I. Am. Motorcycle Mamma. (Ok, without being a mother)

I was so engrossed in all of my dear friend's blogs that I almost forgot why I got on-

We went riding!

We've had the bike for about two months now, but Mike has been getting used to riding it. We agreed that I wouldn't ride until he was comfortable enough to have me on it. Then last week he started sounding like I wouldn't get to ride for a whole year because of not having everything 'right'. Um, yeah, the impatient one who doesn't really care if the decal on the front is the one you want, WANTS TO RIDE. NOW. But I do need gear. Well today, following an incredible day (sleeping in, lazy shower, nice big breakfast, walk downtown, sipping Starbucks and people watching, stop at Goods For the Woods, and almost and HOUR at the HD store), Mike got a wild hair, I threw on his leather jacket, borrowed a helmet, and we went.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

The country is beautiful here, and we've had some nice rain, so everything is green and lush (or as lush as it gets in a deserty place). Cool evening, curvy mountain roads, everyone staring at us on Main. It was wonderful. I couldn't help releasing a sigh of pure satisfaction and a prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for enabling us to get the bike. Time together is so wonderful. I don't know where you're taking us, but it is alright with me! Thank you for this wonderful man who invites me on adventures. I LOVE HIM. He is the greatest gift and treasure.

So yeah, we will never be driving the jeep again. :)

See you on the road!

Nicole and Trent's Wedding- 1

Poor Mike. A seven and a half hour road trip with not one- but two Stugart bladders. We only stopped twice. Proud?
Although, he did endure over three hours of the game 20 questions. Our version doesn't hold fast to the 20 question limit. It's more like the Ask-as-many-questions-as-it-takes game. But when your answers to yes or no questions are; "Well, kinda." "Sometimes..." "Yes... I mean no. Let me think about it." You're bound to have problems. I still say the color blue is just fine to be thinking of.

Never the less, he made it, and we made it. Checked in (thank you Mom for working at a job that racks you up serious free night points, we LOVE that), picked Rachel up from the airport-yay!- and then made our way to my aunt's house for rehearsal dinner.

Now, this is my dad's side of the family. Still crazy, mind you, but in a totally different way than my mom's side. We love visiting my dad's sisters and their families. I should introduce you.

This is my dad's younger sister, Valerie, and her hubby Marty, and their daughter, Jenna. We were so happy they made it to the wedding, they hadn't met Mike before that, but the little they do know about him, they love him! I share the scrapbooking bug with this side of the family- they have a whole room devoted to it. I'm super jealous.

My Aunt Val is a wonderful lady. She has a huge passion for kids and literacy, and works in an elementary school. She has an infectious laugh and my favorite babying voice. "AW! Peanut!" She'd say to Danielle. She loves sweets and has one of those homes where you just come in and make yourself at home. Uncle Marty is a super-hard working, super fun loving, super funny guy. He loves to joke and kid around, and has a great smile. He is in real estate, and works very, very hard to support the family he loves. Jenna is my awesome cousin, just a year older than I am. Isn't she beautiful? I always felt inadequate following in her shadow. She's had some pretty serious health issues in the past, but we think the worst is past her. She is going to college, and hopes to be a wife and mother. She has a sunshiny personality, and is so much fun to be around.

I promise there's more!

Catching up

Ok, I have a lot to say about last week, this weekend, and this week, but I need to get back to it! So, suffice it to say- these next few posts are going to be good! Hope everything is well with you, and I am praying an unleashing of God's Spirit on each and every one of you. You are more than special to Him!

Sarah

Sometimes I wonder...

These aren't those pointless, "If a tree falls in a forest" kind of museings. This is some deep and meaningful stuff!

If the universe is still expanding, is God still creating?

How do octopuses' tentacles not get stuck to themselves?

Why would any one eat durian? Have you smelled that stuff? Smells like raw onions and garlic, only worse. It's outlawed in hotels and apartments because it stinks so bad! What guy was first like, "Ooo! That'd be good to eat!"

Or ants? Why (and how) would you choose to eat ants?

Why did God create mosquitoes? Can you think of a less helpful or more harmful insect?

What did "leviathans" actually look like?

What did the giants of the old testiment look like? Were they like seven, or 30 feet tall?

If you were in Back to the Future, would you do the right thing and try to get the book back? Would you teach your dad to punch somebody's lights out?

If Madona is right, and "we only got 4 minutes to save the world", why is the song over 4 minutes long?

Are archeologists full of crap, or was everything in the ancient world really "ceremonial"? How did they have time for anything else?

If we can put a man on the moon, why haven't we discovered a better way to test for breast cancer than mamograms? Surely we have the technology!

If we have "best" friends, shouldn't we have "worst" friends? Why don't they make matching necklaces for that?

Does God ever laugh at us? If I were Him, I'd do a lot of laughing!

Why is an apostrophe this big: ' , and yet the word is huge?

Hey, I was just wondering! What have you been wondering?

Letters of Intent

Dear Cup of Coffee,

Wow, you're good. Not only did your aroma awaken my senses to the delightful bounty of South American grown beans, testify to your expertly roasted processes, and make me so thankful for good friends who give gifts such as you (Thanks Tiff and Jerome!); but you woke me up. And I don't just mean like, ok, I can pull it together kind of woke up. This was like, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING! GOOD MORNING! Sunbeams will still smile through, Good morning, good morning to you!", full throttle, full tank, get the house cleaned, six meals made, big smile on my face, annoying my husband, goofy, silly, took the extra time to put on makeup kind of woke up!

And I appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Checked FB eight times, running a marathon, bouncing off the walls, leaping over tall buildings in a single bound... girl.

Danielle's in Town!

We were so excited to have Danielle here with us this week. She got in Monday morning, and we immediately celebrated her visit with a trip to Serious Texas (of course). Mike spent the afternoon out on the motorcycle- he's getting pretty good- so we had some sister time to ourselves. We went to the gym and worked out- which is only partially true, since she kept making me laugh. So we didn't get a whole lot done, but had a good time. Then Mike and I took her shooting. She was great. That's not the ONLY thing we do with people, but we do do that a lot. Danielle had never been before, and she learned quickly. Again, I love watching Mike in action; he is just so wonderful with people. Tuesday, Mike was back at work, so we spent the day together. Cinnamon rolls, grocery shopping, trip to the mall, lunch to Mike, and playing Skip-Bo took up most of the day. Mike had a bored- I mean board meeting, so we watched Hercules and just enjoyed each other's company. I worked on Wednesday, so she slept in and watched movies. Thursday we went on a little excursion down the river trail. We walked a few miles, and waded into the river at different spots. It was a BUSY day on the water, tons of people in tubes and rafts. One rafting guide near the shore we were on spotted us: "Here's some people looking to get wet!" We heard him, but didn't move. It was incredibly hot, and getting wet was what we were there for! They got closer, and he tells us, "Um, I wasn't joking." We looked at each other: "We didn't think you were!" He laughed, and the whole raft attempted to splash us with their paddles. I mentioned last week that Danielle is a sweet heart and her spirit in our house was wonderful. We enjoy her so much, are so very, very proud of her, and can't wait for her to visit again. We ended the week by road tripping it up to Salt Lake City for our cousin's wedding. Stay tuned!

My sister Danielle

Let's meet the rest of the family, shall we?

Oh yeah, that's Danielle. The three of us joke that I was practice, Rachel was perfection, and Danielle was just for laughs. My parents maintain that they already had one for dishes and one for laundry, so Danielle was for the rest of the housework. Danielle definitely brings laughter to the house. She is one of the most fun people you will ever meet. Witty, goofy, and too smart for her own good, she is a fireball. Danielle, like most youngests, was the: "I do what I want" child. While Rachel and I played house, Danielle read. While Rachel and I played Barbies, Danielle was pushing trucks around. We have this great picture of the three of us on Christmas morning in front of the tree when Danielle was about two. Rachel and I are happy and excited. Danielle is bawling because I'm holding her still for the picture.

Danielle was usually the quiet one, which was the natural place for her to fall after having ME AND RACHEL. We- especially me- were the talkers. Even today, I won't hesitate to tell you how I feel, Rachel, you can eventually drag it out of, but Danielle plays her cards pretty close to her chest. Aren't those usually the ones really worth getting to know?

The most athletic of the three of us, Danielle has played tee-ball, soccer, and tried dance (and had an embarrassing experience) before finding her niche: KA-RA-TE! I thought us dancers went through some grueling training! The fact that she hasn't actually broken something or had a knee replacement yet is astounding. Her body definitely doesn't appreciate some of the work they go through, but she loves it. She is, without question, the toughest of the three of us. Guys Rachel's age used to say I was scary, but they knew Danielle had the muscle to back up a threat. She gets her black belt this August, and we are so proud of her!

Danielle was infinitely blessed with a wonderful group of friends through high school, and as she transitions into college this fall, I pray God blesses her again. Slower to make friends, because she's cautious about who she surrounds herself with (thank God), Danielle LOVES people. (Noticing a family pattern?) She will be the first to high five you on a job well done, and the first to hug you if you're having a bad day. She is super sarcastic, and loves to tease, but doesn't mean anything by it. And beware egging her on or starting something- she is smart as a whip, and isn't afraid to put you in your place!

This smarter-than-the-average-bear girl is headed to college in the fall, and at the moment has her heart set on something history related. I told her that she doesn't need to know exactly what she wants to do yet, but that she should try a little bit of everything. There is no sense in declaring an astronaut major and paying for three years of classes, to change to underwater basket weaving because you realized you don't like space. Better to take things slow, and just experience. No matter what she does, she will excel and succeed. She can't help but do so!

Danielle is in the process of discovering who she is. God has had her go through a few heart breaking things in her life, and she is learning the meaning of Jesus as her Savior AND her friend. She is discovering her feminine heart, which is deep and beautiful to the core. Not exactly the girliest, girly girl, Danielle is finding her place among the other members of "THE CLUB" (and by that I mean grown women). She is caring and merciful, devoted and fiercely protective, a hard worker and loving. She will make some guy very, very happy (and busy) one day.

My favorite thing about Danielle is that she is sentimental. Her room is full of mementos, and she loves pictures. Crossing the line into pack rats is also a family trait. Mike tells me often that she could do anything, and he is quickly becoming her biggest fan. She's rather fond of him too. I am so blessed to have her as a sister, and I am looking forward to her coming to visit us in just a few days!

Forgiveness

"A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers." -Robert Quillen

"In humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3

This has been a hard week. After two+ months of going, going, going, we are TIRED. Mike is on his last week of class, finally got his certificate from the NRA so he can begin training classes, work has been CRAZY, life has been CRAZY. We haven't even gotten to go camping yet this year, something Mike fervently enjoys and something that rejuvenates him. Physically, mental, emotionally EXHAUSTED. And then we had Wednesday. We had an hour carved out of our week to learn something new, together. Something that was enjoyable, fun, and just the two of us. And it didn't work out that way. Instead of being relaxing and fun, it was aggravating, frustrating, and definitely NOT fun. NOT what I wanted. NOT what Mike wanted.

We're still learning how to handle the bad stuff together. Mike likes to withdraw, mull over, think about things, and then talk. I want to process. Now. I don't let 18 minutes go by, let alone 18 years before I say something. That's why I don't understand these long time marriages that go down the tubes- how can you just not talk about something that bothers you? But that's beside the point. I wanted to talk, and Mike didn't.

I appreciate that he doesn't want to have an emotional outburst. I appreciate that he doesn't want to direct an outburst at me. I appreciate that he wants to get things straight in his head before saying anything. I appreciate that he WILL NOT yell. I do not appreciate being left out of the loop.

"A good marriage is not one in which perfection reigns; it is a relationship in which a healthy perspective overlooks a multitude of unresolvables." -Dr. James Dobson

And so, we press on, dear friends. We talk, discuss, resolve, relate, laugh, cry, explain, understand, clarify- and then press on. I love this man, my partner, my friend, more with each passing day. I am so glad I didn't marry myself- I would drive me crazy. And so I thank God for bringing me someone who is patient and kind, and listens to MY emotional outbursts. I thank God for a man who values what I have to say, even if he doesn't agree. I thank God that this same man wants to work things out, wants to talk, wants to understand, and wants to do better. I want those things too. More than anything else, I want to honor, respect, and love my husband in a way that is clear and apparent to him. And that's what he wants as well. We're still learning, my friends, and will continue to. But I can't think of anyone I would rather be learning with.

In Him,

Sarah

Sometimes I wonder...

Really, when the thought strikes you, sometimes you just have to let your mind wander...


What will our kids be like?

Did Daisy Duke LIKE Daisy Dukes?

And why couldn't any of the Dukes clap on beat? Have you noticed that?

How did God come up with so many cool colors for birds and fish?

Am I bleeding out all of the cute babies every month, and when it's time to have kids, I'll only have ugly ones left?

Who thought of the name "hippopotomus"? Were they like, "Let's name this something that won't make any sense at all!"? Was it really a practical joke gone awry?

How do you get the job of naming towns? I think they should rotate that job more often. I've seen the town "No Name, Colorado". Did that guy get fired?

What if, when you crop a picture, and you cut someone's arm or leg, voodoo were to happen? You'd hear three days later that your friend from your birthday party randomly was admitted to the hospital for an unexplainable massive loss of blood! Would that be a sin? Would God punish you for that?

Will we recongnize ourselves in a mirror in heaven?

If God is infinitely creative, does that mean it is practically impossible for life not to exist on other planets?

Will we recognize THEM in heaven?

How does my husband put up with me?

What if we all really lived in a yellow submarine? I haven't seen any portholes...


What do you wonder?