Seven Years Married--You're still the one!

Matthew 6:33 says, "...seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." That is just what God has done for our us from the day Chris picked Jessica for his football team in July of 1996.

Mother’s Day is obviously the second Sunday of the month and at our church that’s when we have communion. Chris is a deacon and so he serves the bread and the wine (well, you know the cracker and the juice). Jessica thinks there is NOTHING more romantic than her husband serving her communion! Other Chris “Yay”s this year of marriage year include, rolling down his window EVERY morning, and calling out “I love you” as he drives out of the driveway. Affirming that Jessica can play with the guys and have male friends and three weeks ago he added praying together in the morning (in addition to praying solo which we do anyway) before he leaves for work. What’s NOT to love?

What a week (or two)! First, a strange twist in blogging and we will focus on Chris and Jessica! We took advantage of Chris' parents' willingness to watch the children (a huge gift since they are having their kitchen remodeled—Elijah walked in and announced, “Where’s your kitchen?”) Thursday night and Friday as we embarked on our anniversary rockfishing trip. The trip for friends a week prior got two fish. With lots of prayer (to cover the fish haul) and excitement we left church at 3 a.m. heading towards St Michael’s. Captain Lou greeted us and off we went enjoying the sunrise. Rods were made ready and lures sent out. Our first bite was 930. Agreeing to go youngest to oldest, Jessica took first bite and found herself with something she's never felt before. The best she could do was HANG ON. The monster surfaced twice. Even the Captain was taken by the fish. Then minutes later it was gone. Chris assured Jessica there was still something there, but she knew it was different. In came a 28” rockfish. Where the beast went we’ll never know. Jessica threw the caught fish back. Chris landed a 34 incher and then Edgar went. Fish #3 was 41.5 inches and 32 pounds! It actually pushed itself up OUT of the trash can a good foot trying to eat Jessica's camera, like something out of Tremors (6 degrees of separation, anyone?). Jessica tried to be conscientious of sitting and resting. Chris got pay back pictures from last year.

Captain said we can bring the baby next year! We caught 7 fish on our trip, which means Chris, and Jessica got to go twice. So TWO FISH, YAY! It’s keep one though so we came home with 11 pounds of Rock. Highlights included good clean fellowship, two homemade sub sandwiches a pieces and glass bottled drinks—IBC and orange crush.

We continued celebrating through the weekend, which included mother’s day. Saturday we took advantage of the “day before mother’s day” to go to FORBIDDEN CITY! Seeing as how we had been not too long ago Chris and Jessica broke habit and ordered something different. Chris enjoyed Sesame chicken and Jessica enjoyed Sweet and Sour Chicken. We hit DQ on the way home for the blizzards that we didn’t get on the way home from Pittsburgh. Cards were given by happy children. Saturday evening we fed the children Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup for supper and sent them to bed. Then we made Monte Cristos and tomato soup and ate in the living room with a movie. Special treat! For mother’s Day we shared the first of the Rock with Chris’ parents after service: Tasty as always, pan-fried in a cornmeal coating, nice and crispy.

On to the kids: We took a lovely zoo trip with friends the day before fishing. What a time!
















Well, Jessica got lost for the first time. We were chatting away front and back seats and all of the sudden Jessica points out the National Cathedral which the kids have never seen—why? Because we don’t go that far on Wisconsin. Sigh Jessica thought she handled Macaroni quite well and we got there a mere 20 minutes behind schedule. Best part was the touch tank. We got this volunteer that kept them for 15-20 minutes. They even got to pet the conch. They heard and saw the male lion roar. The pictures say more.

Then Tuesday we go to FFA day at Middletown High school formerly known as Take your tractor to school day. EA suffered his first skinned knee 15 minutes in to the event and cried for the next 45. Of course he was masterfully endearing to the high school girls as he was wearing his captain hook boots and carrying a “peter man” hat and a foil roll for a sword. Yes, Jessica let him out of the house like that. The turkeys names were Thanksgiving (female) and Christmas (male). Still smiling over that. Going with our homeschooling buds the Durnils made the day extra special. Can you tell we can’t



get enough of them? Well, maybe Rebekah can but that’s another story for another blog;)