love, the ryders.

an unimaginable loss

2009-07-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

our thoughts and prayers go out to you bethany and josh. we love you and are hurting right alongside you both.

we are adding one more to the ryder family...

2009-07-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

it has been a while since i have posted anything but i think it is time to start again as we are preparing to be parents. ahh!

i am 13 weeks pregnant and we are overjoyed. i am due jan 3!
this was a little bit of a surprise but we could not be happier. we heard the heartbeat yesterday for the first time and their is nothing like it. please keep us in our prayers as our little one continues to develop.

Life in Chesapeake

2009-02-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

So I am busy getting everything ready for my family to come visit. Allison, Chris and the boys are making the 13 hour drive on Tuesday to come say with us for a week! We can not wait. To make things even better the Floyd family is arriving Friday night in VA and we are all heading to the Outer Banks, NC for three days. We are staying at our friends beach house for the weekend, which is gorgeous! This is so exciting for us because we LOVE visitors. We have no snow here and today it is 50 degrees. I am spending my Saturday running errands and preparing for our visitors and then having dinner with four of our closest friends.

Christmas in Kentucky

2008-12-25T19:03:00.001-08:00

Justin and I spent Christmas in Kentucky this year and it was great. We got up at 4am on Tuesday the 23rd to catch a real early flight. We slept in the entire flight and got to Louisville by 9:45am. The Floyd family was running a little late, but as soon as they arrived we headed to Panera, the mall, and then Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Isabella is cutier than ever. Justin and I then headed to Northern KY for dinner with Ted, but got a little stuck in traffic...we did not move one inch in three hours. Justin and I decided to try and embrace this time together, its Christmas. After three hours and no movement in sight we decided to take matters into our own handd. Justin drove into the emergency lane and turned around on the highway and we headed back to Louisville. Sara got what she wanted and we came back to wrap presents and watched The Family Stone. The highlight of the weekend for my husband. We woke up and tried again to drive to NKY and this time we made it no problem...just drove in the pouring rain the whole way. We spend Christmas Eve with Justin's mom and the Willetts. It was a great night of food, presents, and catching up with the family. We spent the night at Rose's house and woke up Christmas morning to pancakes, coffee, and more presents. It was perfect. We said our goodbyes which was hard...and made our way to Ted's. Saw his new condo, which is going to be gorgeous after all the painting is complete. The three of us then drove back to Louisville to spend Christmas day with Tommy, Sara, and little Isabella. It was such a relaxing day of just being with family, eating, and opening presents. We laughed all day. Sadly we leave at 7am tomorrow, but I am about to check our flight and we are hoping for a delay. We are not ready to leave quiet yet...Merry Christmas.

some thoughts...

2008-06-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

maybe i should try to make some friends in chesapeake, va who are my own age.

love the smell of justin. no matter what.

people would say that i’m busy. but aren't we all?

i don’t understand why we are so busy.

when i wake up in the morning I want some coffee and sometime with the Lord.

i lost my will power to workout like i did at MVP in college.

life is a gift. really it is.

my past is my story.

i get annoyed when i miss someones phone call and then when I call them right back and they do not pick up. that annoys my husband about me...hahaha.

parties are something i love going to with my husband and am beginning to enjoy hosting.

dogs are good and one day we will get one. we need a little more space.

cats are bad.

tomorrow will mean more time with my husband and the chance to walk thru life with high school girls.

I have low tolerance for my husband when asks me where the salt and pepper is at our home. really...it is like asking where the toilet is.

i wonder why it is so hard sometimes to not live closer to our families. i do miss them.

never in my life did i expect to live near ocean with my best friend and get the chance to give my life away for Christ.

high school seems like another life.

when i’m nervous i get hot and sometimes sweat a little bit and will talk faster.

take my advice turning off your cell phone for the weekend or a dinner out is so important for a marriage.

making my bed happens about every 2-3- days. i do love how it looks though when I make my bed.

i'm almost always praying for my husband, family, and high school kids in chesapeake, va.

i’m addicted to anything with peanut butter on it or in it.

I want someone to take down the wallpaper in my bathroom and paint it some shade of brown.

2008-04-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

smile.
profile.

love my wife

winter engagement

2008-03-31T21:12:00.001-07:00

our best friend cliff is engaged to laura, our new and better best friend. cliff seems unsure of himself (see picture) but he has never, in the time i've known him, been more sure about anything. she's an oak. they make each other better people, and they love each other deeply. they are family. cliff is one of those guys. he is the best man.

they engagement made laura feel loved- so it was a success. highlights for me were libby, smith mt lake and its blue tint, the drive to and from, laura's parent's conversation about their ministry (prison stuff...amazing.) and living out their faith, laughing, keeping cliff up until 5:30 the night before his engagement (oops!), seeing these two partner in life (it will be an earth shaking thing in years to come).

libby and i spent all day in a coffee shop saturday hiding out, so not to ruin the surprise. i read john 21:4-11ish many times and wrote cliff and laura about how worth it Christ is to follow in and out of marriage. to sell all, that is, leave all behind. libby and i talked and our mind wondered back to chesapeake and the students we know, and their lives, and what they are discovering. cliff and laura also do young life. we would love to do something together someday.

my journey into blogging has been slow...but I am coming around. its wonderful to update family, share ideas and thoughts, reflect, and keep everyone together, and even more, to love my sister (i would blog for just this reason). more to come on events that were missed (wedding/honeymoon/etc!)

grace and peace

2008-02-22T09:48:00.001-08:00

Hello. This is Justin. Libby is at work and I feel pressure to update this puppy so here it goes, although for most of my life I have been a man of few 'blogs'.
We are quite at home in Chesapeake. Virginia is the sweetest place going, although, honestly we miss the bluegrass and also Michigan for all its mild summers. Michigan can keep its winter. :)

This weekend happened sometime in the fall. Its funny to think about last fall, because it was truly the most blessed time of our lives.

Also the most busy/crazy/ridiculous/lovely/interesting/telling/trying/enduring/etc time of our lives. The Lord has started a family within our young marriage and we both feel it and cherish it. And so we are home. Young Life is exciting to no end. These kids the Lord has placed in our lives are the sharpest, and they are seeking true, real, honest, and genuine life. Who isn't? We are passionate about working with these friends, and ministry has blessed us in ways that I can't even describe. It has brought us closer together in Christ and made us a team. Libby shines as she leads girls- Its fun to watch.

The pictures I have posted are from a surprise weekend for my birthday. Libby took us to a little bed and breakfast on Manteo Island, a little fishing town on the outer banks of North Carolina. It is called the 'blue atlantic mystery' and we like this place. It was extremely romantic and restful. Can you picture yourself there? On bikes with us? I couldn't insert a quote, but I am on that bike saying, "look out there, some sort of sea creature or something." On this trip, I started to think that 'pointing' at things in pictures was extremely funny, and I continued to do so. Libby was not so sure.

We miss our family. Family, please know how much we miss you.
with love.

2008-02-10T12:10:00.001-08:00

well, we have started a blog.

much to come,
l&j