Celebrating 16 years of marriage

Here we are 17 years later.




We celebrated our 16th year of marriage at Cades Cove Tenn. this year. This is a picture of us in the woods. We decided this year instead of spending money on a weekend getaway we would take the family on vacation. Here we are- me all fat and pregnant with baby #8 and all.
Wow,Sean and I hit our 16th year of marriage. It feels like yesterday I walked down the aisle with this young man. I sometimes have to pinch myself because I feel so lucky to still be so in love with him. I sometimes say to Sean ."Is marriage supposed to be so happy and am I still supposed to get butterflies in my stomach when you walk in a room." I don't know but I know that is what God has done in our lives. We love each other so much and I am so thankful for this man that
God gave me at such a young age. 8 children, 16 years, many ups and downs of life - we are still together and happy. Our love is richer, deeper and more mature than 16 years ago. I know the love that we have now is strong and unbreakable. People ask me the secret sometimes. Here's my short list. 1. Give and don't expect anything back.(hard to do but worth it) 2. God has to be the center( a cord of three strands can't be broken)3. always find time for each other(date night, late night talks) 4. Always find ways to make each other laugh!(water fights,april fools) There you have it, the short list. Oh and for those of you not married yet. Pray for your future husband every night. I did this from age 12 and I really believe that God prepared both our hearts for each other through those prayers.Sean if your reading this. I love you!!!!!

Black bear we saw at Cades Cove

This bear was right by our car. It was pretty amazing for the girls to watch.

More Mountains

We had an awesome family vacation in Tennessee. We relaxed, swam and had family fun. These are pictures from our trip up to Cades Cove. What a peaceful place. You can really feel the presence of God when you get in raw nature. It was awesome.

Vacation in the Smokey Mountains

Pool Saga- Part two

Looks lovely, doesn't it?NOT! Well, Friday we thought that all was going well with the pool project until ran into a bundle of dodo..Oh I mean, a 6foot section of our sewer line was hit. Opps!This became a huge problem. We may not be able to put the pool in because the pipe runs right through the new pool spot. Needless to say my husband was not happy and of course replacing all the pipe is the homeowners responsibility. AHHHH! Thank God that we found a wonderful guy to fix the pipe and dig it deeper for a reasonable price. I am beginning to regret I ever had this idea of putting a pool in. I am looking at the mounds of dirt I have in our yard and I am wondering if our family is capable of getting all this back in order and looking nice again. We are talking weeks of shoveling and digging. Now, we are praying that our excavator will come back and level the ground back off for no charge???? We will keep you posted. .

Our mud pit- Pool Saga- part one

We decided this Christmas to suprise the kids with a big suprise and buy them an above the ground pool. 18x33. This sounded like so much fun for this summer. Well it has turned out to be an absolute drama.First the installation has been put back by two months due to all the rain. Second, they finally came out to dig on Monday and found an old septic tank that prevents us from putting the pool in the spot that we intended.Of course this was after they had already dug 4 feet. However, now I have a very large hole in my backyard. My entire garden is torn up and it looks like an absolute headache.However my girls always find a way to make it fun. They decided we could just fill the hole up with water and then that could be our pool. Hummm, somehow I don't think that will work. But they had fun trying. Hopefully, we will be able to put the pool in another spot... Saga to be continued..... Here are some fun pictures of the the little girls in the their makeshift pool.