INDEED death alone separates!

11 years ago on May 26, Chad and I said, "yes with the help of God" and God has indeed helped us and we are celebrating that He has remained faithful and we have enjoyed 11 years of marriage!

In the Spring semester leading up to our wedding I was a Hebrew baby in my first Hebrew reading class and we were translating the book of Ruth. There is so much you can learn by the grammar and syntax used! That sounded real nerdy.

My favorite part of the the book was when we translated Ruth 1:16-17. Most translations render the last part of 17, "May the LORD do so to me and more if anything but death separates us." But I found out something really cool and chose, with the approval and blessing of my Hebrew professor, to write an entire paper on the construct of this statement. It is an oath statement that ends with "may the LORD do so to me and more" and the rest of the verse is an emphatic statement, "indeed death alone separates you and me." This is so cool because I had always thought the "if" added some kind of condition to the statement, such as if anything but death separates you you broke the oath and you have asked God to hold you accountable, so I always thought it was adding this element of you better stay married so you won't break your oath. But the "death alone separates you and me" is not part of the oath, it is not a condition, it is an emphatic statement that Ruth makes because she loves Naomi so that "indeed! death alone!"

All that to say it was my joy 11 years ago to make the same emphatic statement, "indeed, death alone separates you and me!"

Makos Swimmer of the Week

We are the Makos Sharks!!!!

Well the boys are Makos Sharks!!!!

The Makos Sharks is our neighborhoods swim team and this year we decided to give swim a shot and boy are we loving swim!

We started off with Jude, Shiloh and Asher set to swim but we quickly realized Asher at 4yrs was not ready this year so just Jude and Shiloh are swimming.

Swim is a huge commitment, we have practice Monday-Thursday, meets 6-7 Saturday in a row (all day events), volunteering at the meets and there are optional opportunities.  Practices are super fun because the boys swim, the littlest play on the playground next to pool and mommies visit and/or work out together. I love the tribe of women I am hanging with every afternoon. Shout out to Vanessa for being Ezra’s favorite person!

We had our first meet last weekend and I posted videos on Facebook because they wouldn’t load on the blog. The boys did great and seemed to really enjoy it. Shiloh asked the next morning if it was another swim meet day, no buddy only Saturdays. The meet was not without its challenges though, poor Chad had a bit of a rough go if it managing the 4 boys, especially Ezra and Asher while I was off having a blast volunteering on Ready Bench (apparently ready bench is the least liked job but I LOVED it!). But we have an awesome Mimi and Auntie and Uncle who I’ve lined up to keep Asher and Ezra for the rest of the swim meets and I’m hoping that will help us have a smooth and better go of meets.

We got a pleasant surprise yesterday, Jude was chosen by the coaches as swimmer of the week. They wanted to recognize his hard work, being at every practice, listening well and giving his all and doing everything asked of him. I’m so proud of him. I was told 1 boy and 1 girl is chosen each week for roughly 6 weeks. So I’m guessing there are 100+ (I could be seriously off) kids on the swim team and throughout the  whole season 12 or so kids are chosen as swimmer of the week so I feel like it’s a pretty big deal Jude was chosen - way to go little dude!

 Shiloh at ready bench on deck during Red vs Black meet.

 Jude waiting to swim at Red vs Black meet.

 Jude on the block.

 Coach Katy showing Jude the Makos Swimmer of the Week yard sign and explaining to him he had been chosen.

Jude dude Swimmer of the Week!

Ezra on the move

Ezra is on the move.

He has mastered jumping up and down (while holding on to something). He can crawl with the best of them. And he is walking now. He has made so much progress in a short time. He is catching up in some of this gross motor skills and is working hard with his therapists on his fine motor skills, speech and oral motor skills.

4!!!!

Asher is 4!!!

Wow! Asher turned 4 on March 25 and I missed adding a post...silly mommy...

Asher is the funnest and funniest little guy I know. He has great big emotions. He loves to eat. He loves the 3 Ninja movies. He loves frogs. He loves Granny. He loves to dress up as a super hero. He loves to play pretend: doctor, kitchen, birthday party, etc. He loves his aunts and uncles and his grandparents and his brothers and his cousins. He loves life. But when Asher does not love something he "hates" it. And he lets you know. He has a nickname in the family and it is very apt, The Hulk, in that it describes who Asher is, lol! Actually Asher causes me to laugh out loud every day! We love Asher and are so happy he is a part of our family!

Asher you are one amazing kid. God has given you great big feelings. You are an awesome little brother and an awesome big brother. You love people and you love life and you love God. I pray that you continue to grow big and strong (even bigger than Uncle Kris - according to you) and that you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. That you would know Him and love Him as passionately as you love us!

Moments with Asher from the last year: