5/30 - An Analysis of our time in Prattville

Warning: I'm sorry if you are offended with my post. It's just a reflection on my experience over the past year. We've enjoyed Prattville but we have definitely had our struggles. Prattville, AL has been great. We love the area and are so glad that the Lord led us to Prattville over Montgomery. We've been blessed with a great house, a pretty good daycare (nap time I don't agree with) that was very close, and a good-fitting church for us. All that said, I leave AL with a handful of acquaintances and that's it. I would say I have a friend a but it's more like a one-way friendship that I value more than her. It's so hard being military and moving so often. Last June my best friend moved away and then we moved from FL to AL. I work from my computer so there is no communication or friendships through that. The boys go to daycare so there are no playdate friends. We live in a somewhat small town where everyone has grown up most of their lives. They have been friends for years and it's very hard to break in to that type of group/setting. Everyone here has been super nice and helpful but it's hard to break in to established circles. I already had my guard up. I just lost my best friend and that is such a life adjustment. Maintaining relationships over phone is just difficult. I don't like the phone. I was adjusting to life without my best friend and a tad scared to try and make new strong friendships knowing I was leaving again in 11-12 months.

I began to have a good friendship with someone from Aiden's daycare and then for an unknown reason (to me) that dissolved. She has lots of family and friends here and doesn't 'need' me as a friend. There are 2-3 people from church that I feel I could ask for help and they would do it. In fact, there were a few times I had to ask for help which was embarrassing but the situation called for it. I've had numerous medical problems this year and was in a bind a few times where either base sent me to the ER or it was medically necessary for me to go the ER. I was always alone because someone needed to be with the kids. In fact, I had to send an e-mail message out to the spouses of the guys in school who live in Prattville who wanted to start a running group (I was one of the co-leaders) to find someone to take me to the hospital at 5:30am and stay with me for a bit so I could get a procedure done. Brad needed to stay at the house with the boys and take them to daycare when it opened. How crazy and embarrassing.

 Brad and I have had 3 date nights over the past year!! One happened when my dad came to visit, one happened when my mom came to visit, and the other happened a few hours after being discharged from the hospital and our Cubbies helper, Jessica, and her sister came to watch the boys. We didn't even make connections to find a babysitter. Our pastor and his wife would do anything I think if we asked which brings some peace of mind. People from Prattville tend to stay in Prattville. I can't even imagine having family around all the time. I think people greatly underestimate and/or don't appreciate the ability to have family near. Whether it's for a hug from a relative, help with children, help with a medical problem, etc, that is something many military families do not get the privilege of having.

It's been difficult here. I leave without really making an impact on anyone's life. People are comfortable in their own circles and don't realize how tight-knit their circles are. Being a military family has it's normal challenges of moving all the time, making and leaving friends, and for us, having to re-work the wheel of medical treatment which is very frustrating every time we move. The orders that we currently have are hard. They are 10-11 month orders. It's not long enough to truly make friends because when people hear we are military and are here for school, it seems like they automatically put up "I'm not going to get to know you because you are leaving soon" walls.

I am excited to be leaving and going to a place where we can stay for 2 years. I'm excited I have a few friends and am excited to make new ones.

I'm sure I offended some people. I'm sorry but this really is how our time in Prattville felt. There are some sweet, nice people here but everyone is pretty busy with their already established lives and friends which is great ... if you aren't moving all the time and trying to make new connections and friends. I think it would be fine to come to Prattville and move here for a while; I think it's possible to break in to those tight circles of friends eventually.

5/28 - Trip & Camping to TN

Here is a short recap of our weekend and then I'll be bouncing all over the place to address each collage. We drove to TN on Thursday afternoon/evening and got in at 8:00pm. We all slept inside the first night. We woke up Friday morning and it was pretty darn chilly and I didn't bring warm clothes for us so we hit the thrift stores and bought some stuff. The second night, we had a camp fire and then slept in tents (even Papa). It got freezing that night. It was a record 40 degrees that night and the previous record had been around since 1979. Nice timing we had. We all did great and made it through the entire night although we were freezing. Eli slept with me in the smaller tent and Aiden slept with Brad in the larger tent. Papa sawed logs slept just a few feet away in his tent. The sun (and freezing air) woke us up by 6am on Saturday morning. On Saturday night, we were all desperate for some good sleep and we all slept inside. On Sunday night, both boys said they wanted to camp so I was in the little tent with Eli again and Brad was in the big tent with Aiden.

On Friday morning it was pretty cold but they boys wanted to explore some outside. Eli finally found a nice comfy seat in papa's swing and got warmed up with a blanket. In the afternoon, the sun comes into the backyard and Eli wasn't such a fan of that. He really wanted to sit in the swing but didn't like the sun. He sat in the tent that I put up during his naptime and then finally went over to the swing. He said it was too sunny and went back in the tent (along with his sleeping bag and blankets) and waited there until Brad and I built a contraption so the sun wouldn't hit directly on the swing. Once that happened, Eli was happy to join us outside. 

I've given each boy a collage to summarize their Memorial Weekend. Aiden helped papa plant flowers and some vegetables on the first day there. Papa told him he could come water his flowers anytime he wanted and he was sure to relay that message to me. He then took his tools and played in a pile of dirt over the new septic tank my dad has. He was super excited to use the walkie talkies. We made a rule that if someone was out on the 4-wheeler that we needed to use the walkie talkies. Aiden was so very excited to have a camp fire. He tried to patiently await to make smores and actually collected about half the sticks, if not more, that we needed for the camp fire. I was surprised that he ate a couple of smores while we were there. Smores are messy and there is no way around that. That is huge progress for him. He had lots of fun dancing at the festival that we went to in downtown on Sunday evening.

Eli had a great time as well. Sometimes it's hard to get him outside but once he's outside, he's good to go. Eli had fun using his 'map' and telling us where to go exploring on Papa's property. He always enjoys dancing and there are a couple of pictures of him dancing away at the campfire and also at the festival. He has so much personality for such a little guy.

The campfire was something both of the boys were really excited about. Aiden helped collect sticks and they eagerly brought the chairs and crates to the campfire area. I would never have guessed that the smoke a fire makes would be so exciting for these boys. They were running around and trying to run under the smoke and around the smoke and all kinds of crazy games. They were having a great time running around and dancing to the 'camp fire songs' station that I played on my phone from Pandora. Eli didn't like smores but ate a few bites of graham cracker. Aiden loved them and once he got over having to get a little sticky from the marshmallow, he was enjoying himself. Aiden and I even played a few games of Hiss while hanging out by the camp fire.

So here are just some random collages. Dale, my Dad's friend from KY, came by to say hi. He brought his remote control helicopters that he's been working on. Brad was excited to help him look at them and Aiden wanted to play with them so bad. We had to explain those were expensive big boy toys. After camping that first night in the tents, Aiden could barely breathe the next day (he is allergic to almost a dozen trees and grasses) so we gave him some benedryl. That normally doesn't phase him but I think with 2 days of no naps, a late night the night before, restless sleep from sneezing, and getting up early, he totally passed out for over an hr on the couch in the living room. We stopped at the COOLEST McDonalds on the way to my dad's farm for dinner. It was huge treehouse structure built mainly for little guys (ages 2-5). The boys run in and start playing right away. I then realize there is a sign that says "closed for cleaning from 6-9pm) and told Brad, I'm so glad it's only 5:05pm. I then notice tons of very old people sitting in the kids area and people setting up microphones. It turns out we are in the easter time zone and it's 6:05pm. Totally stinks and the kids were so disappointed. What is really frustrating is that we were only in the eastern time zone for about 15 min that day while traveling (my dad's farm is in the central time zone). To get the boys out and stretch their legs, we walked over the the goodwill that was near the McDonalds. The boys enjoyed playing with random toys and Brad got a really good pictures of Aiden rocking out with his guitar. In the bottom left picture, you can see my dad and the boys standing at the window. They were watching a turkey right outside my dad's place.

We went to a festival on Sunday night in downtown. They had live music (bluegrass) and the boys really enjoyed it. They were dancing up a storm and then playing tag for a bit. I had to include the picture below of the toothbrushes. These are the toothbrushes of just Aiden and Eli. Seriously. They weren't brushing their teeth long enough a few months ago so I bought the kind that had light-up timers on them. For some reason, the boys refuse to actually use them to brush their teeth; they just use them for the timer. The print to the right of the toothbrushes is a deer footprint that I thought was neat. That was on my dad's property. The two print under the toothbrushes are ... can you guess?  Bear prints. We went hiking through an area park on Sunday afternoon and we saw bear tracks a couple of times which made me slightly nervous. Once we came upon a spot that had some baby tracks, I was very nervous. Nothing is going to stop a momma bear from protecting her baby bear if she even thinks the baby bear is in danger. I educated the boys on what to do if they saw a bear which made me feel slightly better. Aiden has been obsessed with taking pictures and being in pictures lately. It's too funny. In the picture to the right of the bear tracks, he says, "take my picture mommy" and then poses for me. He's actually even taken a few pictures too and they have turned out pretty well.

While we were in TN, Aiden developed a rash. It got pretty bad but thankfully with lots of benedryl, it has subsided. We have no idea what caused it but thankfully it's getting much better. The bottom picture of Pouncer cracks me up. He got in to our bag while I was packing and was pleading to come with us. The final picture is an egg carton game I did for the boys. Each boy had their own egg carton and colors were painted in each spot. Their goal was to find a matching color of something outside to put in each space. Eli didn't really care but Aiden did a great job with it. It was a fun way to give them something to do and more of a purpose while exploring.

One last thing. Aiden was so cute while hiking on Sunday afternoon. Papa taught him how to follow markers in the woods by looking for tagged trees and staying with the same color. Aiden kept wanting to lead and saying he was an expert hiker.

Here are two beautiful pictures we took on our hiking excursion.

And this picture of the boys cracks me up. Aiden just thinks it is ridiculous to stop and take pictures. He doesn't not enjoy it at all. He just wanted to keep on hiking. Eli enjoyed the break but Aiden was so bored (we stopped for about 5 min) and kept saying, "come on. What is taking so long? Let's go."

I had to include these handful of pictures from Eli because he's just too cute and his personality really stands out. What a carefree and loving little boy.

Aiden doesn't like to take pictures that much because he can't be bothered with actually stopping something so I have to get my fix of pictures with Eli.

5/28 - Before our trip to TN

So I'm backed up on the blog. Here are a few random things before we left for our TN trip. Here is Aiden at therapy doing one of the things he dislikes most - using a sponge and getting partially wet. Mrs. Rusty let him do an exercise with another child and that was helpful because I think it's good for him to see a normal reaction to water and someone getting wet. He had fun doing it but it's so funny to see this other 3-4 yr old just not even give a thought about water and then watch Aiden who then balks at all things water. He is making some progress though.

We found these fun dinosaur hats at the Dollar Store the other week and the boys both got one. They like to fight with them on and see who can knock the others' dinosaur off the others head. That doesn't always go over to well.

Speaking of dinosaurs, here are the goodie bags I've been working on. So they aren't your traditional bags. I blew up balloons and then paper mached the majority of the balloon leaving just enough room to put in the goodies. I let it dry and then popped the balloon.

I then stuffed the goodies in (some eggs have slightly different contents than others) and then paper mached over the small hole.

Pouncer was trying to help me make sure they all had the things they were supposed to have inside before I finished sealing them up. After they dried, we spray painted all of them brown to look like dinosaur eggs. It was a fun project. Now, we just need people to come to Aiden's party.









Last Sunday was our church family picnic. It was at the YMCA right by our house and we had a great time. The boys got to swim (the water was COLD) and enjoy the outdoors for a while. Aiden even got to swim with his friend Jessica for a bit.

After we swam for a bit and ate some food, it was time to go indoors. We got to listen and watch the Children's Choir practice for their summer tour coming up. Jessica sings in it and Aiden really enjoyed watching her and the rest of the kids. Aiden even started clapping at one point and was having a great time. Eli doesn't quite have the focus that Aiden does but he LOVE music. He started to get quite silly from sitting and watching so long. 

Eli eventually started to get pretty goofy. Towards the end of the performance, there was a drama so only a handful of kids were up performing. Thankfully there was a girl that was sitting down in the back and Eli was making crazy faces and she started making crazy faces back at him. It kept him entertained and quiet for a while and then finally, the boy next next to her made a few faces too. Aiden decided to follow in Eli's steps and start to go a little crazy in his chair.

On Monday or Tuesday afternoon, the boys offered to help Brad wash our vehicles. They did a pretty good job and Brad was pretty patient with them in coaching them how to do it. They took turns with the hose and with the soaper brush. 

5/19 - Aiden's Preschool Graduation

Aiden had his preschool graduation on Tuesday night. That still cracks me up. There was no graduation from preschool or even elementary school when I was little. You got a pat on the back (maybe) and life went on. His school worked really hard on having the kids sing a couple songs and have hand motions. The preschool (Journey) did a great job with making it such a special event for these kids.

We got there early to make sure we got a good seat. It didn't start until 7:00pm so we pretty much let Eli run around the sanctuary from 6:20-7:00pm. He must have run about a mile if you add up all the laps he did. He played on the iPad during most of the service but that was fine because at least he was still and quite. He did a great job. 

They brought all the kids up on the stage and had them sing a few songs. I was wondering why Aiden was asking me such random questions through the week. He was making a heart with his hands and asking me where his heart was at on his body. I saw him play the air guitar a few times when we were playing music and wondered where he saw that at. He would also practice clapping and then spinning his hands around and telling me "that's how it's done." He had a blast singing the songs. Mrs. Jennifer, his teacher, sat in the front row and did all the hand signals with them in case they forgot. Aiden did not forget a thing. Not only that, he was so intensely looking at her to make sure he was on cue with the signals and the music. I've never seen him that focused before. He only did minimal nervous activities (wiping of the ears and eyes) compared to a few days at church when he performed with the children's choir. 

They took the kids out of the sanctuary and helped them all get their caps and gowns on and then they all came in. I didn't get any good pictures with my camera of Aiden walking down the isle. I'm hopefully to pull one off the video that Brad took and get a still shot though. Anyway, he walked out with his classmates and they all sat down. He was the third or fourth one to go up in his class. They called his name and said he was honored with the award of "Most Likely to be a Pilot" and put up a picture of him in his flight suit. It was too cute. Mrs. Jennifer gave him his diploma and then he walked over to his spot. He waited while everyone else got their diplomas. At the very end, the teachers told them they could throw their hats (all the hats had names in them) but Aiden was the only one that I saw out of about 22 kids that did not throw his hat. You can see in the second row of pictures, the picture to the right, only has his hat on. It was too funny. Mrs. Jennifer even tried to tell him it was okay. I asked him later why he didn't throw his hat and he said he thought he might hurt someone by doing that. Such a sweet heart. We tried to get a family picture but it was late and Aiden didn't have any nap that day. I asked Eli if he could tell Aiden "congratulations" and give him a huge. You can see the outcome of that in the picture to the right of the text in the middle. Aiden was so upset and annoyed that Eli gave him a hug.

After the ceremony was over and I quickly realized there would be no cute family pictures of our little preschool graduate, they had some cake and punch set out. We all had a small piece of cake. As you can see in the bottom row, Aiden really liked the cake. I was slightly mortified when I looked up and saw Aiden his plate but then also thought it was slightly funny. He LOVED the punch. Eli, of course, loved the cake. He actually didn't like the punch though. Eli doesn't actually care for the taste of lemonade, tea, soda, etc. It's good but it's so funny considering how much he likes different kinds of food. Eli is a water kind of kid (or juice if it's offered to him). Overall, we are very happy for Aiden.

I've been in contact with the placement specialist for the school he will be attending in Jacksonville to figure out what to do with him. Our very smart, yet quirky and pretty fearful & safe kid, will need to be put in the right environment (that's what his therapists and various teachers have told us) in order for him to thrive. I just have to have faith that God will make that all happen. It's so hard when we move all the time and have to re-start testing/evaluation processes all the time. Aiden's class was spending quite a bit of time preparing for the graduation and did not do seat work for a few days. That included a few days leading up to the event and few days afterwards. He was complaining to me that he didn't "get" to do seat work and he was sad about that and wanted to do some at home. He says, "I don't understand why we don't do seat work anymore." I try to explain to him that his class has been busy getting ready for graduation but he doesn't want to accept that as an excuse. The kid just loves to learn. He was doing some serious math this morning as I was making a treat: cinnamon rolls. He looks at the package and sees that there are 8 and then says, "hey mom, there is enough for all our family to have two. "Two and two and two and two make 8" as he points around to each of us and continues to add two fingers counting on his hands as he points at us. He then starts doing math during lunch today and says "did you know that 2 and 3 make 5?" Brad says, "yes I did. Great job. Who taught you that?" Aiden responds with, "my mouth." We were a bit confused and upon a few more questions to Aiden, he said his mouth is what tells the answer out loud but his head it what counts. What a fun kid.

5/15 - A Lawn Maze & Both boys at Therapy

We are living up the last few days of our grass mazes right now. Here are pictures that were taken almost 2 weeks ago so you can imagine how high/good the grass and mazes are right now. The boys (and I) have had so much fun running around in them. We plan to mow it all down tomorrow and then let it grow again over the next 2 weeks and then make more mazes for Aiden's birthday party.

After some outdoor time in the maze, we came inside and did some sensory painting. I mixed shaving cream with some tempera paint. I got out cookie trays for the boys to play on and then I found some cars to play with as well. At first they just played with the cars and making paths on the cookie sheet for them. After a bit, I added the colored shaving cream. Aiden did play which was great although he did not get any shaving cream on his hands. Eli had fun and didn't mind getting "dirty" as long as he could rinse them off and then dry them off. They had a great time. I'm determined to eventually have Aiden touch the shaving cream but we will work up to that I guess.

We were grateful to have the opportunity for Eli to go to Aiden's therapy last week. Eli has never been to Aiden's therapy here in Alabama and I really wanted him to see what it was like. They were both super excited for about 1.5 weeks leading up to the day. It was so important to them that I woke-up at 5:30am (eastern time) to drive 6.5 hr and met Brad straight at the location of therapy in Montgomery. There was no way I was going to miss this (and potentially cancel the appointment if I wasn't back in time). 

We got there and right away, Eli just wanted to run around and play. He quickly learned that is not how things work at therapy. Mrs. Rusty set up an obstacle course for them. I took it for granted that Eli has not experienced some things like a ball pit. Part of the obstacle course was standing in a ball pit and Eli was quite scared that he was just going to drown in all the balls. 

Eli got tired of doing the obstacle course and wanted to "play." I wasn't sure what he meant by that but I feel like I have watched Mrs. Rusty enough to know I could figure out how to make whatever he wanted to "play" with as part of something to do with therapy. We did lots of different things. He really liked the reacher thing (see directly below this text, top row). He grabbed those crabs and put them up on the platform and then put them down and then back up. He kept switching between his right and left hand. I was surprised he had the strength to do it but he was more accurate with his left hand than his right hand. 

Overall, Eli had a blast. He definitely learned that therapy is not doing just fun things and that he has to do things he doesn't like to. I think this helps because Eli realizes Aiden doesn't get to go and play all during his therapy time. 

5/10 - Our new house

OK Mom. This post is mainly for you. Here is our beautiful new place:

Isn't it amazing? Mom, you deserve to live in such a beautiful place like this :)  You have done such a great job raising me and somehow making ends meet to keep us housed, fed, and even the ability for me to keep training and doing gymnastics. I am so glad that the Lord has blessed all of us right now. It will be an adjustment for all of us but our goal in finding a house was to make sure you have your own space and the Lord provided it perfectly in this house.

A view of the kitchen. The one on the left is standing at the other end of the kitchen. The one on the right is standing down where the table is at in the picture on the left.

 Looking at the living room from the rear of the house by the sliding glass doors/patio:

This is my part of the bathroom. How cool is that. This is where I will be sewing my crazy projects! It's the perfect height.

These are the steps up to my mom's room. There are about 4-5 steps that go up to the left before you actually go into the huge room. It's 15 feet wide by 30 ft long. Mom will even have her own full bath. My mom really loves nature and she hasn't lived on a non-major, noisy street in at least 20 years. She loved visiting us in Maryland and here in Alabama because our locations have been great for quietness and sitting outside and enjoying the birds and the peace. She will get to experience some more of that now.

This is the back of the house. You see that little porch up there? Yep. Mom, you may feel like you are in heaven. There is much more action than you are used to compared to visiting us but thankfully golfers don't make much noise. We will of course be bringing our little bird feeder with us. 

And we needed anything else to be excited about, as I am filling out the lease the school bus comes and it's just 2 houses down. How fun. Aiden is super excited he gets to go on a bus!!! OK. Back to grading papers for me. I'll post some of the outdoor fun we've been having before I left. Our grass mazes in the backyard are a huge hit!!

5/9 - God is .......

What word would you use to fill in the blank for the Title of this blog. God is .....
A week ago I would have said God is absent or not listening. Despite my prayers, it seems that my health has continued to decline and we have yet to get any answers. In fact, on Monday, I spent half the day in the ER because my abdomen was so painful, swollen, and hard and it hurt to move. It also felt like I just stuffed my face when I had not. After suffering through a month with severe and often re-occuring migraines (which medicine did not relieve) and ulcerative colitis becoming a huge problem, I thought I was due for a break. Well, a horrible month combined with 6-9 months of such severe fatigue (and no answers or explanations) which was preceded by almost back-to-back deployments with small children, one having special needs and the other requiring another set of tubes the day after daddy deployed, sub-par health for me since having the kids, and still trying to work some, life has been just hard. I've been feeling lately like God isn't hearing any of my prayers. I know that is not true and I can definitely see God's hand over our lives the last couple years but I still wonder, "God, why bless me with these children and then not even give me the energy to be able to take care of them?" God got me through 2 very difficult and problem-laden pregnancies, the first 2-3 yrs of both of the boys lives were filled with medical problems and now .... they are finally healthy and now I unable to take care of them because my body isn't functioning right. It just doesn't seem right. I had a friend I did gymnastics with and her mom was suffering from a serious medical condition and I always felt so bad for her because I felt like her life was so limited because her mom was so sick and it prevented her from doing so many things. I don't want to be that mom. So, I've really been bothered lately about our current situation and me so desperately wanting to be in a better state of health. So back to the ER, they took an x-ray and said it was fine. They did blood work and my liver enzymes were crazy high. They told me I just had a strained muscle in my stomach (darn cross-fit workouts) and to go see a gastrointestinal (GI) doctor. As you may recall, my sleep study needs to be re-done because they failed to take me (or tell me) to discontinue a medication that can significantly alter the results of the sleep study. My sleep study was scheduled for monday night. I made a call to my GI doctor and they could see me on Tuesday morning or Thursday morning. Tuesday morning I am supposed to be at the sleep clinic and I was planning on going to Florida to house hunt on Wed-Fri so that wouldn't work. My stomach has been so painful (which is why I was at the ER; well that and thanks to how the military system works - "we have no appointments but you might have internal bleeding so go to the ER"). My husband and I decided we should put off the sleep study and go to the GI dr because my stomach has been so bad that it's even affecting my sleep. Well, it gets more complicated. I've been off my ADHD meds now for a week so that it won't mess up the study and that has been challenging. I'm more tired (if that is possible) and don't get near as much work done because I can't focus. I went to the GI doctor and he changed my meds and we will re-assess in 2 weeks. Please pray these new meds work and bring me some relief.

OK. Back to God. Needless to say, I keep telling myself that any day now my health will start getting better and then this happens this week. I was so devastated and really doubting if God was hearing my pleas for better health. He blessed me with a family and now I can't even take care of them.

Brad and I did lots of on-line searching earlier this week for houses. I made a list (excel spreadsheet with columns for everything you can imagine) and then we finally narrowed it down the top 10. We made a Top 3 list and then I had the next 5 listings that we were interested in. There was 1 house that I found on military by owner 2 (the others were found on realtor.com) weeks ago and he wanted to see the pictures so I logged on. An awesome looking house popped up as the first listing and I had not seen it before. It turns out, this new listing was by Oakleaf (where we used to live and loved it). Based on the description given on-line and the pictures, it seemed like a great fit for our needs (my mother is moving in with us so we were looking for something with a guest suite). The problem? It was listed at $100 over what we have planned and decided on for a monthly rent. I really liked and somehow had the nerve to e-mail the owners and ask if they would consider taking $100. They said yes so I set up to see the house on Wed evening at 5:00pm and this was one of our top 3. I found a really nice realtor who was going to show me the properties on Thursday and I planned to sign papers for something and then leave for AL on Thursday morning. One of the other Top 3 houses was also on military by owner and I set up a time to see that place on Thursday late morning. It seemed like I had a good plan ... right?

Side note: The boys and I go to the library on Tuesday to get some new books and I wanted to get a book on CD so I wound't get bored and fall asleep on my drive. I never listened to the one I checked out before and returned so I was just gonna get that one. For some crazy reason (OK God-ordained event) I can't find it. I'm trying to quickly search because the library is about to close and I have both boys with me. I randomly see this Beth Moore Get out of that Pit book on tape. We are in Prattville, AL in the only library which happens to be fairly small considering what we are used to. Seems random they have this book on CD but I grab it. I like Beth Moore and there is no doubt I feel like I'm in a pit.

Well, 2 hours in to my 6.5 hour drive, I get a call from the realtor saying an emergency has come up and she is so sorry but cannot show me any places. Um. Should I just turn around? At this moment, I'm driving to Fl to see 2 houses if she can't help me. Oh my. God - what are you doing? This is a disaster. Part of me started to panic ... but part of me was at peace. I knew that God would find us a place to live but logically, it makes no sense to drive 7 hrs to see 2 houses and I should probably turn around.

With about 2 hours to spare, I insert the Beth Moore book on CD. Fabulous. It's speaking right to me. I'm trying to take notes as I drive (I don't recommend that). God is talking to me and telling me, "I hear you Amy but I'm still working on your journey. I haven't forgotten about you. Yes you have been through a lot but there is a purpose for it all." I know that .... but I needed to hear it the way Beth Moore presented it. I start realizing and thinking that maybe that is true - God hasn't forgotten about me. I need to regain my strength in Him.

I get in town and drive immediately to this house which is now within our budget although I'm about 10-15 minutes. I apologize and then quickly fall in love with this amazing and beautiful house. The more he shows it to me, the more I don't want to leave and the more I feel God patting me on the back and reminding me He will take care and provide for us. The owner probably thought I was crazy because I was diagraming the entire house out. I don't know why. I've never done that before. It was an amazing house. So perfect for our needs right now. Perfect! The entire time he is showing me the house I'm thinking how odd it is that you could take out that family and put my family in there and it seems many things would probably stay the same. This is the home to 3 little boys about the age of mine. He shows me the garage and I see the bikes and jogging stroller. I feel right at home! :) The owner shows me the entire house and seems so very nice. He's not rushing me out and letting me try to draw things on my paper. I am in love with this house. So I'm done viewing the house and am looking at my paper. He says, "do you have any questions?" Oh yeah. I was so distracted by being late (I don't like being late for appointments but I should have known trying to make an appt based on a 6.5 hr drive wasn't a great idea) and was so awe-struck from the awesome house that I didn't ask a question that I should have asked before even looking at the house. "Do you accept pets?" [Crickets, crickets ... look of wanting to say "no" on owners face ... my heart sinking...] We talked about it and left it that he would talk with his wife. I had such mixed feelings. I totally understand that as a homeowner, I despise renters who come in with animals and mess up the place. However, I am not that kind of homeowner or renter but there is no way that I can probably convince him of that and I understand (unfortunately for us). I just prayed as I drove away and then promptly called my husband to tell him about the awesome house I just saw that we probably can't rent.

As I am getting to Sue's house (where I am staying), I get a call from the owner of the house I just saw telling me he and his wife have discussed the pet issue [my heart was sinking because his voice was not sounding like the rest of his sentence would be words I wanted to hear] and they would be okay if we did a deposit. Amazing! I'm on cloud 9 but getting a massive migraine. I draw out floor plans on graph paper and take pictures and send them to Brad. I'm excited but Brad and I agree to see our other top 2 because they also seemed like a very good fit.

I saw the other 2 properties this morning. The one smelled of pet urine (see renters like that give renters like us a bad reputation) and had massive, massive carpet stains everywhere even though the carpets were professionally cleaned yesterday. God made that an easy decision. No to that house. Off to the other of our Top 3. Nice area. OK house. Sufficient but not perfect. It was a done deal. The house we saw last night is literally a perfect fit for us.

So how amazing is that. God ordained a series of events which, at first glance, seemed bad. I didn't need that real estate agent that I thought I did. Not only that, the people that we are going to rent from seem like fabulous people. The husband is the one who showed me the house. I got to meet the wife today while I was filling out the application and signing the lease. I wish they weren't moving kinda (although I LOVE their house) because I think our families would get along great. They seem to be great people and it makes the effort that Brad and I (and the boys) put into being good renters seem more important. I don't know how to explain it. We take very good care of the houses we live in whether it is ours or not. We believe in treating everything, whether it's ours or not, with respect and care and I guess it's kind of neat to finally have someone that can appreciate that.

God is so good. He does take care of His children and this was a great experience to see and feel that again. I need to get back to grading since this is the last week of classes for my students. I'm excited for the summer break of teaching and SUPER excited about our new place to call home. I'll write more about the house later but the experience to be able to call it our house for 2 years has been amazing.