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@ian_harris

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92 years and 361 days seems like a really long time until it doesn’t feel like long enough. My grandpa was the greatest. His pride and joy in life was his family and we all knew it because he was ALWAYS there. He seldom missed a sporting event, chorus concert, play, or prom for his grandkids (and even some of his great grandkids), and never missed a big moment. He could create anything you could dream up, and usually with unlikely tools to get it done. I vividly remember him giving insulin shots to oranges to practice before giving me one in my arm, because he didn’t want diabetes to get in the way of me and my sister being able to come overnight there. He taught us the art of making pierogis and how to enjoy jello with just the right amount of cool whip mixed in. He welcomed my husband in to our family with great joy and honestly I think he got more excited to see him than me sometimes 🤣 but that’s how I knew I picked a good one.
I will forever be grateful that he was able to meet all of my children and spend so much time with them. My kids loved going to visit him and my nana, and he was always prepared with coloring sheets, games, hot wheel races, or the Yankees on to watch together. Even in his final days, he perked right up and got excited to tell them he loved them on the phone because they always had such sweet times together.
He was a great dad to his kids, a present and loving grandpa, a blessing of a great grandpa, and a faithful husband to his wife of 68+ years. A steady family man. And that list goes on and on.
I am so thankful for so many years with my sweet grandpa. But I would’ve never been ready to say goodbye. I guess that’s the blessing and the curse of loving someone so much. I’m so thankful his last words to me were “I love you too, honey.” I’ll hear them forever. 🤍

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When @katefosterphotography gets behind the lens for family pics….🥲😭😍❤️

Forever like this, please. ❤️

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He turns 1 later this week and I’m just feeling emotional looking back at this year of joy with him, so here’s some of my favorite Luke video moments that I never want to forget 🥲🩵 my full thoughts will come later 🤣

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Ready or not (definitely not 🤣), here we goooo! First day of 5th grade 🤯, 3rd grade, and 1st grade at Harris Homeschool Academy with a busy baby on the side! Reminded me of a beautiful poignant song I haven’t heard in a long time with lyrics that I think some it up nicely:

Ohhhh we’re halfway there,
Ohhh oh livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear
Ohhh oh livin’ on a prayer!

😏🤣🤪🙏🏼🩵💙🩷💜

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Swipe to see how it started back on this day in 2015 vs today. “Engaged” for 11 years and things have really escalated 🤪 I’d still say yes!! What a life. 💛 #conqueredthefriendzone

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Happy ✨ golden ✨ birthday to our sweet Gracie girl!! Gracie, you are one of the kindest little girls I’ve ever known. You come home from every single place you go and say “I made a new friend there!” You find the kids who are sitting alone or new, and you welcome them in and make them feel included. Little girls flock to you! You have a heart tender toward those who are hurting or need encouraging and I can’t wait to see how the Lord uses this gifting in your life! You’re an artist, a gymnast, a dancer, a fisherwoman, a singer, a soccer player, and my favorite babysitter for Luke….its a joy to watch you flourish. God blessed our family with your life 8 years ago and you’ve been, and will be all the days of our lives, a blessing ever since. We love you girl 💕

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I love watching people get excited to see Ian. He holds so many titles in life and yet under every single one is “friend.” Whether he’s your son, your husband, your dad, your coach, your commissioner, your manager, your acquaintance….he’s your friend. And not just any friend, a faithful friend. He’s the kind of friend that will text you after you just spent time together to thank you for such a good time together and tell you how much he loves you. I love doing life with such a good and intentional friend. And I love getting to watch the story God is writing with his life. I hope you feel all the love and friendship come back tenfold to you today Ian!! Happy birthday to my favorite and easiest person to celebrate 🤍

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A highlight reel from our last two weeks traveling to Boston/Hingham + Niagara Falls 💛 Such sweet time as a family and with friends and teammates. Not pictured are the tantrums, overtired tears, arguments from too much time in a car together and sugar crashes. But, like I said, the ✨ highlight reel ✨ because these are the moments I’ll remember when I’m 85 and thinking back on my favorite times. 🥹

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250 years of the G.O.A.T 🐐🇺🇸❤️🤍💙

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Mom + Dad ✨

Went out for our first date since our anniversary today for lunch. When I was pregnant with Luke, I told Ian we should talk through some things because we were older and wiser than when we first had kids years ago and I thought we could avoid all the challenges of a new baby 🤣 spoiler alert: we couldn’t.

The first year of a baby is just hard on a marriage, no matter how seasoned you are. Whether it’s your first or your fourth. We quickly fall back into default exhaustion, no time alone, unintentional resentment, wondering if we’ll ever get through the fog even though it’s a beautiful fog.

Lunch dates were never my first choice. I always thought it had to be a weekend evening to be meaningful and exactly what I wanted it to be. But today while we walked around hand in hand in the sunshine, I realized it doesn’t really matter when it is if it’s time with my best friend. That maybe there’s seasons where it’s easier to take a lunch to buoy yourself when a friend who champions your marriage offers to babysit than to wait for the perfect nighttime opportunity when you’ve already been drowning for a long time.

If you’re in the newborn season and wondering if you’re the only one feeling like your marriage is stuck on the back burner, you’re not alone. Fight for the imperfect moments to buoy yourself and know that it’ll get easier again when you’re both sleeping through the night again and your baby doesn’t solely rely on you (and then harder again at some point because, life). Don’t let instagram convince you that you need some grandiose circumstances to be perfectly content.

Thanks for the lunch date Ian. Might be my new favorite thing 😘 Solidarity to those in the newborn season! One of the sweetest, most exhausting marriage seasons. 🩵

Anna while I was getting ready this morning: “Mom why are you getting like so pretty? We aren’t even going to church.” 😑🫠 so also go on dates to keep your kids on their toes lolol

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Thankful every single day for freedom. Freedom that Jesus died on the cross to give us, and freedom that men and women die to protect for us. It’s a beautiful life because of them. ❤️🤍💙

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.“ - John 15:13

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Last night we celebrated the end of our homeschool co-op year and Anna’s kindergarten graduation! 🥹

This time last year, every time I thought about homeschooling 3 kids with a newborn to care for, I would start crying with overwhelm lol. I could not understand or imagine how I would be able to do it. But the Lord has been teaching me about borrowing worries from tomorrow and the manna (+ grace + mercy) He gives each day, not a moment earlier.

Now I’m crying for a different reason - seeing how He sustained, carried, and gave grace for each day. There’s days I get to bedtime and think “How on earth did I make it here without falling over?” And my answer is always “Jesus carried me.”

It hasn’t been pretty every day. I pray my kids memories are foggy of some of these days 😆 but I also pray that they remember the sweet moments of doing school on the couch under a blanket in front of a fire while their baby brother slept in my lap or cooed in his baby seat. The field trips and play dates we had in the middle of the day. The baked goods I made while stress baking. The family devotion time before starting school. It wasn’t perfect, I wasn’t perfect, but we did it and grew together and for that, I will forever be thankful.

Special shout out to Luke, the dream 4th baby who smiles all day long, rolls with a wonky schedule as needed, and requires little sleep to be happy 🤣 the Lord has been kind in knowing just who we’d need in this ride with us 🩵

And to the mommas in our group pic (and those not pictured here) - thank you for being the life giving community that I need on this homeschooling journey and raising some of my kids’ very sweet, closest friends. 💛

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