Happy Anniversary - 21 Years!

This is one of my favorite pictures from our 21st year of marriage. Our days and weeks can be so full, so full due to the amount of times we say yes to our five kiddos, we lay it all out there for our family. I like this picture because I like to see us invest in our friendship and our love. We have had some incredible adventures the past couple of years, Paris, London, Italy, Ireland, Bahamas, Fiji, Sedona....wowowow...so many fun adventures with a really fun girl.

Scottie, I love you. The last 21 years have been very full, much has changed, where we live, what our kids are into, what our 'careers' have become...I sell insurance and, you are a stay-at-home mama. Funny, if you asked us 20 years ago, or maybe 5 years ago, we would probably have different answers to what we would be doing. I know for me I have looked at the horizon quite a bit over the years - but now at 42 years old and 21 years married...wow that's weird, lol...I sense we are settling into our lives. And not in a "I guess this is it" negative or sad state...but more of a gratefulness. Our life is truly amazing exactly how it is - there is a sense of peace and harmony, I believe we are longing for at this current state, but we have what it takes to implement that here and now, we don't need a different house, job, more money, etc. We need to slow down a bit, pause, and steward the amazing life we have. I want to lean into the amazing fun girl I'm married to, the exotic place we live, the rad kiddos we have, and serve/steward the business God has blessed us with.

As I write this, I had to pause to join a team huddle. At the end, Shannon prayed, it was so kind and beautiful. In her prayer she asked God to bless our marriage, and thanked him for putting us together and creating not only a great family for ourselves, but also for creating Eureka which has become a family away from family for our team members. It was so sweet to hear because God has blessed us with this business, and we have put a lot of work in together to have the business we have. We have both sacrificed much and have really come from the very basics. No human did this for us, we "figured-out" marriage, kids, and growing a business and paying all our bills along they way. Sarah, we should be incredibly proud of where we are and celebrate the wins. There is much to be grateful for today. I love you and look forward to this next year of peace, love, joy, and adventures doing life with you.

Love, Ned

Sedona Adventure

Sedona Adventure

I love traveling with you.

Our trip to Sedona was fun. From the moment we landed we were on an adventure. I loved our long drive from the airport to meet the gang. Our conversation was rich and meant a lot to both of us. It was nice to connect and talk about life and what mattered to us both. As we have been settling into our new home we have been working to make an effort to deepen our friendship, connection, and our peace.

Sedona was fun. A highlight for me was crashing the CanAm. It was a bummer. But I had fun with you and love that you didn’t care, you didn’t make me feel bad about it. It’s a bit like our life, we go fast and have fun and sometimes it gets messy. I don’t want the messiness to bother us so much. I want to enjoy our time together and find peace even in the busy mess.

Free

Scottie,

Looking back over pictures from the past 6 months and I found this one of you dancing on the beach in Cancun. This was a fun night, and a great trip. It’s wild today is June, this moment seems like so long ago, in some ways we just fell back into the routines of life since this day in Cancun. But also, I have to remember we have four teens at home and a college student, and a dog, a new house, and a business. There’s a lot to manage, think about and take care of. The days are long and the years are short, funny how when you have little kids you think it will be easier when they are older, and it is in some ways, and in others it is so much harder. My hope is to create space for you to have this feeling of peace and freedom on regular days like today. Love you.