Romatic Ideals

Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  The "Day of Love."  Or, for us this year, "Duct Tape Day" (we have youth group on Thursday nights and this week is everything duct tape.  Its lots of fun!).  And in case you are wondering, yes, Matt is going to youth group on Valentine's Day and I will be home with the kids.  And yes, I am totally okay with that.  Seriously.  There may have been a time in my life when I would have thought that was terrible - not spending Valentine's evening with your special someone.  Which leads me to the purpose of this post - how my ideals of romance have changed over the years.

When I was in high school, I would spend ample amounts of time talking with my sister, friends, and even my parents about what I thought was romantic, or what I wanted my husband to do/be like.  I would daydream about cold winter nights - bundled up under a blanket in an open carriage ride looking at the gleaming Christmas lights in the falling snow. My guy would be there, whispering all the sweet things people whisper about on carriage rides.  I dreamed about getting engaged in a hot air balloon (really, I did!) overlooking the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains.  I dreamed about breakfast in bed every Saturday, long walks in the evenings holding hands, my man always saying things like, "my life only began when I first met you!" and other silly things like that.  I dreamed about cuddling up on the couch watching Pride and Prejudice (cuz we all know every guy LOVES to watch all 6 hours of that one!).  I would imagine that once I was married we would wake up every morning (with smiles on our faces, minty fresh breath, hair perfectly in place and no sleep crusties in our eyes, mind you) and snuggle a good 10 minutes before getting up to start the day.  I would dream, plan, and dream some more.

Those things are all romantic, and nice, but its not what gets my attention anymore.  Instead, its the offers to let me go rest and take a nap when I am tired.  Its the doing the dishes so I don't have to.  Its the, "I'll be in charge of supper tonight." Its the changing the poopy diapers.  Its the playing with our children and making them giggle with delight.  Its the look across the dining room table that says, "We are so blessed."  Its the working together to train our children to do what is right.  Its the reading a Bible story and singing together as a family each night before bed.  Its the praying together as a couple.  Its the hugging and crying together when our hearts are burdened and we want to be there for each other.  Its the random texts that just say, "I love you."  These things are my idea of romance.

You see, I used to think romance was just all the things my husband would do for me.  But now, I realize it is more than that, its also the things he does with me.  Oh, yes, I do love the surprises and things he does just for me.  But more so I love the things we do together.  The family we have created together.  The life we have together.  The love that we have grown together. Together.  I love being together.  I love learning more about God, ourselves and life together.  That's what is romantic to me.

It was Valentine's Day, 9 years ago that Matt and I had our first "official" date.  I was excited and a little nervous.  But in looking back, I somehow knew from even that early stage that this was the guy for me, the one I wanted to be with.  It was never a doubt.  I am so thankful for my husband and the life and love we have grown since that time.  We haven't had the perfect life.  We both have made mistakes, we both have learned a lot.  God has taught us so much by bringing us through some trials.  But I am so thankful for the man I have had at my side through it all.  I truly did marry my sweetheart, the love of my life.

So, this Valentine's Day, I am thinking on all the things my special someone and I get to do together - every day.  That is so much better than any of the things I used to always think about.  Because it is real.  So, my ideals of romance have changed.  And I am glad.

Thank you, Matt, for loving me, for marrying me, and helping me see what is really, truly romantic.  I love you.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Scenic Saturday - Our Move

Over the next week or whatever, I will post some pics of our lives recently.  Today is devoted to our move out West.

This is a pic of the kids their last night in our house.  They got to "camp out" on the floor in Liam's room since everything else was pretty much packed.  They thought it was fun, but I will say it brought a lump to my throat.  I loved our house there and we have many sweet memories in that place.  We brought both Libby and Lexi home from the hospital to that house.  Many good and happy, as well as sad memories.  It made me tear up.  It was hard to leave, but made it easier knowing that God had great things in store for us as we were following him.

                                   

This truck came with two mover dudes to pack up all our stuff.  Can I just say it was SUCH a blessing to not have to worry about driving all our things all the way to Alberta?  Our things were loaded onto this truck, taken to a warehouse, then loaded onto a big moving truck with several other shipments.  It took them almost 2 weeks to get our stuff to Alberta.

Packing, in my opinion, is a good form of modern day torture.  I hated pretty much every single minute of it.  I was SO glad to see the truck pull away with everything so it could be out of my hair!  Pretty sure I don't want to do that again for a very, VERY long time!

 We were still pretty loaded down in the van.  It was full of our clothes for the travel, food so we wouldn't have to eat out all the time, toys, books, school stuff, blankets in case we got stranded somewhere in the snow.... you get the idea. And I was constantly climbing back and forth from the front seat to the empty middle seat to tend to Lexi and the kids.  I got my exercise for sure!

Yes, I still made the kids do school while travelling.  I shudder to think just how much farther behind we would be if I hadn't done this!  Plus, it helped pass the time for the kids and cut down on the whining.  Somewhat.

We were sitting at a gas station filling up somewhere in Pennsylvania (I think - it kinda all runs together now...) when I noticed this sign above the ICE machine.  Its hard to read but it read on there, "Healthier than Homemade."  This struck me funny because 1 - I had never thought of ice as "homemade" or not before, and B- I had never thought of it not being healthy.  What some people advertise just to make a sale....

 So, you could TOTALLY tell we are from the country when we came upon the big cities.  When we would see the big tall buildings the kids would be yelling, "Whoa!  Look at that!  Look at all the buildings!  Wow!"  Especially when we went right by Chicago.  I did the "touristy" thing and tried to get some shots of the Sears Tower (or whatever it is called now).  That's hard to do in a moving vehicle!

We can't really complain, though.  We have great travellers and, although there was some whining, they were generally VERY good.  Even this little one who HATES her car seat!

Part way through the trip, we stopped at our friends house and stayed a day and two nights there.  It was a nice little break from the road and the kids got to have fun with their friends!

So, our last day travelling we went through a small town I think is called Brooks.  Anyways, you can sort of see it off in the distance.  But you don't have to see it to know that it is there.  You see, this is the location of the largest slaughter houses in Canada.  Oh. My. Goodness!  I almost threw up is smelled SO BAD!!!!! And you could smell it for quite some time.  How in the world people can live near and work there is beyond me.  It was horrible!

 But this sign, "Welcome to Ponoka" was a very, very welcome sight!  It had been eight days of travel.  We had driven more miles than it is from one side of the USA to the other. We were tired of the car.  Tired of hotel rooms.  Just plain tired.  It was very exciting to pull into our new town.  We were so ready to begin our new lives.

We were in Ponoka a little more than a week when the moving truck finally came.  Oh, it was an exciting afternoon, let me tell you!  It was like Christmas - the kids were so excited!

And then I had the joy of UN-packing everything I had packed.  That's not too fun either.  But I like it better than packing.

 And, of course, we had to have a Christmas tree since it was just about 2 weeks until Christmas Day.  Matt actually surprised us while we were not home and put up the tree and some decorations.  What a great Daddy!

Almost two weeks after moving it was Matt's birthday.  Some people in the church had us over and I made him a cake - one he requested.  It tasted good but did NOT look anything like the picture.  Mine never do.  Probably because I have no patience for that kind of stuff. The man sitting next to Matt is Carl.  He is the head of the search committee and is the guy we were in contact with throughout the whole hiring process.  He is a very good man and we are really enjoying getting to know him. (Sorry pic is so blurry!)

So that, in a few pictures, was our trip.  It was a good time together as a family, but I know that none of us wants to do that again anytime soon!

Until next time...

Fun Times....

So, this past week was a busy one.  Last Thursday we had youth group at our house.  Since I have the four kids, and not really anyone to babysit, I had not yet been able to make it to youth group.  I want to start getting to know the teens, so we had them all come to me! That night we had about 16 teens and one leader besides our family.  It was nice to talk with them and put names with faces.  The kids loved having the teens here, too.  One of the girls seems to have "caught Libby's eye" and Libby is usually attached to her anytime we are at church.  So she was excited to have Tianna in our house.

Sunday as a big day for us.  It was Matt's induction service for the church.  The church we are at now is a part of the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada.  Whenever a church hires a new pastor, they first put them through an interview to see how doctrinally sound they are and how well they know their Bible, and to be sure they will be the right fit for the church.  Then, once the pastor is hired, they have a service for him, publicly asking him if he will uphold the teachings of the Bible, live a life according to what pleases God, etc.  After Matt has publicly committed to this, the pastor, the elders,  and the head of the AGC prayed over Matt and myself, dedicating us, our family, and our ministry to God.

It was a very special time, and we very much enjoyed the service.  There is something very special about godly men laying their hands on you and praying for you and your family.  So now, everything is "official" in our position here at the church.

Besides the youth group, our ministry is to the young families ( which basically means anyone with children still living at home).  Our kick-off meeting was Sunday night for a Super Bowl party.  Now, football is not really a big thing up here (hockey pretty much trumps every sport).  But, it was still a good excuse to get together.  We had a total of 42 people over that night.  A bit more than half of that was kids!  But, we planned ahead, had some of the teens over to oversee the kids playing downstairs. It was a nice time of food, fun, and fellowship.

Halfway through the party, Leila came up to me and I knew right away she was not feeling well. Her eyes were very puffy and when I hugged her, she was burning up.  And that was just the beginning.

It starts with puffy eyes and a fever.  Then a runny nose.  Then a terrible cough.  And lots of interrupted sleep, whining, and aches and pains.  So Leila started with it on Sunday.  By Tuesday Liam started.  Thursday Libby started.  And today (Friday), Lexi has a fever.  It's been a long week and I will admit that I am quite tired.  Matt has been in and out with work, and we have had my brother in law, Sean, and his 3 year old daughter, Charlie here, too.  Thankfully Charlie hasn't gotten sick, at least not yet.  But she left today to go back home to her moms so we are probably sending her home just in time to get sick!  Oh well.

As of now, I think Liam and Leila are doing a bit better.  And Libby doesn't seem to have gotten it as bad.  They are still coughing, but not nearly as bad.  Over the past few years, I have really been changing my thinking on how we treat sickness.  I am never one to just jump to medication, especially with my kids.  But sometimes, when they are struggling, I give them ibuprofen or Tylenol. But this time I decided to try and let their bodies fight the fevers naturally.  So we didn't give any meds.  I have, however made good use of my essential oils, using them in The humidifier and rubbing it on their chests and temples.  I also have recently been introduced to elderberry syrup.  So we got some of that and I can see a noticeable difference.  Almost immediately it helped Leila's cough.  At first I was concerned about it settling into her lungs.  It just sounded horrible! But once we started the syrup it changed and sounds much better.  The same with Liam.  With Libby I started giving it to her even before she showed signs of sickness and I am sure that is why she is not getting it as bad.  Also, the EOs are helping a lot too.  I use eucalyptus in place of Vicks, along with several other oils for other ailments.

So, although these remedies didn't completely take away the sickness, they significantly lessened the symptoms and I feel very good about not putting "junk" in my children's bodies!  Now, if I can only find an essential oil that completely removes whining, all would be great!

Yesterday we took Lexi in for her one year well baby check. She is doing great - 50th percentile for height and weight.  Her eczema still flares up some, but has been a lot better since I switched her to goats milk and started probiotics.  AND the last four nights have been better!!  She has slept from 7:30  to 5:30, 7:40 to  3:30, 7:30 to 4:30, and 7:30 to 5:30 these last four nights!  I can only hope this is our new normal.  It is a VERY welcome change to waking up two, three, and four times a night!

So, that's been our life lately.  My saving grace this week was a long chat on Skype with a friend.  It was a nice little "getaway" for me!  Ha!

Well, I think that's it for now.  If I have the time, I plan to post pics tomorrow from our move and other stuff, so check back!

Until next time.....

Random Thursday

Due to surgery, moving, and holiday traveling, we are a wee bit behind in school.  I was going to catch up by having the kids do on Saturdays.  But that ain't happening.  It's a chore to keep Leila still long enough to do school each day, that I simply don't want to deal with it more than five days a week.  And with Liam being in Grade 1, his workload is about double what it was in kindergarten, so it takes a lot longer each day.  And I can see that he needs the break on Saturdays, too. So, I guess we won't be done begin of May like we were last year.  I hate going to the end of May, or even into June.  I like my summers, and the kids need it.  Maybe we won't take a spring break.

Along the lines of homeschooling, I wonder.  Am I the only mother who is constantly dealing with pencils?  I mean, every day we are dealing with either finding them, or sharpening them, or something.  It drives me crazy!  I hate pencils!  Can't I just let them use pens?

Since we bought our couches a few weeks ago, I have wanted to buy the spray protect ant that repels liquids and stuff.  Well, today, Matt went to the furniture store to get it.  And came back with a "man chair."  He has been wanting one for a long time.  Well, today he found one in the clearance section.  Like $700 off clearance.  So, he got it.  It is actually a very comfy chair.  So he's happy.  I'm happy he's happy.  We are all happy.

Enjoying the new chair.

I don't want to complain too much, but it's been, well, cold.  And then it will get somewhat warm.  And then it will get freezing.  Like last Friday.  We went out shopping and running errands and I only needed to wear a hoodie.  Then, this Monday and Tuesday it was freezing.  As in, a high of -17 Fahrenheit.  I didn't go anywhere those days.  Way too cold.  Our house is relatively warm, unless you are near a window.  Then you feel a breeze and can see the 1/4 inch thick layer of ice on the inside of the window.  Nice.....

Last week we had birthday central here.  Libby turned three and Lexi turned one.  Wow.  Cannot believe it!  I plan to post pics and more about that in the very near future.

Ice the other morning on our
dining room window.

Speaking of Libby, she has yet to draw on any walls in this house.  Woohoo!  We may be making progress in that area!  Also, she had her very first haircut last week.  She did really well sitting there so still.  And I love her cute cut now. It's short - about to her chin.  But so much easier to deal with!

Lexi is not walking yet but so close.  She will take one or two steps then go to her knees.  I'm not in any hurry, though.  She is busy enough now, let alone when she can walk around!  Oy.  My life is gonna get even busier.

Doing a good job sitting still.

Speaking of Lexi, she still does not sleep through the night.  She has never slept through the night.  I'm pretty much clueless as to what to do.  I was stressing out about it because I was so exhausted and needed my sleep.  I've tried lots of things, even resorting to some old wives tales to see if they worked.  So far, nothing.  I tried the crying it out thing like I've done successfully with my other kids.  But that was not working for her.  I did changer a few things that seem to be helping some, so I'm crossing my fingers hoping this works.  One thing is I changed her to goats milk.  Cows milk didn't seem to be treating her well.  I also give her probiotics every day.  I give the other kids probiotics, but I hadn't gotten any for her yet.  But since I started them this week, she is sleeping better!  She used to wake up two times each night, and each time for half an hour or more..  The past three nights its been only once, and only for about five minutes.  Again, I'm not holding my breathe - yet.  But I sure need more sleep.  Seriously!

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a chiropractor.  I'm so glad - I really need to see one.  When I am going regularly, I don't have hardly any headaches or S much trouble with my back. But I haven't been to one since before we moved, and I have been having several headaches a week lately and it has been hard.  Can't do all the housework and keep patience with the kids when my head and neck or screaming at me.  So I'm am looking forward to this appointment tomorrow!

Well, I know there was more I wanted to say, but can't think of it right now.  Better get to bed and catch what sleep I can!

Until next time...

New Furniture and Other Exciting Things

So, moving is a big deal.  I mean, if you "just" move across town, it takes a lot of organizing, etc.  but moving across the country takes more organizing and planning than any one person can do!  That's what is so great about having a husband/wife team that work together to get things done.

You may remember me talking about selling a lot of our stuff.  That was such a busy time.  I never realized it would take so much out of me to coordinate prices, meeting times, etc.  But, I stuck with it and all the money I made I had set aside to use here when we settled in. So the past several weeks or so we have been able to purchase things that we needed.  And it has been so nice to pay cash for things and know that I worked hard that cash!

The first thing we bought was a dishwasher.  The one here on our rental did not work (I think it was older than I am!).   And, although it is a considered a luxury to many people, it is a necessity to me.  I have enough to do in my day besides stand at the sink three times a day and do dishes.  It takes too much time, and it's hard on my back to just stand in one place for a period of time. So we were able to purchase that.  We told the landlord we bought it, but that when we move out, we are taking it with us.  Sorry, Charlie.  I'm not that generous! (By the way, her name is not Charlie! Haha!).

Then we were on the hunt for living room furniture.  The landlord had a set, but they are falling apart, pretty dirty and smelly, and I wanted my own set.  So we were constantly looking at Kijiji (that's the Canadian version of Craigslist, for those of you who didn't know) for a good deal.  But we weren't finding one.  Either it was a great price but in not great condition, or just plain ugly that would cost a lot to recover.  So, we decided to just buy new.  And, with it being not too long after Christmas, there were some great deals.  So off to the furniture store we went (yes, with all the kids I tow).  We were there for quite some time sitting down on couch after couch.  I had almost decided on a couch when all of a sudden, I walked over to another side of the store and immediately saw the one I wanted. ( I say "I" because Matt was just saying, "You get what you like.  I'm fine with whatever you want."  He's of the mind "happy wife, happy life."  Haha! I'm so spoiled!).

I sat on the couch, loved it immediately, as did Matt.  Liam even said he liked it best, so we did up the paperwork, paid for it, and it was delivered three days later!  Can I just say I LOVE them!  Love, love, love them!  It was kinda funny at one point.  We were giving the lady our info, and another worker who had also helped us was standing nearby.  When they heard our last name, they both smiled and said,  "Sealy - are you related to the people who make the mattresses?" (We get this question a lot!)  We just looked at them and said, "If we were, we certainly would be buy a genuine leather sectional instead!"  Haha!

So, we had the couches, but, now we needed a coffee table and end tables and lamps.  Since this house is about 30 or more years old, there is no overhead lighting in the main rooms, so you definitely need lamps.  And I sold/gave away all of mine!

That Saturday we headed off to Edmonton, the big city about an hour north of us, where there is an Ikea.  I had never been to one, but have wanted to go for a long time.  So, we loaded up all of us (we don't really have anyone that knows the kids well enough yet to babysit), and went to Ikea.  On a Saturday.  It was crazy busy, but kinda fun.  And we found a coffee table, two lamps, and some Expedit bookshelves to use as end tables.  I love them too!  I'm quite happy with our purchases!  And again, so thankful to be able to pay cash for all of it!

The next thing we wanted was a dining room table.  Again, there was one here, with four chairs.  So, since we had moved we hadn't been able to sit together at the table as a family.  So we had been just looking for some cheap chairs.  But, we would need a table when we moved from here anyway, so we again looked around on Kijiji.  Well, we had emailed several people about stuff, but either it had already sold. Or we never heard back.  Until one Monday night, two weeks ago.  Matt found a table and six chairs set for sale for $200 OBO, so we emailed them, gave them our best offer, and by supper time the next night we were sitting at it - all together as a family!  I love the table and chairs, and love that we can all sit together as a family again!

I think that, for now, we are good an furniture.  We still don't have beds for Liam and Leila (we have mattresses, just not bed frames) but that can wait for a while.  We actually want bunk beds but I want a good, solid wood set and those are hard to find and often expensive.  So we will just bid our time on that for now.

Now that holidays are over, we are settling in to our new normal.  Its funny, over the last 5 months I got so used to having Matt around all the time, that its really different with him back to work.  I miss him! :-)  He is pretty busy, but not as busy as before.  I can't tell you what a world of difference it makes with having two pastors in a church, and not just one.  If you are in a church with only one pastor, I hope you pray A LOT for him (actually, I hope you pray for your pastors, no matter how many you have! :-) ).  But if you have only one pastor, he has an incredible load to carry.  Pray for him.  Encourage him.  HELP him in whatever area you can.  Believe me.  A little help and encouragement goes a LOOOONNNNGGGGG way.

Well, we have lots of other exciting things going on, which I plan to write all about soon.  Plus, I have a big change coming up with this blog.  Stay tuned..... ;-)

Until next time.....

I'm Back!

So, is anyone still out there?  It's been a while, huh?  Well, I'm hopefully back for good, now!  Let me see if I can bring you up to speed on our lives lately.  Here we go!

- Obviously, we made It safely to Alberta, our new home.  The trip here was, well, long!  It took us a total of eight days to get here - seven of those actually on the road.  Our sixth day we got to Manitoba  at our friends, Rob and Lena's house.  They actually had just moved there from New Brunswick just a few months before.  You know you're good friends when they let your family of six stay with you in your new house the day after you moved in!  They have three kids the same ages as our three youngest and it was so nice to see them.  We decided to stay an extra night and day to just have a break from the road.  I think the kids needed it and they loved being out of the car and playing with their friends.  It worked out nicely as it turns out I got one of my really bad headaches that day.  You know, the kind where I can only lay down in a quiet, dark room with my eyes covered in order to get rid of it.  That would have been miserable to deal with in the car!

- We got here on Wednesday, December 5, around 3:30 in the afternoon.  We stopped by the house we are renting to see it for the first time, and then headed over to the church building.  The kids were able to meet the pastor and his wife and the secretary and see the building.  Then we headed out to some church members house where we stayed for the next three days.

-  We didn't stay at "our" house for a few days because it, we'll, it needed a good cleaning.  It basically needed a GOOD scrubbing from top to bottom.  Ad I didn't want to stay there with Lexi crawling all around before we could clean the carpets.  So a sweet couple was kind enough to take us in.

- The Friday after we got there, a bunch of ladies met us at the house and we cleaned and cleaned.  What a blessing that was!  There was even a mom in the church who offered to watch our kids for us so we wouldn't have to worry about them.  The neat thing is that her good friend who has four young kids lives right across the street from us, and they both watched our kids there so they kids were close to me and they got to meet and play with the neighbour kids.  They loved that.

- Exactly one week after we got here, the moving truck arrived with our things.  That was an exciting day!  And overwhelming. Remember all that packing I did?  Well now I had to UN - pack everything!  I'm still not totally done, but the most Important things are done.

- We love, love, love our church.  They have welcomed us with open arms.  We have been invited over to their homes, given furniture (remember how I sold most of our other furniture?), and truly felt welcomed.  They had a special welcome fellowship for us, and took up an offering to help us with the settling in expenses.  Let me just say the amount blew us off our feet.  On top of that, we have been given beef to fill our freezer, jams, and so much other goodies to fill our pantry.  This church body has been so giving.  The kids got more Christmas gifts than they even needed, as well.  We are truly humbled by their generosity.

- After only being here for a little over two weeks, we took off again on another road trip.  Apparently we thought we hadn't had enough of the car.  But actually, we drove 20 hours south to surprise my family for Christmas.  All along we were telling them we didn't think we were going to be able to come.  But, due in part to the extreme generosity of the church people, we were able to go, we just didn't tell anyone. (In case you didn't know, my side of the family tries to get together every other year for Christmas).  So, we drove through the big ole state of Montana, and then Wyoming and finally Colorado.  We took two days to do this.  We got there around four in the afternoon, on December 21.  I had been praying the whole time that God would work it our that we could totally catch my parents off guard.  S when we pulled on their street, and saw my parents going to their neighbours to deliver some goodies, I new it wasn't going to be as fun to yell "surprise!"

But, God knew what my hearts desire was and my parents didn't notice us - even though my mom looked RIGHT at our van!  S the went around the corner to the neighbours door.  We quickly jumped out of the car, telling the kids to be quiet.  We all stood in a line in the driveway.  My dad came around the corner first and just stopped in his tracks, staring at us - not saying a word.  My mom came right behind him, almost ran into him, then looked up at us.  We all together yelled, "Merry Christmas!"  Well, my mom's mouth dropped to the ground almost, she started to cry, and said, "What are you doing here?" We then all started hugging and laughing and it was great!  My brother Jeremy and his family were there as well.  They must have heard the commotion as they all came out of the house and we all hugged and such.  The surprise couldn't have gone better.  It was awesome!

- We spent 10 days in Colorado and it was great to be with my family.  I hadn't seen my brother's Kip and Jeremy and their families for two years - since the last time we were out there.  And they hadn't meet Lexi yet.  So it was really nice to see them.  We had a great Christmas, complete with kids getting that awful stomach virus.  One night my sis-in-law Jenni and I were up all night with kids who were throwing up every few minutes.  Thankfully, though, Lexi didn't get it.  Its so much worse the younger they are.  And that virus is pretty bad.  Be thankful if it hasn't reached your household!

- Once we got back to Alberta, it was time to resume life and get on with our new normal.  Matt officially started at church, we started back up to school (we are still a bit behind, but we have an good excuse - at least I think so), and life has sorta slowed down.  We have been sort of in a state of limbo the past 5 months since July, so it is nice to have some normalcy again.

- We are loving living here.  I love the town, I love the church.  I'm thankful for the home we are able to rent and we are very happy here.  It was a hard transition - this past year was not one I would necessarily want to repeat.  But God showed Himself so real in so many ways.  He took care of us in ways I could never have imagined.  Honestly, we have been without an official paycheck since the end of July.  We still won't get one for another two weeks.  But we have not gone in want for anything.  If anything, we have had more than we ever have in our married life.  And that is all attributed to our awesome, incredible, and loving God.

So, I suppose that, in a somewhat large nutshell, fills you in on us.  It feels good to be back to blogging, although I really haven't had the time or energy (yes, it takes energy to blog) to sit at the computer lately. But I'm back, so stay tuned to hear all about our new adventures in our new lives!

Until next time...

Oops! Sorry!

So, I'm having a little trouble with my iPad.  Sorry about the abrupt ending there.  I was just saying things are going well, even with sickness among us.  We have even managed to get two days of school done!  Tomorrow we plan to get to Minneapolis Minnesota if possible.  Please pray for safety, good weather, and happy kids.

Will update when I can again!

Until next time......