The Love of My Life

8 years ago today, I married the most amazing man in the world! That's right ladies, he is TAKEN! I can honestly say, I am more in love with him than ever. God continues to amaze me in the "grace upon grace" that He is just pouring out on us everyday! There is no absolute way our marriage would be this strong without the Lord! So to God we give the glory for 8 amazing years and many more to come! Love you Babe!

80's Night at youth retreat -
and our really cool youth in the background!

My Husband

Yesterday I shared about my dad, today I want to celebrate my husband, who also happens to be the father of my children!

This man means the world to me! I admire him more and more as I watch him be a father. He inspires me to love better, be more patient, and savor the moment. His unending love for our kids is a joy to watch.

He loves to wrestle with Micah or play virtually any sport. He has turned into his coach. Their favorite moments right now are to play one-on-one basketball, or just yesterday I watched them take turns at the slip n slide! I think it hurt Ed more! Right now he is also just stealing moments with Micah to teach him who God is. One of them is that God is Mighty. To be married to a man that values the things that will stand forever, is invaluable!Caleb has captured both of our hearts right now with his humor and dynamic personality. Ed loves to wrestle with Caleb as well, but Caleb is also very different from Micah and so his relationship with his dad is different as well. I love to watch Caleb crawl up in his lap and ask his daddy to "read". With Caleb now picking up new words all the time, it is precious to hear him yell "Daaaaddddyyyyy!" when he wakes up in the morning. Ed knows just how to make Caleb giggle, which brings us all to laughter at the sound of his little laugh!Haleigh, well this is a new experience for him. She has captured his heart from day one as I've said many times before! The way she lights up when she sees him is ADORABLE! He loves to just sit in the chair in her room and stare at her as he holds her. Or sometimes, he'll read her a story. I know that her addition to our family has changed the dynamic forever! I LOVE the relationship that they will have!
To my dear husband, I love you and am so grateful to walk through this thing called life with you! I cannot imagine doing it without you! The joy that you bring to our lives is indescribable and for that I am so thankful for you today!

My Dad

Considering its Father's Day, I wanted to give my dad a little shout out! My dad is the best dad I could ever ask for! I've come to realize in my life that there was no mistake or luck or just by chance that he is my dad and I am his daughter. God placed us together by his design.

In celebrating him, let me tell you a little about him...

-He is madly in love with my mom. As in every marriage, they have had their share of difficulties, by never in my life did I ever doubt my dad's love for my mom. And as a child to have that security is EVERYTHING! They have always been openly affectionate, and enjoy each other's company - two things that have carried over into my marriage thanks to their example!

-He has overcome obstacles with strength and perseverance. Whether it is working his way from the bottom up in his career or walking through hard times, he has set the example to push through your circumstances. I wish I could go on and on about this one, but I won't!

-He is fun! My dad is always the source of entertainment. He will always play games, sports especially! He was always the uncle that played football with all the cousins, or took all the kids to the playground. He likes to make a game out of anything!
-He is funny! My dad has his own sense of humor that makes me laugh. His sarcasm and sometimes twisted MacPherson sense of humor is just "home" to me! One of my favorite childhood memories that happened all the time is watching my aunts and uncles sit around while playing games and just laugh together! That side splitting laugh where you can barely breathe!

-He is confident in who is he! Because of the last two, he is naturally very silly too! And so with that comes this confidence that he doesn't care what others think about him. I am very different and he knew it! He loved to embarrass me as a kid, and now I can say that I'm somewhat thankful for it! ha!-He is a man's man! There is not one feminine thing about my dad! He LOVES to watch and play sports. He loves action movies, even the ones with no purpose other than to just blow things up! He loves to be outside! He is really good at home improvement, you should see my parents' bathroom that they did! He's tough - think sledge hammer to the thumb and lots of blood all in the name of serving the church! He loves to do things with his son! I would've loved to hear his thoughts and be there when he found out he had a son after having two daughters!-He loves his girls! He has three daughters and he has that quality. You know the one! The one you see in men who have daughters. There is just something different, something soft to them. And I LOVE that! He has made it through two weddings with one more daughter to marry off. And I will never forget that moment in the back of the church with him before we walked down the aisle. Priceless!

-He is a Pop (or grandfather)! Our kids LOVE him and always want to go to "Pop's House"! And its been nice having him do some work down in the Richmond area because we've been able to meet him for dinner and get to see him here and there! -He is a Believer! God brought him to Himself later in life, and I had the pleasure of experiencing that! To see him be transformed from the old to the new is a top ten moment in my life!

Dad, I love you! I hope that you feel honored and loved and respected this weekend! Know that we love you and are SO blessed to have you in our lives!

Haleigh - 7 Months

My little girl is getting SO big! As Ed and I often say, we wish we could just hit the pause button on our kids! They are growing up SO fast and I want it to stop!

Here's the latest on Haleigh girl...
- she is eating rice cereal, green beans, carrots, and starting her on pears today! She eats really well, but so far the cereal is her fave!- she weighs a whopping 15 lbs 11oz, which I think is big, but is only in the 25% for weight
- she measures 25.5 inches in length, again 25% for height. Sorry dad, no shipping off to tennis training!
- Her head is a different story...75% anybody? Apparently we have big heads over here! I mean, have you seen Caleb's?
- She LOVES people. She has never met a person she didn't like! She will smile at anyone, let anyone hold her. She just makes you feel like you are the coolest person in the world!
- Caleb and Micah make her laugh probably the easiest. She loves watching them play. Like this picture, she is laughing at Micah! So Sweet!- She is sitting up now, with the help of the boppy.- Now that she is rolling over, she is officially a tummy sleeper.
- And as far as the paci goes, its history! Its all thumb, baby!

Wordless Wednesday...Cool Points - Right Here!

Guess what we did this week...

and p.s. why are my wordless wednesdays not so much "wordless"?

Stale

That is the word that comes to mind when I think about my life right now. I know the amazing blessings that I have right before me everyday, and yet somehow, someway in the deepest parts of my soul, things are just, well, stale. Where's the joy? Where's the excitement?

Isn't it funny how (at least for me!) you come to the point where things are not right? You've identified at least that, but then you don't really know why or where to go from here. That's how I felt last night. Frustrated, not knowing what to do with my new realizations that things are not right.

So this morning I continued reading in our small group book and it hit me. (Don't you just love that?) I've been looking for the joy in my circumstances. I know joy doesn't come from the circumstances, but I was looking for God to give me joy in those circumstances. Because after all, I do know that joy comes from the Lord.

I just wanted to Lord to revive my heart and to help me experience the joy that I know I should feel when I'm taking care of the kids, cleaning, cooking, doing ministry things, etc. But I was missing one MAJOR piece. And you know what, it is SO simple and yet SO complex!

I realized that I have gotten really good at this thing we call the "Christian life". You know, I discipline the heart of the child not the behavior, I read God's Word, I do Beth Moore studies, I love my husband, I serve serve serve, I even teach some, etc etc etc. But I also realized it has almost become routine, it's just what I do. And so I read in this book, "I realized that duty, forced obedience, and works never satisfied my soul."

All those good things can never satisfy my soul. They can never bring me a lasting joy. And then I read this, "When a maiden is in love with her dance partner, she is delighted in the dance, totally engaging her heart with her beloved partner. She looks into his eyes, seeing his admirable qualities, living in the deep joy of the moment of being held in her lover's arms."

I was missing Him! I am so caught up in living for Him, that I forget why! IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM! My heart had become stale because I forgot what it was like to be in love with Him. He is the reason I should want to do any of these good things. Pleasure and joy is only found in His presence. And that is exactly what I wanted.

My book said, "Clearly joy is an issue of the heart. Joy is not found in performing for people or in doing all the right things for God. Nor is joy in the absence of difficulties or problems. Joy is found in the presence of God in the midst of all circumstances, in delighting in the life he has given."

And so I leave you with this...

"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11

The life of a Martin Boy

I (Ed) grew up with two older brothers. I guess that means I don't have to explain much else. But I will. My brothers and I hardly spent much time inside when we were little. We had odd, but exciting imaginations where we would go outside and make up weird games and create projects. Summers were not filled with camps and cello practice. Instead, we would be in the backyard early in the morning and come in either when it got dark or after the mosquitos had completely emptied our skinny little legs. Our backyard did not have a blade of grass from 1980-1997.
Thought I'd give that background before you saw the following pictures. Life as a Martin boy is never boring, always imaginative, and typically outside.

The muscle men helping dad wash the car.

The boys repainted and rebuilt part of the mailbox post.

This is where it gets interesting. Katie and I bought new dining room chairs which means six 3 foot boxes. Can't let those go to waste. They became the meanest defenders you've ever seen...thanks to my sweet art skills (thanks Mrs. Hadley). Micah wanted to impersonate each one.

This guy was my favorite. Long live summer.