The Ride

I look at the calendar and I wonder how it got to be September. The last 3 months feel like a blur. I have been caught in this paradox of wants. I want time to slow down, I plead for more moments with a brand new baby laying on my chest and her larger than life spirit filling our home. In the same moment I am wishing for time to speed up so we can leave these months of stress, worry, and unknown behind and move on to the next adventure of life.  I want so badly to find the job and the place that is meant for us, and in the next instant I am wishing that we never have to leave and that family will always be a short car ride away (or as the current situation would have it a few stairs up) I want to lose all my baby weight and then want to stuff my face with peach dessert and peach shakes and peach cobbler... the later want always wins out... dang those peaches.

I am left feeling torn and often uneasy, but always grateful. So so grateful that we have such incredible families to miss. Grateful for that hansome man I get to keep that has worked so hard and acheived so much. Grateful for the hope and promise the future holds. Grateful for this extra time we have had to be around family. And most of all, grateful for the knowledge that there is One who is mindful of it all and has a plan.

We have learned much in the last 6 months of life if I were to wrap it all up into 5 points they would be

• We really can do hard things. All it takes is putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes we could take life in leaps and bounds but most of the time it was in inches... sometimes centimeters. And as long as you keep moving forward, even if it is only 1 centimeter, you will reach the end. Yes, we can do hard things
• Patience is hard, but the end is rewarding. We have had long lesson in patience. We have been told to "wait" far more times than I care to count. Somehow waiting always made the arrival of the long awaited object more rewarding.
• Life has a way of working itself out, even when you can't possibly forsee how. There were nights when I sat with tears streaming trying to plan and figure out just how we would make it through this summer. Yet, here we are past the summer happy, healthy, and moving on to good things. I couldn't see then the way the Lord would lead and guide, the people who would bless our lives and the lessons we needed to learn. But He did, and they did, and we did. And perhaps we are leaving this summer a little stronger, a little more faithful and a little more paitent than we started
• Children, they don't keep. They grow and change and adapt. They are resillient, and sometimes my very greatest teachers.
• We have really really good families, like the best there is. There is no possible way we could have made it through without them. They cleaned our house when I was on bedrest, they took the kids for weeks at a time, they helped box up the house, they helped move it all out, they made food, they comforted, they supported, they encouraged, they listened ( there is no better ear than a moms) and they are currently letting us live in their basement :) They were strong when we couldn't be, they fasted for us, prayed for us, and helped me throw a killer graduation party. ;) They were EVERYTHING we need them to be whenever we needed them to be it. -- Now do you see why the idea of moving away from them is so impossible?

Life has changed so much in such a short time, and the biggest changes are on the horizon. I am equally terrified as I am excited.

 

Because of the chaos of life lately I have slacked majorly in the pictures and documentation part of life. But these are good and happy times and I don't want to overlook these moments that we'll never get back.

 

 Addison has developed quite the personlity these days. Her nick namd should probably be changed from "Addi Boo" to "Addi tude" we are diligently trying to increase her vocabulary. But she seems to prefer the grunt and whine method of communication. grrr. Every once in awhile she whips out a word I've never heard her use and I am reminded that it is not a matter of if she CAN talk but if she WANTS to. She still has our hearts in her hands and makes us laugh a lot.

Taycee, oh my Taycee. I often have to stop and remind myself that she is 4, not 14. She is such a smart little bugger. She acts so much older than she is. Her new very favorite thing is doing her own hair. Using every clip and barret in the house is her specialty.

She makes it a point to get up early every day so she can run upstairs and sit with grandma while she gets ready for work. Grandma is much nicer than mom and lets Taycee put on her make-up. She always starts the morning looking quite beautiful. One morning she used a particullarly dark shade of purple eyeshadow and was quite generious in it's appliction. When she woke me up she smiled her biggest smile and said "It looks like someone punched me in the eye huh!" she was so proud.

 

Taycee has taken this transitional time the hardest out of everyone. It breaks my heart a little. She cries at night and won't sleep anywhere but our room on the floor. She doesn't like me to leave a room without her in toe and often asks about her friends back at home. I think having Kaden gone all day at school makes it especilly hard on her. She is use to having him as a sidekick all day long.

 

She is still my very best helper though. She takes especially good care of Addison. One night she was asleep on my floor and I turned on a show on my laptop, the noise woke her up and she shot up and said "Is that my Boost? Does she need me?" She loves to take the bottles after I pump in the morning and put them in the fridge, and is an excellent binki finder.

 

Kaden is thriving, as he always does. Everyone is his friend and he is happy to be wherever he is. First grade here is a little behind his old school, so things are quite easy for him. We are looking at moving him into a few harder programs.

 

We have recieved an offer from Virginia and it seems to be right. We are going to the temple tonight and hope to be able to be able to give them a desicion soon. Life is changing quickly, here is to hoping we can hang on for the ride!