summer time

it's been a while since my words fell into memories to mark out our first year... and soon this year will fall right into the next and we will no longer be "newlyweds" but still best friends on a journey far greater than we ever imagined and so much bigger than we dreamed. how can i not record these precious and sadly forgettable moments? i do not want them to pass by unaccounted for.

summer has flown by like it always does and curtis and i are both anticipating him starting school this coming week with a mixture of anxiety and excitement. a whole new chapter is beginning! and it really is amazing that we are even here, at the start of such a great adventure...

the heat index soared to 115 degrees this year and our afternoons were barely tolerable outside of our air-conditioned apartment. we passed the time with late night runs (waiting until 11pm for the temperature to drop below 90), evening swims after working out at the Y, attending weddings and showers and get-togethers with our closest friends, watching their lives change just like ours, and adding a new member to our own little family: a mini beagle puppy named scooter! he is my little buddy, sleeping right now at my feet as i type.

we shared and witnessed truly incredible moments with family: the birth of our sweet nephew clay, angela's high school graduation, my mom's 50th birthday celebration, elle & matthew moving to d.c., sam & hayley buying their 1st house, eli turning 17, and curtis' mom flying all the way from oregon to visit with us for a week! what wonderful times we've had together! and it's really the small and seemingly insignificant hours or minutes spent sharing stories, laughter & tears, turning pages, starting over or starting something new that make lasting impressions and alter the course of our hearts intentions to be strengthened, renewed, challenged, and encouraged to open wider, seek deeper, and embrace so much more...

everyday we realize how abundantly blessed we are and how deeply humbling it is to live out our dreams. it compels us to give and share and touch others lives as we have been touched. LORD make our hearts willing to give it all away and receive all that you are and all that you have, for YOU alone are worthy of all we are, all we have, and all we ever will be. thank you for this promise, this wonder, this love!