MHR

I have kind of gotten away from doing My Husband Rocks posts on Fridays so I want to tell you all about how wonderful he is! Between yesterday and today, he painted our little girls fingernails and toenails. He got out the newspaper and the nail polish remover, the cotton balls and the polishes and set to work. He did a base coat, a color of their choice and a top coat of glitter. :) Now, if that isn't special, I don't know what is?!?! Also, he shared with me that he wants to continue to have this alone time with them about once a week because if he can get into the habit, that will mean that as they get older, they will have dedicated time with Daddy where they can talk about their lives for at least a half an hour or so. I love that he's already setting goals and making plans on how to stay involved in their lives as they grow! :) I just love how good of a father he is. I know that when we are with other families, we often hear comments about how strict we are with our kids, but I our kids also know that they are adored. I hope that we are finding the proper balance between discipline and freedom. We want them to know that within certain boundaries, they are free to have all the fun they want. And that when they step out of those boundaries, we will still love them. We're also trying to show them, on the times when they do step over the lines, that the rules we've set in place are often there because we are trying to protect them. Its a work in progress, for sure, but Lowell is pretty darn good at it... And for this, and many other reasons, my husband rocks!!

Brunch and A Bicycle

Today is another beautiful day in Arizona. Its supposed to be around 100 degrees again and, honestly, it really isn't that bad! :) One of Nathan's new friends, the one who is moving on Wednesday, Matthew, just knocked on the door and had a surprise for Nathan. It was an old bike that needs some work. But he really wanted Nathan to be able to ride with the other boys on the street. It was really thoughtful. And Nathan was really excited. And the next thing he knew, Lowell had a garage full of boys wondering if he was going to fix it up today. :) Now Nathan is over at his friends house watching Ghostbusters. The girls, on the other hand, are feeling quite left out. I'm not sure what we're going to do about getting them some friends... I think we may try the rec center in town but Lowell is a little concerned about getting involved in anything until we get an income. Also, Sunday we're going to try a church. I don't know which one, but we need to start the yucky process of church hopping so that we can meet some new friends for these little girls. Its getting pretty sad around here.
Yesterday we went to brunch with two of my favorite people. We got together with Abby, Matt, Jason and Diggie! :) It has been about 8 years since I've seen Diggie and, my how I've missed her! The wonderful thing was that she hasn't changed a bit. She's definitely a little wiser now, but she is still the same fabulous Digila that we all know and love! She is the mother of a beautiful 14 month old who Lowell immediately fell in love with! And she's the proud wife of a 'techie' named Jason who is obviously in love with her! :) We had a great time and visited for most of the morning. We're hopefully going to get together Thursday night before my class so that I can show her around the new and improved GCU. And then we're all going to have fun Friday night at Abby's 29th birthday! :) Oh, and Diggie, I completely agree. I have a panic attack every time I think about turning 30 too!!

Picasa

A Ha! Finally... Well, not completely. I've only taken pictures of home.. Not of Buckeye but I'm really getting anxious about posting this so, here is the beginning of my picasa album and I'll post a new link when its done. :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jesuslovesgiraffes/Buckeye# Let me know what you think! :)

Nathan and Cody

Our next door neighbors are quite the social-ites. One of the neighborhood boys is moving at the end of the month and so Beth threw a going-away swim party for him on Saturday. The kids had a great time in the morning swimming and playing at her house and then she treated us all to hot dogs and cupcakes. Then she took six of the boys (I went along to help chaperone) to the laser tag arena in Mesa. They played video games until it was time for their group to begin their laser tag game. The arena is huge - two stories! The boys had a ton of fun and after we got back, 4 of them came to our house to play in the sand with their trucks. It was a busy, fun day! And a great way to get initiated into the local group of parents! :)

Also, we promised Nathan a pair of heelies for his birthday. On Wednesday last week, when I was doing homework, Lowell took the kids to the mall to kill time... There he found a pair of heelies for $20!!! Actual, legitimate, name brand heelies!! They were on Super-sale! And so he got them. Nathan is still a little hesitant on them and Lowell is petrified that he's going to break something! Come to find out, Cody has a pair as well and he needs practice too... So I think Cody and Dennis are going to go out with Lowell and Nathan to have heelie lessons soon! I'll keep you posted on the progress!

In addition, Lowell got himself a bicycle. He's been going riding just about every morning. Its great exercise and he's also learning the lay of the land. And its cool at 5 in the morning! :) Its been over 100 degrees for over a week now, but it really isn't that bad. Lowell and I aren't sweltering and the kids like it too! I've unpacked my scrapbooking stuff and set up my 'office' area. Lowell was really thoughtful in coming up with a place where I could have my own space. My plan was just to leave all the scrap stuff in the garage because I just couldn't see where we could possibly fit it in the house! I guess he really didn't want all that stuff in his garage! :) So now, we've moved our bed over against the wall and I have the other half of our bedroom... Its quite an efficient little space I must say, although I haven't done anything scrapbooking-ish in it yet. Only homework. Scary as it is to say out loud.. I've also made some progress on my book... I've come up with a game plan - a plan of attack for it. I couldn't ever seem to get started on it because I didn't have a direction. But now, I think I'm more ready to get started because I feel like I have a point to make... That doesn't mean I feel any more qualified to write a book, or any more gung ho about the idea.. But it is something that I really want to do... And something that Lowell keeps encouraging me to do. A lot of my hesitation comes from wondering what I could possibly have to say that anyone would want to read. (IRONY: I say this as I'm writing other inconsequential parts of my life on the web in hopes that other people will read it...) Maybe the solution is thinking that I should write a book for myself, without the intent of making it public. That's a possibility. Now t0 find the time and the self-disipline!

The First Week

Well, today is Sunday and I've yet to create my Picasso album. That isn't to say that we've been completely unproductive this week. We've almost got the garage emptied and the only boxes I have left to unpack are those associated with my scrapbooking and my office. I'm in need of quite a few office things, so I will be digging into those boxes shortly. We've also made some friends. Our next door neighbors have a pool and a seven year old boy. Nathan is in heaven. To make things even better, I get along great with Beth, the mom, and Lowell is having fun spending time with Dennis, the dad! Also, to show what a small world we live in, Dennis has family who live in Arnold and spent quite a few summers in Bishop!!! We take it as more confirmation that we are where God wants us to be! School is good... I'm still nervous and trying hard not to get overwhelmed. It isn't so much that the work is super difficult - I just feel that because this is a whole other level of learning, the quality of the work needs to be superior to what I'm used to doing. I just got my first grade back - my first paper got a 92%. Honestly, it could've been better but I made a few silly mistakes with spelling and grammer and I didn't take the time to proof read my paper before I submitted it. This week I have to do the weekly journal entry, create a table on the paradigms of five different cultures and interview a person of a different culture. Next week, I have to write a cultural autobiography and do an indepth study of the cultural competence of a local business in addition to the weekly journal.
I applied for a couple of jobs today; one at Grand Canyon. Lowell needs to make a few more trips up to California to help his dad get the house ready to sell. I think he's still going to be job hunting because he won't be able to go without a job for long.. He just can't ride it for that long. :) We've also managed to turn the cat blue... Our back patio is a little slab of concrete and the girls have been tagging it with chalk. Indy's new favorite place to lay in on that concrete slab in the shade... And so, now he comes into the house all different shades of pretty... And the girls love it! :) Can you see how the side of his face is blue? And this is after a bath! (Yes, I'm crazy, I bathe my cats - but you should see how much they shed!!!) I'll update again soon!

Our New Life

This post will most likely be a short one. I am currently in the library at school (Bottom Easters - you have GOT to come back to Canyon and see how this place has changed!!!) working on my homework for the first week in my MASTERS program... I have to say that I've spent a lot of this week being afraid of this class. I am not sure of how the grading will be different from my bachelors classes. I did notice, however, that anything lower than a 76% is a failing grade! Not that I've even gotten a 76 anyway, but just how hard am I going to have to work in order to get my normal 90 and 95s??
We are moving in and getting settled. I've almost unpacked everything except the scrapbooking stuff. We're having Abby and Matt over for dinner on Saturday and I'm really looking forward to that! The kids are adjusting almost seamlessly. They haven't once cried or even really complained about being so far away from the only home they've really known. They are thrilled that we live about a block away from two parks and just yesterday we discovered the town swimming pool with a huge water slide! We have visited the library and today we're going to the elementary school that the kids will be attending. It is a K-8 and has about 800 students.
Much of our time is spent trying to organize things and get things put away but we have made time each night this week to go to the park and we've been trying for three nights in a row to catch the ice cream truck man! :) We've made frequent trips to Wal-Mart because there are two within a 10 mile radius of the house and we're been enjoying the fun of exploring our new home. Nathan still hasn't met the boy next door, mainly because he's still in school and we're just exhausted come night time.
Our internet is going to be hooked up at the house on Friday and I will finally be back in the land of the living! I knew I was addicted to the internet and communicating with people, but I had no idea just how addicted! :) I am desperately awaiting Friday!!!! We are going to drive around and take pictures of our neighborhood and house and I'm going to make a Picasso album so that you'll be able to see our little corner of the world. I'll post a link here ASAP. :)
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our trip down here. There were a couple of incidents, but both times, God made His presence known and He took care of us! I was blessed with an unnatural amount of faith and was able to experience my own peace while sharing some with Lowell too! I attribute it to all the sermons and worship music I was listening to to help keep me awake while driving all night long... :) That is a long story, however, and will have to wait until later. So, until Friday...

Off We Go....

Its been awhile since I've posted.. And in my defense, I've been extremely busy. Nevertheless, I like keeping current on my postings and I just haven't been lately! I've even missed some opportunities to tell the world how wonderful my husband is!! Today is Sunday... Sunday the 3rd.. And today is my graduation day! I finally have a bachelors degree. It seems strange and a little anti-climatic because I feel like everyone has a bachelors so its about time I got one! Lowell is convinced that its a big deal and so he's trying to make a big deal out it. And I really do appreciate him for it! I'd hate to think that I worked this hard for almost two years and it wasn't a big deal! :) We are still in the thick of moving... Our date has gotten pushed back a couple of times... I went ahead and took the kids out of school on the appointed day even though we didn't leave when planned so they've been home for the past week. We've been doing "homeschool" and they've done pretty well. Jillie, of course, doesn't have homework and so the first day I just worked with Nathan and Chloe. She was very disappointed and so, the second day I found some work for her to do too. At the end of the lesson, when it was time for "recess", she came up to me, very serious, and said "Thank you for giving me homework, Mommy". It was soo adorable! :) Nathan and Chloe are each flying through their homework. Its easy to see why they get bored in school. They have three weeks worth of work and we've done at least 2/3 of it in three days. Chloe is almost completely done and Nathan only has one math chapter left. We're going to continue working throughout the summer - especially on writing. I'm hoping to get into the habit of having the kids write their grandmas. I know the grandmas would appreciate it, and it would be great practice for the kids. Nathan's teacher gave me a 2nd/3rd grade math book so that I can keep Nathan interested and I'm going to use Nathan's 1st grade book with Chloe.
I start my Masters class on Thursday... Its a night class, once a week for 8 weeks. My first class is about ethics and ethnics while the 2nd 8 week class is about pharmacology. :) I'm sure that sounds fascinating to all of you, but I'm excited! :) I'm just hoping that I am not too overwhelmed! I'm relying on the fact that Jesus assures me that He'll be there with me.. In my weakness, He makes me strong! :)
So, right now we're looking at leaving tomorrow. Lowell is outside right now working on the car that I'm going to be driving and I'm praying that it will be an easy fix. My daddy came over three days in a row and helped me load the trailer. Steve, Lowell's friend came yesterday and helped us clean up the yard... And then Jordan, my brother came with Daddy today and helped too. We've been very blessed! We still aren't going to be able to bring every little thing with us, Lowell will have to make another trip in a couple of weeks but that is good in a way. He needs to get some stuff for his dad.
Speaking of dads... I had to say goodbye to mine today... I didn't feel the surge of emotions that I thought I would... But then again, none of this seems real yet... I'm really going to miss him... And Jordan. And Justin. I'm just starting to know them and now we're leaving. Jordan wants to be a firefighter. I'm trying to convince them that they need to move to Arizona too. We'll see if that's what God has planned. Ultimately, I just want them to follow God's will. But I really do want them in Arizona with us! :)
I'm sure there are many people that we'll miss. The kids will miss their friends. Thankfully, they will have school, and will meet a lot of new people. I'm praying that Lowell and I can get plugged into a new church soon and can start putting down roots. I can't wait to be there and be settled. Its always the unknown that is so much scarier than the known... But God knows, doesn't He? And we're just following Him. Shouldn't be scared if you're following the only One who has the directions, right!? :)
Off we go...

Trip #1

Well, trip #1 is complete! We left Monday evening at 7pm and drove all night to Phoenix with a HUGE load of stuff! We unloaded the trailer, slept for 6 hours and turned around and drove back... 51 hours, 38 of it spent driving... I should specify that Lowell did all of the driving because our new truck is a stick; he hasn't taught me to drive one yet... So my only jobs were navigation and keeping him awake. It was a very long exhausting trip (although Lowell will tell you that I sleep the whole time I'm in a car...) but we had a few hours of great conversations... It is always fun to remember what it was like to just be the two of us. :) The kids spent a couple nights with their friends and had a great time. Now that we're back, we're going to load the truck on Saturday, I think and then we're going to leave for good either Monday or Tuesday. I have mixed emotions about leaving - we are going to miss our friends but we know that this is what God wants us to do and that we will be blessed. And I'm excited about starting my degree program. Again, a little nervous, but excited. I finally feel like I'm growing up. :) I still have some packing to do, and lots of errands... We're running out of time, but we've been reassured again and again that God is taking care of us. We're so blessed and SSOOO grateful! :)

Answered Prayer

There are some things that I attribute to God taking care of me that other people may find silly or insignificant. However, I really feel that my God is interested enough in me and my life to be involved in the little things; not only does He love me enough to worry about my eternal life - to die for me and forgive my sins, but my God loves me enough to care about my everyday life. For example, I was supposed to bring a tape measure and a screwdriver to work today for Susanna to use. By the time I remembered that, I was halfway to school and running late... And then I remembered that I had a few random things stuffed in my purse... Guess what two of those things were... Yep, a screwdriver and a tape measure. I just love it when I see little things like that and I know that God is smiling at me.
There are also very significant things in my life that I attribute to God taking care of me too. For example, Lowell and I had been working with a man to rent his home in Phoenix and things were just becoming hectic. He wasn't able to make his mind up about whether he wanted to rent to us or not and he kept going back and forth until finally we just had to give up and say, I'm sorry but we have to find someone else! So, I began searching for another rental and about an hour later, I called a gentleman and within 10 minutes, we had the details hammered out and we're going to go get the keys to our house on Tuesday. Easy as that. I prayed that we would find a house, and God was faithful; He answered my prayers.
I don't want to sound like God is a vending machine and if we deposit the correct behavior and the correct prayer, He will deliver whatever we ask, because that definitely isn't the case. However, the Bible portrays God as our Father and He promises to meet our needs just like an earthly father would for his children. I know that it brings Lowell and I joy to be able to meet the needs and desires of our children and how much more so does it bring God joy to have a relationship with us, and to be able to have us trust Him to meet our needs. I'm sure He loves surprising us by showing up in our lives in both big and little ways. And I certainly love seeing His hand move... It is humbling to see the Creator of Heaven and Earth take interest in my life. How lucky we are to be so loved. :)

Easter

Sunday was a very good day. Easter is so very special because it is the day that we set aside to remember how Jesus overcame death. We spent the morning at our church - the last time we'll be able to do that before we move.. And the afternoon was spent with Grandma Hippo. Today's sermon wasn't the typical "He is Risen" message but instead focused on the new life we've been given through a relationship with Jesus. Pastor George talked about how Jesus' sacrifice allows us to be new creations and to have a restored relationship with the Father. At the beginning of the sermon, there was a very powerful presentation. Members of our church came out, one at a time, holding large signs. On one side of the sign was who they were, on the flip side was who God has made them.. For example, one sign said "Addicted" and the flip side said "Addicted to Christ". Another was "Lonely, Angry Desert Soldier" and the flip said “Found peace in Christ“. Another sign that was very touching to me said “Walked away” and the other side was “Running to Jesus”. There were about 25 of these signs and it ended with the whole group of them standing up in the front of the church holding up their signs of who God made them… I was crying and everyone stood up. The awesome thing is that I knew quite a few of the people who held up signs and each of them told the truth. What the sign said really was their story. I loved how the people in our church feel comfortable enough to stand up there and be honest. And give God the glory for the amazing things He’s done in their lives. God is all about chances… My pastor always says that Christianity isn’t a religion about rules, its about relationship; the relationship we have with Christ.
After church was the egg hunt and the kids had a really good time. Then it was off to lunch with Gramma Hippo. She seemed melancholy today – well, lonely actually. I’m sorry that we’re leaving her but she was very supportive about us moving. She has always been supportive and I wish I could’ve been closer to her growing up. The kids really like her too. The plan is for me to be organized enough to have them write letters to their grandma’s once a week or so, so that they can stay in touch. I also plan on taking advantage of the webcam whenever possible.
Well, we’re getting down to the wire. I have my house buried in boxes.. We have the housewares pile of boxes, the kids pile of boxes, the thrift store pile, and the two biggest piles so far, the books and my scrapbooking stuff… I love my hobbies, but man there is a lot of stuff that goes along with them!! I’ve also got a system of stickers; blue, yellow and red to distinguish what is staying, going, and what I’d like to go if there’s room… Anyway, that’s about all from here for now… God bless!

A Woman's Work

This has been a very exciting and yet scary time for us. We're getting closer to the moving day... And the kids are starting to feel anxious about it. We sat down together last night and made a countdown calendar. I think it made moving more real for Nathan especially... He got a little emotional and was concerned about missing his friends. It made things a little more real for me, too... We have 22 days. 22 days. 22 DAYS!!! (That doesn't include Easter day because we're not going to be home and it also doesn't include Saturday the 18th because that's a party day.) Speaking of party, we're going to have a big birthday party for both Nathan and Chloe and also a sort of going away party on the 18th. I'm excited about being able to get everyone together one last time before we go. I'm hoping it will be a well attended event... And won't involve too many tears.
School is going well. I'm really liking my classes and I'm doing well in them. I am staying on time with my assignments and I'm not feeling overwhelmed. Yet. :) I'm also doing a lot of packing. It still seems like moving is so far away that I'm hesitant to pack the things that we use frequently like the kids movies and toys... But soon those things are going to have to start going away.
Susanna, the lady I work for, is sad about us leaving. I'm hoping that I have a replacement for myself by the time I leave. She is making a lot of progress and I don't want to interrupt that. I'm taking the kids down to her house on Friday and we're going to color eggs for Easter. She enjoys spending time with the kids and I'm glad that we've been able to work together for these past months.
We got some more information about Lowell's job. They have decided to eliminate his position for the time being, so they won't be re-hiring him. (Also, they can't really re-hire him without opening themselves up for a lawsuit for unlawful firing.) Oh, they also fired his boss. At least Lowell won't have to worry about people calling there for a reference and hearing lots of incorrect, slanderous things about him. And it will be a better working condition for whoever works there next. Now if we can only get an unemployment check...
Today I'm off to town to get parts for our car trailer. Lowell is going through the cars and getting them ready to make the trek to Phoenix and then he's going to tackle the garage. I don't envy him this task because, if you've never seen our garage.. Well, just imagine a huge building stuffed with stuff. Stuffed. And not organized at all. Lucky Lowell. :)
My daddy has offered to help us move. I'm sure we'll need him to help load boxes and furniture but I'm also hoping to ask him to drive for us. I think we're going to take a little U-Haul in addition to the truck and trailor and I'm hoping that he'll drive it. For one thing, I really want him to see where we're going so that he can be more convinced to move down there with us, but for another thing - I don't want to drive it! :) We'll see how it goes... I'm sure God has it all worked out. Well, back to homework and cleaning... A woman's work is never done. :)

Here We Come!

We have had more exciting changes in the past week... I called Grand Canyon to enroll in classes for my Masters program and discovered that they are offering an incentive program for those who begin classes in the summer instead of the fall. I was offered a scholarship and the opportunity to "double up" on classes in order to finish my degree sooner. The biggest issue with this decision is that 'summer' to Canyon means May 5th. So, instead of moving around the middle of June, we're now looking at the end of April. That significantly upped our time frame and has freaked us both out a little. :) We can't help but admit, however, that it seems like God is orchestrating this move and is definitely showing us His time table. That was what we were praying for, after all! :) There have been other signs of God working in our lives too.. The bubble of protection that He put on our car has still survived :) and we were very blessed on Monday... Chloe ended up needing to go to the hospital (she has croup) and we were hesitant because of Lowell not having a job... We lost our insurance when he lost his job. Nevertheless, we went. And then, Wednesday, I got a letter in the mail from the insurance company letting us know that our coverage ended on Tuesday. :) Yet another example of when God takes care of us!
So the plan now, is that the kids will be on an independent study contract for the last three weeks of school while we are IN ARIZONA.... Exciting, isn't it? :) Arizona, here we come!

Friday; A Little Late

My husband rocks was yesterday... And I missed it, but I wanted to catch up because my husband really does deserve as many kuddos as possible! He has a terrible flu thanks to Jillie being sick and bringing it home. He has been miserable and suffering but he's still been wonderful. And I love him. For one thing, there has been a lot of work that needed to be done this week in order to get ready for Grandpa coming over. Because Lowell has been sick, I've done most of it - and most of it has been outside doing yard work or cleaning up the yard. And Lowell has been very grateful - he's shown his appreciation and he's been thankful. And I appreciate him appreciating me. :) Too often moms feel taken advantage of, but my husband is good at showing me that he loves me and that he appreciates the work that I do. I'm lucky. :) And my husband rocks.

I Surrender

I have been very hesitant to post in the past couple of days... the major reason for this is that we've had a very unnerving development lately... I keep telling everyone that we're "living on faith". I was saying it in almost a superior way because I felt good that I was able to take this big step of faith.. And I was kind of encouraging other people to do it too.. At least that's what I thought. And then Lowell came home from work Friday. I had spoken to him earlier in the day and all had seemed fine. However, apparently around 3 (a few minutes before they left for the day) Lowell's boss had called him into his office and informed him that he was fired. Yep, you read that right. Lowell got fired. He has never been fired before and his boss didn't give him any reason other than "It's just not working out for you here". That was the extent of it. And then he starting acting like Lowell's best friend. I didn't believe him when he came home and told me that he had been let go. I was sooo shocked and, honestly, a little speechless. And a little panicked. Lowell kept saying that he felt at peace about it. And honestly, when we talked about it, the worst that could come of it would be that we would move to Phoenix a little sooner than we planned. The only downside to that would be that we wouldn't wait until the kids got out of school... But maybe this timing is perfect for a job opportunity.

For school this week, I have to write a paper about James so I've been reading it this week. Lo and behold, I come across a devotion about 5:12. This verse says, in part, Let your yes be yes, and your no be no, so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation." I had never interpreted it this way, but the devotion says "indecision and double-mindedness not only bring confusion and complication, but they also cause condemnation" (Joyce Meyers Everyday Bible) It also says "Start making decisions without worrying about them. Do not live in fear of being wrong. Once you do make a decision, do not let self-doubt torment you. Being double-minded and never deciding anything is complicated and will steal the enjoyment from everything you do." So, that got me thinking along the same line as I was blogging earlier, we should make the decision that seems right and just go with it. And, earthly wisdom says, 'freak out', but I'm not operating with only earthly wisdom to guide me, am I? I have a much higher power to follow, and I believe He wants me to "Be still and know that He is God". And that He's a whole lot bigger than a lost job or simple fear. So, I am here, being confident in my husband, and confident in my God. We are going to be fine. This life is not about me, anyway - "Its all about You, Jesus, and all this if for You - for Your glory and Your fame... And I surrender to Your ways."

Its silly to introduce you to our newest family member without including a picture.. So, here it is! :) Also, I suppose I should mention that Lowell has definitely claimed the truck as his own... So, we'll be looking for a vehicle for me, I guess! :) I think we're going to try to get our Mazda to survive the trip down there and then find something in Phoenix a lot cheaper (and with more selection) than up here. So I'm praying that my "bubble" around my car holds out long enough to protect my car through the whole trip! :) We're living on faith anyway, so why not count on God protecting my car a little longer! :) What do you think???