November 2009

November 2009:

For Emma-Claire's 5th birthday 11/10 and Josiah's 3rd we had another backyard party complete with a giant blow up jumper and the cutest cakes ever! Grandma B and I made a ladybug cake and a dirt mound crawling with insects, yummmm!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my paternal grandparent's house (Great Grandaddy and Great Grandmother) where Oma captured the 2009 Christmas card photo!

The adult's table minus Grandmother who is taking the photo!


My baby sister Annie

My sister Sara with her youngest niece Olivia

Josiah Michael with his namesake; my Dad

Great Grandaddy and Emma-Claire on turkey detox!

The kids trying their best to cooperate with Oma for a Christmas Card photo!

Halloween Fun

The Dakessian, Damiani, and Rother Mommies and Kiddos!

Precious Olivia

Emma-Claire and Allie Mae Trick-or-Treating

Ladybug Princess

Ashley and Tonya

My Little Duckling

Super Siah!

"Jack"

Punkin Carving/ The Creation of Jack

Early October we carved a pumpkin and the kids named him Jack. Emma and Josiah grew very fond of Jack and he became like a part of our family! He sat on the counter until we moved and every day the kids would talk to him telling him good morning or whatever was on their mind at the time. It was very cute! Thankfully they were not too devastated when we had to throw him out!

This year for Halloween Emma wanted to be a Princess Lady bug and Josiah wanted to be Superman with big muscles. I thought Olivia would make a cute duckling since that's what she looks like when she walks/waddles! We celebrated with our two other families, the Rothers and the Dakessian's at the Dakessian's home. All the kids had a great time "begging for candy" as Sam says!

The Last Move (for a long time)!!!!

Our New Home on a Rainy Day!

The Formal Dining room to the Left of the entry way

The Office to the right of the entry way

The entry way from the living room

Stairs/Entry way looking toward the living room

Our wonderful master bath! (my side)

His side

His glass shower and my jet tub :)

Our master bedroom

Living room

living room

living room

Kitchen

Back of home with patio

back yard

We survived the last move for a LONG time! And I do not use the term "survive" loosely! By prayer and angel's covering the kids and I were alive and so very glad to see Daddy when he arrived Friday after our hardest move ever! So here's the condensed version: Last month the movers showed up on a Tuesday morning to pack the entire contents of our home in Kyle for the move to Houston. WOW! I thought this is going to be AWESOME, I dont have to pack at all! Five hours later I got a phone call that the packer were finished and they would be back the following day to load the truck... amazing they are so fast! Well... I got home to find out that they had left out about 30% of our stuff and to their credit I thought maybe they did it on purpose. When I phoned the company they assured me that the rest would be packed in the morning. They showed up Wednesday morning to finish packing and load the trucks. The kids and I again evacuated to stay out of the way and agreed to meet the movers in Houston later that afternoon to begin unloading. Fast forward all day to 11pm. I am at home with three kids asleep upstairs, five tried, grumpy moving men, a house full of half uploaded (not unpacked) boxes and the movers are ready to go. Wait a minute, our quote included unpacking! One hour later, many phone calls between myself, the moving manager and my husband the guys agreed to come back the next day to finish. They were never told that they had to unpack. And on top of that all of our thing had been thrown into boxes... resulting in a HUGE unorganized mess on the unpacking end. Things that belonged upstairs were in the garage, toys and an upstairs tv were in my bathroom and these guys wanted to go back to Austin! They did return the next day to move the items I could not move on my own into their correct rooms, but in the end I got stuck with the rest. And the 30% of unpacked stuff in the Kyle house, a good bit of it was left there. Thankfully Sam was able to go by and get it. Two sleepless days later I finally got the mess sorted through and most of the house together. I know Im insane but I could not quit until we could live here! So all that to say, PRAISE God for our beautiful new home and for all of His many blessings He has provided us! My camera died wile taking photos of the house, I will add more when I have good light to take them :)

Goodbye Kyle

Rainbow over Plum Creek
Our little White Picket Community

Small Town Charm

Kyle Family Log House

Downtown Train Depot

One of the hourly trains :)

Old City Hall

View of the water tower over Main Street

The greatest little church EVER!
First Baptist Kyle

New City Hall

Kyle, Texas Historical Marker

We are officially moving back to Houston next Thursday (11/28). As we prepare to move, yet again, I look back on the brief year and a half we've called Kyle home. It amazes me how deep our roots have grown in less than two years. God has blessed us with such amazing friendships here; there will always be a part of my heart in Kyle, Texas. God has taught me so much about being a godly wife, patient mother and wise friend through some amazing women and His perfect word! He used this season in my life as a bridge between the youthful, clueless, selfish first years of young adulthood and marriage to prepare me for a woman after His heart and perfect will for my life! I feel securely fastened to His pottery wheel as He sculpts and refines me. Praise be to Him for his mercies and abundant love! I will miss the beauty of the Texas foothills, our adopted family at First Baptist Church, my two AMAZING Godly mentors hugs and encouragement, our little white picket fence community, and all of the charm of this small town! I thank God for all He has taught us, brought us through, delivered us from, and blessed us with in this season of transition.

I look forward to some permanency, Lord willing, in our new beautiful home He has provided. I am very excited about not moving for many years since this will be our seventh move since we left college 5 1/2 years ago! I am excited to rekindle some old friendships and be near to my grandparents as they age.

When people ask how I feel about moving I will sum it up in one word: PEACE. God gives me perfect peace even as I am saddened as I look back. He gives me peace because I know this is His provision for us! Praise Him for Sam's job and the security it provides us! Thank you to all who have blessed our family beyond measure; through your prayers, encouragement, hugs, sweat, yummy cooking, solid preaching, laughter, tears, and love!

Summer FUN!

Emma-Claire and Josiah at Zilker Park

Olivia on her Birthday

"Yaya" is 1!!!

It always amazes me how fast the seasons pass! We had a great summer full of fun stuff! We had visits from Sam's parents and two of his siblings. Hannah, his lil' sis is a Freshman at Texas State, about 15 minutes from our house, this fall. So, Rich, Reta and Tom all visited us while seeing Hannah off to school. We all love when they get to come see a bit of our world! August 1st was Olivia's first birthday and our first day with our foster kiddos. About that time we also found out that we would be moving back to Houston sometime this fall.

The latter part of the summer was consumed with preparing for the foster kids and trying to adjust to life with 6 kids. We had a 10yr old girl, Emma 4, 4 year old boy, Josiah 2, 18month old boy and Olivia 12months. It was nearly 24hour a day chaos. Unfortunately, we were greatly misled as to the severity of the needs of these foster children. For various reasons each one was moved from our home and now I can look back and see that those children were put into our family by God for a season. We learned a lot having them here and have a whole new perspective of CPS. We have a new compassion for families with mentally ill children and empathy for the children sitting in CPS custody. Someday we will serve orphans in one capacity or another but now is not the time for our family to take on several very abused and needy children.

Grandpa and Aunt Hannah's Visit

Sam and Rich

Siah and Hannah

Olivia the Cowgirl!

Josiah and Grandpa

On Father's Day Sam's dad and sister from PA came in town for Hannah, Sam's sis, to go to her orientation at Texas State where she will be a fish this fall. We took them to our faviorate resturants, Italian Garden and Rudy's BBQ. One of Sam's love languages is food so when we have guests he like to take them out to eat! Im pretty sure thats why... not that I don't cook well enough to feed his guests! While they were here we visited the Texas State campus and went to the Children's musueum in New Braunfels. We really enjoyed the visit with them!