abe: “i think i’m falling in love with you again.”
deb: “oh, really? what do you mean?”
abe: “i think it has to do with all the time we’re being forced to spend with each other through this process. and even though the time we’re spending together is spent doing the SAME thing over and over again. it’s just nice to be able to be with you.
we don’t have kids pulling on us, we’re having interactions with other adults and it’s just nice.
it’s nice to be able to be working on this project together”
deb: “that’s nice”
that was a snippet of conversation deb and i shared this past tuesday as we drove home from yakima.
we also happened to be driving separate cars home, and we talked on the phone the WHOLE way home. (45 min) we haven’t had a 1 on 1 uninterrupted conversation like that in years. i might even say since our college days when we’d go for long walks or talk on the phone for hours.
i’m looking forward to not having any appointments this weekend – our kids could use some dedicated uninterrupted “mom and dad” time.
we’re two weeks into this process, and from my post last week , you can tell it’s thrown our “normal” routine schedule into a tail spin. that particular tuesday, we had just gotten done with two appointments with great friends and i had been gone from home since 6:20am and returned home around 10:50pm.
but through this challenging/exhausting MPD* process, i’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself falling in love with my wife all over again.
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*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife
if you saw deb’s devotional video yesterday you heard her mention during the end that we were giving this site a little more attention and we would both be contributing more often. we’ve even set up a schedule and themes for us to post on.
so here it is:
Mon:: devos with deb (devotional insights from a mom/wife/princess)
Tues:: married life (thoughts on marriage from a guy/dad/husband/pastor)
Wed:: parenting life (hints/tips/encouragement on parenting from a mom of SIX kids)
Thur:: FamilyLife Update (all the news/updates on our progress to moving to Little Rock by abe)
Fri:: house to home (recipes, family fun activities, cleaning/organizing tips by deb)
Sat:: pic/video of the week (a look into the lives of the laras chosen by abe)
Sun:: theacousticlife.com podcast (every 1st & 3rd sunday we’ll have a new episode posted)
who wouldn’t be happy and know it if they got to come home to this.
download (4679 KB)
I love my family life.
I’ve been in here for over an hour and these babies just aren’t falling asleep.
they’re just restless.
(true story this past week when returning home from VBS)
julia (5yr): dad, can I have a drink of water when we get home?
dad: maybe a little drink but not a big one because it’s almost bed time and we don’t want you to have an accident.
julia: but dad, at night I pray to Jesus and he wakes me up to go to the bathroom in the morning.
in our recent podcast (itunes link) we stated that divorce sucks, on the other end of the spectrum; weddings ROCK! i came across the video below via @youcanknowgod on twitter (great twitter name btw).
i love the fact that this couple took the time to be so fun, creative and original to begin their wedding. but more importantly to begin their marriage. my prayer for them is that they would continue to put that much time, effort, creativity and fun in their marriage in the days, months, and years to come. in fact this video even made me cry because i was so overwhelmed with joy for them.
my previous post concerning our recent trip to Little Rock described what happened, a sorta timeline of actual events. this post will instead concentrate on my (abe) mental, emotional, and spiritual journey leading up to and while there.
[in case you're wondering what FamilyLife's decision is about us joining staff: sorry, we can't tell you yet via this blog or anything else public on the inter-webs until July 1st. if you really wanna know call, text, or email me, or actually come over and visit in person, what a concept.]
our story with the Ministry of FamilyLife begins as far as I can remember in 1999. deb and I had only been married for a couple months when we were given a scholarship to attend a Weekend to Remember conference in Bellevue, WA. i was finishing up my senior year of college and deb still had another year till she finished up her AA. we were both working at a daycare not too far from the college and i wasn’t really sure what i wanted to do with our lives after i graduated. i had gone to school and gotten a BA in Biblical Literature. i knew that i was called to do full time ministry, but what i wasn’t sure of was where, how, or what?
i’m not sure what words could add to the smile of the birthday girl herself. personally for the past few weeks i’ve just been marveling at how much you’ve grown. you’re body’s getting taller, your thoughts and emotions are maturing. and even though to me you’ll always be my little girl, i think you’re gonna make a great BIG girl. :)
i love you Julia, happy birthday!!
absolutely full of joy…
the center of attention…
and she knows she’s cute!
for more photos from our “spring portrait extravaganza” of our whole family visit our mobileme web gallery.
