Spiritual Food

My beauty-full friend, Carey, sent this to me last week.  Rich encouragement.  Read it and then read it again.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/09/dear-you-a-letter-for-the-hard-days/

And if you read it after you do really hard things, it gently pats you on the back and says, "It's okay."

I just needed that.

3

Three year old in the house!  We had a relaxed day celebrating her.  We didn't really do any birthday activities until after naps.  First, we opened presents.  Most of the photos are blurry, but here she is with her big gift.  (Yes, it's the same thing we got for Elena for her first birthday, but a larger size.  Gaby has loved Elena's chair for the last five months.  Finally....her own....and in PINK!)

A pink hooded towel.

As we've talked about her upcoming birthday the past few weeks, this was her only request....a pink cake with pink frosting, and pink flowers....and pink ice cream to go with it.  Do you see a theme?  Here's my creation.  I even found some pink sparkly sprinkles to go with it!  Truthfully, it was probably my most favorite cake I've ever done.  Her request was so specific, but easy, that I was pretty sure she'd be thrilled with the result.  She didn't disappoint.  

My favorite line of the day....after we showed her the cake for the first time and she loved it and went back and forth between the kitchen and family room a few times, talking about how pink it was....she asked, "Where's my spoon?"  No need to cut it, just give her a spoon!  (We cut it. :) 

And my favorite picture of the day....this one.  I asked her if I could take a picture of her in her new Hello Kitty pj's, sitting in her new chair.  I got this.  The three fingers was all her.  Oh my heart.  Do you see how she made three?  Not sure I've seen anything cuter.

Well, maybe just her.

Love you, love you, love you my big girl.

Pressing Onward and Upward

From Friday....

After the last seven days of UGH, I was NERVOUS heading into the weekend this morning.  God gave me this, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with.... you forever--the spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  John 14: 16-18.

I read those words, "But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you," like it was a totally new concept for me.  What?  Why is it so hard for His truth to reach us?  Am I that stubborn?  Is it this hard for everyone?  I'm fully aware that I am merely a sinner saved by grace, but this is like so crucial....to always be mindful that the Holy Spirit resides in me.  I am not alone.  I am NOT doing this alone.  Why did I think I was alone?  Why was I trying to do all this alone?

So after being reminded that I have a very real and present helper, we (magically) had a much better day.  Got the boys off to school.  Sidebar....I'm still in disbelief  at how easy it is to get them to and from school everyday.  This is the first time in six years, since Clayton started preschool, that I haven't had to wake someone, keep someone up, drive all over kingdom come, often three times a day, to get someone(s) to and from school.  It is SO nice.  Amazing really.

We did (what seems to be) Chick Fil A Friday.  I let them (the boys) pick where they want to get dinner from on Friday nights.  Two for two....Chick Fil A!  I'm not complaining!  Seven years without it is a long time! :)  They played at the play place (I confess, I hate all fast food play areas), then we drove out to the base just to make sure we could find it (and I didn't feel like going back home yet), and then I accidentally took a wrong turn and we just happened to end up next to a Sonic, so maybe root beer floats were consumed. :)

Clay seemed surprised that we had fun when we got home.  He has such a hard time away from Ronnie.  I think sometimes he thinks/feels that there's no way we can have fun without him.  Maybe he even thinks he's not supposed to??  We've had a lot of good conversations about his feelings, his prayers....lots of spiritual development stuff here....we're working through it all.  Truly blessed to guide him through all this, but I confess, it's exhausting at times.

And today, Sunday, we were able to watch our church service online LIVE from our church in Vegas.  They just started streaming yesterday and it so blessed me to "be there" this morning.  We tried a church last weekend that was a great fit for the kids, not me, and haven't decided where to turn next.  I know we need to find a church home here, but it really blessed me and met me where I'm at to be able to worship "at home" today.  I love that church.  Always feels like being at home, even if it's from 2500 miles away.  And Pastor Kevin just happened to be teaching on perseverance and cultivating joy.  Clayton and I were listening real close.

Rough

Things have been rough around here.  Really rough.  Last Thursday was lovely.  A purely lovely day.  Then, Friday hit....bad.  Then, Saturday....worse.  Then, Sunday....oh.my.gosh!!  Think we're all feeling the stress and strain of moving, living in a new city, being apart from someone we dearly love.  It's felt like A LOT all of a sudden....just kind of snuck up and hit me/us.  I lost it on Sunday.  Turned into that mom that no one wants to be.  Spent the rest of the day making amends, seeking forgiveness.  Thank goodness for grace and new days.

They Have My Heart

I love her.  I just do.  Can't help it.

And her.

And those two boys who walked to the bus stop all on their own this morning cuz their little sisters were still sleeping.  (It's only a block away.  I'm not that negligent!)  And I wish I had my camera as I watched them disappear behind the trees across the street because I loved the big bro's arm around the little bro's shoulders.  The look...."I totally got this, Mom."  Maybe no photo.  But I got the picture on my heart.

First Day of School

My 1st grader and my 4th grader.

Heading to a new school and lookin' excited and confident.  Those seemed to be the predominant feelings the night before.  Did my heart good.  Felt like all the sacrifices and hardships of the past few weeks and the coming few were well worth it.  Praise God for wisdom and discernment.

And they did have a great first day.  Only positive reports.  Again, praise God.

Sidenote:  big bro was SO PROUD to be have little bro join him at the same school....finally.  They even sat together on the bus and smiled like crazy driving away.  (I only say "even sat together" because they both already have friends in the neighborhood who ride the bus as well.  Love that they still chose each other.)

  

We Made It

We made it.  Yorktown, Virginia is now home.  I have no pictures.  Don't think I've taken a single one since we arrived here on Wednesday, so just words.

It's been a journey since leaving Vegas.  Just for my memory's sake, here's how our trek went.  We all drove out of our home of seven years on the evening of Sunday, August 19th.  Stopped just a couple hours down the road in St. George, Utah.  Packed up again the next morning and traveled to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the pool and pizza dinner in the hotel room.  Super easy.  (All had gone too well up to this point!)

Monday/Tuesday morning was horrible.  Gaby's problem tummy wreaked havoc on her and all three of us were up pretty much all night.  At about 4:30 am, I also noticed she had a fever which didn't let up for over 24 hours.  The drive to Colorado Springs was full of tired, sick girls and lots of crying.  Did I say "lots"?  Sorry, I meant, LOTS! :)  It was my birthday too.  Ronnie kept apologizing for having to spend my birthday in the car with all the crying....  Really and truly, I was happy.  It was a hard day, but I was with my crew, so all was well (and I never lost my patience!  God is good!)

Wednesday morning, we had breakfast with friends of Ronnie's family who knew him from about age 13 on. They also cared for us so well while Ronnie was at the Air Force Academy.  I almost always stayed with them when I came to visit him and they were always most gracious hosts.  We'd never been out to Colorado with any of the kids, so they got to meet our foursome.  I was amazed at how much Mrs. H. knows about each one....just from Christmas letters mostly.  We felt loved on by them again and they seemed touched that we stopped in the Springs just to share our family with them.  Really special.

We drove to Denver that evening so we'd be close to the airport.  We had a major hotel snafu and ending up having to find another hotel.  I was maybe not a fan of it.at.all. and at this point, was pretty dang tired and emotionally spent.  I also maybe had my first breakdown and maybe considered running myself over with the U-haul trailer.  Remember, this is all just hypothetical. :)

The next morning, the girls and I flew out of Denver to DC where we were met by Ronnie's parents.  The flight was fairly uneventful sans the first 10 minutes when Elena decided to have the biggest meltdown of her life.  Everyone keeps saying it was the air pressure, but we hadn't left the ground when it started! :0  It was violent, but thankfully, short lived.  She worked herself into a tizzy and passed out on my shoulder for the next 20ish minutes.  Oh boy.

Got to Ronnie's parents.  The overwhelming feeling was pure and utter joy to not be in a hotel anymore.  The second overwhelming feeling came just after I got the girls in bed and realized it had been five solid days of 24/7 kids.  Love my babes to pieces, but afternoon nap/quiet time is also sacred to me!  It is preserved at all cost!  Without it, or even five minutes to myself  in five days....whoa.  It was a good, really good, few days with Ronnie's parents and just the girlies.  The boys finished the drive in just three (long) days and arrived on Saturday evening.  We all enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa for a few more days and headed down here on Wednesday, August 29th.  (I forgot to mention that Ronnie and I left the kids with Grandma on Monday and drove down to Yorktown to register the boys in school and pick up the keys to our house in their Mercedes!  Sweet!  I'm not a "car girl," but that's nice ridin'!  And it was quiet!  Very lovely.)

I'll detail the saga that has been our moving into this house soon.  Let's just say, it's been a lot more work than we bargained for (and was advertised).  But....there have been some amazing blessings to us being here as well.  I'll let you know soon, but I/we are tired.  Been working our backsides off since we got here and desperately need some rest.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have prayed us through this move.  We felt your covering all along....except maybe that Tuesday in the van!  Just kidding!  Seriously, bunches of thanks.