Oh, Summer Days

Chloe has recently been introduced to the swimming pool and she has really enjoyed it! She took her first dip at the Estes' pool, Jon's (Sally's husband) parents. She kept trying to drink the water. I kept her in a normal diaper so she was very bouyant; those things fill up with water. It doesn't come out even when you squeeze it, so Chloe is at least 5 pounds heavier when she comes out of the water.

Our friends, the Welch's, got a floatie at Target that works very well for infants. My sister, Sally, got one for her son (she has play group with the Welch's), so I decided to get one for Chloe. Here are a couple of pictures of Chloe's and, my nephew, Jude's time in the pool. After about 30 minutes, Chloe leaned back and fell asleep in the floatie. Her hat came down over her eyes and she sucked on her pacifier and just dosed off. She had a good hard nap for at least 30 minutes!!! Of course I kept a close eye on her. But it was so adorable!! Oh, how nice that would be!

Wow

Today is our 6 year anniversary. If anyone took part in our special day several years ago, you know the hand Tropical Storm Allison played, and we still cannot express enough gratitude to you for making our wedding day work (especially to both our moms). You would think with a beginning like that, our marriage would have been doomed from the start. Though we've had our hard times when it would've been easier to give up than go on, as every marriage has, we are able to look back on those times and be thankful for the "growing up" we were able to do together.

At this moment, I have to brag on my man. I am so thankful for him. I used to wonder sometimes what God had in mind when He put us together :), but I know now that Matt is my perfect match. He has shown me love and how to love; how to treat the one you love; how to serve the one you love; how to be willing to grow and change to better "fit" the one you love. He has continually shown me patience, even when I am in a mood. He has always given me his 100% support. He hurts with me when I hurt. He leads our home and provides for all of our needs and many of our wants.

One of the main reasons I know that we have "melded" as one is that he hurts deeply when I hurt him. And I hurt deeply when he hurts me. I suppose this happened a few years ago, but this past year has been different. At first, if Matt hurt me in some way, I'd try to counter attack (or vice versa) so that if one of us was going to get hurt, then both of us was going to get hurt. This year, we've reached that point when, instead of putting up our guard during the attack to protect ourselves, we tend to let it down. We have allowed ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, to see each other at our weakest or grossest points and still be 100% sure that the other will accept us as we are(he still loves me after seeing me give birth... and all the aftermath!!). We are also confident that we do not intentionally seek to hurt each other. Maybe some of this comes with maturity of age, but I do believe that Matt has been my iron and we have sharpened each other in ways that no one else has been able to do.

Since we don't qualify for the young marrieds class anymore at church, I say we are entitled to some sort of bragging rights to have made it to year 7 (that is closer to 10 years now than 1 year ;). We are at the point now that people say "Wow!" when we say how long we've been married. Yet, we still have the fire that we had at the beginning and it is definitely true that it only grows stronger. I love Matt at least 100 times more than the day we married if not more (as if love can be measured). We are still completely "in-love" as well. We would rather spend time with each other than with anyone else. We'd rather just be in the same room than be alone. And we read each others' thoughts (I know exactly when Matt's thinking about ice cream...'cause I usually am too! ;).

Now, we look forward to the growing up we hope to do for the rest of our lives together. We have a new dynamic in our relationship with the addition of Chloe, so we are excited that we get to learn to love each other as mommy and daddy, rather than just husband and wife.

Thank You, Lord, for the gift you've given me in Matt.