Camden's latest obsession!

Lately Camden has been obsessed with the stairs and the gate at the top of the stairs! He thinks he is big stuff, and gets VERY mad when I actually shut the gate to keep him from falling down the stairs. I took this video the other day when he was just as happy as could be with himself. I constantly find him doing things like this!

SOLD!

I don't even know where to begin, except with a huge THANKS to all of you who have been praying for us! The Lord has answered our biggest prayer so far, and that was for our house to sell quickly. I think in my mind "quickly" meant within a couple months. Evidently, His plans are much better, because we accepted an offer on our house last night! This means our house was on the market for less than a week! Praise the Lord!

A verse that has been with me since this whole process began is Philippians 4:6 & 7 which says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus."

This has been so true. From the day Tom decided to take this new job, I felt such an incredible peace that this is what we were to do, and that God would take care of all the details. I had no idea how, but I really didn't stress about "the details". There have been so many unknowns, and we've just deal with them one day at a time. The biggest has obviously been how long Tom and I would be apart while we waited for the house to sell, and when he'd be back to visit, or when I'd go down there to visit, etc. etc. etc. The Lord is good and has decided that we need to be together as a family again a lot sooner than we thought possible!!

With all that said, we have to be out of our house at the end of February. I will miss Fort Wayne like crazy - all our friends here, and having family relatively close by. But, the Lord has a plan for us (still waiting to see what that is!), and we're also anxious to get down south & start this new phase of our lives.

Here are a few more requests that you can pray for:
- That I'd be able to get a trip planned quickly to go house hunting (finding a reasonable fare, and figuring out child care while I'm gone)
- That Tom and I would be able to find a suitable house quickly
- For Mackenzie as she really starts to deal with the idea of moving (she's not been real excited and it will be hard for her to say goodbye to everything here so much sooner than expected! Jenna on the other hand is ready to go!!)
- That wrapping up everything here would continue to go smoothly

Thanks again for all your prayers, and I will continue to keep everyone posted on our progress!

Another update!

I'm just full of updates & info this weekend! What a busy weekend after all...

For those that I haven't had a chance to tell in person, we have had 2 showings on our house since it went up for sale on Wednesday. Same family, and they put an offer in this afternoon. I was really nervous that it would be incredibly low, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. With that said, we now have to make decisions on what to counter-offer. Most of you know Tom wants top dollar for the house, and I don't want to go low either, but I'm probably not quite as picky as Tom. SO...I've told Tom he has to hash it out with our realtor as to what exactly we want to do. Please pray for wisdom as he decides what to do, and for the whole deal to work out. This will be such a HUGE answer to prayer, as it means we'll get to join Tom down in Alabama a whole lot sooner than we ever expected! God is in control, and I know He will work things out according to His will. I'm just anxious to find out exactly what that is :)

I will keep everyone posted when I know more. It's easier to update this than to call everyone - sorry! Thanks again for all the prayers - keep them coming!!

Finally, a couple pictures

I realized my last couple posts haven't had any pictures, so I figured I'd put a couple pictures on from Mackenzie's birthday. We just went to Chuck E. Cheese's so we didn't have to clean up anything at our house afterwards! What a crazy day - it was jam packed full. But, they had fun anyways...




In other news, the girls are doing really good so far keeping their toys & stuff picked up each night before they go to bed, so we've been able to do relatively well at keeping the house clean. Now I realize it's only been a couple days, but still, give us a couple days normally, and our house could look like a disaster! :)

Lastly, for those thay may not have noticed, I put a new ticker at the top of our page. Those that know me, know I'm not good at making "big" announcements, so this is my fairly subtle way of announcing that Tom and I are expecting again. Mackenzie made the final phone call this morning to my parents to let them know the news, so all of our families know now. Nothing like taking our time, huh??

An apartment

Tom spent the day yesterday looking at apartments, and he found one that he likes. It's on the lake of course, but it does look nice. If you care, you can look up the website: www.riverbendapts.citymax.com

He's just getting a 2 bedroom in hopes that our whole family won't have to live there :)

So, thanks for your prayers for his safety on the way down there and that he was able to find an apartment that he's able to get into right away. 2 answers to prayer!

Thanks again, and as for me & the kids, we're doing well so far. I'm just relaxing after spending so many weeks getting the house clean!

And so begins "Phase 2"

Well, today is the end of "getting the house ready to sell" and the beginning of "trying to sell the house"

Our realtor just left about an hour ago, and our house will officially be up for sale by tomorrow morning. Yeah!! I guess that just means that now we try to keep the house clean...we'll see how that goes.

Tom is still here. He was supposed to be on the road by noon today, but due to poor planning on his part, he'll either leave late tonight or early tomorrow morning. He's driving down to Alabama to try to find a place to live until we can all get moved down there.

Please continue to pray for us as we really start to feel the effects of this whole move especially since Tom will be gone & I'll be left here with the kids. Pray that I would be able to keep the house clean for showings (& the kids would be cooperative in picking up EVERY night), that Tom would find housing quickly, and that he fits in well when he starts the new job on Monday. Those are at the top of my list right now. I'll keep you posted with any others as I think of them.

Thanks!

The life of a mother

Ok, so we just finished all new carpet throughout the house (to sell it of course!). And the biggest worry in getting new carpet is who is gonna "christen" it first, and how? Mackenzie & Jenna were playing with a new toy the other day & were coloring in their room on the floor, so I made them put paper under what they were doing just to make sure they didn't get marker or anything on the new carpet. Then there's the fear that Camden is gonna spit up or something on it. But, I should have known that no matter how careful you are, something is bound to happen! Well, last night, Mackenzie won the prize. Tom and I woke up to the sound of her getting sick in the bathroom, and you guessed it - she didn't make it to the bathroom the first time! It was all Tom could do to hold back his pure frustration at the fact that this BRAND NEW carpet was soiled already. I, on the other hand, had the pleasure of actually cleaning up the mess. Overall, I guess things could have been worse, but as I went back to bed after the ordeal, I realized this is just another thing in the life of a mother, right?? :)

So busy!

Well, we made it through the holidays. I haven't had time to update, but I figured I needed to post a few pictures...

Frosty the snowman came for a visit:



Camden got cars in his stocking:



Here are the kids opening gifts at home:



Lastly, everyone (except Tom) thinks Camden's fuzzy hair is so cute...here is Tom's grandma checking out his hair: