Happy Anniversary Marcus ~ Sept 13, 2003

Marcus,

I stand before you today, honored and excited to become your wife. From the first day I laid eyes on your, you shined. God has allowed me to become your friend, for this I am truly indebted.

You have brought me closer to our heavenly Father, strengthened my faith in what He sees in me and have instilled a pattern of putting God first that both you and I will pass onto our children.

When I look at you, Marcus, I see all the beauty God sees! Your mind is a fountain of knowledge, wise and discerning; your eyes are compassionate and warm; your lips speak words of love and devotion to me; your hands hold mine and when I am falling behind your feet lead up back on the Lord’s path.

God’s love and grace has me here today so that I may promise to live with you and love you forever, to be a source of joy to your life; to laugh with but never at you, to share and delight in your joy and to share your struggles during the down times, and to be a person you can always depend on.

I will pray for you, with you and initiate times of prayer. I promise to thank you for who you are as well as what you do, and I will venture into your life to see it through your eyes, to hear it through your ears, and to touch it through your fingertips.

Marcus, thank you for loving me the way you do with God’s love. I am so proud to be a confidant, your crutch, your comedian, your best friend but more importantly, your wife.

I love you!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Liberty 7 months Today!

Our little girl is closer to one year today. Liberty is 7 months and growing cuter by the day if that is possible! She is trying to sit up by herself, still working on her first tooth, and tries to roll and arm crawl. Mama is going to have two babies to run after soon. We are enjoying every minute with this precious gift from God.

Halfy birthday, Liberty!

Can you believe it -- Liberty is SIX MONTHS OLD today!

In some ways, it feels like she still just got here. In other ways, it feels like she's always been here. Regardless, she's such a precious part of our lives: so calm, cheerful, sensitive and delicate. She fully embraces the Haven part of her name, bringing peace to everyone she meets.

To celebrate her "halfy birthday," please enjoy this video of Liberty trying her first bites of solid food!

One of my favorite shticks with London: Where are you going, London? "The store." What are you going to get there? "Cookies!"

Our son is crawling on the ground at Lowe's, growling like the little animal we know he is! ;-)

Our holy ritual of getting the "make"

London and I (Marcus) do love our special time of getting the mail. We get it pretty much every day. That used to be a chore -- something we could easily forget -- but with our special time, it's definitely a highlight of both of our days.

It started out with my carrying infant London to the mailbox when he was a wee, immobile lad, out of convenience. Then, when he got a little older, I let him hold the keys. Then, older still, he started walking and was able to stick our key in other people's boxes.

These days, our ritual goes as follows:
- "London, do you want to get the mail?"
- "Make!" (he calls it "make" for some reason... thinking he may combine "mail" with "key")
- He motions to the door. "Keys?"
- I grab the keys, then grab the boy. We walk along the parking lot as he points out cars.
- We approach a sign that says "NO Skateboarding, Bike Riding, etc." He has learned to point to it and say, "NO!!!!" Already reading, eh?
- We get closer to the mailbox and he says, "Hi, Make!"
- I grab the keys and he watches as I get our actual mail.
- Then I set him down and he attempts to open everyone else's boxes.
- When a car goes by, he'll point at it and say "CAR!" or "UH-COCK" (his word for "TRUCK") and as it passes he says, "BYE-BYEEE!"
- He basically does the same thing for any bicyclists or passersby. It's interesting to see who responds to him and who pretends not to notice. If they pretend not to notice, I either say, "They can't hear you," while in earshot, or just address them and say, "Hey, he's saying hi to you!"
- Nowadays I entertain London by jumping off the retaining wall onto the sidewalk nearby. He counts before I jump: "TWO... TWO... TWO!"
- Eventually he gets bored and we go back to the apartment.

This is a constantly evolving thing, and it's really one of the more special times of my day :-)