Thankful

Chris and I are feeling ever so thankful for each other these days. Our close friends are seperating right now and it has been a difficult process to watch. They have small children very close in age to ours. This couple has been married almost as long as we have, though their road has been quite different than ours. Chris and I both know that we could have gone down that very same road.....so it is especially tough for us to watch another couple whom we love so much go down that path. I am so thankful that Chris loves me the way that he does and that he thinks that I am smart and beautiful. I cherish the fact that he sees me as his friend and would rather spend time with me than doing so many other things. I am thankful that he stood by me and was committed enough to make our marriage work and pull it out of the ruins and rebuild it into something amazing and so special. He is my gift from God. Delivered to me when I asked for him....each and every specification I requested filled. I marvel at times at just how good God can be and how he truly is able and willing to give us our hearts desire when we ask according to His will for us. One day soon, I hope and pray that God will reveal to our friends just how special and amazing they are to one another. My prayer is that He will rekindle in them a love and desire for one another and that he will place their feet back on the path that He would have them to walk....together. In the meantime, I am just so thankful for the partner that I have in my life, on the path.....together.

New at Our House

Both boys have recently received a new pet of their very own. Ben was the first to get a hamster. A little guy he named S'more. He's a long haired hamster and a real sweetheart, though he has managed to escape 3 different times now, so I have taken to calling him Houdini. Max also received a hamster as a reward for working to bring up one of his grades significantly in school. Max named his little guy Einstein DaVinci Roberts. He's also very sweet, but very lazy and more than a little bit fat. He uses his exercise wheel to sleep....never to run. I have taken to calling him Fat Boy as he is such a pudgy little guy. That, added to the fact that whenever you put food in his bowl, he immediately shoves every piece of it in his mouth and takes off to hide it somewhere! His cheeks are HUGE with food when he does that and I have wondered if he'll be able to fit into his tubes with all of that food swelling his face so. Anyway....both little furry friends have found their way into our hearts and it has been nice having them around!

The Middle of Nowhere

Our family recently went on another camping trip here in the great state of Arizona. These trips have been a great source of surprise and enjoyment for me as we have explored and discovered the many awesome attributes of this state. Every place that we have been has been amazing and beautiful and I have loved each place and been thrilled and dazzled by the beauty of it all. Until this last trip. We recently camped at Agua Caliente in Ocotillo, California. It was a place that Chris found on the web and it looked amazing and beautiful in all the pictures. We were so excited and so over Christmas break we packed up the car with all of our gear and headed out. Prior to this trip all of our camping excursions have been to the north and to the east. And they have been delightful and scenic and awesome. Aqua Caliente was our first.....and last trip into southwestern Arizona. We drove for what seemed like forever and ended up smack in the middle of nowhere. If you have ever thought that you were in the middle of nowhere....I assure you that you weren't....unless you were in this place! I have never seen anything so remote or so desolate or so colorless and bleak. This was not a place that you would just happen upon. Oh no....you'd DEFINITELY have to be going there. But we had arrived at this place....and desolate as it was, we made camp. We pitched our tent and cooked our dinner and built our little campfire and bedded down for the night. I wish I could say that we all slept all nice and cozy...but alas....it was not to be. Chris had heartburn and couldn't seem to be still. Every time he moved, it created a very cold pocket of air in the sleeping bags that we had zipped together. I was FREEZING. Then Ben started with a tummy ache and we had to listen to him moan and sigh for a good two hours. No sooner did he begin to settle, then Clara had to go potty. By the time we all settled back down, the sun was coming up and there was no hope for the occupants of our tent to doze back off. So we started the day a little on the sleepy side! After breakfast, we decided to head off into the great wilderness for a hike. So we packed our waters and gear and headed out. We had a nice hike and then got back and decided to get showers and head into the nearest town (25 miles away) and get some supplies since the store that was supposedly supposed to be open and well stocked was not open at all. So we showered and loaded up the kids and had just BARELY pulled out of the campground when HUGE winds starting gusting all around us. The whole car was shaking the wind was blowing so hard. So we turned around and headed back to our campsite to make sure our tent was secure and had not blown away. We inquired about the weather and the ranger said it was supposed to be only 5 m.p.h. winds during the day, increasing to 15 m.p.h. in the night. Well, early in the day they were already WELL over 5 m.p.h. and we knew that as they continued to increase we would not be able to have our campfire (so no heat) or our tent canopy to help hold in the heat. We made the split second decision to break camp and call the trip a wash. We started packing as hard as we could go and I nearly had the tent empty when a HUGE gust of wind literally came up under the tent, ripping the stakes out of the ground and tried to take me and tent with it! Luckily, I'm a fluffy sort of girl and I was able to hold my own...though just barely! When we finally got packed up we sighed a huge sigh of relief and gladly began the journey home. We were never so glad to get home to our own beds! I can say this for sure....Aqua Caliente is NOT a place I ever wish to visit again. In the future, I think that we will stick to the north and eastern sides of this great state! Life is good in the desert.....better on my side!