & we had to pry his mouth open for them to do anything. Ah, well, at least I got a couple of cute pictures?

"Wordless" Wednesday

Bennett loves it during bath time when Matt runs back &forth by the bathroom door making funny noises. He will just laugh & laugh! It's one of my favorite things!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My birthday was last week, so Matt & I don't normally do much for valentine's day. Too much celebrating or something like that. I got him a card, but that's probably the extent of the celebration for us. We did get Bennett a present- a couple of cute cups from Target. He opened them and was so excited to drink from them!

Last night, Bennett colored on some pink & red cardstock &I used my new Cricut machine (birthday present- thanks Mom & Dad!) to cut out hearts and make valentines for his friends around town. I love watching him color! He'll draw a line, then exclaim "tractor!" or "circle!" or something else that he thinks he's drawing. It's adorable.

I cut some extra hearts out for Bennett to decorate and put up around the house today. The only color he would use was black. I kept handing him other colors and he'd just set them down and pick up the black crayon, so our Valentine's decorations are super pretty...

Matt's working tonight, so Bennett & I are celebrating with my parents. I hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day & get to do something with someone you love!