Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This week we are putting the final touches on our home Christmas decorating. We set up a couple of light strands to the front of our town home and I also made a simple rope hanger for all of our Christmas cards. The card hanger is filling up with more cards everyday and it is nice to walk by and see pictures of our friends and family:)

Here is a sneak peak of what I started... More to come!



A house, A home

We have been in our townhome for about 4 months now and things are starting to feel like home. I found this artsy canvas project on Pinterest that I just loved, so I decided to try! I did change up the colors a bit to fit our color scheme, but overall I am pretty pleased:)



hard lessons

I am coming to the end of my first semester at Liberty University. Not sure what I was thinking when I started this path other than, I felt a strong urge to get my degree in psychology and I was motivated to get started right away. I knew that there would be many nights of studying and thought I could even get some studying in during nap times. Over the course of this semester I have learned so much.

I was really interested in US History, mainly becase there is so much history that surrounds us here in Virginia. I learned many things about the origin of our country that I never knew. In my communications class, I had to give a couple of speeches. Even though I wasn't as pleased with my grades on them as I would have liked, I was pleased with myself for learning how to freely speak in front of others.

At the end of this semseter, I find myself frustrated that I can not put my full energy into school. There have been times that I have put my children off because of assignments I was working on. I know, many people including my hubby have thought from the beginning that I was taking on too much. I guess I felt that I had something to prove to myself. I wanted to say I knew I could do it.

A couple of weeks ago, I came to the realization that of course I can do it, but at what expense? When it comes down to it, there are only so many hours in a day. School is important to me, but my family is more important.

I don't think this means that I need to give up school. I just think it means that I need to enjoy doing it, instead of going all in. If I am giving my quality and quantity time to my children that they need from me, I am happier. They are happier.

I can not get these years back with my children. Do I want to have great memories of us together or of me in the other room studying while they play? When I came to the realization that there is only so much time, I gave up my study time during the day to give my attention to Andrew, Ethan, and Sawyer. When I gave that up, I also gave up my high grades. In return, I gained a new sense of relationship with them.

We have had a lot of fun lately. We went to a farm to pick apples, flew kites, baked cookies, learned letters, and smiled.

There is a lot I have left to finish out this week and semester, but all in all the lessons I learned this past term have definitely been in history and communication. I have been making history with my children and learning to communicate with them better.



Moving On

Tonight, I think things are finally starting to become real. We are set to move in about three and a half weeks and I am overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts. My first instinct is to get out my worry stick and start pointing it at all of the things that could go wrong. Ryan will be quitting his wonderful job that has been such a tremendous blessing to us and we will be heading across the country with very little money and no job! WOWZERS! Ok, God, you HAVE to come through for us! I have a mental list of all we need to do when we get to town, and I wonder how smoothly it will all go.

I stumbled across a blog for Shenandoah University Pharmacy Students tonight and started reading what it will be like for Ryan and what that would mean for our family. I realize I am going to have to make some friends, and quickly! I always pictured school taking a lot of time, but this is no joke! Ryan will be getting involved in a lot more than just his classes. There are so many wonderful things that students involve themselves in besides their studies. From fraternities, to missions trips, to building houses... this is going to be intense! I am super excited, and I hope that we will be able to get involved in some things along side him.

I am hoping that we can find a church home right away and connect with some great people that will come along side us to encourage us through this transitional stage of our lives. We have a couple of churches in mind that we would like to visit when we arrive.

I wonder if Ryan will end up finding a pharmacy job when we get there, working at a video game store, or if I will end up working again.

I don't know if we will be able to find a place to live right away, or will have to stay with my wonderful sister and her husband for a bit. I think about living in an apartment again or if it will be a whole new adventure renting a house.

I wonder what the people of Winchester will be like. Will they be friendly? Will they keep to themselves?

Will I be horribly home-sick? I know I will definitely miss my friends and my family as well, but will I keep busy enough to keep the hurt away?

Will my kiddos adjust?

I have SO MANY questions that I will not know the answers to until we start living our new life, but one thing is for CERTAIN... I know that we are following God in this journey and that is why I can move forward. I may be scared to death of the uncertainty in moments, but He always calms me down and says, "trust Me". "I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." No matter what the outcome of this adventure He is in control and He will guide us. He will provide for our needs. I pray that I will be sensitive to his leading to use me in ways I did not imagine.

Summer Days

We are trying to squeeze everything we can into our final summer before we leave for Virginia! There is this great park down the street that we like to visit. They have these awesome water sprayers that kids can run and play in. The boys absolutely love it! I plan on taking them here quite a few times in the next few weeks:)

Oh and I can't forget to mention my cute little girl in her cute little sunglasses too!