French braiding

When I was in 5th grade I taught myself how to french braid. I remember thinking about braiding in my head, and then figuring out how to add hair to each strand as the braid continued down the head. Not bad for a 5th grader who didn't have internet. :)

I then began to practice, and found that it was really fun to come up with new creations or designs. I often would braid many of my teammates' hair on the bus ride to our sporting event and loved it when one of them would come up with something new to try.

When I found out I was pregnant with Adele, knew the day would come that I would be able to braid her hair as well. She has the perfect hair to braid - slightly curly, not very fine. And of course, she's adorable.

I've never been very good at doing hair that didn't involve braids. Ponytails and pigtails are pretty much my limit - no curling irons for me!

Now that Adele is in school every day, I've had to pay more attention to how her hair is done as she walks out the door. Often she wants to leave it down or put it back in a headband, but sometimes she loves to sit and let me braid her hair. I choose braids around the fact that I have about 25 minutes to get it finished (the length of one morning tv show, the bribe I use in exchange for her sitting still for me!).

I know she won't let me braid her hair forever, so I'm taking advantage of the moments I can sit and braid my beautiful daughter's hair.

Here are some of my favorites!

   

Cheers to 10 years

Way back in August, David and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. And it may be hard to believe, but we have never spent a night together away from the kids. So, this year our anniversary fell during our time out in Spokane, and David's parents graciously agreed to keep the kids for a night while David and I spent the day/night over at the Coeur D'Alene resort in Idaho. We had an absolute blast, and I'm thankful for the time we had just the two of us.

Anyway, I never wrote a blog about celebrating 10 years, but have always thought I'd want to bring it up at some point. In a world where it is common practice to be on the constant lookout for the next best thing, or the need/desire for change in our lives, this sort of mentality infiltrates into a marriage quite easily it seems (both in Christian and non-Christian marriages alike) as the "forever" concept in marriage doesn't seem to have the same definition as in the past.

After 10 years of marriage, I'm proud of the relationship David and I share. Not because it's perfect, but because it's real. And good. Once we got engaged I used the phrase "doing life together" often - a phrase that appears to be more common today - and in the last 10 years, we've done just that. No matter what happens, we're in this thing called "life" together.

And while we have our weaknesses, today I'm choosing to celebrate our 10 years with 10 of our strengths in our marriage.

1. We communicate well. We talk all the time, share tiny insignificant details about our daily lives, converse about big topics in the news, and spill out our emotions to each other. We don't always agree (though mostly we do, it seems), but we listen and share opinions and talk it out. We sometimes get moody and frustrated (obviously me - I am a girl), while the other shows a lot of patience and grace (duh, it's David).

2. We laugh a lot together. Sure, there are funny things that happen in life that we can laugh at together. Or our kids are super funny and make us laugh often. But, I'm happy to say that whether it's playfulness, sarcasm, or wit, both David and I can make each other outright laugh.

3. We have common hobbies/interests. We both enjoy being outdoors, we watch similar tv shows and movies together, we enjoy similar foods, we enjoy playing similar games, and we enjoy talking about similar subjects. We strive to be healthy (which could be a whole different category, but I'm choosing to place it under here) - we enjoy leading active lifestyles and eating healthier foods and learning about essential oils to treat issues naturally. Clearly we are different people, but as we have grown in our marriage, many of our interests and hobbies have grown together as well.

4. We encourage the necessary time away. As we are different people, we obviously don't do everything together. If I need a break from people (kids) and want to go sit at a coffee shop, David encourages me to take that time. If David gets invited out with a buddy or two, I encourage that. When activities arise that are meant for just one of us, we are both very encouraging of taking advantage of it, understanding each others' needs. I'm not usually the best choice for David to go birdwatching with, and he's not the best choice for me to quilt with.

5. We have similar views on life. When it comes to politics, religion, or raising kids, we are almost always on the same page. We have healthy discussions, and approach life in a very similar way.

6. We trust each other completely. There is no one else in the world that I trust more than David. He eternally has my back, and I know without a doubt I can trust him with absolutely anything.

7. Family is important to us. We live far away from our families. We have ever since we got married, actually. And yet, it's a priority for both of us to spend time with them. When we were first married and living out in Santa Cruz, California, we worked seasonal jobs and had 3 months off in the summer. So, we split our time and lived 6 weeks with each family. When we moved to Costa Rica, we scheduled a couple weeks with each family in the summer and usually 1-2 weeks with each family at Christmas. Now that we are back in the states, we again find ourselves far away from both families. Yet now that we have our own kids, we want them to be a part of their extended families (and we still miss our families as well), so we do all we can to spend time in Washington and Iowa throughout the year. I'm thankful that this is as important to David as it is to me.

8. We share a mutual respect for each other. This comes across in listening to each other, asking for advice or opinions, admiring the other person's talents, and speaking highly of each other in public.

9. We share responsibilities around the house. Since I am a stay-at-home mom, I do most of the cleaning and cooking. But when David is around, he is truly involved. He helps in the kitchen, gets projects done around the house, and is a very involved father. For being gone a large chunk of each day, David teaches and plays with and corrects the kids and does the bedtime routine almost just as much as me.

10. We travel well together. This is important, since we seem to travel a lot! We can go from a 30-hour car ride across the country to an all-day trip down to Latin America without hiccups. We help each other to be flexible, patient, and positive. And as a result, we love to travel together.

Here's to the next 10 years!