May in Our Home

We experienced an unseasonably beautiful and warm May here in central Illinois. May was busy! It brought Julian's first birthday, my college graduation and my little sister's high school graduation three weekends in a row. We finally had a break to breathe Memorial day weekend and celebrated by simply relaxing!

We enjoyed Julian's birthday as a family by taking him on a picnic and playing at the park. A dear friend of our family gifted us a photo shoot for his birthday and we took advantage of the gorgeous weather on his special day by taking the pictures at her home and the nearby park where we picnicked. We have been blessed to cultivate friendship with her and her family over the past two years and are incredibly grateful for them! I am a big believer in practical gifts, especially when the recipient doesn't know any different :), so we gave Julian a floppy sun hat, a new amber teething necklace and a stainless steel sippy water bottle for his birthday. He has worn the necklace 24/7 since we put it on him, we have not had a chance to try out the hat and the sippy cup is a bit of a learning curve for this exclusively-breastfed-never-had-a-bottle child, so we are still working on that one!

We traveled to Chicago for my  graduation from Moody Bible Institute the second weekend in May. Although I officially finished up classes and graduated last May, I was too busy recovering from having a baby the week before to participate in the commencement ceremony last year! To be honest, I was not looking forward to the stress of traveling and staying away from home etc., but I am exceedingly glad that my parents convinced me to go through with walking in the ceremony. Besides having the satisfaction of actually walking across the stage to receive my diploma rather than just getting it in the mail along with bills and other day-to-day things, I was able to see my friends that I lived with for three years all together one last time before we dispersed, quite literally, across the globe to do the work the Lord has prepared for us. I was especially grateful to get to visit with one of my floormates and her husband who will be doing work in India this summer. She shared some special news with me that I would have missed out on had I not gone to commencement. I was able to encourage her and her husband in a special way that I would not have been able to do otherwise. I also spent some time with my roommate of two years and was able to meet her entire family for the first time. It is sobering to think that it is quite possible that I will not see some of these amazing women I lived with for three years again this side of heaven. I praise the Lord for the work He has called each of us to do and sincerely hope that we will all be reunited again on this earth!

With all the major events going on, I was afraid Mother's Day would end up an after thought. We had lunch with my husband's mom and her family, then came home and took a much needed nap. In the evening, my sweet husband gave me a handmade card and took me and Julian on a hike at the nature center near our apartment. We finished the night with frozen yogurt from a local shop.

My one and only sister graduated from high school the weekend after my college graduation. This was also a bittersweet ceremony as it marked for my parents the end of a seventeen year relationship with Peoria Christian School. The ceremony was beautiful and my sister even more so, of course!

We are looking forward to a summer filled with birthdays, our second anniversary, weddings, VBS, a big move and more!