I Want INK!

While we were at camp we met a couple who had tattoos on their ring fingers in place of wedding rings. They got each other's names tattooed on their ring finger. I thought this was a super cool idea! It would always be with you and would be a more simple way to wear a wedding ring. Not that I would stop wearing my ring, but when I didn't have it on I would still be "marked" married. Maybe you think it is cheesy, but I thought it was awesome! Every since then I have wanted to go get it done myself. Convincing TW of the idea to get a tattoo himself is another task. He does have one tattoo, but not sure he wants another one and in that location. I am sold on the idea! So, tonight is date night and after dinner I talked him in to going to the tattoo shop, if that is what you call it, with me to find out more information. After talking with the guy we learned that you had to keep the area dry for two weeks, that the place I am wanting to get tattooed is very painful, my fingers are probably too small to get his name, and fingers and hands tend to fade causing you to have to go back and get them redone. BOOOHOOOO!!! I was seriously disappointed. I am not the kind of girl who likes to wait for things. You know, some people get an idea and then wait to act. Not me, I get the idea and then boom I act right away. Waiting these couple of weeks has been like waiting a year for me. :) So, to walk out of the "shop" without fresh ink was very disappointing to me! I have decided to wait until swimming season has ended, at which time I will go get the tattoo and either find a really talented tattoo artist who can fit TW's name on my finger, or I will settle for his initials. For now TW has offered to ink me with a sharpie. :)

Incredible Vacation!!!

Last week we got back from the most amazing vacation of our lives. Jeremy and I have been very blessed to be able to travel to many beautiful places and stay at some of the best hotels, but somehow the simplicity of our week at Kanakuk Family Camp (http://www.kanakukfamilycamp.com/) seemed to out do any of our other destinations. This was the first time that Jeremy, the kids, and I had been on a trip with just our little family. Usually we travel with family or friends. It was a week that we will never forget.

We started our vacation with a visit to the Exotic drive thru Zoo. We bought some food for the animals and headed through the six mile park in our car. The camel was the first animal to approach our car and of course he decided to make his way to my window. I freaked out and just about jumped in TW's lap while throwing the food at the camel. It was hilarious!!! I warmed up to the animals quite a bit and actually did feed them. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Our car got a few scratches on it from the hooves of goats jumping up on the side of the car and the horns of other animals scratching the side of the car trying to get to some food. That wouldn't stop of from going back again though! It was great!

We then headed to camp. It was supposed to only be about 45 minutes from the zoo, but I took us on a 45 minute detour around Branson so it ended up taking closer to two hours to get to the camp. Usually it is TW that gets us lost, but this time it was my fault. I entered the address wrong into the GPS system so it took us to the wrong destination. It was another fun memory of the trip looking back at it now. :)

At camp we did all sorts of amazingly fun activities. Monster golf, ropes course, swimming, paint ball, canoeing, crawdad hunting, boating, tubing, bluff jumping (or juff blumping as they call it), painting pottery, board games, archery, relay races, water volleyball, eating, singing, laughing, ping pong, water slides, high dive, whew...I am sure there is more I am forgetting. The best thing we did...bond as a family. Our love for one another grew so much in this one week away. No TVs, not even in our rooms, minimal cell phone and internet use, no distractions. Just good ole' simple, plain fun. It was amazing how well the kids behaved the whole time as well. Everyone's love tank was full and in turn behaviors were good and we enjoyed each other's company. When it was time to leave we all cried. We cried because we were going to miss the staff/counselors that we had grown to love. In one short week many of them came to feel like family to us. Their love for our kiddos was amazing! I also cried because I didn't want to leave the "safe" feeling that we had accomplished that week. The safety of each other's company, the safety from the hectic schedules that we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in, the safety from crime, the safety from others who are out to hurt us, and most of all the safety of being with others who understand the way we are living our lives. No condemnation, no criticism...all love! We still, two weeks later, are singing the songs we learned, doing the silly chants that we did at camp, talk about the friends we made, and miss those that we grew close too. Our hearts miss that place...we will for sure be back next year!

Wordless Wednesday

Can you tell we have been to the pool?

WARNING KIDS DON'T HEAR FIRE ALARMS

This is a MUST see!

Growing Pains

On Monday I really stretched myself. I started the morning with a coaching call. I have been working with a life coach for over a year now. He is really great! www.christian-living.com Later that afternoon I had another call with my Master Moms group. This is a group of four women who come together on a conference call to discuss parenting issues. We are lead by a life coach as well...the wife of the guy I met with in the morning. Then, as if that wasn't enough that night TW and I had an appointment with our counselor. I have been meeting with a counselor off and on for probably two years. I know some people are very private when it comes to sharing if they are working with a counselor or not. Not me! I will tell anyone I know that I meet with one. I have learned more about myself and really been helped by another's perspective. For a while now TW has been joining me for the counseling appointments. Often times we walk find ourselves driving to the appointment asking each other, "well what are we going to discuss tonight?" Just to clear the air...we are NOT in a bad spot in our marriage. Instead, counseling actually prevents us from getting there. I think marriage counseling should be used more often for maintenance in the relationship; this would keep a lot more couples out of the counseling office in crisis times, which is often when it is too late to really help anything. If we do happen to be in a "funk" when walk in those doors, as soon as we walk out we are feeling closer than ever. Now, I also don't want to paint a picture that everything is peachy keen while we are in there. But, we are able to process our feelings and really communicate on a level that rarely happens outside of the counseling room. I highly recommend counseling to anyone! So, back to my growing pains. Coaching call, Master Moms, and counseling appointment...whew there was a lot to process after all of those meetings. My brain was on information overload. I will never schedule all of them on the same day again. I need to make some time to go back and review my notes from each of the meetings so that I can unpack some of the feelings and topics that were discussed. Needless to say I feel like I grew six inches that day. :)