Until...

There are some things that are unimaginable, unfathomable, and hard to wrap your mind and heart around, until you become a mother.  The oh so grand, keeps you awake at night, heart wrenching, lovely, type of love that comes with the birth of your children.  The type of love that is unmoved even when the kids are driving you up the wall and you think you can't take another minute of disciplining them.  The type of love that brings you to tears when you see a diaper commercial and realize one of your kids is too big for diapers and the other soon will be.  This kind of love is the biggest kind of love and I believe it to be the closest to the love that God has for us.
It is this love that has made me laugh, cry, swell with pride, learn to give everything I have to someone else, and many other things that have made me a better person.  It is also this same love that drives me.  It forces me to be aware at all times and to think of all scenarios so as to keep my children safe in all situations.  I would climb mountains, dive into the ocean, run in front of traffic, kill a person, if it meant keeping my children safe.  This is how crazy one becomes after becoming a mother.
I remember thinking my mom was crazy..turns out she was..crazy with a love for her kids.  And now I feel that same kind of craziness and I understand what my mom was thinking when I was younger.  As crazy as this love makes me feel, I really hope that I also learn to let go when the time is right.  There are stepping stones in every child's life where they need to be let go, little by little, until, when the all too soon day comes and they become adults and the mother has to give the final let go.  This is the heart wrenching part of the crazy mom love.  Letting go.  Letting go of the person you fed, changed, bathed, taught, and loved like no other.  Letting go and hoping they listened to your instruction along the way.  Letting go and hoping they remember the crazy love and appreciate it.  Letting go and letting God...

Date night...

There was a time when I thought I would be single forever.  I dated, but no one came close to being right.  I remember the Christmas after I turned 24, I joked with my family that I would probably be the one who was 40 and still single at all the holidays.  It was a joke, but I almost thought there was some truth to it.
Who would have thought God had something truly wonderful up His sleeve?  6 months later He introduced me to Mr. Right.  It was very unexpected.
I was leading Young Life for Emerald Ridge and ended up going to Malibu, Canada for the high school camp. So did my husband.  He wasn't my husband yet, but in 5 short days, and a few little conversations with him later, I knew he would be.
While at camp, I was told I should talk to him, so I did.  Our first conversation was awkward.  I could've sworn he was rolling his eyes at me (he says he wasn't), so I thought he wasn't interested.  But after some more quick hellos, and little chats, it was clear God had something planned.  I went home from that trip and texted my sister to tell her that I'd met my husband.
After getting back home to Puyallup, I realized there was a problem, my future hubby never got my number. So I didn't know what was going to happen.  Well, a couple days later I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize and it was him!  He called around to some YL staff to get my number.  He asked me out over the phone and the rest was a whirlwind.
I say whirlwind because it all happened so fast.  Who tells someone "I love you" on the 5th date? We did.  Who gets engaged after 2 months of knowing each other? We did. And who gets married in Vegas after only 3 months of dating and one month engaged?? We did!  People think it's crazy and say you shouldn't move so fast, but when God lets you know something is right and illustrated by Him, why not jump in?  God doesn't lead us astray.
3 years and 3 months and almost 3 kids later, we're still married and still going on dates.  In fact we went on a date last night.  A first date of sorts, because we hadn't really been on one since our anniversary in November.  We had fun. We laughed, we held hands, we shared a dessert, we shopped...things that dating couples do. It's hard to keep dating after marriage, but we're trying.  It keeps our marriage strong.
That's our little love story...kind of fitting to share it on this Valentine's Day weekend.  Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones!