vbs & water with a little crazy

The boys went to VBS this week, and LOVED it. I loved having a few hours every morning with just Raelynn and I. This day was "crazy hair day". Elias wanted his hair spiked, but Isaiah didn't want anything - he was afraid people would laugh at him. So, he showed me his amazing skills of coloring instead.

We also had some fun in the back yard playing in the water.

 

And Elias hung up all of his animals from the slabs on the bunk bed. Bryan came down after checking on them before bed, and said Elias had some crazy thing going on upstairs. I promptly grabbed my camera, and started dying laughing when I saw what he had done. He does the weirdest/silliest things!

 

sick baby girl

Raelynn was sick all week last week. ALL WEEK. The poor girl was throwing up or had diarrhea every day. It was awful for both of us. I was so thankful I had the week before in Florida because I was well rested, and ready to cuddle for 7 straight days with my wee one.

Much needed cuddles with Daddy while Mommy had a short break

Waiting for me to finish making a bottle for her

Isaiah was a very big help all week.

He would hold Raelynn and cuddle with her anytime I needed to get something done

She really loves him!

I'm happy to report that she is back to normal - crawling everywhere, singing, clapping, dancing, and eating like crazy. I'm so glad she feels better!

florida adventures

We left our babies and joined two couple friends of ours in Florida last week! It was AMAZING. Sun, good friends, sleep, and the beach - really, what more could we ask for?

These are our friends we went with - Jesse & Jeni and Curt & Kaylynn

It was such a lovely break, and so quiet! We hung out on the beach, and hung around Daytona Beach Shores (our condo was right on the beach - perfect!).

We went to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.

 Ready for Bugs Life (we just went on a water ride. no worries,

that is not sweat!)

 Our first trip to Disney World (never mind the smiling stranger

behind me)

My bestest, Jeni

Ready for some Star Wars

We went to a nearby town, St. Augustine, and wandered around.

 The always entertaining fellas

 Throne of Love

 A little trolley ride around St. Augustine

 Waiting on the trolley

Some shopping fun

We went out for Jeni's 30th birthday! We celebrated with a delicious dinner, followed by visiting the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse, and our almost daily activity of ice cream.

 I'm a bit awkward in this picture, but it's 

Jeni's birthday celebration!

 We didn't actually go in the lighthouse, but we enjoyed the view from below

Had to get a picture by the random pirate.

 Our almost daily stop to a place we called "udders"

I believe the real name was Cow Lick?

We played some miniature golf (by the way, I'm the worst miniature golf player in history).

I think the best part of it all was being able to hang out with adults and relax! It was wonderful.

yum yum

What do you do when you have a tiny back yard and no fire pit?
Make s'mores in the oven of course!

Preheat the oven to 400, put some graham crackers on parchment paper & put marshmallows on top....

 Anxiously wait for the marshmallows to grow

After about five minutes, you have brown, large marshmallows. Melt the chocolate on top for a minute if you wish, and that's that! 

And of course, enjoy the finished product

what a crack up

i just love her. 

silly grin

black beans all over her face

she melts me

the new

We closed on this lovely, little house in April.

We no longer own our green friend.
Thank you, Jesus! It feels so amazing to have that off our plate.

I still do miss our house.
But....

Now we're on to new dreams that include:

We bought this lovely piece of property.
2.5 acres
We hope to build on this in about 2 years.
Sounds far away, but that just gives me enough time to pick out everything! Last time, I only had a few months to pick out everything. This time, I have a good 3 years to find the best deals possible.
Low stress? Hopefully.

We signed papers last week, and went and took a few pictures.

 Here, I'm standing where our front yard will be.

 Another view from the front yard

 This is our neighbor (I'm standing where I was standing to take the front view pictures)

 Bryan and Isaiah are standing at the back of the lot...

can you see them back there? 

 Had to get a picture of the happy couple who just signed papers

Cheers to new happenings in our life! 

my sleeping babes

Sometimes, after a difficult day with the kiddos, I slip into their rooms after they are asleep, and I pray. I pray for a better day the next day, I pray for more patience, I pray for wisdom in training my children, and I pray for their little hearts. I love them so much, and some days are so difficult. When I see their sleeping faces after these days, I melt. God has given me some beautiful gifts.

the great move timeline & god's provision

It's so crazy to look back and realize that God was preparing a way for us to go to Idaho before we even realized. God's timing is perfect. I want to record this so that I can remember ways He's provided for us.

July
*First off, we saved up enough money to buy a minivan. We needed a van. I loved our Pilot, but it just wasn't enough space for 3 kiddos and their large carseats.

August
*I finally put my trust in God, and handed our finances over. I decided to quit my job because my kiddos needed my undivided attention.

*I like to use my running time as a time to pray and decompress. My prayer while running was for God to help Bryan and I know if going to Idaho was in His plan for us. I knew I wanted to be in Idaho, but I didn't know if God wanted us there. I asked the Lord to just start shutting doors firmly if Idaho was not where we should go. I wanted to be fully invested in Oregon if that is where God wanted us. The NEXT day Bryan came home from work. He had a conversation with his boss that went like this-
Bryan - "Haven't seen you around much, where have you been?"
Boss - "Looking for a house for you in Idaho"
His boss was half-joking, but to me that was confirmation that the Lord would have us in Idaho at some point.

*We found out that Bryan's per diem and gas card for a job he was working added up to about the EXACT amount of my bring home pay every month.

September
*We sold our Pilot. It had been a stresser for me, and once we sold it, I felt stress free. I really have no idea why I was stressing about it, but for some reason it was something I thought about constantly.

October
*Six days after we sold the Pilot, we found out we had three weeks to wrap up our lives in Oregon and move to Idaho.

*My last week of work was the week we found out we'd be moving. No stress there. I knew I'd have an extra 32 hours a week to pack up our house and get to Idaho.

*Our house has been on the market for over a year. Long time. Bryan chatted with our realtor to see if we could get out of our contract with him because we needed to try and sell it ourself or rent it or SOMETHING other than just have it sitting on the market. Our realtor is working with us and going to reduce his rate to help us sell this house. YES!

November
*We decided to short sale our house because we lowered the price to as low as we could go with the realtor reducing his fees, and not one ounce of interest. A week after we listed it as a short sale, we got an offer. A week after our first offer, we got a second back up offer. We got all the paperwork in the last week of November.

December
*We found a great, large rental to live in until we can buy a house. It's about a mile away from the preschool we want to send Isaiah to.

January
*The bank finally got around to looking at our house, they made a counter offer, now we're waiting for the buyers to counter or walk away.

February
*The buyers made a counter offer, so it's all up to the bank.
*Bank accepted offer, told us our closing costs, now we're waiting for a closing date!

March
*Still waiting for a closing date

April
*Have a closing date - May 8

May
*Made an offer on some property on May 7
*Closed on our house on May 8
*Offer accepted on May 9
*Closed on the property May 31

With our house being on the market for a year and a half before we decided to short sale, I know our house selling was God at work. In His timing. Our life is always a million times better when God is in charge, and we are not. I'm a planner, but God's plan is always, always, always way better than the plan I came up with in my head. I'm not sure why I still try to plan, but I do. I am continually amazed by God.

This short sale was definitely a lesson in humility for me. I am a very proud person when it comes to money - not that I am proud to have money, but I take pride in using money wisely and paying my bills  on time and always in full. So difficult of a time for me, but on the flip side - It would not have been wise to keep the house and rent it. It would have cost us a lot of money monthly just to rent it to someone. It was very difficult for me, but God taught me so much through this entire process!