This Is Not Our Home!

Paul and I have had quite the number of adventurous moves throughout our short 5 years of marriage. First, we lived in a condo, owned by his parents. Then, for a month, we lived in the basement of some dear friends before departing to Romania for a few months. While in Romania for 5 months, we lived in two different apartments. I do have to note that it was the EASIEST move ever because all that we owned fit into suitcases. It only took one trip in a friend's van to haul our stuff to our 2nd apartment. Upon returning to the States, we lived in the basement again for 4 months. We are so thankful our dear friends let us do this for free, for it enabled us to scrap together enough money for a down payment on our first house. We moved into our very first home on March 28, 2009 (I think). It was our home. We put more elbow grease into that home than I hope I ever have to do again. I didn't have a "real" job at the time, so my full time job for a month, was to take wall paper off the walls, oversee our hardwood floors being refinished, and paint - a lot. We were so thankful for all the time and effort that our church family put into our house as well. SO THANKFUL. We do not deserve you friends. Well, you always wonder how long you will live somewhere and where God will lead you, right? Well, God led us to another state in October 2012. "Good-bye house we put so much work into. I hope you sell."

The move happened so quickly, that we barely had time to search for a place to live. Yet, God provided for us.

Currently, we are living in a condo, with a bunch of other condos that look exactly alike. If you know anything about us, we like houses to have character. LOTS OF CHARACTER. We also like trees. Big, mature trees. It might have something to do with liking to feel as if we are in the woods. Let's be honest, character doesn't exist in this subdivision. It's not really supposed to. Ninety eight percent of the people that live here are retired and in their 70s-80s. Although it's definitely not our preference, God provided a home for us that was perfect for the newborn season. But, now that we are out of that season, and since our house in TN is selling, we are looking for a place to call home for a longer stint than 7 months. We've never actually fully unpacked in our current home. As we have found a house that we would really like to own, it has made the itch to get out of our current residence that much greater. I can't help but think that God has something for us to learn in the waiting and the longing to be in another home. The parallel to how we are to long for heaven seems to permeate my thoughts when I am tempted to be discontent in the waiting.

Much like we, as Christians, aren't supposed to get too comfortable here on earth, but long for our heavenly home, so we find ourselves longing to be in a home that we can call our own and enjoy in a greater measure than we've ever been able to enjoy this home. The phrase, "This is not our home!" keeps coming to mind. Earth is not our home either! We were designed to be in perfect relationship with our heavenly Father. He created us to know him deeply, intimately, forever. How easy it is to get comfortable during these few breaths we have on earth. They are nothing in comparison to what awaits us for eternity. Oh how I long to be with Jesus forever! Oh, how I long to have days here on earth that I consistently think about heaven and my Savior who awaits me. Life is full of distractions.

If we buy the house we have been looking at, it will truly be God's kindness. There are so many reasons we are excited about that house, yet in no way can it ever compare at our true, heavenly home.

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4

How do you consistently cast your gaze to heaven?

Happy 3rd Birthday Hannah!

Since February, when Grandma Lulie, Grandpa Marty, and Aunt Leigh came to visit, Hannah has been pretend camping in her room and more consistently, having s'mores in her large closet. When I sat down to plan her party, it seemed like the perfect theme! With the help of Pinterest, there were more than enough ideas to pull this thing off and have some fun with it. One thing I did not expect was for the weather to be more autumn-like than spring-like. It was more than cold enough for us to need a REAL fire, yet I don't think the association around here would have been okay with that. Hannah's cousins, a friend from the library, and a few friends from church got to come and join in the festivities. We kept it pretty simple. The only activities we had were having Paul lead a pretend backpacking trip, eating, and doing a little scavenger hunt at the end. The campfire, chairs, and tent were set up for the kids to be able to play with throughout the party. We all had a lot of fun, and Hannah was so excited to have a real backpack for all the festivities. She even wore it when she and I went to grab a pizza for dinner. "Mommy, can I wear it into the store?" "Of course, Hannah!" Of course, the cake lady had a make a cool cake, right? I experimented with this black bean cake recipe I have used before, and used my mocha icing (shhh, don't tell the parents!). I just can't make chocolate icing without the coffee as the liquid. Unfortunately, I don't have a cool photo of the inside of the cake, but to go with the theme of s'mores, I put mini marshmallows in the first layer of icing, and tried to put graham crackers in the second layer of icing (which didn't work!). Then, I covered the cake with ground up chocolate graham crackers, to look like dirt. I made the tent out of some fabric I had Hannah pick out and now she is asking me to make tents for all of her Winnie the Pooh toys.... ahem. Be careful what you do for your kids, right? haha. I wish I had a better picture of the cake when the candles were lit. It was supposed to look like a real campfire, with the pretzel sticks being the logs and the candles pushed down in the cake, then lit. I made the cake on Thursday, because the black bean cake is better after it sits overnight. But this also means that I have had a little girl asking me if she can eat her cake for two days. When we woke her up on her birthday she asked, "Can I eat my cake now?" You can tell by the photo that she was more than excited to FINALLY be able to eat her cake :) Love her.

Newborn Photos of Hudson

One of my new friends, Brittany, came over when Hudson was 4 weeks old for a photo session. Here are the amazing results!

Hudson's Birth Story

Before it gets too far off, I thought I should record Hudson's birth story. At 37 weeks, I was 4 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. There were lots of family and friends that thought I would deliver on Thursday, December 13th, for various reasons. They were all wrong. A week later though, on the 20th, there was a minor snow storm that came through the area and apparently kicked me into labor. That night, after dinner, during a windy, very cold, and snowy evening, we notoriously went out to get ice cream (and a snow scrapper!). We have a history of going to get ice cream when it is freezing outside. That night we went to bed around 9:30pm. At 9:45pm, just after dozing off, my water broke. I woke Paul up to let him know. He was dazed and confused, understandably. We had suspicions that the labor would be a quick one, since I had been so dilated for a couple weeks, but no idea how FAST it would be. I had a couple contractions, nothing too concerning at first, but we called a friend to ask her to spend the night before it got too late. Thirty minutes later, when she arrived around 10:30pm, the contractions were in high gear. One minute long, 2 minutes apart. They were manageable, but didn't give me much of a break to get my things together. By 10:45 we were out the door and by 11 pm we were at the hospital. Who knew everyone and their sister would be at the hospital and that it would take 45 minutes to get checked into triage. Booooh on triage is all I have to say. Paul was not with me during this time either because they keep the husband waiting until the woman in labor is "checked in." Oh hospitals. During these 45 minutes, I was in transition. Crazy that I wasn't yelling at anyone. Pretty sure they didn't realize how far along I was. Pretty sure I didn't realize how far along I was. Paul finally just came in after 30-35 minutes and could tell I was a lot farther along than when he dropped me off. The midwife came in shortly after Paul and found me to be 9 1/2 centimeters dilated. Hmmm, yeah. A labor and delivery nurse heard that and ran into the triage room to grab the bed. A contraction later, I was in the delivery room. Another contraction later, I rolled onto the delivery bed. I had a water birth with Hannah and very much desired to do the same thing, yet all my time in triage prevented this from happening. They started filling up the tub, and then quickly asked if I felt like I could push. Ha. I said, "I think I could have pushed with that last contraction." I remember looking at the clock when I arrived in the delivery room, thinking "how much longer will I be in labor? He will definitely not be here before midnight." "You can turn off the water," were the words out of the midwife's mouth as I began to push. Two contractions later, and about 3 minutes, I pushed Hudson out at 11:55pm. No drugs, and no hot water to ease the pain. It honestly wasn't that bad. I'm sure all the women who have had a baby are rolling their eyes at that statement. I'm thankful a friend reminded me to prepare mentally because I had honestly not done that much with all the hubbub of packing, moving, getting settled in a new city. It all happened so fast. In some ways, I am thankful I delivered on the bed. It's something I didn't desire to do at all. The contractions were coming so quickly and intensely at the end that I couldn't even think about getting off of the bed. I also have wondered how in the world anyone can deliver naturally without the use of the tub. Now, I've done it and know. We're thankful for our little boy and the gift he is from God!

Summer Time :)

I can't believe July is almost here. I just realized winter was over a few weeks ago...or at least it seems like it. Last night I was at water aerobics at our pool and one of the ladies told us that we might have 3 more months for the pool to be open. Isn't that crazy? Only in Tennessee (and a few other states, haha), would the pool stay open until mid-September. The weather was unusually nice through mid-June, which meant it was too cool to go to the pool. Now that it is 101 degrees outside, it's perfect weather for the pool. Hopefully we will go more often now, if only my eczema would cooperate! The summer has been full of craziness it seems. What summer isn't? We made our annual trip home to Indiana in May. We've been to a number of splash pads around town. Each time we go, Hannah seems to become more brave! Yippee! The same goes for the pool. She'll "swim" in the baby pool by pushing her body up and kicking her legs/crawling around in there. When we grab and throw her in the big pool, she kicks her legs and moves her arms like a wild woman. It's great. I think she's finally getting comfortable with the water. This girl was born to swim! Well, at least she was born in water. Haha. We are thoroughly enjoying the fruit and veggies of the summer! Our CSA is up and running, and so is our neighbor's patch of garden. It seems that our neighbors are giving us fresh produce weekly. So far we have received berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries), potatoes, squash, and we refused some cucumbers last weekend. We have our full share of cucumbers! I am planning on making a cucumber & tomato salad tonight. Oh Romanian, those are your only salads. Actually, I think our entire dinner will be veggies tonight. I have also been overwhelmed with potatoes. Anyone have any good potato recipes or creative ways to use up potatoes? I already had a ton of them and a friend gave me half of her bag of potatoes because they are going out of town. What shall I do!? Last weekend was our 2nd annual block party cookout. Last year, we invited all of our neighbors who we could see from our house. It was way more of a success than we thought it would be. God definitely blessed our meager efforts to bring community to those surrounding us. We were amazed that the neighbors to our right, who have lived here since the 60s, and those to our left, who have lived here for 12 years, had never met. This year, not as many folks came, but those who did seemed to really enjoy it. It seemed like everyone was more comfortable with each other, even just having interacted a couple times. I have learned that even if I say, "please bring a side" I really need to specify a SIDE and not a dessert! We provided all the burgers/dogs/buns/drinks, etc and just asked people to bring a side. We had one family bring 3 sides (thankfully!) and everyone else brought dessert or fruit. I decided not to worry about it this year, since it worked out pretty well last year. I guess they will learn, if one year all we have is dessert and no sides :)

Hannah's 2nd Birthday Dinner

Since Paul was originally supposed to be out of town, we had planned a birthday dinner with a couple of her friends, as well as some adults that enjoy spending time with the little one. We had a farm-themed (Word World) cupcakes - pig, sheep, and duck! She LOVED them. It was super cute. After dinner (her request was hot dogs), we played outside with chalk and bubbles!!!! What a sweet girl!

Visit from Paw Paw

At the end of March my dad and Donna came down for a visit. We played at the park, took a few walks, and enjoyed their company. Here are some photos :)