Family Time!

During our 13 year marriage,  we have always enjoyed our Sunday drives.  In recent years it certainly  has not happened as often.  We have 2 little ones that don't travel really great so we only recently have tried to get out on the road a little more again.  Till the new baby arrives, then our outings will be less once again.  

Daddy TK and I spent the first 6 years of our marriage on the road, travelling across Canada, and going to Florida for the weekend, we went on road trips to escape our reality at the time.  We were dealing with infertility and we were dealing with all the emotions and frustrations that come with that.  Especially things that people say, and do.  Church became something we would avoid.  Something only a suffer of infertility would really understand. 

Travelling became a way of coping, and dealing with stress.   We spent so much time together, building our marriage, and just loving each other the way that we were in the that moment.  We talked about everything and anything, and we fought too.  We never fought about us, but about circumstances around us.  

Lady Tor Tor and Daddy TK in Spakenburg
Netherlands

In Utrecht Netherlands 

We have learned that Family time, with or with out kids present is very important.  We have learned to communicate, and we don't burry our heads in the sand when something is getting under our skin.  We have had the time, with out having children to develop those communication skills, however it is alway changing and adapting. Especially since we became parents.  Our First baby Lady Tor Tor, travelled so well, perhaps because she had to be, we took her everywhere.  She went on a plane the first time at 5 weeks old, and slept like a rock the whole flight.  However our second baby Emi-lou did not travel well at all.  When she was about 3 weeks old we drove 20 hours to Florida, and she screamed nearly the whole way.  She was a very stressful baby. Severe sleep deprivation and weariness left us feeling deflated and defeated and we for a time did not communicate well.  It boiled over a few times, and depression had found its place around our home for both of us.  I was suffering from post partum depression.  We were building a house at the time too, and it was one of the coldest winters on record that year, and our foundations lay at the mercy of the weather, unless guarded by our heaters and generators that had to be refuelled 2 times a day.  Our family trip we thought we would take to rebuild our communication, ended up being one that stressed us out even more.  It was not till our family went on a trip to the Netherlands that we were given a chance to redeem our travelling, and we had an amazing trip.  A trip of a life time, that we had only dreamed of going on, so it was well anticipated. In the booking stages of our trip we found out that we were pregnant with baby Lady A.  I was 36 weeks pregnant when we went to the Netherlands and it was  unseasonably cold, and hot in the 2 weeks that we were there.  I can't wait to return to my heritage home, with out being pregnant, and truly enjoy all that there is to see. We fell in love with Holland and our Heritage. It was a beautiful place.   We would love to do so much more travelling Lord willing. But in these crazy baby years, we have had to slow down, but we hope that we will be able to enjoy time with our Children, while they are young, creating memories and avoiding the TV screens, and getting out to enjoy the world that God has created and the diverse world that awaits for us to discover.    Having lost my mom at a young age, I want to make sure that my children get to enjoy all the time they can with us.  I just hope and pray that Lord willing we will be able to take more trips, enjoy weekend drives, making Time for Family time.  Life stresses are always mounting and I think family time is where your foundations are laid for your children, for the future generations.  Playing games, watching a movie or two here and there.  

~Mommy AK