Silver Status

Dear Heavenly Father, 

We thank You for the grace and blessings You have given us during the past 25 years of marriage.  We celebrate and recall the day when we joined together as partners in life and we thank You for being with us on our daily journey together through life's ups and downs.  

Increase our sense of belonging to each other, as reflected in Jesus' statements in Matthew 19:5-6, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh".

We thank You that You have freely given us Your presence, strength, help, and hope.  We pray that we will continue to grow in our ability to work together for the good of our family and for the good of the world.

 Fill us with love, forgiveness, patience, and trust.  

Guide us with the light of Your word and help us to grow in Your love so that we can better reflect it to each other as it is defined in 1Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails".

Increase our sense of companionship and friendship.  Grant us the ability to laugh at our mistakes and the means to share the simple pleasures of life together.  

Enable us to speak the truth in love.  Help us to be good listeners.  Grant us wisdom and a spirit of cooperation as we seek to follow Your good plans for us in the tough issues and challenges we face.  

Surround us with good friends and neighbors.  Protect our home.  Care for our family,  Provide for our needs.  Guard our health.  Bless our marriage and may we enjoy many more anniversaries together.  

In the name of Christ we pray, 

Amen.

We've reached silver status!  Not only in our grey hairs but also in our years of marriage.  :-)  We celebrated this week and reflected on this very noteworthy milestone.   God, in His providence, continues to stretch and sustain us both individually and together while He guides us through this journey we call life, in a partnership we call marriage.  It's been quite the roller coaster!  Multiple hills and valleys create the topography of our road.  Our journey has included numerous mountain top celebrations to enjoy and just as many--if not more--significant spaces of muddy waters to wade through and deep pits to dig out of.  Our life together has been anything but boring!  But by the grace of God, truly, we are here, together.  As we take the next steps on the rest of our journey together, we pray God's blessing over us as He blessed Abraham and we lean into Him for all things and the way in which we should go for If God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8:31 :-) <3

We Had a Blast

Connor turned 15 at the beginning of the month and we had a blast celebrating him.  We started the day with an acai bowl before going out to the park to launch rockets.  John and Jozsef were both able to attend but Nikolas was at work.  

We had six rockets to play with.  We lost two due to wind current and one broke apart mid-flight but all take offs were a success.  It was a lot of fun to shoot them so high us that we could barely trace them and then to see the children take off running to catch and retrieve them.  

The day was beautiful and cooperated fully--the rain moved in right after we packed up our rockets and went to our next activity--bowling.  While we were there, it straight dumped rain.  It's a good thing that bowling is played indoors!  :-)  We also shot some pool while we were there.  Connor's love of science helps him understand angles enough to be a decent shot.  ;-)  

After being at the bowling alley, we went home for dinner. We were happy that by then Nikolas could join us.  Connor chose artichoke chicken as his meal--it's a family favorite and it was great for a rainy evening.  Cake and gifts followed before we called it a night.  

Fifteen years sure has come and gone quickly.  Connor is such a joy with his quick wit and creative/inventive mind.  I can't wait to see where God places him and how Connor will use the gifts God has given him.  We sure are blessed to have been gifted Connor in our family.  Happy Birthday Connor!  We love you!