LOVE AS A WAY OF LIFE By: Gary Chapman

Book review ahead!

This book is from the guy who wrote the 5 languages of love thing. He talked about the 5 ways we want to be loved: acts of service, gifts, quality time, words of affirmation and physical touch. In this book he is doing a sort of "prequel" to the 5 languages. He said that in counseling people he found that the 5 languages was a great revelation, but it did not push people to want to act. They were, in fact, sometimes put off by the fact that they discovered their husband/wife's love language was acts of service. They still weren't going to DO any of that stuff. This book discusses the 7 traits of a loving person, habits we need to cultivate in order to become loving people. Its not enough to KNOW what love language someone desires, we must BE a loving person in order to put that knowledge into action.

The first premise is a relief for me: love is an action, not a feeling. An action can be put into practice, or practiced. Feelings are fleeting and ever changing. I've always heard that love is a decision, you decide to love and this book explains that statement very well.

The seven secrets are: kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity and honesty. Its easy to read that list and think, "well, yeah" but Chapman gives such practical advice mixed with illustrations that you find yourself learning without meaning to.

This is the book that will give you the proper motivation to love others (Christ) and the tools to pull it off better than you are currently. It will give you the tools to being a better parent, co-worker, spouse, friend. Most of all, its a simple reminder that your job here on earth is to love.

So, want a free copy???
Comment below, or check facebook and leave a comment and I'll randomly pick someone (I can mail this one to you easy!)

14 Years

Yup, its that time, the anniversary~ 14 years!
Check out the lovely flowers from my sweetie!
Cam took the pic...

We had a lovely evening, Stu even brought home some olive garden salad and tiramisu to go with dinner! He's GOOD!

Kitchen

Not that anyone really cares (other than Amanda, bedrest is a bummer) our kitchen has been a source of contention since day one. Stu's wanted a new table in there, not the big dining room set. The last house had only a dining room and not an eat in kitchen. Here we had both. But I thought the dining room should be used as a playroom for awhile. WRONG. Guess who NEVER played in the wide open empty room. The kids never set foot in there. So we decided, lets let is function as a dining room.

Now, do we get a new table? Stu wanted a pub table, the tall ones. I wanted to use the old table from when we were first married. I refinished the darn thing, so it adds about 2 million dollars to its value in my book. We talked, looked, talked for about 4 months. Then in a fit of brilliance we decided the old table was the perfect size, but its the chairs we hated. Sooooo, here's the new look. Different chairs all around...one of the old ones that goes with the set, a white chair that's actually a highchair with the tray and arms cut off (perfect for Em) and two new ones and the fun summer/cottage adirondack chair thrown in for fun.

WAY more than you needed...???

Quote of the day

Since there is NO such thing as Claritin clear with me, only Claritin SUPER tired, this is what was overheard from Emmy as I put in a VHS tape:

"Did you put in Jesus?"

Me, "Nope, Barney"

Cracked me up, the whole conversation.
Could just be the medicine

Photo shoot at Grandparents

While Bu had Swim lessons

Em got to hang out in the pool with Cam, she did really well at not getting in the way. She LOVES the water!!

Swim Lessons

Cam had a few swim lessons that were AWESOME~ he learned a lot and more than anything his confidence in being in the water ramped up WAY high!

The only thing really left to work on is the rolling his head to breathe. He worked on it, but didn't quite get it yet. But, going from NOT swimming at the beginning of the summer to now...crazy man in the water, jumping off the diving board! Its wonderful! Thank you Jordan for the lessons

The 5th of July, the lesser known holiday

For some reason here the park district has a bash on the 5th of July...fireworks, concert...the whole nine yards.

We were invited over to a bash at Jane's house with LOTS of super YUM food (chess cake, Stuart was in heaven, oh that silly Weight Watchers)

The kids had SO much fun with the glow bracelets Miss Angie supplied!!

Unfortunately the fireworks didn't start until 11pm-ish (and by ish I mean later) Ugg.

Tired kids, melting down...but fireworks, you just can't leave early.

The pic of Em is her taking a "picture" of me

Cincinnati Reds

While in Cinti for Stu's conference we hit a Red's game! Stu blew the whole entertainment budget on some AWESOME seats! They were WONDERFUL and it kept both kids pretty into the game. Hard to do with Em! The Cotton Candy didn't hurt :)

We saw a bunch of home runs from both sides, unfortunately the Red's lost. However Emmy did get to meet the mascot, Mr. Red Legs, with whom she was infatuated.

Cam was TOTALLY pumped up for the game and enjoyed EVERY single bit of the experience. Beautiful night at the ball park. It reminded me of a certain game we went to with Frank and Amanda...Cubs, Wrigley, down right near the field...baseball at the actual park is a beautiful thing.

carousel...

At the zoo waterpark

The kids were so great at the zoo. There's a splash park there and Cam helped Em do the slides...I LOVE the way he took care of her, holding her shoulders, making sure she stayed in line and getting her down the slide safely. WHAT A GREAT BIG BROTHER!

Then, ofcourse, the carousel, always a crowd pleaser!

Important Info

If you are planning on a short trip of any kind it is IMPERATIVE that:
NO ONE sleeps the night before

This gives the grumpy children and parents some quality yelling time trapped in the car together.
It will be simply lovely.

Currently I'm finishing packing (ummm. blogging) whilst the children have been sent to their respective rooms and are lying in their beds. GRUMPY.