Roger arrived home about midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning. We stayed up late "talking"... You can read into that however much or little you'd like. :) The boys greeted Roger about 6:30 am, and I was surprised that they waited that long! :) We enjoyed our morning coffee, breakfast, and then headed to the farmers market. Roger took Garett alone in the rental vehicle, so we would have one "date" squeezed in. :) It was so much fun to do the farmers market as a family. We feasted on carrots, kale, cucumbers, cheese, buffalo sticks, and lettuce...no need for lunch! :)
After the farmers market, Roger took four of the kids with him, and Chandler and I headed to run a few errands for the birthday party. We finished picking up the items we needed and came home to get ready for the party. We had some very excited children!
It was a fun evening, with good fellowship with friends and family. Travis and Garett were thrilled with the gifts they received. They both received nerf guns, and those have been a huge hit with all the boys! We've been running around the house chasing each other. :) The boys will have several thank you notes to write. :)
It was a late night on Saturday, but we have no regrets about the time we spent visiting and fellowshipping. How we've needed that!
Sunday was a full day with children's church, a church dinner, an afternoon service, and family time. Roger and I drove separate vehicles on Sunday, so that Roger could have some alone time with two more children going to church and on the way home. It was a special blessing to have Roger home as we were able to serve together in helping with the church dinner and children's church...one of the few times, I've felt complete at church this summer. It was a full day but a good day. Although we were both tired when we got home, the boys were ready to play with daddy. It was time for baseball, hide and seek, and wrestling...I went for a walk. :)
Monday was spent with a leisurely breakfast, doing work together as a family, and a date! Woo hoo!!
A friend, Tressa, came over about one, to watch the boys and Emma. Roger and I took off to celebrate nine years of marriage! We first went to find some athletic shoes for Roger as his are very worn out. Then we headed to High Cliff State park for an afternoon of hiking and visiting together. We had decided to drive the rental car so we could put the miles on a different vehicle. However, at the state park, we had to pay extra because we had out of state plates on the vehicle...oh well. We spent the afternoon hiking and discussing everything under the sun. We hiked five miles, took some great pictures, and enjoyed our time together. After the hike, we headed to dinner. We decided to go to Red Lobster since we had a gift card for there. :) We go there about once a year, and I'm glad it's a special treat...I'd be way too fat if I ate there often! However, it was delicious and I'll get back to the diet tomorrow. :) 
While we were hiking, we discussed all our past anniversaries.
Married in 2005
First anniversary...spent at home, with a newborn infant. (Garett was born 5 1/2 weeks early, so he interrupted our anniversary plans!)
Second anniversary...dinner at Red Lobster (I was pregnant with Chandler)
Third anniversary...dinner at Red Lobster (we were saving money for a house, so we decided not to go anywhere over night) and I spent the night crying as we discovered that I was pregnant with baby number three!
Fourth anniversary...stayed home...it had been a tumultuous summer for a variety of reasons, and we had eleven people at our house on our anniversary. And I was exclusively nursing our four month old little boy, Wyatt. :)
Fifth anniversary...stayed home...with a newborn :) (Travis had been born eight days earlier, and I was a tad overwhelmed with four boys in four years!)
Sixth anniversary...not pregnant or nursing!! :) (We had plans to go away, but a big storm came through; so we ended up spending the week end cleaning up the yard) We also figured out that out of 72 months of marriage, I had been pregnant or nursing for 67 of those months. :)
Seventh anniversary...Roger had just been laid off, and we were praying about taking our missions trip to Alaska...we did have dinner at Red Lobster. :)
Eighth anniversary... Emma was three weeks old. :) We did go out to dinner with some very dear friends.
Nineth anniversary...not pregnant and barely nursing! :) A whole afternoon we spent by ourselves, with five miles of hiking, and a great dinner...at Red Lobster. :)
Nine years...it's not been a walk in the park, we've had lots of challenges, but the good times far out weigh the bad! If I had to do it over again, I'd still pick this man that God has given me.
Tuesday...I spent the day trying not to think about Roger leaving. We enjoyed brunch with my parents, and a nice walk as a family. We decided not to have school today, and Travis missed the first day of 4-k; but we needed to spend as much time together as possible. None of the boys were sad about missing school. :) We did go get ice cream cones at the cheese store before Roger had to leave. Each time we have to say good bye, it gets a little harder on all of us. I try to stay up beat and positive for the kids, but honestly, I wanted to go home, eat ice cream, and have a nice cry...all by myself! But, with five small children, that didn't seem like a lot of fun. So instead, I went to the YMCA and worked out, which was the better choice for my diet. :) (I had lots of good food this weekend, and it wasn't all scale friendly!) After the YMCA, we did a little grocery shopping at Aldi, and then headed home. The boys spent time outside, while I tried to organize my thoughts for the rest of the week. Our schedule will be changing since Travis will now be having school in the mornings. So, it's back to setting the alarm for 5:30 for this mama. I also have quite a bit of Bible reading to catch up on. With Roger home this weekend, I kept distracting myself while I was trying to read my Bible! I would remember things that I wanted to ask him or tell him, and I am now behind...again! Oh well, at least I had great fellowship this weekend while I was drinking my coffee! :)
Please continue to pray for us. This was a rough day on all of us, with some of the kids showing more emotion than others, but I can tell we are all hurting and trying to pull this together. It's not been easy or fun, but I'm happy to think that we are on the downside of this journey. In two 1/2 weeks, Roger will come home for the weekend again, so at least it's not so long out there. Roger is hoping to have his instrument certification by the time he comes up in two 1/2 weeks, so please pray that he can get in the flying hours, the studying, and the test taken before he comes home again.
We've made some tough decisions as a couple this weekend, and we need continued prayers for the Lord's direction as we have more to make. Thanks for your prayers, Sarah
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