So long Jeep!!

Well first off, 2 blogs in just a few days... Crazy!!!

We have had quite the week Tuesday Mike and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary and on Monday we picked up our new to us car. A 2004 Toyota Sienna, 69,000 Miles on it. Leather interior, seat warmers, Airconditioning, automatic sliding doors... AND SO MUCH MORE!! When we got this car we had to say GOOD BYE TO our Jeep. The Jeep has so much history and so many stories I thought I would blog the Memory of our Beloved and Yet Hated Jeep.


Let's start at the beginning.... The day the Jeep was bought...

Summer going into my Sr. Year I was traveling for Eastern Nazarene College Summer Ministries Program. Now during my off days (one afternoon a week) I would call Mike well... One week Mike inquires saying he's thinking about buying a car. I personally didn't think he was serious. Maybe I hoped he was trying to throw me off for what I really wanted him to purchase... YES a diamond ring! Anyways we talked about it, and my only requirement is that it not be a sports car... (I am usually the forward thinker and I knew what ever car he bought would have to last awhile including the start of a family... I KNOW I didn't even have a ring) All this to say I thought we were just talking about it didn't anticipate what was to come...

Sure enough... It was My birthday and Mike was going to drive up to Windsor Hills to see me for my birthday... Oh the anticipation... (Could this be it?? Could the ring be coming??) Well he was late getting there and He met me in the chapel. He took me outside to get my present... (Oh the excitement)... And what do I see A Green 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Mike proceeds to say, "LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT US" (my thoughts: us? oh there is no us I don't have a ring on my finger?)

Follow up story... So Several months later... October to be exact. Mike has purchased the much anticpated ring... He gets the call it's ready and desides he will pick it up on his way to work. Well after he picks it up he is heading to work in "Our" beloved Jeep. Well sure enough someone stops short in front of him and sure enough Mike hits the car smashing the front left side of "Our" Green Jeep Grand Cherokee. So when Mike comes to pick me up for our date he is driving his parents Previa... And that Night he finally asked me to be his wife... He'd want you all to know that I said, "NO", but in my defense I didn't believe it was actually happening cause I had waited so long!! hahahaha

Other Crazy things that happened to this Jeep...

• Weeks after purchasing this vehical Mike was parked in the ENC Gym parking lot and when he came out he found that the lock on the Front passengers side had been tampered with Someone was trying to break into the jeep but mike was playing with the alarm and scared the guy off. (yea that was never fixed hahaha)
• Had to spend a fortune on something with the Gas Tank or Fuel Line... (I still don't know just know it was a lot of money)
• Bumper got Yanked off as mike hastily backed out of the Caldwell's driveway. And he didn't even notice until I called him at ENC and said "are you missing something on the JEEP??" hahaha
• Cameron had his first febral siezure in the Jeep cause it was a summer day and the stinking car didn't have AC. Actualy a total of 2 seizures in the Jeep.
• As we traded her in... Cameron's window no longer closed... The Back Trunk door had no Cover on the interior exposing Wires and Lightbulbs... No AC (haven't had that in like 4years) Power Locks were all messed up some doors locked Some doors didn't.
  

With all these crazy things...I must give Credit where Credit is due...Mike WAS thinking ahead and he did buy "US", OUR first FAMILY CAR!!! (yes I'm tearing up) This Green Jeep brought us home as a newly married Bride and Groom, it carried home our two beautiful babies, and has taken us to Maine, the Cape, Niney's house, Auntie Anne's Pool, Cook outs at Uncle Bob and Auntie Jes' house, the park, and so much more. Who knew that The Green Jeep Grand Charokee purchased by a 22 year old bachelor would take us to so many places where FABULOUS FAMILY memories have been made!

So GOOD BYE JEEP!!! And Thanks MIKE For being the Best Husband! God has certainly used you to make all my dreams come true. I'm grateful to God for giving me, YOU!!

Who knew a car could drudge up so much emotion... If you have a Mike and Megan Jeep Memory Share we'd love to hear it.

The Simple Life

So one week ago we just got back from vacation! While on vacation I found myself saying... I want to enjoy my family every day as if I'm on vacation!! How can I do that? The response I kept hearing is SIMPLIFY! Simplify your house, Simplify your Schedule. In two months My son will be turning FIVE, Yes FIVE, One more time FIVE!! Where did the time go?? I feel like time is just running make that sprinting by me. For those that don't know me I LOVE the toddler & preschool ages!(Language development, Independance, Logic and Reasoning, they reach for Hugs & Cuddles So CUTE, So FUN TO WATCH, Just so exciting!) And in one short year my son will be entering the School Age Years. I must simplify before it passes me by! Granted I'm with Cameron & Sadie everyday, but the question is am I enjoying "THEM" everyday, or am I distracted by to many hats that I have on my head. I think in this year God most certainly wants me to take the time every day to breath; enjoy the sunset, the smile on the faces of my children, and when I'm REALLY lucky All of it at the same time....

A Parenting Inspiration

I just recently read the Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. What a Sad and Yet inspiring book. If you haven't read it I promise not to give away the endings or any unknowns... I just want to share with you one inspiring thought... (with the understanding that the characters are fictional)

The book is descirbed on the back cover as such... "An unforgettable story of love in all its myriad forms- First love, Love between parents and children."

Now when I first picked this book up I was in it for the Romance, the "first love" part of the book. However by the end I was inspired by the love of a parent for his child... The kind of parent I want to be to my two beautiful children.

The Father shares with his daughter his favorite verse in the Bible and this is how it reads...
"It's Galatians 5:22,' he said, pressing the Bible flat in his lap. He cleared his throat before he started. 'But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.'
"She watched him as he read the verse, remembering how she'd acted and she'd first arrived and how he'd responded to her anger. She remembered the times he'd refused to argue with her mom, even when she'd tried to provoke him. She'd seen that as weakness and often wished her father were different. But all at once, she new she'd been wrong about everything.
"Her dad, she saw now, had never been acting alone. The Holy Spirit had been controlling his life all along."

This is how I want my children to see me... Filled with the Holy Spirit. Seeing in me love, joy, peace, PATIENCE.... I find that with my preschool age children these qualities are not always overflowing within me and I daily have to remind myself to pray and breath so that the Holy Spirit can shine through especially in those moments where what I really want to do is scream and pull my hair out.

How could anyone feel that way when you see this picture of my two precious cuties

Trust Me they have their moments... (Sadie has lotion all over her forehead)