Canada or Bust....

We have moved to Canada! It's crazy-we know-but it is gonna be an amazing adventure for our family! Since we won't be able to just pick up the phone and call family and friends, I decided to jump back into the world of blogging and keep everyone updated this way!! I am looking forward to sharing our adventures and fun as we live in a different country for the next 2.5-3 years!! This is a test post to play around since so much has changed since the last time I blogged!! I will begin at the beginning in the next post!

Christmas

It is that time again...time to Celebrate our Savior Jesus Christ, time to Decorate, time to Shop, time to Cherish our Families and Friends and time to Give! I love Christmas! I love the lights, the decorations and the genuine feeling of love that surrounds most people at this time!
This year is different for us since we are in Texas! It is colder than I thought but also warmer than VA. Our decorations are in VA (no room on the truck) so that simplifies things alot! Although it is VERY hard for me to not decorate it has been nice to not be so consumed with decorations - oh! what a feeling Simplicity brings!!!
We are reading the third book in this series for Advent- Tabitha's Travels. We love these books! It is really neat to read and for them to remember the people and things we read in the previous years! I have also collected quite a few christmas books and we have been reading those during the day!
Enjoy the Season!!!

I'm Baack!

I have felt like I have fallen off the face of the earth and I am sure it seems like it since I have been around on my blogs!! I haven't fallen off - just landed in Texas!
I have really struggled with depression since we got here but I am starting to feel the fog lifting off of me - Praise the Lord!
We have now been here for almost 3 months and life is getting groovy! It is not Home but I am feeling a little settled since we found a church(we think) and have met some fellow homeschoolers!

Anyways - I wanted to share some pics........

The first good rain since we got here flooded us in for the day!

The boys went out to the pond and down to the street looking for creatures after the rain stopped. Don't you love Alex's boots?? He borrowed them from me!

Alex reading....a miracle???

we got chickens! we now have 3 more chickens and a new rooster. as beautiful as this rooster is - he was mean as all get out and attacked us anytime we went into the yard - he had to go!!

These three love to take baths in my big tub - so do i!!!

We miss VA but we are getting used to being here and are starting to find friends.

pictures from Texas...finally

this is my new best friend.....the yellow garden spider
there were quite a few of these on the outside of the house(until i powerwashed them off) and still are a few on the garage! they are totally harmless but they are BIG and just creepy! We are waiting to see the babies come out of this sack - homeschool science!!


Our plans changed last minute when we got here and we are renting a house 1 mile down the road from Dan's parents house! The boys are loving that! We are about 20-30 minutes from all the other family - Dan's 3 sisters and my sister!

We got here at the hottest time of the year and had a very long run of over 100degree days - it was gross and hot and yucky! We ended up being inside all the time!
The boys have had so much fun playing with all of their cousins - it has been so neat to watch!! We miss VA so much but it has been a true joy to see the boys surrounded by so much family and just loving it!!

the pictures of the house and yard are totally out of place but I just don't have time to switch them around for you...sorry! it was get them up this way or not at all!!

the main living room looking from the kitchen towards the front of the house


my favorite thing in this house.....how gross is this???????


the living room from a sideways view

what you see when you open the front door

the rest of what you see when you open the front door

the front of the house with the garage

the house...ain't she cute???

the back of the house from outin the field a little bit....lovin the porch!

the boys hunting for grasshoppers(TONS of them all over the yard) for their trip to the pond...pics below

the yard to the right of the driveway(from the house)

the pond at sunset...beautiful!!!

the boys collect grasshoppers and go throw them into the pond to these crazy fish that eat them up so fast you never see the fish.....fun for the boys!! we have grasshoppers by the thousands in our yard!

boys headed out to the pond. the little barn is cute - hoping to get some cows....

this is the yard to the left of the driveway

the upstairs room - the tv is one area and the school table and books are towards the left on that wall and under the window. small but it works!

the downstairs room before we put furniture in it - lovin the big tree in the living room!!

We miss VA soooo much!! But we are confident this is where we are supposed to be right now so we are pressing on and getting acquainted with Texas!! It is hard but it took us awhile to buidl the relationships we had in VA so we have faith that God will build relationships here too!!

Bella....

is our new family member! We got her free off of craigs list about 2 weeks ago! She is probably the craziest thing we did in adding to the stress of moving but she is worth it!!

she catches and eats the grasshoppers

she sleeps alot!

isn't she cute????

Texas...here we come

Chaos - our life these days!!! Everything has seemed to happen so quickly yet is moving so slowly! Our house didn't sell so we decided to rent it so that we can all go together as a family to Texas. It just didn't feel right to leave me and the kids here and Dan go ahead of us while we waited for the house to sell! Who knows how long it would have taken and we didn't want to be without our hubby and daddy for that long!

We had found a house to rent through a homeschool group in Texas but when we got there another house - 1 mile down the road from the Grandparents - was available. We had to make a hard decision but we think it was the right one and we will be living just down the road from the in laws. We feel this is a once in a lifetime oppurtunity for the kids so we will take it!! The boys are so excited to be able to ride their bikes down to Grandma's house! We couldn't resist the 22 acres that come with the house!!

I will send pics as soon as we get there and get internet set up! Right now we are in VA but will be packing up the truck on Tuesday and heading out Tuesday night! We are planning to get there by Thursday am!

Very exciting but sad! We have been so blessed by friends and church here in the Valley and we are really sad to go! So many people have been in and out of our lives over these past 5 years - it is hard to even begin to try to say good-bye to all of them! This makes me grateful for internet!!

Happy (late) Anniversary

My husband and I both FORGOT our 10th Anniversary!!! We were driving to Canada when I realized we had forgotten. Dan looked at me like I was crazy and Alex couldn't believe we had both forgotten - what a pair we are!!! Guess we have a lot on our minds these days!!!

Niagara Falls

....the Canada side of course......

the America falls as we rode past on the Maid of the Mist

another pic of the America Falls from the boat



that is where we were on the boat taking the pics above.....so totally cool!
HorseShoe Falls from the wall above

on the Maid of the Mist.....YES - YOU GET WET!!!

these 2 were having fun!

Alex brought his best friend Zach along for this last trip to Canada


it was a long drive......

the America Falls are behind the boys

the Horseshoe Falls as we drove out of the Mist and were NOT getting soaked anymore!!

the cameras went into hiding while we were literally at the base of the horseshoe falls!! It was awesome but very wet!!!
Zach & Alex - 2 cool dudes!!

soaking wet but still in awe of God's amazing Creation!

I finished this yesterday.......

I was hired by a friend to paint a mural on her daughter's wall and this is how it turned out! I know the tree is smaller than the butterfly but - oh well! It is super cute and I must say I was pleased with how well it turned out!

The flowers across the bottom are my favorite!

This flower is alone on the wall behind her bed.

I did this for her on canvases with decopauge and paint. Again - I love how this turned out - super cute! It looks really good hanging above her closet and the colors are the ultimate girly girl!

DeCluttered

Okay - it is done....the house is officially decluttered!! We got rid of 2 couches, 2 chairs, 4 bookshelves, 1 loft bed, 2 side tables, 2 desks, 1 buffet and that is just the BIG stuff! I am sitting back in shock looking at that list - how did I let that happen - okay, okay I know. it is my love of thrift stores and yard sales!
A friend was here today helping me pack up some stuff and she kept saying how big my house looked with all that stuff gone and my oldest keeps saying how clean it looks!! I guess I should really listen to what they are saying since I am LOVING how clean my house looks!!
This has been a very busy 2 weeks of cleaning out and I know I keep talking about it but maybe that is because God keeps talking to me about it and convicting me to NOT do this again!!
There are so many more important things to do with my time and I am so excited to have the space and the mindset to be able to do them!!!

Yard Sales

I LOVE yard sales. I LOVE a good deal, a bargain and the search for a bargain but boy has that gotten me into trouble!
With the moving, comes the selling of our house(obviously) and with that comes the decluttering and cleaning of the house we have lived in for 5 years! I always thought I was good about decluttering and selling stuff every year at a yard sale. Until.....we decided to move and I was told we only get 1 truck and we will be moving ourselves! That put a whole different spin on the idea of decluttering and getting rid of the stuff that is not a necessity -aaarrrggghhh!!!
We had a yard sale this weekend - after I spent the past 2 weeks decluttering, shuffling things around and really taking stock of what we need and what we don't need but we have for some reason or another(couldn't possibly have anything to do with my addiction to thrift stores and yard sales)! We had a very good yard sale, got rid of alot of stuff and made some money but boy has God been working on me thru this process! I have been asking myself all day if having a 'good' yard sale is a good thing or a bad thing? Yes, it is a good thing to make money off of the stuff but why did we have that stuff to begin with?? Because of my sinful desires to get a good deal and letting my creativity control my actions! It has been so refreshing these past couple weeks to not have any desire to go into the thrift store or to be changing things up and creating more stuff to go on the walls or shelves or wherever I can put them! Don't get me wrong - I love being creative and I will never stop doing that stuff but I do need to learn to control it and not try to recreate everything I see that I like or try to redesign every piece of furniture that comes across my path! I have really enjoyed this whole cleaning out process and the simplifying of all that goes with it and I am really praying that God will help me to continue to feel this way and not let it take over our lives again!!
Here's to a successful yard sale!!!!

We are Moving.....

....to Texas!! While we were in Texas for vacation Dan had an interview with Target in the Frisco area for a possible transfer to that area. Well - it seems that God wants us in Texas - they have a position for my hubby in the area where all of our family is living!!! We are not sure exactly what store he will be in yet but we do know he will be in that general area and that is good enough for us! Dan has 3 sisters(and their families), his mom and dad, 2 aunts and 1 cousin and his family and they all live within 20 miles of each other. My sister and her family will be moving to that exact same area this summer also!! Once we found out my sister was moving to that area we immediately started praying about what God has for us here in Harrisonburg and if moving to Texas was something we should pursue or not. We felt he answered with a very sound 'yes' so we started the process of asking for a transfer and it just worked out that Dan was able to interview while we were there on vacation!!
God has definately been guiding this decision and has his hand all over this and we are believing and trusting in him completely(or trying to) to work out all the details to get us there! Selling our house is gonna be the biggie! We are believing in God that it will all work for the good!!
This is a very hard move to make! We have never lived near family and it has been good for us but also bad and sad for us as the kids are getting older. We have been blessed by so many families and people in so many different ways since we moved to the Valley that it has been like having family around us! Every step of the way, thru the good and the bad of our 5 years here in the valley, we have been surrounded with love and support and friends and we are truly going to miss the people that have had such a huge impact in our lives!! We have all grown tremendously, in our faith and our walk with God and our commitment to family, since we moved here that it is easy to look back and see why God brought us to this place when he did!!
It has been hard at times to not have the unconditional support of family that this is exciting for us to be able to move to a place that we will be surrounded by family members!! We are fully aware this can be stressful at times but it will be worth it for my boys to be able to play with any of their 12 cousins that will live within 30 miles of them - any time they want to!!!
We are sad, excited, hopeful and trusting that the things God has in store for us cannot be measured - good and bad!!
God is Good.....All the Time

Shiloh cont...

I forgot to tell the end of the story with Shiloh.....we had to put her down. We took her with us to Texas in hopes that she would get better with the steroids but she didn't. She got worse and so we had to make a hard decision and it sucked!!
I don't think it really hit us till we got home. I keep looking for her and waiting for her to join us when we go outside and to sit with us on the couch every night. The boys have mentioned almost every day that they miss Shiloh and wish she was still here with us.
I didn't realize what a part of our lives she really was and I miss her - even though she is just a dog!

Texas

We drove 20 hours to visit our family in Texas over Spring Break. It was a VERY long drive but it was soooo worth it! All of my hubbies sisters and his parents live near Dallas and we hadn't seen the sisters for 3 years! There are also 2 cousins and their families and 2 aunts that live in the same area!! It is just a BIG group of nothing but family!!!

The grandarents have 14 Grandbabies - the oldest is almost 16 and the youngest is 6 months. They are quite the crew!!

My boys had the absolute best time hanging with all their cousins and just playing and playing and playing! It is such a blessing to us that they all get along and enjoy each other's company!
They have heard these names for so many years but they didn't remember all of the faces and who they really were - now they will!! Thomas was a baby when we were there last so he didn't know who any of them were. He was so excited to meet them all - it was cute!

Now we are home and the 2 weeks we took getting ready to go - I had to paint gifts for all of his sisters and buy new clothes for my big butt so I wasn't wearing paint stained clothes all week - are forgotten and life is back to normal!!

I made these for each of the sisters.....


I also got to paint while we were there - I had someone to paint for...Yeah!!!
This was a vinyl piece I bought to do something else and it didnt work so i made this and it is hangin in one of the sisters kitchen!



I had seen this saying that someone had painted on a canvas and loved it so I found some junk wood and used that to make one for each of his sisters! I think they turned out pretty ok! any chance to paint is just great with me!!!

Shiloh

Today has been a stressful and sad day at our house. When we got up today Shiloh couldn't use her back legs and I had to carry her to go potty. We took her to the vet and she has had some kind of disc misplacement in her back - I don't remember all the proper terminology! They gave her a steroid shot and we are giving her some steroid pills in hopes that the swelling will go away and she will be able to get better without having to have surgery! If the steroids do not work and surgery is the only option we will have to make a VERY HARD decision weds. morning when we go back to the vet. It is just not possible for us to pay a couple thousand dollars for her to have surgery.

There have been a lot of tears today and lots of prayers for our sweet doggy! I have been a crying fool all day! I didn't realize how much a family member the Dog was until today and the thought of having to make this choice is possibly upon us.

Georgia or Bust.....

On Sunday night we changed our plans and headed south as fast as I could get the car loaded!! The younger boys and I had originally planned to leave this coming Friday but when I saw another snow storm headed in our direction - WE LEFT!
When we left our house at 7a.m. Monday it was 5 below Zero! When we arrived at my sister's it was 55 degrees! Today - it looks like we have brought the cold weather with us because it is now very cold here and windy!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!
At least we are cooped up in a different house with our cousins - that is much more fun than being cooped up at home with our mom!!!
Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

More Snow Pics

Thankfully, we only have 2 snow shovels and since all the boys came outside with us -I didn't have to shovel anything!! So - I took a bunch of pictures of what the snow looks like now that it has been snowing for 2 days straight!


Thanks to the snow plow we have quite a fun mountain in the front yard!








Take your eyes off the cutie pie smiling at you long enough to notice the HUGE accumulation of snow on top of the picnic table....

Shiloh LOVES the snow! She was almost completely covered and had to jump to get thru it!

The tree branches have so much snow on them they are hanging way low!

The snow reaches the bottom of the swings!