Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I think we all need to remember what this holiday season is all about. It isn't about the presents, shopping, trees, decorations, etc. It is about the time we can spend with our families, and most improtantly the birth of Jesus Christ. Without His birth, He couldn't have died for our sins 33 years later. And without that, we wouldn't be forgiven of our sins. It is through this grace that we can be assured that we are going to Heaven. Praise God.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish you and your families Happy Anniversary! We are here in Oregon celebrating just the four of us. The turkey is about to go in the oven, then the fun begins! Wahoo!

I'm looking forward to next year when I can help my dad and mom make Thanksgiving dinner, and clean up afterwards. And help my mom decorate for Christmas. It will be a great holiday season. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

To settle in, or to remain on extended vacation?

I have been wondering if I should settle in here and make friends, or act as if I'm still on an extended vacation. I've decided that since the girls and I might be here until school gets out, I might as well make friends. I haven't been very happy just being in limbo, and trying to fly under the friend radar.

So what I've been doing is making coffee (Chai Latte Tea) dates with friends, and this weekend I'm going to go to a women's retreat for church. This retreat is specifically made to make friends. It isn't a retreat with a speaker. We are just going to chill out and enjoy each other's company. There are some amazing women coming to the retreat and I look forward to relaxing and getting to know them. :)

I'll post pictures of the girls on Halloween next week. Well, Jamie won't be dressed up, but Faith is going to be a dog! :)

Back to School!

It sure has been a long time since I posted last. I haven't had much to say this summer. Just a lot of hanging out with the girls and traveling around the Northwest to say goodbye to friends.

School has started and the girls are so excited to have great teachers this year. And to be back with their friends, of course. :) They both have men teachers, which is new to both of them. I hope and pray that they have a great year.

It has only been a week since school started, so I haven't subbed yet. I've been checking out what I need to renew my teaching certificate, and get a new teaching certificate in Arizona. There are a lot of hoops to jump through. I hope to have it all done by Christmas. We'll see.

Graduation pictures!

This last weekend I graduated from Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. I am particularly proud that I graduated with a 3.9 gpa. It was hard and I'm soooooooo glad that it is done now. :) Here are some pictures of the fun weekend.



Joe, the girls and I



My parents and I

Big announcement!

I have a big announcement. Most of you already know this. We're moving to Phoenix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to live up in Arrowhead by my mom. That way I can be closer to my brothers and their family, and the girls can go back to Legend Springs Elementary where they went last year. It is an excellent school. Joe is going to be commuting to the Chandler area, which will not be very much fun for him, but he is willing to do this so we can be by family. What a great guy! It was either he commutes to work, or we drive up to my mom's a lot.

We aren't sure when we're going to move. It will depend on when a machine is done being made in The Netherlands. It is due to be shipped to the US towards the end of the year. I sure hope it happens before Christmas, because I don't want to miss another holiday. Especially since my sister will be there this year. Too bad we aren't moving this summer. That would have worked out so much better. But as I learned growing up a WalMart daughter, I know that you can't exactly choose when you're going to move. It is often decided for you.

Phoenix Adventures

We just got back from an incredible trip to Arizona. I'll start from the very beginning, a very good place to start... Can you hear me singing that? :)

Let me just tell you, if we end up staying up here in Portland, we are flying down to Phoenix, not driving! What a long, long, long drive that was. On Friday we drove to Sacramento, CA. I think it took 9 hours or so. We were glad to get to our hotel. Faith tried to swim in the outdoor heated swim pool. I forgot my suit, so she had to go alone and got bored rather quickly. Can't blame her. The next days trip was 11 hours or more and took forever! Especially between LA and Phoenix. We've seen all of CA now and it is quite a beautiful state.

We finally made it to my parents house in time to see my brothers, sister-in-laws and nieces and nephews before they had to go home and put the little ones to bed. It was so nice to have a welcome party for us. :) I have the best family. :)

My mom and dad decided that next year for their 25th wedding anniversary that they are going to renew their vows. So my mom, sisters and I planned for their wedding! We went to a bridal fair (which was lame) and to David's Bridal to try on dresses. We even went to the church that I got married in. We're unsure if they are going to let us have the ceremony there since we aren't members. We're hopeful though because it is a cute church.

My mom had her 60th birthday when we were there, so we celebrated that. It was fun. She got to have one dinner with all 5 of her kids there and their families, except for one spouse who wasn't able to make it. She was missed.

We left there missing my family bunches. I really was hoping that Joe would be able to move us down there in a few years. When we got home, he checked into it and guess what? We might be moving to Phoenix!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW! I'm sooooooooo happy. He put in for a position down there that would potentially further his career and get us closer to our family. :) We are all so excited at the possibility. This means we can actually take vacations, and hopefully Joe's parents would want to move to Phoenix since it is so warm down there. That would be even more awesome!

To blog, or not to blog

My life is kind of on an even ride right now and not very interesting for blogging. So do I blog that I just took some hamburger out of the freezer for dinner? Do I blog that I sat and listened to a kid read a state assessment this morning and almost feel asleep? I'm afraid if I blog about my mundane life, you'll fall asleep. I'll just give you a quick update on us, and let you go on with your cyber surfing. :)

Jamie: back at school and almost done coughing. She loves playing piano and plays every chance she can get. Even when Joe is sleeping, which he doesn't mind. That means she's playing that expensive piano that we lugged all the way from Boise. :) Well, we had movers to move it. :)

Faith: is going amazing at reading! She's getting so much better. I'm so proud of her. She still doesn't want to read, but at least it isn't as hard for her as it was a year ago.

Joe: is shift lead at work now. He is on his way to being a supervisor. :) He likes work, and is working the shift he wants. Life is good for him. :)

House: people have looked at our house, so that is good. I hope that someone wants to put an offer on it soon. It will be good to be over that part of our lives and move on to the rest of our lives.

Me: I'm another year older, and hopefully wiser. Just subbing as often as I can, which is most days of the week. I have a few teachers here and there that request me for jobs, which is nice. It is good to be wanted, professionally. I know I'm wanted at home. :)

Thanks for reading!

She's doing better!

Jamie is doing so much better that she went to school today. :) And she made it through the whole day. :) I'm so glad that she is doing better. :)

Week of sickness!

Jamie has been sick for a week! She's had a fever this whole time, although it isn't as bad as it was the first few days. Poor thing! She's really missed school. She's very social and has missed her friends. I hope that she will be well enough to go to school on Monday.

I'll keep you updated.

4 generations in one day!

I spoke with four generations of women in one day! It was a great day for phone conversations. First I talked to my sister Katie, her and I are the same generation. Then I talked to my mom, that is generation number 2. After that my grandma called, and that is generation number 3. Finally I talked to my daughters, of course, so that makes generation number 4. :) I had great conversations with all of them. My grandma is doing well. It has been 7 weeks since her fall. She still has some soreness and flashes of pain in her heard, but she's feeling so much better. We are all so blessed that the hand of God was around her when she fell down that escalator. My mom is doing okay. Being a Realtor in AZ right now is really hard. If you could pray for business for them, that would be appreciated. Katie is doing awesome. She's such a great mommy. I love to hear her stories of her and her almost 1 year old daughter, Sarah. :)

And finally there is my daughters. Faith is great! We went to church this morning and hung out all day. Jamie on the other hand is sick. She has a high fever, no appetite, and a major headache. :( Tomorrow I will take her to the doctor if she's not better by tomorrow morning. Please pray that she gets better quickly.

Look what came in the mail!

I got my Master's degree in the mail the other day! Wahoo! I graduate with a 3.9 GPA. I will walk the stage in May with my family coming to Nampa Idaho to see me. :) It will be so exciting. :) I will get hooded. :)

Sunday gratitudes

I haven't done this for a while, shame on me!

1. I'm grateful that I have two very healthy girls. They are doing so well since we moved. They are doing well in school. Faith is getting the help she needs with reading and writing. She has great teachers. :)

2. I'm grateful that we found a Realtor to help us sell our house and do what we need to do for a short sale. I'll miss that beautiful house.

3. I'm grateful for new friends at my new church. It was nice to sit with them this morning and not have to sit by myself.

4. I'm grateful that we found a church that we fit into to, and that teaches God's Word to us. My church also has a great worship team that leads us with great songs.

5. I'm grateful that we found a nice, little, house in a nice neighborhood. It will be a nice, little, home for us to live in until we can buy a bigger house.

I hope you all have a great week.

Howdy Peeps!

How are things going out there in blog land? They are going up and down here. Ups first, my sister-in-law is about to have a baby!!!!!!!!! She's expecting a boy at any time, we are all so excited. My grandma is doing awesome! She went out to dinner with friends just a week after she fell down the escalator. Just thinking how bad it could have been makes me shiver. I've been working pretty steadily with subbing for our school district. I don't usually have to drive very far, and have had some great jobs. :)

Down: We had a comp ran on our house and it came in a little over 1/2 of what we bought the house for. So it looks like we're going to try to short sale it since we can't sell it for what we bought it for. :( I hate to walk away from it, but we can't afford to have two houses until the market rebounds, which could be years and years.

Other than that bit of bad news, things are going great. The girls love school, and seem to be doing pretty well. :)

My Grandma is doing much better

She's in a normal room and they are going to continue monitoring her clot. Thanks for all of you who are praying for her. She's going to continue to need prayers until that clot is gone. She's going to need daily CAT scans for a while to monitor it.

My aunt who also live in Houston is already talking to a lawyer, so that is good. There are going to be some hefty medical bills.

Prayers for my Grandma

Can you please keep my Grandma, Marilyn in your prayers. She fell down a complete flight of escalators today. She is in the ICU with a head injury. Looks like she had a clot between her brain and her skull. They are going to rescan her in the morning to see if it has changed in size. Please pray that she makes it through the night and that the scan shows good news in the morning. I will keep you updated on her progress.