Moving Week!

 Oh my goodness. Moving is chaotic. Wow. Every day is filled with checkmarks off of lists. Lists of lists! We have lists coming out of our ears! I guess the good news is we are accomplishing a lot. The bad part is our house looks like a hurricane blew through it!

This morning, a very sweet friend came and took all three kiddos to play for a few hours and gave them lunch. We had 4 hours to work like dogs and we did! I got SO much done without "Mommy, mommy!" every 5 seconds. I do love my "helpers" but sometimes they are a little hindering to the whole packing process:)

Especially this little creature:)

She wanted me to take a picture of her new flip-flops! She was very well coordinated this day. She doesn't fully understand what is going on or what an actual move means but the busyness and chaos is definitely affecting her. She has been fully potty trained for a year now but is having accidents all over the place. Hopefully this will settle down soon!

A few days ago, Eliana woke up, put on her little leotard and told me she wanted to work out! I did not want to work out but she was an inspiration to me so we did a little Jillian Michaels together;) This is some exercise get-up! I'm not so sure I could pull off the same look...

The day before school ended, there was an "All School Celebration" at school with tons of fun activities including face painting. Samuel got a snake on one cheek...

And a green angry bird on the other:)

Here's our silly guy on the last day of school. He seems to be handling the move fairly well, although he is extra silly and distractible, which is really frustrating sometimes. He is just so wound up from everything going on. Boy, I hope we survive all of this!

We've had a lot of these faces, too, from E and S but we are working hard on that!

We are cramming in the good-byes and getting lots of special time with special people. We had a birthday party on Saturday, a graduation open house on Sunday, dinner with some of our neighbors on Sunday night and dinner out tonight with our special friends Mr. Chuck and Ms Sally, whom we adore. Being so social is exhausting! But as hard as the good-byes are getting, we love our friends so and will treasure all of these memories.

4 1/2 days and counting.....

It Matters.

As you know, it has been a tough year for us with struggles and disappointments and a lot of unknowns. We have spent a lot of time on our knees praying (literally sometimes), there have been many tears and dark days and faint glimmers of hope. Lots of love and prayers and support from the people we love the most.

We have finally come to a really difficult and painful decision in these past few days. We are moving back to Ohio. For now. There can be no promises about our future. We have no idea what we will be doing there or where we will be living, at the moment anyways, but we do know that despite the sadness that accompanies this decision, we will be surrounded by family who love us. And that, we are so thankful for.

We left home almost 11 years ago, moving away from everything familiar to embark on this crazy adventure called graduate school. We really and truly believed that this was where God was leading us and that He was going to use it in a big way, and while the steps shifted and changed along the journey, our faith and belief in our vision didn't waver. First the Master's in Indiana and then onward to Chicago for the illustrious P.h.D. We had absolutely no idea what it would entail or ask of us. We were clueless to the demands and sacrifices it would bleed out of us. We didn't know, as most people don't, how it would change us and shape us.

If we are honest, both of us would probably tell you at the moment that if we could go back again, we aren't sure we would do this again. The cost has been high. We have to believe, though, that the original desire to pursue this in honor of God matters. We have to believe that He can make beauty from ashes. We have to believe that He can take the scraps of the mess that is us and mold it into something useful, worthy or beautiful, even if scarred.

We aren't going to Ohio with the "dream job." That notion shattered somewhere along the way these past 3 years, the final blow being Scotland. We aren't sure what these past 10+ years meant or how God will use them. We are just hanging on to the hope that we matter to Him. That it matters.

It being dreams, desires, hopes, disappointments, loss, fear, struggles. All of it.

We have a mere 5 1/2 weeks left here, in the place we have called home for almost 9 years. We have memories to pack up, belongings to weed through, friends to say good-bye to, a Chicago bucket list to cross off, school to finish up for the boys, and a huge, long, overwhelming list of things to do to prepare. To prepare for something we don't know.

This is taking a lot of faith for us. To place this uncertainty of our future, our longings, our grief, our fledgling hopes, our deep desire to see Him make sense of all of this and placing it all in His hands. We humbly ask for your prayers for provision, for guidance, for protection over our family and for a deep peace as we take this next step.

It matters.

Busy Things!

It has been a really busy and emotionally draining few days for a few reasons, hence the lack of blogging!

Our neighbor came to us last minute both Thursday and Friday to watch their son, who is Samuel's age, because they didn't realize school was ending and had no one to watch him! So, he spent two days with us. Thursday the boys had a great day and kept each other entertained the whole day! It's rare that we can have one friend over who will play well with both boys simultaneously and separately but he did and it was awesome.

On Friday we did a lot of outside playing and went to the park but after lunch our little friend went downhill with a bad headache. I felt so bad for him, especially being a headache sufferer myself. He doesn't know us all that well and you could tell he felt bad but was shy about really telling me what was going on. He ended up taking a long nap on the couch with a cool cloth over his eyes. When he woke up, I practically shoved water down his throat, for fear that he was a bit dehydrated from playing out in the humid sun. Finally, I got permission from his dad to give him Tylenol and he perked up about a half an hour before his dad came to pick him up.

Then we hopped in the car the minute he left to go to a goodbye party for our friends. It was really hard. I've been teary on and off all weekend when I think about them and not seeing them anytime soon. It's really hard to say goodbye.

On Saturday we went to the annual local Pet Parade, which is just like it sounds. A parade plus lots of dogs and a few horses! The kiddos had a great time and we were glad the rain held off! Eliana just loved watching all the dogs. I think her favorite was the dog dyed a hideous pink color and my favorite was the ginormous Great Dane that attracted quite a bit of attention! The kiddos got a few pieces of candy (we were towards the end of the parade so they must've been running out!), a t-shirt, toothbrushes and a ball. They just love little things like that:)

The rest of the weekend we've been pretty much stuck inside, as it's been raining and chilly.

We are gearing up for our first full week of summer and this week looks to be a busy one! And honestly, I'm really thankful for that because I'd rather have fun things to do or people to go see than just hanging around dealing with the revolving door and the ill-mannered neighborhood kids!

First up, grocery shopping with all three monkeys. Yea......