Reflection

The Artist and I just celebrated our 13th year of marriage!

I am so grateful for our life together, he makes me strong when I know I am weak. He wants me to be happy, he wants me to feel loved, he calls me out when I am grumpy and loves our children to his core.

I've looked back and we were soooo young when we said "I do." But I wouldn't change that... we've gotten to grow up together, and learn from our mistakes together. I've had a best friend to cry on, be silly with and a best friend to hold me close for these 13 years I've never felt alone.

The Artist just finished 2 portraits of my Great Grandparents. My 85 year old grandmother asked him to do them for her, I think they are beautiful!

Sorry about the weird angel of the photo... but I wanted to include the original photograph that he drew them from.

I've been thinking a lot about family lately and how hard it has been these past almost 5 years to not be in easy range of any family. It's almost made me too independent... I really don't like asking for help and since there is no family around I haven't asked for help from anyone. I wish it was easier for me to make friends and create a foe-family here, but it's not easy to me. One of my new mantra's is "I can do hard things." I need to implement that into my friend making skills too. It was so easy to make friends at the place I worked because I saw them almost every day and I had to talk to them and work with them as a team... on my own at home it's much harder. I guess I'm kind of self conscious, I'm a little weird and have a dry sense of humor I'm always afraid that I will say something and then there will be awkward silence and then who ever I am talking to will never speak to me again. O.K. yeah, I think I need to work on that...Maybe since I am posting this publicly I will be held accountable for trying harder at building that foe-family... If you are reading this please leave me comments with tips. That is, unless I scared you away...

I love my little family of four, they are my life and I live for them. I am so blessed to be here right now in my life. My children are hilarious and adorable and I have my Man by my side in thick and thin. I hope to always remember the good things and not dwell (too much) and the hard stuff and instead hike through it and make it a good thing.