7 Year Itch? I Think Not!

Today I celebrated being married to the most wonderful man for 7 years. 7 years of course is that milestone that comes with the cliche the "7 year itch". Now I still have 364 more days so I suppose I could be jumping the gun a bit but I don't think we'll get that 7 year itch.

Justin and I are still a young couple. We were married when I was 20 and he was 22. However in our 7 years of marriage, I think we've accomplished quite a lot.



3, almost 4 kids

4 different homes

Becoming a SAHM

Going from an intern to youth pastor to pastor.

Moving to the city

Planting a church

Beginning homeschooling

I'm sure there are many more but those are definitely some of the big ones. Definitely some of the most stressful and yet we've gotten through it all.

I feel like despite being so young and despite being married for "just" 7 years (because let's face it, even though I might feel like that sounds like a long time, it's hardly much at all compared to many), I think we've had a rather "accelerated" marriage. In this day and age, it's rather odd for couples to get married young and then have kids right off the bat. Even if they do have kids quickly it's not too likely to find a couple that has more then 2 kids by the time they are married 7 years.

When it comes to that proverbial 7 year itch, I don't think we'll have one. If there is a 7 year itch, I have a feeling we probably passed it a long time ago. With all that we've accomplished and gone through, I think our marriage has stood the test of 7 years. It's not going anywhere.

New To the Blogging World?

If you are new to the blogging world, you might have no idea what a blog is all about. I'm going to try to explain a bit about what this blog is for and how to interact with it.

What this blog is:

Think of this blog as a journal. I will be posting "entries" as they come up and since this is public, you will get to read them. There is no hiding this journal under the bed!

What this blog is not:

This blog is not a place where anyone can type up blog posts or submit photos. I thought about opening it up to other family members but as I have my side and my husband's side of the family reading this blog, that just didn't seem logical since either side doesn't necessarily want to read about the in-laws family. I may however, open it up for my husband to write (if he wants to) and as my kids get older I will occasionally let them write. I can only imagine what Logan would have to write about! It could be quite entertaining.

What is that stuff on the sidebar?

The sidebar refers to anything to the (in this blog's case) right of the blog post text. The sidebar is an area for all the stuff that I'd like readers to see all the time and have easy access to. At the top of the sidebar, you'll see some "buttons". Currently I have an "About", "Subscribe", "Pinterest", and "Shop" button. You can click on any of these buttons and they will take you to their related sites.
For instance:
"About" takes you to a blog post that I wrote that gives you my family's basic bio.
"Subscribe" is how you can follow the blog via RSS or email. For a tutorial on subscribing click here.
"Pinterest" will take you to my personal Pinterest site because who doesn't love Pinterest.
"Shop" will take you to Amazon.com via my affiliate link. There's nothing special about the amazon link except that if you go to Amazon via my affiliate link (in this case the "Shop" button) I get a commission. I'll write more about my affiliate links later.

Below those buttons there are pictures of my family and then a Blog Archive. You can use the Blog Archive to find old posts if you missed some or are searching for a specific post.

There may eventually be more items added to the side bar but I'll clue you in on those as they are added.

How to interact with this blog:

Unlike a journal, you can comment on a blog. It's a bit like commenting on someones Facebook status; it will notify the writer and will let them know what you think. I am going to show you how to comment on a blog, just in case you've never commented on one before.

First click on the specific blog post (you can click on a specific post by clicking on the post's title). This will make sure that you are commenting on the correct post. At the bottom of the post, after all the text and my signature, you will see "Post a Comment" and under it a big white text box. This is where you get to write your comments. (see the photo to the left)

In order to have your name published with the comment, you will need to choose one of the options in the "Comment as" section. The first 6 selections all have to do with ways people follow blogs. If you already use these services then you will probably know what they are so I won't bother explaining them.

If you have no clue what those first 6 mean, then odds are good that you don't use them and so we won't bother with them. Instead you can choose the bottom 2 options. Name/URL will allow you to comment and leave your name (just click on Name/URL and it will pop up a screen for you to enter your info. I recommend just leaving the URL blank) If for some reason, you would rather be anonymous then just click anonymous and no body will know who you are when you comment.



Does that make sense? Is there anything else you would like to know?

Mommy Made Me Eat Cat Food

“Mommy made me eat cat food.”

I just recently found out that Ransom said this to someone. 

What?!!! Why in the world would this kid tell someone I made him eat cat food? I obviously have not made him eat cat food or anything resembling cat food. I have not made some sort of crazy kid snack and called it cat food even!

After hearing about this, I decided to grill him. My kids say some weird things and honestly if I don’t ask them why, I could never come to the proper reason myself.

Me: “Ransom, did you say that I made you eat cat food?”

Ransom: “Yes.”

Me: “Why? I’ve never made you eat cat food.”

Ransom: “You made me eat cat food when I was a baby.”

Me: …thinking and finally remembering. “You ate cat food when you were a baby but I didn’t make you. You decided to eat it.”

Ransom: “Oh. And I liked it?”

Me: “No, I don’t think you liked it.”

Ah ha! Mystery solved. I told the boys once that Ransom ate cat food when he was little. As most little kids do, he was crawling around and found some old cat food. Before I knew it the kid had eaten it. Yuck!

Now the odd thing is that it’s not like I told them that story recently. It’s probably been months since I told them about the cat food incident. How is it that my kids can have such an amazing memory and yet get the details so flawed? You’ve got to wonder what other horror stories they’ve told people!