Friday, April 17, 2009

I Have A New Sister!

Hooray! Eric and Bruna were married in Estacada, OR on Saturday March 21st. The wedding and reception were beautiful and I've never seen Eric so happy. I got to spend the week with Eric, Bruna and her mother - who flew all the way from Brazil to be at the wedding! Bruna is the sweetest girl ever. It's no wonder that Eric loves her. So they are back happily in Myrtle Beach and looking forward to their honeymoon to Brazil in July. There are lots of pictures from the wedding, so take some time to look around the blog!

Life in Vale is going well. We have started the garden for this year and it is even bigger than last year. But now that Addison can walk around outside I hope to be able to work a little more than last year. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a hobby garden, because sometimes it feels like more work than I would like, but I know I will be happy with the harvest this fall.

Our home in Ohio still hasn't sold. We are getting so frustrated. Spring Break came and went with a few people through, but no offers. The repairs are done from where the house was broken into in January and the yard looks great thanks to Larry and Misty. I don't know what the hold up is. So we just continue to wait! At least we have wonderful family to wait with. We are still happily living with Ruston's parents - going on 11 months now! Not many people could do that. But Heavenly Father has blessed us all with a little more patience and a lot of love. Things are really great here. I'm so thankful for wonderful in-laws who are quickly becoming very dear friends.

Elli is currently suffering from croup - lots of fun! It's a virus so there's not much to do but, again, sit and wait. That seems to be an ongoing theme in our lives! We read lots of books and she gets to watch a little more tv than usual. But she's still an active three year old who doesn't really want to sit still unless she has to. But thank goodness for Cars and Lightning McQueen. We've watched it every day this week and that keeps her happy for the rest of the day.

Ruston's office is doing well. He's cut down to seeing patients three days a week for now. The business seems to go in cycles - 6 months ago it was slow too. But then it picked back up. He still keeps busy on the off days though. Sometimes he works at the local prison and sometimes he just works in the office catching up on paperwork or business meetings with associates. He hasn't found time to go golfing yet this year, but I'm sure it won't be much longer now. It's hard to believe he hasn't been working for even a full year. This sure has been a wonderful year!

We hope you are all having a great year too. Enjoy the sunshine and don't forget to tell your spouse that you love them every single day.

p.s. I am reading a wonderful book about strengthening marriages - not that there is any problem with mine, but with the marriages of our friends and family falling apart all around us we figured it's better to not have a problems to begin with! The author says these three points:

1. Treat your spouse as if you loved them with your last breath - no matter how contrary to that you might feel at any one moment.
2. Think hard every day about how you can make their life worth living.
3. Be the kind of person you would want to love, hug, come home to, and sarcrifice for.

So I say, if your life/marriage isn't happy - you have to change yourself. You change it with an outpouring of love and affection - not demands and ultimatums. What have you done to strengthen your marriage today? Comment on the blog and share positive things you've done lately to help build your marriage. I know a few people out there who might benefit from your experiences.

Love, Alesha