Busy, yet blessed week...

Busy, yet blessed week!

Grace- had her audiology appointment on Monday and praise the Lord that while she screamed her head off, she didn't gag herself and quickly forgave us and the Dr for torturing her.  At first they didn't think that one of her eardrums was responding like it should, but once they cleaned that little ear out, it looked fine.  Our (us and you (our Village)) prayers were answered and we got a good report!  

I don't have a picture from Grace's audiology appointment, but this was a picture David took this week at Andrew's drum lessons.  I just love this picture because Grace's profile is something that I find so beautiful 

Andrew-  we got to attend chapel with Andrew at his school and it was a special treat for all!

Abigail- had her 1st grade performance that they've been working on all year and it was truly precious!  

Here are the little Ladybugs from Abby's class.  So proud of them and the rest of the 1st grade class!

The kids- had a super fun-packed weekend with Aunt Becca, Uncle Brian, cousin Joe, and Crack and Toot (their Grandma and Grandpa)...

David and I- had a much needed and blessed 11 year anniversary get away!  

We went to a bed and breakfast that was serene, beautiful, private, and tranquil, but the best part was that I had a hot date that happens to be my best friend to spend the much needed alone time with.  As most of you know, for the past two years we have been on a Divinely designed roller coaster, as I like to call it, which has left us busy, distracted, and with our stomach in our throat much of the time.  This roller coaster has made it easy to focus on trying to create as much consistency and stability as possible for the big kids, while trying to keep Grace alive and well, leaving little time to feed our marriage (something that we have always taken very seriously).  One thing that has been especially hard for me during this time is that I realized (the hard way :-) that I had become very accustomed to having the world's most thoughtful and romantic husband.  It wasn't until we embarked on this roller coaster ride and David's attention was naturally diverted (he now had a much bigger calling... to lead his family through one of the scariest times that we could have imagined) that I realized how much I appreciated, missed, and had taken for granted all of the romantic and thoughtful gestures that I have known for the past 16 years that we have been together.  While our Divinely designed roller coaster hasn't docked, the climbs and drops (leukemia scare, eye and ear Dr.'s, the Lord making His will clear about Grace's school, etc) have been a welcome change from the constant looptie loops that sometimes felt like we had stalled upside down with the blood rushing to our head as we wait for deliverance.  All that to say, we are finally at a place where we can breath for a second and get away for the weekend to feed our marriage, while reflecting on ALL that God has done in and through our lives.  Our little getaway started with David packing my bag for me with new clothes for the weekend that he purchased from Old Navy (anything more expensive than Old Navy would have turned a blessing into a frustration because I get nervous about spending money :-), to include work out clothes (so we could go running together), a date night dress, shorts and a shirt, pj's, and flip flops.  He also had our wedding video transferred from VHS to DVD, so we could watch it for the second time since we got married :-).  In God's strength, I pray that I will never take for granted one of the many incredible gifts God has given David, the gift of knowing how to love and serve me in a way that makes me feel like the most special girl in the world!  A huge thank you to our family who took care of our kiddos (both our two legged and four legged kiddos) and for your constant prayer and encouragement, Village (you provide us with great hope and joy)!  

It was so fitting that the restaurant we went to for our anniversary dinner was on Ross St. :-)

You see, we know that bluebonnets are special because they are the state flower and all (I probably don't fully appreciate them because I'm not a native Texan, I'm a transplant from California... although we never took pictures in the poppy's in California either :-), but we just found all of the many families (with their animals and all), and even individuals, taking selfies all along the road in the bluebonnets to be HILARIOUS, so here we are joining in the fun, frolicking among the bluebonnets (we were fortunate that they were literally outside the front door of our cabin).  

This church was built in the 1800's and just precious set among the downtown square in Round Top.

This is the private staircase that led up to a deck, high up in the trees, at our bed and breakfast cabin...

These pictures don't do justice the beauty that we witnessed, but here is what we saw on our run...

One of my favorite sites are these little lawn ornaments (miniature donkey's)...

Hope each of you has a blessed week and is getting excited to celebrate the truth of Easter, that JESUS HAS RISEN!

GRACIE STRONG (In God's strength)