I love this picture of the 3 boys. Wish it was a little lighter, but I think it is so cute. Just sitting in front of the tree waiting for their auntie to hand out more presents!
And then carollers stopped by!!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
First Christmas
Need to do a little blog catch up! I'm in Washington now for Christmas, but here are some pics from our first Christmas. We had Rand's Mom, Dad and sister over to our new house for a little early Christmas since we won't be there. Early Christmas' are way better than late Christmas'. As you can see from the first picture, the kids' made out like bandits. Rand's mom gave us her Wii that she had bought for using WiiFit, but she just didn't like it or use it that much. I told her to just wrap it up and give it to the kids. They've played Wii with their friends and their Autie Jojee, so they had been asking for one but we had no intention of getting them one. So these are 2 really lucky boys. Actually we are all having fun with it!! And our first party was a success and the new house works great for entertaining!! Can't wait for more parties there.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Living Room
No where near done, but living room is coming together and the Christmas tree is up. There are priorities when there are little boys in the house and Christmas decorations is one of them!
See if you can spot the early Christmas present/house warming present we received last week!!! :)
Having lots of fun in our new house!!!
See if you can spot the early Christmas present/house warming present we received last week!!! :)
Having lots of fun in our new house!!!
Merry Christmas to us!!
Got this in the mail yesterday. I LOVE it!!! I got a bunch of pictures that need frames from my pals at Cooper Studios, but this is by far my favorite. Thanks Amy and Forrest!!!
Monday, December 6, 2010
New House
Okay, okay. House pictures. I delayed posting anything until we were official and now we are official! After 3 and half years of what has felt like true wandering we are homeowners again! God has protected us and blessed us more than we can even say. We sold our home in WA right at the beginning of the big economic crumble and God has protected us from buying over and over again. While frustrating at the time, we knew it was smart for us to rent...we just didn't know how smart until hindsight set in. Now life feels a little more even-keeled and God opened the doors for this to happen. We could have never afforded this house just 3 years ago with the inflated market and finding a nice rental at this price these days (at least in phoenix) is impossible! We feel so lucky and so blessed.
These pictures I took while we were still looking at the house. Things are a crazy mess so until we are more moved in these pictures will have to do, just to give you an idea!
2068 sqft.
4 bedrooms/2baths
pool
remodel
HUGE backyard (by phoenix standards)
We really, really love it. The house has been beautifully remodeled and so we don't feel the need to do anything cosmetic. So nice! We have an insane list of projects and it will be a work in progress for a long time while we make this place "ours". More house pictures to come as we get settled!
These pictures I took while we were still looking at the house. Things are a crazy mess so until we are more moved in these pictures will have to do, just to give you an idea!
2068 sqft.
4 bedrooms/2baths
pool
remodel
HUGE backyard (by phoenix standards)
The Wagner Residence sans landscaping!
Come on in!
Living Room (staging furniture)
School Room (off the living room) Kids are standing in the laundry room. Back door is just beyond them down that little hall.
Main bath
Master Bath
In this picture clockwise from left: (taken from Master) furnace closet; play room (or easton's room can't decide); straight ahead boys' room (maybe all 3); right= library/office/guest room; then linen closet. Hallway to living area to the immediate right but not in picture.
Back patio (part of it)
The farm
View from master br
The only thing making it possible for me to live in Phoenix May-October
Back door from garage. Gate to front.
Our park!
Front door
Pantry (if this wasn't here, I wouldn't have bought this house. This makes the kitchen big enough!)
Out the living room window.
Kitchen
We really, really love it. The house has been beautifully remodeled and so we don't feel the need to do anything cosmetic. So nice! We have an insane list of projects and it will be a work in progress for a long time while we make this place "ours". More house pictures to come as we get settled!
Easton::8 Months
I'm baaack. You can safely assume that every time I post something new, I am probably not doing what I should be doing...at least for the next couple weeks. But everyone needs a break now and then, right?
Before it's 9 months...here's Easton at 8!!
Easton is on the move! We can't call it organized crawling or even scooching, but the boy gets places. It's fun to watch. He's pretty frustrated because he knows he wants to, but his body just won't do it yet! I'm guessing by Christmas he'll be getting into a lot more trouble!
Easton's favorite activity is pulling toys out of boxes or buckets or bags or.... and banging toys on different things. He loves music and already has a little dance he does and sometimes he even sings. He likes clapping his hands along with people and he finally got a new car seat! He still isn't a huge fan of food. Let me rephrase that. Obviously the boys likes food, but he is rather particular and seems to still mostly prefer one brand...and that would be me. He likes oatmeal and rice cereal but can't stand any kind of fruit with too much flavor. He will tolerate bananas and as far as other "flavors" we've done pretty well with squash, peas and sweet potatoes. He is wearing size 24 months/2T and I am still in total disbelief at how big he is. He's gotta be 30 lbs now. While we were packing I ran across some baby stuff of Brendan's. Brendan weighed 34 lbs when he was 2 and Wyatt was around the same. We've got a record setter here!
He's a joy.
Before it's 9 months...here's Easton at 8!!
Easton is on the move! We can't call it organized crawling or even scooching, but the boy gets places. It's fun to watch. He's pretty frustrated because he knows he wants to, but his body just won't do it yet! I'm guessing by Christmas he'll be getting into a lot more trouble!
Easton's favorite activity is pulling toys out of boxes or buckets or bags or.... and banging toys on different things. He loves music and already has a little dance he does and sometimes he even sings. He likes clapping his hands along with people and he finally got a new car seat! He still isn't a huge fan of food. Let me rephrase that. Obviously the boys likes food, but he is rather particular and seems to still mostly prefer one brand...and that would be me. He likes oatmeal and rice cereal but can't stand any kind of fruit with too much flavor. He will tolerate bananas and as far as other "flavors" we've done pretty well with squash, peas and sweet potatoes. He is wearing size 24 months/2T and I am still in total disbelief at how big he is. He's gotta be 30 lbs now. While we were packing I ran across some baby stuff of Brendan's. Brendan weighed 34 lbs when he was 2 and Wyatt was around the same. We've got a record setter here!
He's a joy.
Only a baby with older brothers...
Clapping!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Miraculous Healing?
For unknown reasons our computer is showing no signs of virus. We backed everything up onto an external hard drive and since haven't had any problems. Strange. Perhaps when we turn it off it will never come back on. I don't know. A little nervous to load any pictures.
UPDATE: We signed all our legal documents for the house early this morning. We are waiting for seller to get all of his in then it will all get recorded and ta-da! New house! Our monthly payment and interest has just gone down and down over the 6 weeks that we have been going through this process. What a blessing! And then to top it off (long story short), we are getting a new refrigerator out of the deal! We went and bought it tonight. AND our computer has healed itself (for now)! It's been a great day. A little bit of a downer is that our landlord wants us out this weekend instead of next and so we are moving everything a little faster than we had planned. But once we are in, we are in!!!! We're pumped.
While I'm procrastinating tomorrow, perhaps I'll post some pictures! :)
UPDATE: We signed all our legal documents for the house early this morning. We are waiting for seller to get all of his in then it will all get recorded and ta-da! New house! Our monthly payment and interest has just gone down and down over the 6 weeks that we have been going through this process. What a blessing! And then to top it off (long story short), we are getting a new refrigerator out of the deal! We went and bought it tonight. AND our computer has healed itself (for now)! It's been a great day. A little bit of a downer is that our landlord wants us out this weekend instead of next and so we are moving everything a little faster than we had planned. But once we are in, we are in!!!! We're pumped.
While I'm procrastinating tomorrow, perhaps I'll post some pictures! :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
So Sorry--Computer Woes
When it rains it pours, right?? We are now a computer-less family. :( I have lots to blog and pictures to post and news, but no computer. I am at my father-in-laws right now. We're buying a house so nothing gets "bought" before that. We're making this crazy huge purchase right before Christmas. Smart, I know. So there's a house to buy, a broken camera to fix, beds for all 3 kids, and endless, endless things for the new house, Christmas presents.... AND a computer is now needed. Booo. So there. When I get one, I will be back to blogging. Stay tuned. It may be soon, because it's hard to live these days without a computer!!
Hope to be back soon!
Hope to be back soon!
Monday, November 15, 2010
How to Move....Again
I could write a big long post here about all the why's I have in regard to all the moving, but does it really matter? No. I don't think it does.
Seriously. I have moved a lot! I thought it had just been since I got married but I was thinking back and it's really been since I graduated from high school.
1. Hawaii(3 months)
2. Philippines (3 months)
3. George Fox University (1 year) (home for summer)
4. Biola University (3 years) (home for summers)
5. Portland, OR/ Western Seminary apt. 1
6. apt. 2
7. apt. 3
8. apt. 4 (in a span of 3 years)
9. Moved in with my parents while we waited for our house to be built (6 months)
10. Our first house! Shelton, WA (4 years)
11. Moved in with Rand's Dad in Phoenix while we waited for said house to sell (6months)
12. Peoria, AZ (first rental) (1 year)
13. Conference Center in Valley Forge, PA (1 month)(temp. housing while we looked for a place to live)
14. Audubon, PA (1 year 2 months) (second rental)
15. Phoenix, AZ (8months)(current)
16. Next week we move again. 2nd purchased home. Phoenix, AZ (LORD willing)
Rand and I are packing for our 12th move together. 12! 12!! You'd think we would be moving experts by now...or that we would have gotten rid of a lot more of our junk by now. Every time feels just like the first time...okay maybe not the first time, but at least the 7th (#11 on the list). It is just plain hard. Rand and I have the same fights, I mean discussions.:) He is pushing me too fast, or he is throwing away things I want to keep, or he wants to hang a picture where I don't like it, etc, etc. We are getting better at that. I close my eyes and let him go and every once in a while I look through the garbage and pull a couple things out, and then I let him decide where to hang a picture or a clock and if I really can't live with it a week down the road, I just move it myself when he's at work and see if he likes it later. See? You learn things as you go. The packing is the worst. The unpacking is the worst too. I throw up my hands a lot and say, "I just can't do it. It's too much. It's too big!" And Rand, well he just does it. He's really good, really.
How do I do it? (I get asked that all the time) I don't have a choice. That's how. Every move we've made has been out of necessity. We go for a job, or we move because we can't afford the new higher rent, or we get laid off, or someone doesn't pay their mortgage and that leaves us without a house. You know, that kind of stuff. What can you do but roll with it?
We do it because we have to and it gets done only because I married a really hard worker, non-procrastinator (thank goodness!!!)
For me, it's hard. I don't do well with upheaval (the stage of moving we are in right now). And then it takes me a really long time to find my rhythm again. Way longer than most people I think. It took me about a year to feel "normal" after we moved to Pennsylvania. Would have been nice to stay and actually live in that "normal" feeling/state. Now we are here and I haven't found it yet. Soon I think. A home of our own should help.
Deep breath. Pack a box. Imagine a new home. Get excited about only the positives. Procrastinate a little, hoping it will get done somehow anyway. Throw a little fit. Pray. Collapse in exhaustion. Get behind on everything else. Come face to face with all your failures as a homemaker wanna be. Pack a box. Throw some things away. Vow to do better. Curse moving and dreams that haven't come true. Re-think of all the positives. Pray and breathe.
That's how you move....again.
Seriously. I have moved a lot! I thought it had just been since I got married but I was thinking back and it's really been since I graduated from high school.
1. Hawaii(3 months)
2. Philippines (3 months)
3. George Fox University (1 year) (home for summer)
4. Biola University (3 years) (home for summers)
5. Portland, OR/ Western Seminary apt. 1
6. apt. 2
7. apt. 3
8. apt. 4 (in a span of 3 years)
9. Moved in with my parents while we waited for our house to be built (6 months)
10. Our first house! Shelton, WA (4 years)
11. Moved in with Rand's Dad in Phoenix while we waited for said house to sell (6months)
12. Peoria, AZ (first rental) (1 year)
13. Conference Center in Valley Forge, PA (1 month)(temp. housing while we looked for a place to live)
14. Audubon, PA (1 year 2 months) (second rental)
15. Phoenix, AZ (8months)(current)
16. Next week we move again. 2nd purchased home. Phoenix, AZ (LORD willing)
Rand and I are packing for our 12th move together. 12! 12!! You'd think we would be moving experts by now...or that we would have gotten rid of a lot more of our junk by now. Every time feels just like the first time...okay maybe not the first time, but at least the 7th (#11 on the list). It is just plain hard. Rand and I have the same fights, I mean discussions.:) He is pushing me too fast, or he is throwing away things I want to keep, or he wants to hang a picture where I don't like it, etc, etc. We are getting better at that. I close my eyes and let him go and every once in a while I look through the garbage and pull a couple things out, and then I let him decide where to hang a picture or a clock and if I really can't live with it a week down the road, I just move it myself when he's at work and see if he likes it later. See? You learn things as you go. The packing is the worst. The unpacking is the worst too. I throw up my hands a lot and say, "I just can't do it. It's too much. It's too big!" And Rand, well he just does it. He's really good, really.
How do I do it? (I get asked that all the time) I don't have a choice. That's how. Every move we've made has been out of necessity. We go for a job, or we move because we can't afford the new higher rent, or we get laid off, or someone doesn't pay their mortgage and that leaves us without a house. You know, that kind of stuff. What can you do but roll with it?
We do it because we have to and it gets done only because I married a really hard worker, non-procrastinator (thank goodness!!!)
For me, it's hard. I don't do well with upheaval (the stage of moving we are in right now). And then it takes me a really long time to find my rhythm again. Way longer than most people I think. It took me about a year to feel "normal" after we moved to Pennsylvania. Would have been nice to stay and actually live in that "normal" feeling/state. Now we are here and I haven't found it yet. Soon I think. A home of our own should help.
Deep breath. Pack a box. Imagine a new home. Get excited about only the positives. Procrastinate a little, hoping it will get done somehow anyway. Throw a little fit. Pray. Collapse in exhaustion. Get behind on everything else. Come face to face with all your failures as a homemaker wanna be. Pack a box. Throw some things away. Vow to do better. Curse moving and dreams that haven't come true. Re-think of all the positives. Pray and breathe.
That's how you move....again.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
A "Real Life" Post
Blogging has been hard lately. So much has happened since we moved here and as a result of why we moved here and I have kept it private because I didn't know how to share it or if I wanted to share it. But a couple things have brought me back here searching through my archives, reading old posts, and looking at old pictures and I was reminded that my life, the last three and a half years have been documented here. And I'm glad about that. Not necessarily for readers or friends or even family, but for me. Because it really is nothing more than just my story. While I'm not a super "open", easy-sharer, I am also not a pretender, hider of the truth, life is bliss even when it's not..kind of person.
I'm only going to pick up from my last update. Remember there was a thing....a church plant? And then there was my wonderful husband needing to work 60+ hours a week to provide for us and yet needing all those hours for the church? And then remember there was a God-send...another church planter who wanted to work together? And we did! And yet Rand still had to work so much and there was really no support that would help us to move out of that. And then the other church planter just up and said he was wrong. He didn't want to work with Rand in that way. That we were welcome still to be a part of his church, but we would no longer be "partners" if you will. All this news was the day before we went to Washington this summer. What would we do? Now what? Why did we come here? We were a little down and feeling the need to simplify and just keep plugging along, not making any major decisions but rolling with the ones that were made for us. And that's what we've been doing. A few have asked about the church, but only a few. There isn't one, at least not a new one. And for now we are laying low in that regard.
So Rand came back from vacation and left me and the kids there for more summer fun. He worked and worked and worked. We played. He called me the day before the kids and I were heading home. "Guess what, Hon? I just got a letter in the mail saying that this house we are renting...the one we are supposed to be settled in until at least March...is going to auction. That basically means that our landlords haven't been paying the mortgage and are losing the house."
So again we found ourselves in that all too familiar place. THRUST into change...major change. Should we stay, should we go? Where? We just moved here...again! Just stay here and see what happens? Take action and make sure we have a place to live after November? Keep this job...this great/horrible job? Buy, rent, move across the country and get the Ph.D? Ministry? Funeral Service? What is God trying to teach us that we haven't seemed to have learned yet? Why is everything so hard? Why can't we catch a break???
It's been a journey the last few months (um, I mean years). For the sake of our hearts and our kids, and stability and simplicity we decided to just keep doing what we are doing. Rand works a lot. But he enjoys his job for the most part and is blessed to have the opportunity to work pretty much as much overtime as he wants/needs. We looked at renting again, and we looked into buying. We didn't want to get 2 weeks notice after the auction that we had to leave...because that was a possibility we decided to get moving on finding a new place to live. Turns out buying was a better option for us financially. And it's all gone relatively smoothly (a first for us since all this moving started almost 4 years ago).
We should have a new house in less than 2 weeks. I have mixed emotions. Just when I start to panic that this is not what I want, that Phoenix is too hot and life just isn't turning out the way I imagined, I am reminded I'm on a journey...and I haven't arrived yet. We are happy and together and this part of our journey looks like this and I can enjoy the ride, and this is the next right thing to do for us right now.
I had an interesting conversation with the kids one day...and the lesson I think was more for me. They were asking lots of "why" questions of God. Why did God let me get hurt? Why would God let us lose our soccer game? Stuff like that. It's exhausting answering those questions for them! So I stopped. It's also exhausting just asking those questions. I should know. I've asked a thousand why's. So I told the kids that "why" is the wrong question. The answer to "why" isn't even really what they want or need. They pondered. So did I. "How about we ask God, 'what', instead. 'What' am I supposed to learn right now since this happened? What do you think God wanted us to learn having to stop at this red light when we really needed it to be green since we are SO almost out of gas?" You know, they came up with really awesome answers! "Maybe God wants us to learn patience." "Maybe God wants us to trust Him more." "Maybe someone else needed the green light more than we did." The boys came up with those! And I can't even tell you how many times (a day) I think about that and use that little lesson in my own life.
Why did we move here? Why hasn't the church worked out? Why didn't Pennsylvania work out? Why do we have to move again? Why do I have to miss my brother so much right now? Why do I live so far away from my sisters and other brother? Why can't Nana and Papa be right down the road? Wrong question!
What are we learning? What am I learning?
A lot. Even some of those simple (yet profound) answers the kids gave about getting stopped at a red light.
So now that all that is out in the open...off my chest...I expect blogging to be a little bit easier. There will be pictures of the insane mess that is my house right now. There will be another U-haul truck (can you believe that!?). There will be a new house and a great yard and maybe some new things for us...like chickens and such! :)
The journey continues.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt. 11:29-30
I'm only going to pick up from my last update. Remember there was a thing....a church plant? And then there was my wonderful husband needing to work 60+ hours a week to provide for us and yet needing all those hours for the church? And then remember there was a God-send...another church planter who wanted to work together? And we did! And yet Rand still had to work so much and there was really no support that would help us to move out of that. And then the other church planter just up and said he was wrong. He didn't want to work with Rand in that way. That we were welcome still to be a part of his church, but we would no longer be "partners" if you will. All this news was the day before we went to Washington this summer. What would we do? Now what? Why did we come here? We were a little down and feeling the need to simplify and just keep plugging along, not making any major decisions but rolling with the ones that were made for us. And that's what we've been doing. A few have asked about the church, but only a few. There isn't one, at least not a new one. And for now we are laying low in that regard.
So Rand came back from vacation and left me and the kids there for more summer fun. He worked and worked and worked. We played. He called me the day before the kids and I were heading home. "Guess what, Hon? I just got a letter in the mail saying that this house we are renting...the one we are supposed to be settled in until at least March...is going to auction. That basically means that our landlords haven't been paying the mortgage and are losing the house."
So again we found ourselves in that all too familiar place. THRUST into change...major change. Should we stay, should we go? Where? We just moved here...again! Just stay here and see what happens? Take action and make sure we have a place to live after November? Keep this job...this great/horrible job? Buy, rent, move across the country and get the Ph.D? Ministry? Funeral Service? What is God trying to teach us that we haven't seemed to have learned yet? Why is everything so hard? Why can't we catch a break???
It's been a journey the last few months (um, I mean years). For the sake of our hearts and our kids, and stability and simplicity we decided to just keep doing what we are doing. Rand works a lot. But he enjoys his job for the most part and is blessed to have the opportunity to work pretty much as much overtime as he wants/needs. We looked at renting again, and we looked into buying. We didn't want to get 2 weeks notice after the auction that we had to leave...because that was a possibility we decided to get moving on finding a new place to live. Turns out buying was a better option for us financially. And it's all gone relatively smoothly (a first for us since all this moving started almost 4 years ago).
We should have a new house in less than 2 weeks. I have mixed emotions. Just when I start to panic that this is not what I want, that Phoenix is too hot and life just isn't turning out the way I imagined, I am reminded I'm on a journey...and I haven't arrived yet. We are happy and together and this part of our journey looks like this and I can enjoy the ride, and this is the next right thing to do for us right now.
I had an interesting conversation with the kids one day...and the lesson I think was more for me. They were asking lots of "why" questions of God. Why did God let me get hurt? Why would God let us lose our soccer game? Stuff like that. It's exhausting answering those questions for them! So I stopped. It's also exhausting just asking those questions. I should know. I've asked a thousand why's. So I told the kids that "why" is the wrong question. The answer to "why" isn't even really what they want or need. They pondered. So did I. "How about we ask God, 'what', instead. 'What' am I supposed to learn right now since this happened? What do you think God wanted us to learn having to stop at this red light when we really needed it to be green since we are SO almost out of gas?" You know, they came up with really awesome answers! "Maybe God wants us to learn patience." "Maybe God wants us to trust Him more." "Maybe someone else needed the green light more than we did." The boys came up with those! And I can't even tell you how many times (a day) I think about that and use that little lesson in my own life.
Why did we move here? Why hasn't the church worked out? Why didn't Pennsylvania work out? Why do we have to move again? Why do I have to miss my brother so much right now? Why do I live so far away from my sisters and other brother? Why can't Nana and Papa be right down the road? Wrong question!
What are we learning? What am I learning?
A lot. Even some of those simple (yet profound) answers the kids gave about getting stopped at a red light.
So now that all that is out in the open...off my chest...I expect blogging to be a little bit easier. There will be pictures of the insane mess that is my house right now. There will be another U-haul truck (can you believe that!?). There will be a new house and a great yard and maybe some new things for us...like chickens and such! :)
The journey continues.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt. 11:29-30
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Kid Quotes::Vol. 28
...
Wyatt: Brendan, you set my feelings on FIRE when you told me I had to pick up all those toys by myself.
...
Wyatt: Brendan, you set my feelings on FIRE when you told me I had to pick up all those toys by myself.
...
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