The Lord's Provision

One quick post to say that we have found a house!!  The Lord has been too kind in his providing and carrying us along this journey to another state and we are so thankful!!  We close July 9, we are done and closed on our home we had for sale as well.  The house needs lots of updating but we love it, lots of room, good solid home, and we love the view of fields behind yet we are right in town!

Moving Right Along

So.. a lot has happened since I last posted!  The Lord moved super fast on the selling of our house, less than 2 weeks on the market!! We had quite a few showings and nothing was panning out, I knew the Lord could change things in a day but we just kept on going about each day as it were normal, as normal as that is with 3 kids and keeping your house really freakishly nice all the time.  Sunday May 6, we were coming home from seeing friends after church, and we got a call from our realtor, saying someone wanted to see the house in an hour and half, and she assumed that probably wasn't going to work.  We told we could do it!  For some reason that morning I felt inclined to leave the house in MUCH better shape than on a normal crazy Sunday morning.  That evening, we got an offer, for what we had budgeted for, and they wanted to close May 31.  WOW.  So we accepted and it was GO TIME!! And quite frankly has been ever since, my Monday after was crazy busy with phone calls, moving out of state requires sooooo much more than your average in town move let me tell you.  But the Lord just seems to keep opening the doors one by one.  We got our inspection release last Saturday, wonderful to have that out of the way!  So we are moving Memorial Day weekend!!  I've gotten a good amount of packing done and it is truly amazing how much CRAP you can amass that you don't even use or need that you just store in your house, counting flat out trash.  So I was in type A, anal retentive heaven on dump day and goodwill day. :)  I was concerned about getting enough boxes but my bestest friend Katie had tons that she brought us in two different visits.
 Last weekend we had our last fun girls night. Saying goodbye was HARD, lots of Ben-Stiller-at -the-end- of- There-Is- Something- About-Mary crying on the way home.  To me, family means- people you love, especially those in Christ and sometimes you are related,  and a lot of the time, you're not.  Katie, you're my sister and the hardest person here for me to say goodbye to.  You are a true friend, and life has shown me those are far and few between.  No games, demands, just some honest freedom to be the person the Lord is making us to be for His glory and whatever that brings! I love you and I hope somehow you can find the strength to go on living a meaningful life in my absence. ;)
In other exciting news, today was Mitch's last day of work!!!  Exhale.  It's good to see glimmers of my husband back, more laughing, lighheartedness, enjoying his children more, a whole new outlook on life.  In turn that's huge burdens being lifted for me as well.  No one (other than Mitch himself!) has felt the weight of this stressful job like I have as his wife.  And it feels like a dream come true to have all of this happening!  So light so free, thanks be to the Almighty!!
That's all for now. :)

Big Changes

I've thought a lot about what I would say in this blog entry and how I would say it.  It's been a while since a blog post and a very big reason is the since the fall, there has been a lot of ground work going on around here.  A lot of researching info, praying, asking for prayer, info gathering, counsel seeking, praying, more info, asking for prayer, pros and coning round bout these parts.  If you haven't noticed in past blogs I've referred to our life as "surviving" and that's pretty accurate, merely existing to live through another day and meet the basic needs of a family.  We have been praying hard the last year about Mitch going out on his own as a subcontractor, HOW do we go about it??  Ease into side jobs to build clientele??  Right, after a 50 hr week I'm sure that would work.... get a truck right away and tools??  But you need WORK to make those purchases make sense.  We knew he needed out of his job some how some way but we didn't know how to go about it.  There comes a point when a job is so stressful over years, that it starts to poison a family.  The existence of our family seems to be to facilitate productivity of a an employee for a company.  Not much left over for us at the end of a day, and not because a husband and daddy didn't want to give it, you just get so beat down that life looks very dark.  Mentally, physically, emotionally drained in every way, my husband's body's joints hurt all the time.  Sometimes you get SO squeezed, you have no choice but to get out, and somehow do it wisely and plan.Our decision has been made and we thank God so much for bringing us through and know as we transition He will continue to carry us and prove Himself faithful.  I get tears typing this, when you pray for something for so long, and blindly move forward with no guarantees, we finally have some deliverance headed our way!! 
We are moving. out of state. to my home state. :)  I never thought we would ever end up there and I am amazed!! ( parents, brothers, wives, babies!!!)  We are so excited and it feels like light at the end of a long dark 7 year tunnel.  It was bittersweet  to leave my family and home 11years ago when I got married but I had to be with my Mitch,  and now we have built a life here and made memories and leave other loved ones behind and a precious church that has been such a gift.
But oh yes, back to work that supports a family,  my husband would have work from a builder that would be steady, the stress levels aren't even in the same universe, he would work 40 hrs and make a smidge more money.  We spent a week in March at my parents and Mitch tested the waters at work there and it was like night and day.  I can't even begin to tell you.  It feels good to know this is what we are doing.  We will be putting our home on the market this month and hopefully leaving early summer, in my perfect world, we will see what God does.
So thank you, for those of you that prayed for us, whether you knew what you were praying for or not.  God's will prayed for will never lead us wrong.

⁸ We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— ¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 cor. 4

Whoa What Huh, A Post?

Sugar Bear is now 19 months old, her stats from her 18 month apt were 30 inches/10% and 20 lbs/-5%, a couple of our kids have a case of the teenies, what can I say, but as long as the dr says all is well I'm good with that!  Aliza has really started talking and I was writing down her words but she keeps adding new ones, I have written down 32 but there are new ones, like pretty and no. :)  Today she got marker on finger and said to me showing me her finger " on me, on me."  She is so sweet and gives lots of love, and wants to be in on everything the big kids are doing.  She is my WORST bedtime routine, hates the diapering, teethbrushing, just fights me on it. :)  All her teeth have popped through, till the two year old molars.

Other kid news, Christian lost his first tooth yesterday!!!  He has been waiting for almost 2 years when Isabelle started losing hers.  Isabelle pulled one of hers the night before.  The kids just keep on growing!!  I'm so behind on posting it's not funny but better late than never, I will post some pictures to shutterfly of the past few months soon, I think. maybe.

Isabelle did say something funny recently, Christian is a provoker he likes to tell his sister things like, " I''m getting bored of you being home from school" type of things on Christmas break even though they played like best friends that week.  Anyway, he was being like he can be and Isabelle told me, " he is being a hater and a non-lover."

This month I turned the ripe old age of 32, and what was the best thing I got for my birthday last weekend?  These people:

18 months

3rd child neglection.  I gotta log what little miss has been doing lately.  The time just gets away!!  I still need to make her 18 month apt oops... although we were in at 15 months.  She is a climber, she is now gated out of the kids room because she gets on the top bunk with ease.  Naughty baby Sugars, still is drawn to toilet water.  Words, hi, daddy, ma ma, or MOM!!!! I'm sure because she hears my name in this form the most, baaa(bath), deedee ( baby), ba ( ball), up!, out, I asked her if she could say Liza, it comes outs lila or la la. which is pretty darn cute in my book. haa,(hot), go go.  says "hush" when reading her favorite book Goodnight Moon.  Loves to bury her face in mine and giggle, squishing noses together.  Loves to be a part of what the kids are doing, and immitates them.  Loves blankie and her thumb.  Social and loves babies.  Understands far more than what she can say.  She communicates with baby jibberish, concerned looks, pointing and getting you to come with her.  Loves to play hind and seek and whispers while in hiding.  If we start singing her favorite song from Ponyo, she goes to try to turn on the ipod and the stereo, she is ever the little dancer and loves music.  Pictures?  I haven't uploaded pics since... Sept?  I will get on that, maybe. someday.
I forgot more words so I'm adding them today, eye, and also i, every letter on the fridge seems to be i, car, ni ni (night night), done!!  And so am I for the moment unless I remember more, which really isn't for the readers benefit, it's for mine when I need it for the baby book. :)

Little Miss Growing

 First Day of Second Grade... second grade....good grief.

 Isabelle did a little cheerleading camp and performed with a MASS of other girls before the varsity game.  We couldn't even find her in the crowd!!  But we got some cute pics right after.  It was cute watching her practice. :)

Last night Mitch asked the kids if they wanted to watch and episode of X Men, Christian was excited and Isabelle said " I want to watch Hoarders!"  She has also told her daddy that the inside of his car looks like Hoarders.  She is growing up so fast and becoming a little person to laugh with and enjoy.  We've had a couple of "girl's nights".  She gets pretty excited.  I love mother/daughterness. :):)  Gotta make supper....

15 Months and Teeny

 Purposefully closing the eyes.

I've been meaning to blog about Baby Sugars, yes her nicknames compile.  She started walking this summer and I am trying to think of the official first steps age... 14 months?  Walking well at 15.  She climbs, more than her siblings, she was on the back of the couch this morning.  She likes to stick her hand in the toilet, also something my other two didn't really do.  She is FUNNY.  Funny faces, imitator,  clinging spider monkey.  She loves to wave at the bus, or any passing cars or when once of us leaves, she always greets daddy with a " hi" when he comes in the door.  One day she said " hi dada"  Mitch and I looked at each other like, did we really just hear that??  She says "yummee"  She pretends to blow her nose as she rips out kleenex after kleenex.  She loves her blankie and her thumb for night time.  She still takes two naps a day and sleeps about 12 hours at night, you go girl.  She loves baby dolls and babies.  She calls them "day day".  She loves to dance, her latest move is swinging her hips from side to side like a belly dancer.  She is stubborn and hates diaper changes and getting dressed.  She is a bright little naughty beam of sunshine lol.  She has curly hair, it is way cute.  She LOVES outside.  She understands a lot.  She walked outside and I said, shut the door, shut the door, she walks back and shuts the door and goes on her way.  Today I pulled out a brush to clean the carpet that I had used to clean the couch the previous week with some baking soda and Aliza grabbed the brush and headed for the couch to start cleaning.  She is TINY  she weighs at 15 months what her big/small brother weighed at 12 months.  She is 18 lbs 4 oz.  She is 28.5 inches teeny and in that minus 5 percentile.  So could it be Isabelle is the exception to Mitch and my baby making rule?? 25- 50ish percentile seems HUGE now.