Real Doubts; Real Proof

So I am writing yet another blog that may raise eyebrows and make some question my theology, but its whats happening in me right now.

This year, God has been really trying to get my attention! At the beginning of the year, I experienced his love in a way that I never had. It was incredible and really life changing for me. See the blog on my DR trip. Yes I admit that I have struggled with holding onto the enormity and realness of it sometimes, but I will be going about my day when all of a sudden I realize He is leaning down and whispering "I love you just because your you" in my ear, and I will be overwhelmed all over again by it!

After my incredible trip to the DR where I was knocked over with the knowledge of this incredible love, I came home, and though I probably wouldn't have said this, I felt like I would never ever let anything convince me that this incredible freedom in knowing I was loved wasn't all I had found it to be. All the time. No matter what I did or didn't do. No matter who said I was or wasn't. I was loved! 

It wasn't even a week before I found myself part of a conversation with someone who tried to convince me that I was not hearing God like she did nor did I even come close to being as accepted by Him like she was. I was left hurting and yelling defenses and ready to walk away from everything writing it off as yet another time I got it all wrong. But God gently reminded me that with this knowledge of his incredible love that could not be earned, people who had gotten a hold of that revelation stopped working themselves to death to gain an acceptance and love that they already had, and it kept them free enough to experience what God was wanting for them all along. Evil knew this better than we did, and would do anything to keep us from this awesome powerful freedom!

Like I mentioned before, there is sometimes a struggle to remember that I no longer have to work at finding his acceptance. I no longer have to perform. I no longer have to hate who I am. But every time I find that incredible place again, and I am floating from the enormous freedom, I get a tiny taste of Heaven and I resolve to spend more and more time in this place!

I have struggled with rejection and feeling unloved my whole life and now God is changing that. But he hasn't stopped there, and I must admit part of me feels a need to hurry up and learn it all so I don't have to be "taught" through my circumstances anymore. =)

All my life I have been taught to pray, because that is what Christians do. All my life I have struggled with prayer! I have such a long list of things I have prayed for that have either gotten worse, or not changed that I must admit I feel like its a pretty futile thing. Maybe just one more way to keep us busy or gauge how we are really measuring up as a Christian. One more guilt trip for other Christians to use to get us to do what they need in their ministries.Doesn't God already have everything planned out? So whats the point??

These last three weeks without my husband here make me wonder if maybe this isn't God's next lesson for me. 

A few days of these three weeks have been really hard. Those days, Kevin has mentioned frustration that those are the days he has spent extra time praying for me. My response in my heart has been, just stop praying because its making it worse!

Today something happened that caught me by total surprise. And here is where you will find out how simple I really am. =) I went to take Kyler to school. We hopped in, Caleb and Kyler were fighting, Liam hit me in the head with a shoe and I was so ready for school and nap time that I couldn't wait to  get out of the driveway.

I turned the key and nothing happened. I realized a light had been left on in the van and the battery was dead. I laid my head on the steering wheel. I didn't really pray. I just whispered something like "come on".

I started running through the options in my head. I could start knocking on neighbors doors to see if someone could jump start me, but I was facing into the garage and the other side was full of packed boxes. My husbands crooked, "I told you so look" filled my head and I defiantly turned the key again. It started. I grinned.

All the way to school I was bombarded with thoughts about things that have happened since Kevin left. The grandpa at Kyler's birthday party that caught the toddler falling down the steps and looked at my leaking kitchen facet. The babysitter who was already scheduled to babysit the whole day after I hurt my back so bad I couldn't pick up Liam. The furnace guy who patiently offered to change my filters for me, even though that was not part of his job. The vice principal who helped me get my kids in the car after school. The bag boy at the grocery store who took my boys over to ride the mechanical horse while I finished checking out. The doctor who took time to show me what to look for in appendicitis and give me a hug reassuring me that my son would make it.

These may seem inconsequential, but to a mom who is feeling hopelessly inadequate and enormously overwhelmed, they mean the world!

I realized that of course I'm going to feel more on the days my husband is praying for me, because just like with the power that comes from the freedom of knowing you are loved no matter what, having Kevin beating up demons and covering me in prayer makes me "untouchable"! That aint cool in Evil's mind!

I still don't understand prayer. I still wrestle with it. I know I still have a lot to learn about it, but I know one thing for certain, there is some pretty freaky power in having your spouse pray for you, and I don't doubt that for a minute. 

Thank you God for giving me a husband who will pray for me!!!

(The first time my husband prayed for me as his wife)

Sweet Reminders

My husband moved to Florida....without me. He left me with 4 boys, A bio unit with a dissection of a fetal pig, which is sitting plastic wrapped in my garage, and makes me shudder every time I walk by it, finals in three classes, two teacher luncheons, two end of school programs, a high maintenance home buyer, and a whole house to pack up. Isn't he romantic???

Yesterday I got up to a house that looked like Liam had free range of the fridge, toilet paper, and laundry basket....which he did, but at least my assignments were submited only 1 day late the night before. I was picking what I think was dried cheese out of the carpet when the phone rang.

Let me insert here, my awe at little kids. Do you know what all they can accomplish in just an hour, never mind a day??? Liam can redecorate the floor with Lucky Charms, fill the washing machine with mega blocks, clean the bathroom floor with chocolate milk, assist his older brother in sharing his stuffed animals, and throw an entire bags worth of dog food out the doggie door and onto the garage steps just in case our dog might get hungry if she ever decides to actually start going out to pee instead of doing it inside, and he isn't half as tired as I am just watching him!! Fast and efficient doesn't even begin to describe him! Thats youthful and incredibly impressive energy right there!!

The person on the other end of the phone was the realtor for our charming and organized home buyer. She wanted to come take measurements of her soon to be new home that she won't be moving into for another month and a half, but needed to measure today and no later, and could I please have children and dog and self vacated in two hours? Just how opposed is she to sour milk on the kitchen floor and over flowing garbage cans in the bathrooms while she measures??

It was kind of one of those days, where you are faced with the sad and honest reality that you are only one little tiny woman who most certainly does not possess super human qualities to create 4 male angels in the store, be at two appointments at once, or ever have a clean vehicle.

When I tucked my boys into bed, having threatened to break bones if anyone got up, lectured about the unwise decisions to hide homework, and bribed on-time morning promises from them, I looked at their little faces mostly clean from their showers, and said. "Sorry I've been kinda grouchy today".

They looked at me with these looks on their faces like, hah! kinda? today?? my oldest sweetly says, "Its because you miss daddy."

How is it that daddy can make everything better? I mean the kid is right, I am grouchy because my husband isnt here, but really what's changed since he left?

I still get everyone up in the morning. I still make lunches and facilitate homework and dress and change diapers for tiny little bodies. I still call teachers and get the groceries and wipe the boogies and make the supper; all stuff I still do when he's here.

But we do miss him and I am grouchy because I miss him and my 7 year old is one of the wisest little kids I know. So I told them, how about you remind mommy that she's being a little grouchy when I'm getting that way.

Today, was better.... until about noon! Then I had a baby covered in snot, wailing and super glued to my leg, a realtor wanting extra papers that I don't think even existed, a kid who had appendicitis like symptoms, and a half baked batch of cookies.

So I did what any I-wanna-be-supermom-but-I-can't-even-do-regular-mom-right-now woman would do. I ignored the realtors calls, I ate the rest of the cookie dough, I broke all speed limits getting to the doctor right before they closed and fed my kids takeout yet again. Thankfully the appendix seems to be ok living a while longer in its spot in my son's body. On the way home, Caleb and Liam were doing a pretty impressive rendition of the Veggie Tales theme song completly in spit, but it kept hitting the back of my neck and I wasn't really in the mood anyways.

I snapped at them to cut it out and for a blessed scond everyone was silent! Then a tiny Kyler voice says, "your kind being grouchy mommy."

I have to admit, it totally made my day! I laughed and said you are so right! So I let the kids eat several cookies, and didn't do the dishes in the sink, or pick up the toys on the floor, but we all snuggled and I felt happy knowing that I was my little kids' imperfect mommy, and I was totally loved and accepted by them!! And of course after daddy called, everyone felt better!!!!

And I know she's going to want to come tomorrow to look at replacing all door handles with the way my house looks. I don't know how, but she totally knows those nights I don't do supermom!!



Family

I think most of my blogs start out with, "I should be doing homework, but...." And so shall this one.

In my procrastination, I decided to take a shot at a blog that I knew I had to write as soon as I knew we were leaving Colorado. It is very dear to my heart, and I will probably be sobbing by the end, but here goes.

When I was 12 my parents invited a newly wedded couple to our house. We had supper and I spent the rest of the night in my room consoling a friend who had just broken up with her "true love". Maybe I should write a blog on all of the things I would go back and tell my sweetly stupid self, especially about true love, especially at 12! Whew that would be a long blog!

Anyway, shortly after that dinner, this couple took me and my sister to a concert. We sat out in the summer breeze, eating subs and listening to amplified songs, and my sister and I totally fell in love them! We went to several more concerts, had a few more dinners, and then they had a baby. This baby became our live doll! This kid was dressed up as a girl and drug to piano lessons, and ate a bowl of whoopie pie frosting and watched Veggie Tales ALL THE TIME!

Larry and Beverly O'Connell became Uncle Larry and Aunt Bev. They let us stay up late giggling in their basement and watching movies, Larry taught us how to drive his massive truck, and they were always gracious enough to look at cuts and bruises and answer late night medical questions. 

We did a lot of camping and fishing with them. I hated hiking! We would be climbing some ridiculous mountain that Larry said was only a mile tops. 5 miles in, he would tell us, "its just around that corner" 18 corner later, we all crashed on the ground by a little stream where we caught 2 fish and headed back the same grueling way we came in.

The first guy that ever showed interest in me, never called me back after he met my family. It was not my dad he was most afraid of, it was my Uncle Larry!

One camping trip, Larry let me drive his truck down a little mountain road. He was sandwiched between me and my sister. A song came on that we liked and we turned it all the way up and started dancing. Poor Larry got headbutted until he turned purple!

Bev and my sister and I liked to watch movies. One day we all filed into the theater with our candy and popcorn and settled in. This movie was horrible! Everyone died!!! Shortly after my sister and I spent the night at Bev's house and we watched another movie. After the main character died, we decided that our new activity would be shopping!!

Soon I met a guy that stuck around for a little bit. Uncle Larry wasn't real fond of him, but he kept coming back anyway.

I knew I liked him when he got along so well with my #1 man, Colt!!

He joined in our ski trips, and camping trips and holiday celebrations, so I married him!

Skiing in Breckenridge

Camping over Fathers Day

4th of July

When I got pregnant, Larry, who is an OB/GYN, threatened to move to Antarctica if I didn't stop calling him in the middle of the night asking if that feeling was normal!

The best part of the pregnancy was that Bev was also pregnant!!

And the even better part was that the two little boys are the best of friends!!!

Bev and Larry and their three kids couldn't be more family to us!! They have been there through incredibly difficult time. They have been there through amazingly happy times, and when no one else was there, they were!! They taught us how to play Hand and Foot, They taught us that rain is NOT a good excuse to cancel a fishing trip. They taught us that how to ski, and ride a horse and drive a Dodge pickup. They taught us what family truly is!! We have so many memories with them, and I have no idea how we will be able to say goodbye!!

Its hard to believe that my little "baby doll" is now playing with my kids that used to be his age!!

O'Connell's you are and will always be our family, and there is no way we could ever tell you how thankful we are for you!!!We are all going to miss you!!!!

March 2nd 2013

March 2nd was hardly like any other day. I got up indecently early, ran through security and hopped on a plane to decide if we should uproot our family and move across the country.     

I hate flying! It makes me nervous and anxious, and Kevin would argue that calling what I am when I fly nervous, is like calling a  hippo a little on the large side.

Anyways. We flew to Houston and landed in a lot of bumpy wind. I got off the plane shaking and wondering how in the world I would get back on another one in a couple of hours. 

I did, however, and I forgot to pee before boarding.  A younger guy sat by me. He had earrings and pants that showed off his boxers, because lets face it why would you spend money on something no one can see?? He was very pleasant though and I was glad.

We had some delays getting off the ground. Normally I pray that we won't become airborne miles and miles above solid ground in a big heavy hunk of metal flown by an unseen man who may or may not have had his annual eye exam recently. However, my bladder was setting records on how large it could stretch out, and I was praying for that cruising altitude of gazillion miles from land.

It was bumpy! No it was horrific! The cool guy with the boxers and earrings began uttering the Lord's name and I am pretty sure that he wasn't using it the same way they do in Sunday School!

By now I have a cut in my arm from my own finger nail, and poor Kevin is slouching in his seat hoping no one knows we are together. I think we was hoping with the way the other guy was acting that it would look like I was his wife. I am joining in my other seat mates cries, only I am pleading with God to either make the end come quickly or save us please!!! I don't know which one to pray about, the bone jarring 1000 foot drops, or the full bladder that stays up there at that 1000 feet higher without me!!

Finally the seat belt sign goes off and I rocket out of my seat. We pretty much bounced around the rest of the flight to Orlando. Once we start our initial descent, we are told that there are unusually high winds in the Orlando area, and that we should expect some bumps coming in.

What they should have sad was, hold on to you butts and tuck your head between your legs, because landing in this stuff is not going to be easy, in fact we might at times be flying sideways and there is no way the overhead luggage is going to remain in its current spots!!!!!!

I have never thanked God so abundantly for his green wonderful earth as I did once those wheels touched down!

We taxied and taxied and taxied, so I turned my phone on and saw that I had a text from my sister. It was weird. It just said to call her. Because it was taking forever to get to the gate I called her from my seat. 

What she told me pretty much changed my life!!

I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then my darling sister told me not to tell anyone. Are you kidding me?? Its kinda like someone winning the lottery, being taken to a shoe store and told not to spend anything for a while! Anyone who knows me knows that I am the worlds worst secret keeper!! My good friend who is an OB/GYN, commented yesterday that the world knew I was pregnant before my husband even did because of the nationwide shortage on pregnancy tests! He may or may not be accurate. Well can I tell strangers?? Yes I could, so I informed the entire plane that my sister was knocked up and thanked the pilot for keeping me alive long enough to find out that I was going to be an aunt. 

The people in the elevator smiled politely as I shared the good news with them and the guy at the rental car place congratulated me hesitantly. My husband's new boss looked at me funny when he asked me how I was liking Florida and I gushed that I was going to have a niece or nephew by Christmas.

When we got home I played charades with a friend, somewhat letting the cat out of the bag, because that's different than telling right????

We went shopping in Daytona, and I found the cutest little outfits!!

Kevin told me "NO" in no uncertain terms. He said, "Shelly, we will wait until we find out what it is then we can buy clothes, but I think we should buy this one." He was holding a little shirt that said " I love my Uncle" but I didn't take a picture because it wasn't near as cute as the ones I had picked out!

I am sooooo excited!! I cannot wait to meet my little niece or nephew, and if it is a niece she will be outfitted until she's 13 the week I find out!!!

Laundry Day

When Caleb was born, he was as easy as they come! By a month old he was sleeping 13 hours through the night. When he got his first tooth I didn't even know he was teething until it had been in for a little while! He ate great, he smiled all the time and he played by himself really well! Dream baby!! (Watch out for those dream babies; they are lulling you into a false sense of "I totally got this"!!!)

One night, though he wouldn't sleep. He cried and just wanted to be held. He was only a few weeks old and I was still recovering from a C-section, and I still really needed sleep, so I took my shirt that I had worn that day and laid it on his bed and laid him on it. He slept the rest of the night without a peep!

The next night when he started to fuss, I once again broke out that shirt that I had worn and gave to him. Again, instantly he was quiet and slept peacefully the whole night. I don't know when it happened, but it became standard that every night I would take off my shirt and tuck it into bed with my baby. Gross I know, but when you have three boys, a husband who works two jobs, and your going to school, you totally do what works!

Well Caleb turned one. We were in North Carolina on a family trip with my parents, and we drove 4 hours to a beach house. It was so much fun! I also happened to be pregnant again. An hour into the trip, Caleb is screaming for my shirt. I had forgotten to leave one out of the suitcase and we were driving my dad's pickup, so the luggage was tucked into the bed. 

Kevin is pleading with me to make it stop, and Micah and Kyler are plugging their ears. Finally Kevin turns to me and says in desperation, "Just take your shirt off and give it to him!"

we are driving down the interstate with lots of people on either side of us, my family is following in a long line of cars behind us and you want me to strip?!? They already think I'm the crazy one in the family! Micah took his shirt off and gave it to him. Caleb chucked it to the front of the truck and screamed louder. 

Desperation, people, makes you do things you aren't necessarily proud of. Once he had that shirt, he slept like a rock for the rest of the trip. Thankfully we stopped shortly after that and I was quickly given a shirt from the suitcase in the back. 

We were at some peoples house once and this lady had a shirt on that was exactly like one I had. Caleb started tugging on her shirt and whining, "shirt". It was one of his first words and I am not even joking!

When we first started leaving a dirty shirt with out babysitter, we got weird looks. It only took us forgetting it once and they would always ask, where is the shirt?? When my mom came to stay with the three boys while I had Liam, she agreed to it on one condition, that I leave at least three dirty shirts with her! 

As he got older, Kevin complained that it was weird having a little boy dragging around women's clothing in public, so we tried getting him to take a blanket. He would waddle into my room, dump my hamper and choose his favorite shirt, leaving the blanket like....well like anyone else would have left a dirty shirt . I would find my clothing stashed in weird places all over the house. Laundry day was devastating for this kid! It was kind of awkward.

So I sat him down around the time he turned two and told him he could pick one shirt. That would become his shirt and he would have to leave all of my other shirts alone. It took him a little while to leave my other shirts alone, but after spritzing perfume on it a few times, Caleb finally attached to the one shirt. This poor shirt is torn and falling apart, but its the most important thing in the world to him! 

I actually had another shirt just like it, and so now every once in a while, Caleb and I will get in an argument over whose shirt is whose. I honestly never thought that scenario would happen until I had teenage daughters!

Today I did laundry and both shirts got thrown in the laundry. While I was folding this load, Caleb found both shirts. He lifted them both up, buried his face in them and said, "This one smells like mine!" I asked him what his smelled like. He said, "It smells like black!" (Both shirts are black) I said well what does mine sell like? "It doesn't smell like black, like mine does." and he danced away as happy as can be!

So I hope this blog could put to rest any questions you all may have had. Yes we are officially the weirdest family in America! Go home tonight and hug your family close thanking God for them!!

Toilet Paper, Pterodactyls and Pop Music

I can't sleep! I lay down and I watch my little red numbers on my alarm clock slowly change. I have seen midnight for the last several nights! Kevin blames it on the time change. Maybe so, but before the time changed I was ready for bed by 8!

The thoughts that usually occupy my mind at this time of night are rather long and random to do lists that I wake up feeling frustrated that I have forgotten, and then the next night I lay awake trying to replicate them! Its all rather exhausting!

Last night I was making yet another list of things that I need to send with Kevin when he leaves for Florida. Usually I am going through all of my kitchen dishes and appliances wondering what I can give up and what he can live without. The coffee pot is still a rather hot button issues, in fact I'm worried we might not make it to our 10th anniversary because of it!!

Anyway, last night I was once again going through the kitchen in my mind packing things up. Then I thought about what I could use to pack the fragile stuff in, and I decided bath towels would be great! How many bath towels should I send?? Will he go to a laundromat in the 7 weeks he is without a washing machine....and a wife?Well that lead me to wandering around mentally in my bathroom trying to figure out what needed to go from there. Thankfully I fell asleep before making too long a list of bathroom items to pack. I woke up around 2ish. All of a sudden I realized that I needed to send toilet paper along. Then I started worrying that I would forget to get toilet paper and I couldn't fall back to sleep forever! When I woke up this morning I thought, well he can go get toilet paper at the store if I forget, why did I lose so much asleep over that??? This is my current state of life; and its driving me crazy!

While we were in Florida, apparently a man went into his bedroom and while he was cleaning his sock drawer or some such activity, the earth opened up and swallowed him whole! I'm sitting on the edge of my hotel bed, mouth hanging wide open and terror in my eyes, but I can't turn away as they start telling stories of Floridians who have had similar experiences walking in their backyards or golfing.Then the blonde lady with too much red lipstick on states that Florida is the sinkhole capital! Did you know that there is a sinkhole season in Florida, and that we are coming up on it? How exactly does that work? "Oh the sun's a little to the east today, better watch for sink holes!"

Shortly after coming home, I heard that there are lots of sharks off of the coast of Florida and they are warning people not to go swimming. Oh great thanks for that! Caleb wanted to go to the beach for his birthday, but I think we'll just sit inside with a sinkhole meter and maybe some balloons!

Today my husband sent me a video from CNN that was talking about pterodactyl mosquitoes that are scheduled to arrive in Florida this summer. They are huge and can suck your blood through your clothes and it feels like you got stabbed by a knife when they sting. Right now I feel like I am sitting in that commercial for orange juice. The one where they are  telling her all of the things that will go bad that day and she responds with, "better drink my orange juice". Which right now might be the only entry in the pros column of Florida: they have lots of orange juice!

Think all of these things are bizarre and probably won't ever happen to us? Remember that we are the family that ends up in the ER from toilet injuries and because a kid has a rock stuck in his ear. Remember that out of 11 years of putting ear tubes in little kids' ears, ours was only the second kid our doctor had to redo because of weird circumstances.  And did you know that retaining placenta after a C-section is virtually impossible? And yet I know from experience that its not totally impossible......

When we were headed home from  the Dominican Republic, I was so tired and very ready to be off of the plane, but as we were sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta waiting to take off for Colorado Springs, life felt almost perfect. I had experienced God's incredible love and peace in a way that I never had before. I had just spent a week of being with my husband and being called the "wedding cake couple". I was headed to see my babies, and I had just met Kirk Cameron. The sun was setting and it was just so peaceful! The airplane had a song playing and it was totally not Christian, but some popular pop sing that I had never heard before.

Its weird how certain songs, or smells, or sights can be the keeper of such vivid feelings and memories.

While we house hunting in Florida, and I was hyperventilating just a bit, we sat in the Corvette in front of a house and I was upset because the first three houses we had wanted to see had just been rented and I was starting to feel hopeless that we would ever find one that worked for us. I was questioning whether we were doing the right thing by moving to Florida and I was feeling very anxious. As we sat there waiting for the realtor to come, the song that I had heard in the airplane that evening on our way home came on. It instantly reminded me of the overwhelming peace I had that night. And of course that's the house we ended up with!

Apparently God can use pop music!!

The Next Chapter

10 years ago this coming May, I married my best friend. We honeymooned in Daytona Beach Florida. We found it funny that so many people asked us if we were on our honeymoon. On the shuttle back to the airport as we were leaving FL, a businessman was the only other occupant of the shuttle. He had his briefcase next to him and was reading a very important looking business magazine. After a minute he looked up and nodded at Kevin. "On your honeymoon?" Kevin acknowledged that indeed we were and because we were sure at this point that the answer would be because we looked so in love, he asked him. "How did you know?"

The man glanced up once again from his magazine and nodded towards our entwined fingers. "Your rings are still shiny."

Well, talk about not what we thought we were going to hear! I have looked back at our wedding picture a few times recently and after seeing ten years of yard work, dirty diapers, mountains of dirty dishes and dirty clothes, and our rings aren't as shiny as they were then. Go figure!

I told my husband at the beginning of this year, that we had to do something special for our anniversary this year as its going to be our 10th! (Keep in mind people, that I got married when I was 15, so I am really not that old yet!!)

Well we decided to take Kevin's Compassion anniversary trip to the Dominican Republic and what an amazing trip it was! We learned a lot, to say the least, about faith on that trip! We came home and I started thinking, well we still need to make the actual anniversary of our 10 turbulent, I mean blissful years together special in some way. So I started thinking and going through magazines and dreaming about what we could do to make this day 10th anniversary worthy.

And then one day while Kevin was on a business trip in Florida and I was expressing my desire to do something different on our anniversary he mentioned a possible activity for that day. "Would moving to Florida be different enough?"

I'm sorry what?? I wasn't really thinking of major life altering things like moving, but that would certainly be different.

It turns out his old boss had approached him about moving to Florida to create an accounting department for his growing business. In less than two weeks from that initial meeting, Kevin and I flew out to see the sights and get a feel for the area. 

We had a rental car; A brand new Corvette. Kevin was feeling pretty good about FL!

I found Kohl's and I felt a little better, and as a plus I didn't see any snakes!

We got back last night from that little adventure; holding 2 year lease papers on a house, and enrollment packets for our boys for the school there.
There is so much more to say here about how God has made it very clear to us that this is the correct direction he wants our family to take at this point, but I don't have the mental capacity or probably even the blog space to go into it all right here. We have known from the start of this year that he is getting us ready for unknown adventures that require a unity between the two of us, and a strong faith in God to lead us. It hasn't always been easy, but God has demonstrated in such amazing ways his immeasurable love for us, and His incredible faithfulness! We have come to know God in a whole new and astounding way this year already, and its only March!!

So at this point  many of you may feel rather indignant that you are learning about this in a blog, but believe me when I tell you I couldn't even begin to imagine calling each one of you and crying through a rehearsed speech in which I tell you I am moving over 36 hours away. Everyone who is part of my Colorado life is so special to me, and I can't even begin thinking about not having you a few minutes away; not meeting you for a Chick-fil-a date, not swapping babysitting with you, or not running into you in the church hall way.

I do, however, hope that all of you will take advantage of the fact that you now have friends living close to Disney World and would love to have you stay with them!!

Our current plans include Kevin going to Fl at the beginning of April and the boys and I will follow at the end of May when school is finished. Until then, lets party people!!