A Five Day Breather

Well, December has come and gone...way too quickly.  Last I wrote on here we were waiting for us (the family) to be added to Tim’s orders so that we could, hopefully, travel together to Germany.   The Lord answered our prayers and we got the orders and we are currently at Tim’s parent’s house a few days shy from our flight to Germany! 

I really want to remember the last month though, so I’ll try my best to recap….

Since we figured we’d be traveling during Christmas we invited both of our families to join us for Thanksgiving at our house!  It was the first holiday we have hosted!  I was SUPER excited!  We honestly thought Tim’s parents and my parents would come, but that would be it.  We were blessed to not only have our parents, but my sister, one of my brothers, and Tim’s sister and her three kids!  It was a FULL house!  But we loved every minute of it! 

Tim has been wanting to fry a turkey for the last three or four years and since we were hosting he was determined that we would make it happen!  With all the people we had though we bought two turkeys.  Tim fried one of them and I baked the other.   They were DE.LI.CIOUS.

After Thanksgiving was over we re-focused our attention on tying up all our loose ends while still waiting on those orders.  They FINALLY came in the afternoon of Monday, December 5^th!!!  Tim went down to pick them up right away and had our moving date set up.  On December 21^st we were packed and they loaded it on December 22^nd.  We did the final walk-thru for our house on the 22^nd and drove out of town on the 23^rd headed to Tim’s parent’s house for the holiday.

The time between the 5^th and the 21^st was spent sorting, packing, shopping for last minute items, squeezing in play dates, dinner dates with dear friends, and Christmas parties.  The last week also included three trips to the doctor which resulted in four ear infections and two eye infections.  Oy-vey!  There were other bumps along the way...but we managed to get what we needed done! 

Checking out the Christmas Lights at Blora.

Andi, Ryan, Colin, Milly

Connor came over to play!



Dinner with our friends.

Blaine, Milly, Colin, Connor, Andi, Ryan, and Cameron.

The most amazing friends ever!!!

Matt, Sarah, Tim, me, Jenny, & Sidney

In all the craziness and non-stop action of moving/holidays it’s been hard to let the reality of leaving our friends really sink in.   God blessed us beyond what we prayed for with their friendships.

Christmas Eve seemed like the first time we had a chance to breathe..for a few minutes at least.  After some heart searching and discussion with Tim over the last few weeks we decided that we wouldn’t be doing “Santa” with our family.  In the past we’ve neither pushed it, nor dismissed it, but Ryan is older and wiser and starting to ask questions and was also greatly influenced by his friends at school at the “reality” of Santa.  (I would LOVE to go into more detail about why we choose this route..but this article here explains it best.  I HIGHLY recommend reading it!)  All that to say, we finally set down with Ryan and Colin about 5PM on Christmas Eve in the church office to tell them that Santa was not real (short-version) and what we want them to remember most about Christmas.  My mother’s heart was warmed (true sarcasm) when not but three hours later after we get back to the house Ryan exclaims, “We have to hurry and get to bed before Santa comes!!!”  Ha.  So glad to know my son was listening! That’s ok though.  We have a whole year now to remind him and to impress on him the reality of our Savior’s birth!

On December 26^th we packed back up and headed out to visit with Tim’s Mee-Maw for a few days.  Unfortunately, she had a trip to the hospital about two months ago and she hasn’t been doing the best since.  I’m so glad we were able to make that trip to see her, but it still makes it hard knowing that it (honestly) might be the last.  She’s a fighter and she always seems to rebound after a fall back, but things never seem to go back to the way they were before.

We made it back to Tim’s parents on the 29^th and then Tim and I hid away the evening of the 30^th at a local hotel.  We debated catching a movie at the theater, but we ended up staying in the room, ordering in dessert, and sleeping!  It was great to have some time to relax and unwind.

My parents ended up driving in last minute to spend the weekend with us and the boys since we weren’t able to make it out to see them.  Their visits always seem too short, but we are very thankful that the drive and the lack of time doesn’t hinder them from coming to visit when they can.  Mom even brought super hero capes and masks for the boys, which they of course loved!

In other random news of December Blaine finally started walking more than he is crawling and Ryan learned how to tie his own shoes!

Now December is over and 2012 brings on a WHOLE bunch of new and un-charted territory for us.    There are still many unknowns.  Decisions to be made.  Some big.  Some not so big.  Some need to be made by others first before we can make our own.  There is still the big unknown of another deployment for Tim.  The unit Tim is joining returned from their last deployment in the Fall of 2010, which means that they are due to go again soon.  We are doing are best to take it as it comes and trust in the knowledge that God has our best interest at heart (Romans 8:28), but sometimes the inevitable still weighs on you.

I'm getting excited about seeing what our new "home" will be for the next three years.  I'm nervous I brought too much stuff.  I'm hopeful for the time we will have to grow closer as a couple and as a family, but fearful of the effect of another deployment.  I'm looking forward to fewer bills and a simpler schedule.  I'm nervous about driving.  I'm both nervous and excited about navigating the German shops.

We are thankful for these few days of rest in between all the traveling.  We are scheduled for a night flight and are hoping the boys will get some good rest so they are ready for all the traveling/waiting around that will come the following day.  We would appreciate your prayers for healthy bodies, safe travel, and extra grace for all that comes to adjusting to a new home.

We hope you had a great holiday season visiting with your family and friends!