all

this weekend we head to the mountains, to where this marriage began. as we prepare to reunite with those that sat beside us under the chandelier, i think about all of the details that made that day magical.

and all of the people that made it perfect.

 

and the husband who has made three years worth every cost.

we'll all be there together, again. and the babies that were in the bellies of the flowered dresses will be scampering through the grass. and all will feel well, for now.

eight twenty eight

today is eight twenty eight.

today is our dad's birthday. and today is our anniversary. and today means His promise to work all things together for good because He loves us. today is for reflecting on three years with a God who has held our marriage, has kept us when we would have left on our own and has sprinkled joy in the most unexpected places. 

today is for remembering that when God gave life to Steve on this day 53 years ago, 

He knew exactly what He was doing.

we are now one because of life.

and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. and be thankful. 

Col 3:14-15

in love

i&l

showers, weddings and babies

last week we welcomed our newest nephew into the world and were again reminded of just how intricately God works.

life has been full with showers and weddings and that little thing called a manuscript that's due terrifyingly soon.

with that and our vacation coming up next week, the blog will be silent for awhile. we're hoping to plow through the remaining work on our book with a goal of august being for relaxing, so you may not hear from us until then.

we're not taking the ramp on vacation this year to get into the house - a huge step for us. pray that God would keep ian healthy on vacation and that he would have lots of strength especially with walking up and down the stairs.

thank you, always.
i&l

three little babies

three little babies that we've watched grow and have loved. three little babies that love their uncle ian without expectation. three little babies that ask why uncle ian isn't with aunt rara when she stops by after work. three little babies that don't see a tbi but see an uncle who tells them stories about a boy named paladin who drives a green chevy on route 66.

three little babies that teach me how to love.

from drywall to suite

tonight as i continued to read through old blog posts as i wrote, this caught my eye. it caught my eye because Steve and Mary were so involved in the planning on this room, the design of this room, the amount of sunlight for this room. our church built this room. Steve had talked that maybe one day it would be a space that ian and i could live in together, married. he talked about how we could maybe get a little kitchenette, and make it work. 

our suite doesn't have a kitchenette, but it does work. it's become a place of respite as we write.

a few gratefulnesses

book writing

a foggy drive home

a nephew

a christmas cookie

thinkin

and so it goes

"ian, do you remember that today is when your dad died three years ago?"

"he was a good man."

that's all that needs to be said and all that needed to be said. he was a good man. and we miss him.

love

i&l

37

happy 37 years to our incredible parents. thank you for teaching us that love never gives up. we won't know until heaven the impact that your covenant has made on our own. 

we love you.

love

i&l

8/28

supposedly it takes a village to raise a child. we think it takes one to build a healthy marriage too. gigi and pa paid for our dinner. my parents paid for our room for the surgery. mary watched the kids so that ben and jan could come be with us for dinner. and so even though our anniversary was spent with day-before-surgery injections, we had a wonderful evening escape. even baby scarlett met us in pittsburgh for a lovely outdoor dinner and jazz concert. and now scarlett is officially the cutest fifth wheel.

and we casually mentioned our anniversary to the waitress, who kindly brought us this, pictured sideways.

for all the ways that our family served us, ian says "they're selfless" and it shows him that God is good.

one final anniversary celebration awaits us - setting off our two lanterns for the number of years we've been married when we head back up to our wedding spot next weekend.

for now, we're off to a week on a lake with the whiteley's. 

we're continuing to pray for encouraging test results next week and that ian's wounds heal quickly.

thank you, always

I&L

emptier

our house is getting emptier, ready to move. my family spent the whole weekend with us, packing boxes, cleaning under beds, putting up the original curtains and light fixtures, doing laundry. they're such a gift to us.

a collection of friends and memories

after a day of packing up boxes and tubs, we had a small group of friends over as a last party at our rental house. our good friends mike and jocelyn ordered these lanterns as a tribute to our wedding and first two years of marriage spent at this house. my family surprised us at our wedding by buying dozens of the lanterns that we all set off, followed by great fireworks. it was only appropriate to have them at this party.

we have many, many, many good memories here and are sad to leave. but hopeful that the work God will do through our book will have eternal impact, which makes this a very small cost. we will keep working on packing over the next few weeks and be moved before the end of the month.

thankful for family, and friends, even when we look weird and awkward.

love

i&l

a good little surprise

after a somewhat stressful weekend, learning about the melanoma and dealing with unexpected flooding in our area, we had a great surprise treat. our roommate who moved out just one month ago was driving through the area on her way back from a weekend trip and was easily convinced that afternoon to stop in and spend the night with us, like the old days. it was simply wonderful. a great sister to us. i wish tonight was last night again.

we also got to skype with bethi and kbob and hang out with these little ones.

and jen got to love on this little dear. 

blessed by our family.

i&l

what do i expect, from vacation?

this week we head off to the lake for vacation with Ian's extended family. it is an incredible place, with amazing family and tons of memories.

leading up to the lake, I'm praying for godly expectations. It may be super relaxing, or it may stretch me as we care for Ian. There are guaranteed to be tons of laughs and growth of our souls. but more than a tan and experimenting with our new juicer, I want to be looking forward to knowing God more. sitting on the kayak, floating on a tube with Ian, or just talking to our family, I want to clearly see God in it.

happy vacation season.

love
i&l

a mini ian, someday?

throughout our engagement and into our marriage, many inquiring minds, who are strangers and not dear friends, have asked about our ability to have children. surprisingly, because of our  disability, there has seemed to exist an assumption that those questions are appropriate, when none of them were asked to our friends who are in full health. not that these questions are wrong, but they're not helpful either. here's why.

in any marriage, how does anyone know if they can conceive until God reveals a yes or no? 

with or without disability, no one can answer that question except for God. 

and so that's where we leave it. we would both love to be parents. i would love to have a mini ian running around, filling our lives. maybe not yet. maybe not for a long time. maybe next year. maybe we'll have biological children, or maybe we'll adopt. 

just like we don't want people to assume things about our own life and future, we don't want to assume on God. He may call us to raise 10 children who look and sound just like us or he may just keep providing nieces and nephews for us to spoil. either way, "before me, as behind, God is and all is well."

i&l

another bittersweet goodbye, for now

these two faces are soon to be very missed, as they travel across the country to a new home in a much sunnier state. our little brother and my dear friend, who became my sister, will leave a huge gap in our lives when they board the plane with just their suitcases and hopes.

their story is beautiful - settling far away to help beth's health and caleb committing his life to helping her in any way that he needs to. and even in its beauty, we are so sad to see them part. 

caleb is with us 40 hours a week, a constant servant who is also incredibly gifted in his music. of caleb, ian says he is faithful to his church, his wife and his brothers. caleb has been an incredible caregiver to ian, helping him to do things that neither of them want to do, but doing it without complaint.

bethi is a dear fellow sufferer. she has lived in pain for too many years and without description, understands our bad days and the days that could be better. she is the sister that can just be with me, without needing to talk or host. she carries with her a beautiful gift of capturing life in her photography. she knows her God. she also has a lot of sass, which erupts at the best times.

most of our memories from the first two years of our marriage are with these two. dinners on red chairs in our dining room. laying around on the patio. movies. gigs. making fun of caleb. laughing at ian being ridiculous. and that doesn't even count the whole lifetime that ian has spent with these two.

we will miss them, more than words.

thank you, bethi and kbob, for loving us well.

love

i&l

Confession

If you've followed our blog for more than two weeks, you'll notice that we are horrible at posting on the weekends. I think it's because weekends tend to feel like the time that life really happens - the unexpected and the mundane.

We're thankful that weekends seem to always mean family and often friends. Laundry sometimes makes its way in there. And we try to shut our brains off.

So don't give up hope on us:) I have a few new posts rolling around in my head for the week. Let's hope they make it to the laptop.

Just a few highlight pics. Thank you, always

I&L

the week's end

it was a weekend for family, hosting my side and heading to the zoo and aquarium.

the weather was perfect.

the fish swam.

the sun decided to sneak over my shoulder. 

(is this starting to sound like a shel silverstein poem to anyone else?)

and my hubby got to enjoy all of it.

thank you, for praying. we'll be sharing a few more guest posts over the next few days!

love

larissa

our little ones

there are few things in life better than being an aunt. or an uncle. we're so fortunate to have five little ones under the age of three, with number six joining us any day now. it's especially fun to watch our oldest nephew because he's so much like ian. and they are hilarious together. if paladin doesn't want ian's arm around him, he says so. if ian wants some of paladin's food, he says so. they're both very particular and very vocal about those opinions, but in the best way.

ian loves being with all of our little squirts and on saturday we will celebrate our youngest nephew's first birthday. each of them is a gift.

thankful for family. and that tomorrow is friday:)

larissa

Why I Love Uncle Ian

"i love uncle ian. just for fun."