Thursday, July 31, 2008

slip of the holy tongue?

Caleb to me at the pool: "Mom, Sol said that you can get an Air Head for a quater at the confession stand."

week 3 begins

I'm here sitting in our "transitional apartment," as I like to call it, finally posting something. The boys are lost in a land of Star Wars toys, and Gid is enjoying a bit of breaky. So much has happened since we arrived in Augusta that it is hard to know where to begin. We have moved, then moved again, house hunted, registered Caleb for school and soccer, shopped for and purchased uniforms, swam, visited old friends, swam some more, celebrated birthdays, started a new job, and have eaten out way, way too much! It has been an experience that none of us will ever forget. Throughout the entire process of basically starting over here, there has been so much peace, and it is easy to see God's hand in this decision.
As we start our 3rd week here, we have begun to adopt a saying of Padre Pio: "Pray, hope, and don't worry!" I'm learning everyday how much God loves our family. He has brought us here, and he will take care of us.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

what we left behind






Well...we are here. We made the first wave of our move to Augusta this week, and let me tell you it has been crazy. We've gotten Caleb registered for school, Mike started working, and we celebrated our good friend Cathleen's 30th birthday. But it's not over yet. Tomorrow we are going to look at houses and then on Sunday we celebrate our bro-in-law Tony and our niece Kailyn's birthday. It is a whirlwind. And as we are enjoying all of these wonderful times and new experiences we are missing what we left in Birmingham.
The biggest reason for our move to AL, 11 months ago, was because of family. Mike's sister Moe & her husband Joe and their 3 wonderful children live there. And not only them, but Joe's whole family too, who we dearly love. We have made so many great memories with them and will miss them dearly. While clearing out my camera I came across some photos from the 4th of July weekend that we all spent together.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hamster Dance

Rosie introduced us to this song, and the boys love it! Although it does make them a little crazy!

a look back on our time with Rosie

We had so much fun with Rosie when she was here. Here are a few photos of some of our times together. Enjoy!


We of course did not let Rosie smoke a cigar, but she did join Mike on the deck while he grilled out and enjoyed his cigar.


One of Rosie's colorful breakfast creations: French Toast. As you can see, it was fit for a king. King Peter of Narnia, that is!





Another version of french toast. This one she made with french bread. Quite delicious. Some mornings Rosie would get up before me and start making breakfast for us. She was so thoughtful!


When my Grandparents came to get Rosie, my Grandmother became a wee bit obsessed with Majong on our laptop. Everyone wanted a piece of the fun, and was quick to offer her their advice.



We played a lot of dominoes that same weekend. In the end it came down to Mike and my Grandfather. I think Mike won, but we all had a super fun time!



Friday, July 11, 2008

days of peaceful chaos

These past few days have been marathon days. We start early in the morning working on one thing or another for the house, and really don't stop until dinner...and sometimes keep working after that! I have to admit that I got a little crazy. It seems that whenever I have a task to complete, I have a hard time thinking of anything else, or doing anything else. In this case, I made a list everyday of what I needed to accomplish, and I HAD to cross off everything on the list by the end of the day. Needless to say, Mike does not work this way.... at all. But, only through the grace of God, we have been able to work as a team throughout this whole process. Mike ended up taking a day off work to get us ready to go, which was a huge blessing. What was even more amazing was that without even seeing my list, he helped me to cross things off of it.

As we go through these days, amid all of the hecticness, there is a certain peace and calm too. I know that it is all due to the hundreds of prayers being said each day for us. And I am blessed. I am amazed at how much we have gotten done, and how quickly we have accomplished it. And I have been truly blessed my husband. He is a wonderful man that really knows me better than I know myself. He has been the steady voice of reason through everything, and I have never felt closer to him. God always has a way of "turning all things to good for those who love him."

Thursday, July 10, 2008

neighbors and friends

Every place that we have ever lived, we have never had the privilege of having good neighbors. That is not to say that the people we lived beside weren't great people, we just never really got to know them. Usually they were much older than us and tended to keep to themselves.
So we were happily surprised when a couple weeks after we moved here, our neighbors came over to introduce themselves bearing cookies and flowers. We were even more elated when we realized that not only were they our age, but they also had a six year old son. And even though Mike (our neighbor) looked very much like a "hippie" he was in fact pretty normal. (ha, ha) That first night when we met the Robinsons a seed was planted. Since that night we have grown closer and closer with their entire family.

Mike and Mike have had the opportunity to build their friendship too through building gates, playing tennis, and taking the boys to play soccer. They have similar interest and it has been wonderful for my Mike to have a dad just through the gate that he can hang out with.

Sam, their son, is like a rock star in our house. The boys are constantly wanting to play with him. Each of them has a devout love for all things Star Wars, and they just really enjoy spending time together. Whether it be watching Davy Crockett, playing Wii, or killing Darth Vader. Caleb and Jonah have both dubbed Sam as "my best friend."

Tricia is one of the most wonderful woman I have ever met. She is trustworthy, fun, always ready to laugh, laid back, and she genuinely listens. I have loved getting to know her and building our friendship. I know that it will be a lasting friendship that we will have for many years to come.

We could not have asked for better neighbors than the Robinsons. That seed that was planted that first night has been watered, and is already producing beautiful flowers. Over the years I see it turning into an amazing garden. Filled with wonderful memories, laughter and maybe a few tears. And even though we were only here for a short time, God blessed us by giving us the perfect neighbors.

the gate the Mikes put in, joining our yard to theirs

the dentisit

The bigger boys had a routine dentist appointment yesterday and I was a bit nervous. I know that they are good, well-behaved boys, but you just never know when someone will suffer a meltdown. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. They were excellent.
It was such a wonderful experience. (How often can you say that about a dentist visit?!) The boys were extremely well behaved, even Gideon. Every person on the staff smiled when they saw us coming and kept saying how cute and good they were. One lady, Bessie, even stole Gideon away for awhile to show him to another hygienist. Even when they were being a little rowdy ("quietly" racing down the hallway), the office ladies were commenting on how well behaved they were.
As a parent, this was something that I needed. What a great affirmation of our parenting! It was so nice to have our children act exactly like I wanted them to, the moment that I wanted them to.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

a post long overdue

Wow, it has been so long since I've posted anything. And I have good reason... just hear me out. As you know, Rosie stayed 3 weeks with us, culminating in my Grandparents and brother Jonathan picking her up. We had a wonderful, relaxing weekend including LOTS of domino playing, swimming, Mahjong (Grams is the champ!), and of course eating. I had such a wonderful time, and it was nice to end Rosie's visit with a bang!

The Friday when they arrived, Mike received a phone call from someone he used to work for in GA offering him a position in my home town. When I first heard about the offer I was shocked and immediately thought, "no." I was so overwhelmed. I feel so comfortable here in this house, in this city, that I didn't really want to give all that up. But what happened over the next few days changed my mind. Not only did we have everyone we knew praying for us to make a Godly decision, but Mike and I spent hours upon hours talking through the pros & cons of moving. Finally we came to the joint conclusion that we needed to move! (Even as I write this, I'm overcome with how huge this decision was!)

So here we go again. We have moved 5 times since we have been married (not counting the 2 times we moved within the same city), and it is getting really old. One of our hopes in moving this time, is that it will be our last. The good thing about moving so much though, is that we are pros at it. We know exactly what we need to do in order to get the house "sale ready", and I now know that as I go through closets, drawers, and attics, if there is stuff in there that we haven't used since we moved here...throw it out. We have become very streamlined in what we keep.

So that is why I haven't posted in so long, I have been sorting, cleaning, organizing, trashing, good-willing, and just flat out being exhausted. Please keep us in your prayers over the next weeks, and months. Pray that our house will sell... quickly, and that God will bless our moving and our family. Thank you in advance... God will be faithful!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

a night with Jonah

Caleb was exhausted yesterday and ended up putting himself to bed even before dinner. This meant that Mike and I got to spend a lot of good time with Jonah. Sometimes I feel like he gets stuck in the middle, literally screaming for our attention (he is a very LOUD child). Not as big as Caleb, but not a toddler with demanding needs like Gideon. Anyway, it was great!
Jonah and I have similar personalities in that we like order and routine. So we had a very structured night. He cleared the table, putting things exactly where they go, and then he and Mike gave Bowden a much needed bath on the deck. I looked up from washing the dishes at one point and saw such a wonderful look of contentment on his face. He was so proud to be Daddy's helper with this job. Then it was bath, book, and bed. And even though our routine is simple and uncomplicated, it was a beautiful night. I love it when God gives us glimpses into the minds of our children, while simultaneously expanding our heart a little more with love for them.