8 Years Later

     8 years ago many of you joined us at Newbridge Baptist Church in Asheville, NC as we got married and started our lives together as one.  Eight years later we still live in Asheville at Buckshot Ridge (we still love that name!).  I'm no longer a teacher in the public school system but a teacher/stay at home mother to two small boys.  Mark continues to provide for us through many avenues, primarily the bread route, and it keeps him plenty busy. 
     8 years later, we may look a little older, our bodies may have changed a bit, and our energy levels are significantly less however we are more in love now than ever, filled with more joy, and have the best time raising a family of Schuurman men.  We used to stay up late and go out all hours of the night.  Now, we're up late, but it's usually to soothe a crying child or find a teddy bear that's fallen out of bed.  We used to sleep in until 10am on Saturdays.  Now 10am on Saturdays is about Mark's fourth hour of work and usually the time he's cracking into his "lunch."  We used to dance to all kinds of worldly music when we'd go out on the town.  Now we dance in the kitchen in our pajamas, with our boys and each other.  We used to go to church just because it's what you're supposed to do and it was a good thing.  Now we enjoy SERVING at our church and WORSHIPING the Lord because we WANT to.  God has brought us through a lot these past 8 years, and especially this eighth year of marriage.  We praise Him for what He's done in our lives and what He will do in the future.  Even if He does nothing more, He's done enough. 
     We took pictures this afternoon on the quad at UNCA with our growing family, like we do every Fall.  That's where we met and it all started.  It will forever hold a special place in our hearts.  After taking pictures we went to Yoshida Express (my personal favorite restaurant) and enjoyed supper together.  We discussed what the next 8 years may hold for us.  We wondered if we'd have two MORE boys in the next 8 years.  Only our sweet Lord knows, but time will tell.  Just for the record, Mark thinks we're going to have 3 boys and 1 girl.  He's said this all along and so far, he's right.  Time will tell.  But we not only hope for 8 more years but at least 88!  We pray for many more years of marriage and look forward to sharing our journey of raising a family with you. :)

We were standing in front of Karpen Hall.  It's where a friend and I would meet Mark after our science class and his economics class.  Little did I know then that this, "crush" I had would lead to a life-long partner.

Love them.

Pictures from our visit with the Hausers

     I forgot to post pictures of Madison and the boys on the last blog, so here they are. :)

This was so cute.  They did it on their own!

Just like in the movies. ;)

Peek-a-boo!

This cracks me up.

2 Weekends of Fun

Sorry for the delay (again) but... well, you know...life is busy with two small boys.  Anyhow, here's the recap of our past two weekends of fun with these two fun fellas.
     Seth and Rebecca Denton are very good friends of ours and Seth was in our wedding.  3 years ago he was diagnosed with lymphoma but praise God he has been cancer free for 2 years since completing all his chemo.  Two Saturdays ago we drove to Mt. Holly for a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where Mark played in a corn-hole tournament.  Their cancer team was called the "Chemo-Saab-ees" and everyone there had a lot of fun.  Marcus played with the Denton boys (Luke and Benjamin) as well as the other children there.  Titus enjoyed being snuggled by both Seth's and Rebecca's mothers.  They are SWEET and genuinely SOUTHERN people.  They have an even stronger accent than mine (hard to believe, huh?). :)
     All during the week we studied the letter C, but it's tricky because we only studied words with the hard c sound like cat, cow, camera, computer, etc.  C as in cinnamon and ch as in chicken will be a whole separate lesson.  Our "field trip" however was to Chick-Fil-A because they have a cow mascot.  Hey, some field trips are more elaborate than others.  But since we went on Wednesday, our whole family went, Mark included, and that always makes it more special for Marcus. 
     This past Friday two things happened.  We PRAISE GOD because Mark's wrist has been healed enough for him to play golf and throw a baseball again!!!  The current medicine is working but we all know it's God and God alone who allows all this, so we're extremely thankful that he's feeling so well.  Mark played golf with fellow UNCA Alumni most of the afternoon Friday while our very dear friends, Matt and Mary Clark Hauser came into town with their precious baby girl Madison.  She's definitely not a baby since she turned 2 the week before.  We LOVE them and have such a fun time when they come to town.  And oh how Marcus loves her.  We told Madison that she can choose either Schuurman boy as her husband one day, as long as she chooses one of them.  We'd LOVE to be in-laws with the Hausers.  ;)
     On Saturday they went to a cousin's birthday party while I took the boys to UNCA to see Mark play in the alumni game.  Unfortunately, it was more lame than ever and it was just a glorified scrimmage where it was coach pitch and they had bp (batting practice).  It was still fun for Mark to get those juices going again and even more fun when everyone left becasue Marcus go to go out there.  He ran the bases, played catch with Mark, and even got on the mound to pitch.  It was SO CUTE!  Coach Smith even gave him a real UNCA hat and it's SUPER nice.  We ended the day back home with our beloved Hausers before watching the children play and enjoying each other's company.  It was another great weekend in the South.

Marcus and Benjamin playing catch.

Mrs. Denton (Seth's mom) and Titus.

This was held at a survivor's home and was super nice.

Now playing catch with Daddy.

Practice round.

This trike was a real point of contention between Marcus & another child.

Mrs. Henderson (Rebecca's mom) enjoyed holding Titus as he slept.

Marcus & Benjamin "sword fighting."

Mr. Denton & Mark

Sweet Baby Titus

We thought a 4T would fit...nope.

Reading before bedtime.

This little fella is rolling and holding his head up like a champ nowadays.

Painting a pumpkin given to him by our neighbor, Lucinda.

Perma-Smile

The Cow train lead by "Cowboy C"

Seriously adorable for sure

So sweet

Sweet little redneck

This cracked us up!

He did so well putting the lower case lettered cars into the correct upper case lettered parking spots.

You can't see it in the picture but he was driving the lettered cars on the corresponding lettered path, led by stickers with the letters written on them. Clever little fella.

You can kind of see them in this picture.

He's still our baby...

C is also for cut, which he;s a ways from mastering.

Playing catch with Daddy at UNCA.

Fielding ground balls

Here I go...

Rounding second

Almost home!

And now pitching... Marcus Paul Schuurman!

Getting the signs

And the pitch!

Looks like a strike to me!

Cool new hat.

Titus was in his UNCA gear, too.

Helping Coach Smitg put the bats up.

Future Bulldogs