Wednesday, November 14, 2012

HOME

This post could be forever long, but I will give the short version!!  Brad and I just made our 9th move in 10 years of marriage.  (that includes rent houses, etc.)  Each house we bought was either in the process of being built or almost finished.  The last house we lived in we built from the ground up.  We bought the lot, built the house and it was....."ours."  When we sold that house it was tough on me.  I had handpicked everything in that house and the girls had "their" rooms painted just for them!  When we sold it, we moved into a rent house that was nearly half the size of the home we just sold.  And, the kicker....we had no plan of what to do next.  I finally broke and became open to anything.  I prayed and prayed and trusted that God would give us a direction.  We looked at houses everywhere from Destin to moving back to Northwest Arkansas.  Several times I felt lost and the uncertainty drove me nuts.  We prayed and prayed and never felt a peace about the next step.  Towards the end of last year, I told Brad I was willing to move anywhere.  When he was ready to make  that decision, I supported him.  Then, on Christmas day he gave me my gift.  He had made an offer on  a lot in Benton.  Which not only was  great gift, but also meant we were staying put.  I am pretty sure I was at the guys office the next week talking house plans.  The lot was perfect.  It was big and in a great neighborhood.  The only drawback was although it was in Benton, it was in Bryant school district.  Thankfully, we could school choice to Benton.  I threw myself into building mode.  God had finally answered our prayers and had given us a plan.  Oh, how that plan would unfold different than I thought.  All my months of trusting God and praying about His plan had gone out the window.  I had in my mind that after living in this rent house, I "deserved" this and that and if I'm building my house then I'm putting it in there (notice all of the ME, MINE, I, OURS).   We were ready to start building in the spring of this year.  The lot, however, was not!  They had pushed the date back to the summer when the lots would be ready to build on.  Summer came and went and they pushed it to October.  I grew ansty and unsettled.  My prayers kicked in high gear once again.  Then, the ball dropped.  The school choice law got challenged somewhere else in the state and all of that became uncertain.  I remember many sleepless nights worried that my kids might get transferred in the middle of the year with no warning.  Towards the end of the summer Brad and I talked...serious talk.  He mentioned to me that he never felt a peace about the lot and building on it.  And, that was it.  We changed direction and began looking at houses.  We looked at more than 10 houses and never felt settled.  We decided we needed to stay in our current elementary school so Megan would not have to change schools in her kindergarten year.  But, we had looked at every house in this school district, or so we thought.  Our amazing real estate agent called one day and said there was a house for sale by owner we should look at.  We knew the owners so she said to just call and see what we think.  It was awesome!!  And, several things had to fall into place for it all to work out and it did!!!!  God answered our prayers, not in the way we thought He would or how we thought He would.  He used that time in the rent house to teach me humility, to not put my identity on having a place to have showers and parties or a house to decorate.  He used that rent house to make me grateful.  It's not about me!!  He used that rent house to remind me that HE is in control.  He taught me patience.  What we have is HIS!!  And, although God is not finished with me yet and I never want to become complacent, I am so thankful for the months to learn and grow.  With that being said, I am so thankful we are finally settled into the home God had picked for us!

Monday, November 12, 2012

A Little Speck

A couple of Fridays ago we had a pretty traumatic day.  It started off with Brynn wanting the lights off and went down hill from there.  Brad was on an airplane on his way home from a business trip.  I got the girls up and ready and we headed off to take them to school.  About halfway through the neighborhood, Brynn started crying and when I looked back she had both eyes shut and water was streaming from one of them.  I pulled over at my mom's house to look at it and sure enough there was a tiny blue speck right in the center of her eye.  I got a water bottle and squirted her in the eye and that didn't help.  So, I called my mom (who was home, thankfully) and we went in and got contact solution to try and flush it out.  It wouldn't budge.  And, yes, at this point she was hysterical!!!!!! I didn't know what to do!!  Do you go to the emergency room for this????   Mom made a couple of phone calls and as soon as I dropped Laci and Megan off at school, I headed to the eye doctor.  While we were waiting, Brad landed and met us there.  The sweet sweet eye doctor put numbing drops in her eye and we did all we knew to do to remove the speck.  Again, it would not budge.  He told us all he knew to do was send her to Children's.   They had the tools to get this out and sedate her if necessary.  WHAT??  For a speck???
So, mom and I headed to Children's while Brad went home to unpack his things and get the big girls that afternoon.  Anyway, at Children's they were so good with her and said they wanted to try really hard to get it out because it would be a day long process if they had to sedate her since she had already eaten that morning.  They took her to a room and strapped her to a table.  At that point I left they room and they got it out.  Thank goodness!!  It left an abrasion on her eye so we did antibiotics for a week, and now she is all better.  She spent about a week watching TV or riding in the car with her hand over her "bad eye."  It was only red and swollen for about a day and a half.  Who knew a speck could cause so much discomfort and such a traumatic day?!?!

These pictures were taken as we were leaving Children's.  They dilated her eyes to make sure there was nothing behind the speck.   It was a super overcast day and even that bothered her eyes.  
 Thankful for the shades!!!


A week later (Halloween Day) we went back to check and make sure all was better!!!

 She was a comedian this day!  As soon as a doctor or nurse walked in she would say, all better!  She did not want them looking at her eyes!


Let me say this:  This was a crazy day and I hated watching her hurt, scared and especially being strapped to a table.  However, I could not have been more thankful we were walking out of that hospital with nothing more than a scratch on her eye and some antibiotics.   Kids were there and not going home, confined to wheel chairs, tubes and cords.  It's crazy that a tiny blue speck caused so much drama, but that tiny blue speck also put things into perspective that day!!!!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Fightin Crime!!!

Thankfully, Halloween has come and gone!!  I love letting the girls dress up, and go to the church carnival, and then giving out candy, but I'm not a huge fan of the holiday!  
However, I had 3 of the cutest little Super Heros to keep me safe this Halloween!!!

I'm not sure what this pose was, but I'm thinking she was channeling her inner Wonder Woman!



 Disclaimer!!!  Laci's Batgirl costume was not this short when we got it!!  She is growing like a weed!  She did have shorts under it, though!




Loved watching them run around the yard!! Brynn was really working the cape!





At our church's Harvest For Hunger Carnival!


Charlee Kate made an appearance, but I don't think she to fond of the hat!!  I thought she looked adorable!

Ducks on the Pond

Sumo Wrestling!

My little Pumpkin....niece Charlee

So, thankful for these little superheros 
Now on to the beginning of one of my favorite times of the year!!!!