Trying to Settle

Sorry we've been MIA for a bit. Things have been a little chaotic the last few weeks around our household. We moved out of our house into our apartment on July 2nd. We were supposed to close on the house tomorrow but there's been a delay so it looks like it will be next Friday.

We've been in the apartment a week but I still feel really upheaved. There are still boxes and random piles of stuff laying everywhere. We've discovered that we had a lot of useless crap laying around our house that we don't have room for in the apartment. We've only been married right at two years but we've really accumulated a lot of stuff!

We're trying to sort through and decide what has to stay, what can be stored and what we want to get rid of (there's a lot of things in that last category.)

Even with all the craziness, though, we are so happy to be moved. Our complex is quiet and peaceful. God has so richly blessed us, bringing all of this into reality. We, and alot of our family, prayed about moving for a long time. We first talked to a realtor in February. We then waited and prayed asking God to show us if this was the right decision for us. On the one hand, the economy isn't good for selling homes. It's great for buying a home but we knew we weren't in a position to buy right away. On the other hand, we felt as though we were in a constant state of stress and anxiety with our neighbors. God really placed it on our hearts that it was time to move so we moved forward with our realtor. After only 40 days on the market, an amazing feat, we had a contract on our house. Ahhh. Thank you, God.

So, we're adjusting to different drive times, different amounts of space, and the hassle of not knowing which box anything's in (I'm a sloppy packer), but we are at peace and happy.

Once we get more settled, we'll post some pics of the new pad. Hope all is well with everyone. Love and miss you, Kevin and Mandy

Praise God!

We have a contract on our house! I can't hardly believe it. After only 40 days on the market we are on our way to moving out of our first home. Part of me is a little sad because we really do love our home. The other part of me is excited to move to a different part of town and try something new. We're going to rent an apartment for a year or two (hopefully) and then will try to buy again. We found an apartment we like today and will be moving the first week of July.

Keep us in your prayers that the inspection and appraisal goes smoothly; they could cause potential snags that would be deal breakers.

Yay! We're moving to the south side!

Happy Father's Day

Here's to the very best daddy (and husband) I know. We love you so much!!!

9 Months! (almost)

Emma will be 9 months old in a few days. We celebrated by having her picture taken at Sears. They do a really awesome job and you can purchase a CD so you can make your own prints.

Emma wasn't extremely enthusiastic about the picture taking process. I think we got several good shots, though. Enjoy a few of my faves.

"Kitty"

Emma has begun babbling using lots of consanants and lots of syllables. Normally this sounds like another language with a few "ma-ma's, da-da's, and ba-ba's" thrown in the mix. (We pretend that she know what they mean.)

This morning, I was sitting on the couch with Emma getting her ready. She looked into the dining room where Jack (our cat) was stretched out on the floor. "Kitty." She said, "Kitty." Just those two syllables. I know it was probably just one of those cool coincidents that we get to witness occassionaly.

I've wondered, though, if sometimes babies know in their mind that Jack is a kitty but they just can't get their mouthes to work right yet. In their head thinking, "Kitty, kitty, kitty, Jack is a kitty," but when they open their mouth it comes out, "grbrammm." And then, sometimes, they get lucky and it comes out just the way the intended it.

Yeah, probably not.

Hangin with the big kids

After church, Emma and I went to see me very good friend Kellie. Kellie will be having her second baby, Carter, any day now! We are so excited and had to take her some goodies for him. We also got to see Ashlynn's new bedroom. Ashlynn is 3 and just the cutest little girl ever. She is very excited to meet her baby brother and I think she will be a good little helper.

To help her prepare for her new status as a "Big Girl", her baby room was updated. She got to pick out new furniture including a full size bed and a matching dresser. She got new bedding and pillows and, well, her room is fit for a princess. It's precious.

Emma had a blast playing with Ashlynn this afternoon. She bounced on her bed, sat on a princess couch with her, rolled around on Ashlynn's bean bag and played with some of her toys. It was a great day. I hope the next time we visit it will be in the hospital to see baby Carter!

New Jammies!

Emma's aunt Jill and uncle Joe sent her some new jammies in the mail today. Old Navy makes the cutest baby stuff! After her bath, Emma put on her new jammies and sang, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into her hairbrush. Now she's off in dreamland. Good night.

Splish splash, Emma's taking a bath

I feel like time is moving so quickly. Sometimes that's a good thing. My very good wonderful friend, Kellie, will be having her second child any time now. I remember the day she called me to tell me she was pregnant and that seems like only a month ago. Sweet Carter will be here soon and I can't wait to kiss his face off and squeze his little cheeks.

I am also so happy that it is almost time for Kevin's sister Mae and her husband Ian to move closer to us! They live in Charlotte right now where Ian is completing a laproscopic fellowship. But they will be moving to Wichita in a month or so which is only about a 4 hour drive away. It is going to be so awesome to be this close because they are expecting their first baby this fall (and I have to be able to kiss his/her face off too!)

Emma is growing so fast. I can't believe she'll be nine months old in a couple weeks. We've just decided it's time to move baths into the big girl tub. Her baby tub turns into a seat that you can put in the big tub to help keep them from going under. She has always enjoyed her baths and smiled and gabbed through them. But man, oh man, she loves taking baths in the big girl tub. She kicks her feet and wiggles her fingers through the water. She really loves it when we pour water on her with a cup (see pic above). She'll be taking showers before I know it. Okay, I'm rushing things a little.

Consider your birth order

Our pastor at church has been preaching on a series entitled "Pain in the Family." This week's sermon was all about sibling rivalry and birth order. He used the stories of Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his envious brothers. God used the rivalry between both these sets of brothers for His holy plan.

Our pastor challenged us to examine the birth order in our own family and what implications that has for our purpose within our family and for God.

As many of you know, I am the oldest of 4. My next closest sibling, Laura, is 10 years younger than me and the twins, Eric and Lindsey, are 14 years younger. Growing up, I begrudged them so much. Because I was so much older, I called myself the live-in babysitter because that's all I seemed to do. I despised the fact that they followed me everywhere, always wanted in my room and that, yes, I even had to take them on dates sometimes!! I know, can you believe it?

Anyway, I have later said that since I had more of a motherly role with them I feel we are closer now than we would have been had we all been closer in age. This was a blessing in December of 2006 when our mom died. Because I was so much older, I feel like they were able to look to me as a strong comfort and almost maternal figure. I was able to comfort and hold them in a way that no one else could, not even our fathers. I am thankful to God for His wisdom and His blessing upon our family and birth order.

I look now to Emma and wonder how God will use her as the oldest child in her family. I pray that God blesses her and reveals His plan to her. God bless all of you, my dear friends and family today!

Good morning

Ahh. It's been a great morning. First, Emma slept in until 8:30! She's starting to sleep longer and longer and that is amazing. I haven't slept pass 6:30-7 in forever. Kevin went to play frisbee golf this morning and I sat around in my house robe until noon. Actually, it's noon now and I don't plan on changing out of my robe any time soon. We kept the curtains drawn and watched Mona Lisa Smile and drank coffee. Emma played with a new toy and took a long nap in her swing. I love days with no agenda...

Cramming

So, I plan on cramming lots of info into this post (in a condensed manner.) Sorry it has been so long since I have posted but we have been busy!

On May 16th Kevin graduated with his BSN!!!! yay!!!! I'm so proud of him and so excited as he starts this new endeavor. Tommorow is his first day of work as a nurse. He accepted a job at Cox South's emergency department. A nice perk is that he'll get to work with a good friend ours, Dr. Lee, that we go to church with.

We had lots of family in town for graduation (Kev's brother also graduated with his MSW). Kev's sister Mae came to visit from Charlotte. She is expecting her first baby in December. We're all betting that it will be a little boy. She's starting to get a little baby-bump and we had a lot of fun shopping for maternity clothes.

Also that weekend, Emma hit a lot of milestones. She learned how to clap her hands, she learned how to make kissing noises AND..........she learned how to crawl!!! It's more of an army crawl than a hands and knees crawl but that's okay. The whole family was standing around her as she made her first lunge. It was such an awesome thing for all of us to witness. My next project is to do some baby-proofing (I've put this off too long.)

Kevin's older brother Joe and his wife Jill came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. Joe is in the Army physician assistant program and will be finished this January. They are currently stationed at Ft. Campbell but we are hoping there's a chance they can move closer after he graduates.

Are house is still on the market for sale. We've actually had an offer from a buyer but it was a really horrible one so we turned it down. We've shown the house 5 or 6 times now and are hopeful the right buyer will come along before the end of summer.

For Sale!

We officially listed our house on the market today. It was a fairly lengthy process with lots of papers to sign. I'm glad to finally have it done, though and now we can relax a little bit. Kinda.

Part of me is naive and thinks the house will sell in a month or two. The other side of me is playing worse-case-scenarios and thinks that with the market being so cruddy it will be a year before it sells. Hopefully reality will fall some where in the middle.

Turns out realtors jump on new listing pretty quickly. The first 4 weeks a house is on the market are the most important. Everyone wants to see the "new listing" and so we should expect high traffic over the next month. Our realtor said we have to make sure that we keep the house in "showing condition" and be prepared to start fielding phone calls from other agents who want to show the house. We picked a pretty dumb month to finally move forward with things. This weekend we have family in town for Mother's Day, next weekend family is in for Kevin and Dave's graduation and the following weekend we have family for Memorial Day. Figures.

I'll keep you posted on our progress. Hopefully we'll have a SOLD sign in our front yard soon!

Emerging from the cave

That's what I felt like this morning. I woke up with no headache. At lunch, no headache. Tonight, no headache. Praise God Amen! Woo-hoo. Thank you for your prayers.

My day wasn't all smiles and rainbows. My cell phone was stolen today at work. The biggest bummer of it all is that I've always been one to have cheapie, bottom-of-the-line phones. But on this past Saturday, Kevin got me a new Katana II from Sprint as my Mother's Day gift. It was fabulous. It was sleak and light and had some pretty cool features. But now it's gone. I'm very sad. We have insurance on our plan so I have a replacement on the way but we had to pay a $50 deductible. It's partially my fault for leaving it on my desk. That will teach me.

The girl was great today. Kevin brought her by my work at the end of the day and she was quite charming for everyone. I meant to weigh her but forgot. Maybe later this week...

Another tidbit of news, we are meeting with a realtor on Wednesday afternoon. We have decided to sell our house. The truth is, we really love our house but we hate our neighborhood. After 2 years of dealing with all-night parties, bickering, disputes, frequent police visits, and questionable behaviors of our neighbors- we're leaving. At least, we hope we are. I am praying that our house will sell quickly in this crummy market. It makes me sad to give up our house but we're confident that it's the right decision for our family.

Prayer Request

I could use some prayers. I have had a migraine every day for over a week and it is really starting to wear on me. Some days the medicine works, some days it doesn't. I stayed home from church today because of it, which really has me bumming.

I've had migraines since I was 16 but it's rare that I have one that drags on for days and days like this. I'm kinda thinking an adjustment to my braces has triggered it. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow.

Emma was SO good this morning and let me lie on the couch for a few hours so my medicine could take the edge off (kevin was at work.) She was being so cute, I had to grab the camera for a quick picture!

Happy Birthday Lindsey and Eric!

My brother and sister turned 12 this past Sunday. We were able to go to Farmington for their party and it was lots of fun. Eric, my brother, kept yelling, "Cake! Cake!" He was not at all interested in candles, presents or singing songs. Eric has spastic type cerebral palsy. He is our little miracle baby and such a blessing to every life he encounters. Eric is always happy and always friendly. He never complains about anything; not even when he must endure painful surgeries and therapy treatments. He is an inspiration in my life.

Lindsey is your typical tween; she L-O-V-E-S Hannah Montana, she has posters of cute boys all over her room and her earrings always match her shirt. But, she's so special, too. Lindsey has a heart of gold and is full of love. She is my snuggle baby. Even now, she will curl up beside me or on my lap and rest her head on my shoulder. She still wants to hold my hand and gives lots of hugs. She wants to help with everything. Cleaning, cooking, folding laundry, changing a diaper. She doesn't mind, she just wants to help.

I love them both so very much and it breaks my heart that I can't see them as often as I would like. I hope they had a really happy birthday and that they feel surrounded in love.