Thankful on a Thursday: growing older

Earlier this week while unpacking Ben + I found our  pre-marital counseling workbooks. Late last night we were reading through them.

Some things made us chuckle.

Like one of Ben's rules: "If the bedroom is messy at least have places to walk on the floor. (aisles)"

Other things made me really reflect on how our relationship has changed and grown, and how it's stayed the same.

Another thing Ben wrote:

Plans we share for our future include: "Living in a house, having kids, possibly owning a house, marriage."

I jokingly said, "well I guess we can die happy now" since we've done all those things. Obviously it was only a joke. But in seriousness, even though we've dabbled in all of those things, most of them we are still new at {relatively speaking}.

We've been married for just over 3 years. It has been wonderful, but there's so much more ahead for us that I can't wait to see what God has planned. Same with parenthood. We've been daddy + mama to Malakai for almost 15 months and it's new every day.

We moved into a house {out of an apartment} in August of 2007, a month after we got married. We rented until last March when we bought our new home. It was an amazing feeling and we love owning our home. We're so excited to open it up to family + friends in the near future for a fairly late housewarming. We've got lots to do, and 90% won't be done by the time we have that open house, and that's okay.

We all know that growing older, moving forward, + just doing life is something that changes every day. In some ways it's so insignificant we can barely see the change until we look back and see how far we've come. Other times it's something so huge it disrupts everything as soon as it takes place.

All I know is that I love doing life with those that God has blessed me with. I love learning how to be a better wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend + especially a better follower of Christ. Even when it gets hard and especially in the moments that seem dark because there is so much to be learned in it. And because it's what makes the joys in life that much brighter.

This week I'm thankful for:

321. the way my husband makes me laugh.

322. watching Malakai transform into a walking, talking, "reading", pretending,   laughing, playing little toddler.

323. provision.

324. homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast- every morning this week.

325. change.

326. cool, crisp, sunny days + the leaves starting to turn.

327. a full fridge + pantry after a quick grocery shopping trip.

328. the dozens of comments Malakai gets from strangers whenever I take him anywhere.

329. my dream job.

330. growth.

Join us...

What are you thankful for this week?