Saturday, July 26, 2008

Laughter and Singing

Those are the two sweetest sounds in the whole world to me...the sound of my children signing and laughing. They have had so much fun creating projects from all our moving trash. They made these puppets and put on this puppet show...it was "The Dancing Girl with the Singing Snail". They were having some technical difficulties...enjoy the show! :) Note: Click on the arrow button to watch the video.

Here are some pictures I've been taking since we moved in. We've been busy painting! Here's pics of their secret hiding spot under the stairs, as well as their new rooms...Sarah's is Green and Pink Flower Garden room and Morgan's is the Turquoise & Dark Pink Hawaiian room.

We're also doing the summer reading program at the local library, which is a bug theme, so for lunch one day, they made bug snacks...caterpillars on logs (grapes on celery) and ants in your pants (bread, pb, raisins). I was hoping I could trick them into eating the celery, but they didn't fall for it! Oh well. Lastly, Mike has been working from home and attending several construction meetings. Here's a view from the new lab he'll be working at.

Monday, July 21, 2008

1st Day of Summer

In many ways, yesterday felt like the first day of summer. I know, it's the middle of July, but finally, we were able to go boating at the lake! It was so relaxing and replenishing...and the girls are loving tubing this year. It was great to relax, laugh, swim, play, and soak up some sunshine as a family. I think we all needed the break away from boxes and painting. It was also fun to hear the girls talk about the memories they had boating with their cousins, Ryan, Aidan and Steve last summer in Michigan. I love their "remember when" stories! Well, I'm off to paint Morgan's room...the color is beach sparkle to go with her new Hawaiian room! :)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Only 85 more

Ok, I counted boxes...we only have about 85 more to unpack! Does anyone know where we got all this stuff? Today I got to clean green paint out of Sarah's tan carpet...I still don't know how she spilled the gallon of paint...the lid is still on it! She must of dropped it just right and it squirted out the side. And the situation gave me an opportunity to once again consider grace and the role it plays in my life.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

The girls were just watching part of Mary Poppins, so that song is going thru my head. I love that song! :)

Some unexpected surprises this week...
  • we have front row seats to a weekly rock concert, as a local band practices in their garage behind our house frequently. Mike says they are pretty good. Don't ask me, I can barely keep a beat clapping!
  • Mike got his promotion this week!
  • We've had a date night every night this week!!! We went to church this past Sunday and they were having Vacation Bible School every evening this week and the girls wanted to go. They've had a lot of fun...and we've enjoyed running errands and furniture shopping with just the 2 of us!
  • we put our moving boxes on craigslist.com and they were picked up in 1.5 hours! Well at least the ones we got unpacked so far!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Furniture Shopping

We've been looking for new couches. We went to the JC Penney's homestore and the girls found this "farting chair". Seriously, every time you sit on it, it sounds like you are sitting on whoopee cushion. It's quite hilarious. But now every store we go in they are excitedly (and loudly) looking for another "farting chair". We had to go back to JC Penney's and the girls ran to the chair "the farting chair!" they yelled as they plopped down on it...as 3 sales associates began laughing hysterically. It was a hilarious, embarrassing moment. So I did what any good mom would do, I told Mike I was going to look at curtains and I walked away! (poor Mike!) So then as I'm looking around the curtains a sales lady asks, "So are you the one who has the girls with the chair?" "Yes, yes, I am!". It has been the funniest thing all week! Words don't really capture it, but oh, for the memories! :)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Bed Sweet Bed

After 3 weeks we were all finally able to sleep in our own beds last night!! So even though our new house doesn't quite feel like home sweet home yet, it was great last night to be in my bed sweet bed! :)

I received an email from a family who are missionaries in Ecuador (I met them when they were foster parents when I was a caseworker in Columbia). Debbie was reflecting on the transitions happening in their lives with both their ministry and their own kids growing up. I was moved to tears by what she wrote, because I felt the truth of it, and wanted to share it. She wrote:
Yes, life is full of transition. Yet I pray that you and I remember and respond to this - No matter where we are today, whether it is in a place of great joy or overwhelming pain, God knows where we are. His hand is there to guide, His strength to sustain, His presence inescapable.
Isn't it great how God uses others to encourage us? It was what I needed to hear this morning.

I am planning to mail out our new contact info to everyone soon. We just got our internet hooked back up today. Today I am thankful for the morning walk I had with Morgan, that Sarah wants to have cuddle time with me every day, for fuzzy socks from my mom, for crushed ice, for Mike's smile, and of course for a place to call home once again!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Where will we sleep 2nite?

We're heading to Springfield in a couple of hours and we have no clue where we'll sleep tonight. We will know by noon today if we can close on our new house at 3pm today and the latest we'll close is 3pm next Tuesday. For someone who likes prediction and planning in their life...these past few weeks have been extremely difficult for me. But this time of transition is soon coming to end and I am thankful for that. I wish I was someone who could live in the moment, go with the flow, embrace the adventure of the unknown...but I'm not. Perhaps Mike and Sarah will continue to teach Morgan and I about living in the moment as we go thru life, so we can have a bit more balance! However, I also know that I will always have a "bent" towards those things that are predictable and that I can plan, because that is who I am, and there's strengths in that, as well. But for today I will do my best to live in the moment and enjoy the adventure of not knowing where I'll sleep tonight! :)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Home & Friends

Home is the nicest word there is. Laura Ingalls Wilder
That is a quote that I use to have on my wall of sayings, and was one of Morgan's favorite's sayings. In this transition of not really having a home...this quote has found more and more meaning for me. Home is a beautiful place. We still have no close date for our new home, so we continue to be in limbo. We are back in Jeff City staying with good friends for a few days. The girls had a slumber party up in their friends rooms last night, it was so cute listening to them giggle in there!

During our trip to Michigan I had the opportunity to connect with a few people I haven't seen in awhile. While our time together was short, I was reminded of what made each one of them special to me over the years. The core of who they are shown thru and made me appreciate once again the depth they have added to my life over the years. I have been blessed with some beautiful relationships during this journey called life!