Your hands

This song is so real. I just love it. I have several friends who are going through some major stuff in their lives right now, and this song just seems so right for those times. I hope it touches you too. You might want to turn off my music on the right hand side first.

8 years

Eight years ago today I was marrying the most wonderful guy in the world! My wedding was perfect (besides the minister forgetting to tell us to kiss, therefore it happened halfway down the aisle), and even though I'd like to say that our marriage has been perfect, it hasn't. However, I wouldn't change anything about our life together. There are so many hokey sayings about marriage and love, but they are probably mostly true. I am more in love with D. now than I was 8 years ago, and I never thought that would be possible. He blesses me every day. I thank God for him and the life we have together daily. I hope we have 8x8 more years together.

I tried

Many of you know our family's story with our dog Callie. Callie now lives with my in laws. It is a long story and one that drags up much guilt and sadness for me so I won't go into it here. But, the result was that I said I wouldn't get another dog for a very long time. I also said it would not be another Springer Spaniel. Springers are very energetic and let's just say it - I'm not. However, D. grew up with Springers, and we both wanted our kids to grow up with a dog. I suggested a couple of other breeds of dogs, but we kept being drawn to the Springer pups. D. has been looking for a while, but I didn't think he was very serious. Yesterday though, he found an ad for puppies very close to us. We were going to "just look", but when I heard him get a check before we left, I knew we were really going to pick out a puppy.

When we got Callie, the people had a horse in their front yard. Aubrey looooooooved it. Believe it or not, when we got to the house yesterday they had two Shetland ponies in their front yard. I laughed so hard. It was hilarious. Well, when we saw this precious face and the beautiful mom and dad, it was impossible to walk away and not know one of them was coming to live with us and be a part of this family. We couldn't bring her home yet because she's only 3 weeks old, which is good. It's giving us time to get things ready - we're going to get an electric fence, which was one of my stipulations for getting a new dog. And of course, the food, beds, etc. So, although I thought we wouldn't have another puppy for a while, here we are again. We haven't named her yet though. Any suggestions?

Ten Loves

I got tagged by my friend Jill, and the order was to tell ten things that make you happy right now. Here are the rules for being tagged:

List ten things that make you happy.

(Try to do one of those things today.)

Link back to the person who tagged you.

Tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day!

Here are my 10 things.

1. Snow! God finally heard my prayer and gave us a beautiful snow. Just enough to cover everything and make it pretty.

2. The Olympics! I love, love, love the Olympics, and am pretty much glued to the coverage during it's duration. (watching ski jumping and speed skating right now!) If I could participate in any sporting event, it would be the Olympics. I told D. and Aubrey that last night and Aubrey said, "You'd probably be bad in it, Mom." I told him I wouldn't care, I would have no hopes of medalling, just being there would be enough.

3. Valentine's Day. I love Valentine's Day. I have since I was a little girl filling in my Holly Hobbie valentines for my class. I have had so much fun decorating for it and making things for teachers and the kids' classes. Here are the dipped Oreos I did and the candy bouquets. Nothing original, just fun.

4. Knitting. I have been having a blast getting some knitting projects completed. Here is baby Elsie in her hat, Aubrey in his camo hat, and my scarf that is over halfway finished. I'm hoping to finish this weekend. I can't put it down, so I'm sure I will. I took a cable knitting class, and I love it! I have always loved cable knits, and the fact that I can do it now makes me very happy. I can't believe how addicting knitting has become, but how perfect it is for cold weather and what a great on the go craft it is.

5. My children's schools. They are not perfect, and I am not blind to their flaws. However, they are sweet community schools full of people who work extremely hard and love my children immensely. As a former teacher I was worried about my response to Aubrey being in school. I have been so thrilled. God has given me such a huge blessing through these schools. I am so grateful.

6. Project Life. Although it does add a little stress in my life b/c I forget to take pictures, I'm loving it.

7. Jazzercise. I just started the 12 week Jazz It Off program. We're having a competition to see which teams lose the most weight and body fat percentage. This is something I have struggled with almost my entire life. Ugh! But, my partner Pam and I are determined to win.

8. My sisters. We had such a great week last week when my sister Beth was in town. And I still love that Leah is so close now. It is just wonderful. Beth spoke at our MOPS group and it was really special for the three of us to be there together. My mom and aunt are also in this pic.

9. My husband and children of course. We have had a lot of fun hanging out in front of the fire, with the Nintendo DS and Wii and knitting, and etc . . .

10. Sweet blog friends. I have "met" several wonderful women from reading their blogs. Some of them were friends before blogging. But, I am blessed to have sweet women in my life. So go give them some love. Because they have been "tagged"!

1. Laura

2. Kim

3. Merideth

4. Jennifer

5. Jennifer D.

6. Tara

7. Cindy

8. Carolyn

9. Amy - Amy is a friend from high school whose family are missionaries in Paraguay. They are an amazing family.

10. Kristin