It Comes Down to This

It is hard to believe that I have been consistently(ish) posting in this little space for over 5 years! I will admit that there are many times when it seems like there just isn't anything worth posting or sometimes there are things happening but they aren't really "postable". Though those times appear now and then, I have found my blog to be an invaluable keepsake, documenting our life and these busy days and years with small children. I recently made a small book of just the kid quotes that I have posted on here over the last 3 years and I paroozed through many old posts and pictures and am so glad to have them all here to reference and remember. Time really does fly!
Lately it has been an "I have nothing to blog about" time. I haven't been very inspired to grab my camera and sit down with my computer. Let's face it, the blog and camera go hand in hand. But then I felt bad because there are definitely some things I have missed posting about by not having my camera in hand or blog in mind.
But mostly it comes down to this: Sometimes I am just trying to keep my head above water. This life I live is a full, full-time job. I mean full. When I blog, I don't do something else. When I clean, do dishes or fold laundry, then too, I don't do something else. When I read a book to the kids, or nurse a baby, or cuddle a toddler, something else goes to the wayside. It's a constant balancing/surviving game! So for the sake of keeping a few loving blog readers in my little loop, and for the sake of documenting our days which I consider to be the only reason to continue to put other things to the side and blog, here is a little tid bit (with some more posts to come) of life as it is right now.

Around here, we do laundry. A lot of laundry.

And dishes. A lot of dishes.

And we lose teeth. 2 teeth in the same day...and already have adult teeth in their place!

And we watch the rain. (Yes, that is a beach towel out there in the rain. I forgot we aren't in Phoenix. Here you are swimming one day and cuddled up inside the next!)
 Oh! And we get big boy haircuts! (sad)

So there you have it. This week we are hosting our small group (yikes, how to keep it clean until then?!), finishing up school (yay!!!), and finishing up baseball (depending on how the tournament goes)

2010

Another year...

2009, 2008

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

Everyday Moments

I just uploaded my pictures off my camera and realized I had quite the assortment of just random everyday photos.

Let's start at the beginning.

Easton and his bath. He's loved it since birth. Still does. No matter what, I can stick him in and it will instantly change whatever funk he's in.

Then I knit these little hats for someone (I made these for my friend who hopefully won't look here before I give them to her, but maybe she will and that's okay because they aren't for her anyway. They're for her new baby girl and the new big sister!)

Then we put earrings on Easton and all laughed our heads off...even Easton.

Then we put a Darth Vader helmet on him and laughed our heads off some more.

Then I witnessed a sweet moment tonight when Rand was saying goodbye to Wyatt before heading out for the night. I ruined it when I came out to try and capture it with the camera. Obviously I was intruding!

Just a day in the life at my house.

Guess Where

Any guesses where this picture was taken? Be sure to note where the baby seat is. It won't help you guess, but I will tell you that we drove down the road like that. That would be the center console between the 2 front seats in case you can't tell.

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....Still don't know? Let me give another hint.

Again, note where the baby is. Oh my word. I was scared to death!!!! We were about 80 plus miles outside of Phoenix. Our car is still there. This was just a couple hours after picking it up from the shop "all fixed up". Same problem left us stranded, with all the kids, miles and miles from home and NOTHING open all weekend. We survived. Just another adventure for the adventure books!

Brendan and Wyatt thought the whole thing was a blast. Even waiting in the car for over an hour for the tow truck on the side of a busy road didn't phase them. Of course having Nintendo DSi(s) to play with helped pass the time like it was nothing. (Um, have I thanked Aunt Joanie enough for those lifesaving devices??? Actually I have. Sometimes I text her out of the blue when they save us in similar situations and I imagine what it could have been like without them!!! THANK YOU AUNT JOANIE!!!)

So, yes. it is somewhat laughable and a lot regrettable and well, what can you do? Such is life. Ups and downs. We are safe, our car will get fixed somehow. We will recover.

In case you were wondering how we got home.... We rented some crazy Cadillac (the only car left at the only open car rental place and we BARELY fit in the thing) and drove back down the mountain. I told the tow truck driver to just drop us off at the closest car dealership so that Rand could buy me a new minivan, but Rand refused. (Just kidding, he would if we could. Impulse buying is never a good idea) I will say that the Caddie was a pretty nice ride. It was so quiet Rand and I could whisper and actually hear eachother! So what if I felt a little like I should either be wearing a lot of gold chains or be driving to my retirement home in Florida. (don't ask why those are the associations I make with Cadillacs..or town cars in general) :)

Monday they will get back to work on our car and somehow we'll drive up and pick it back up...hopefully getting home with it before it's toast.

Fun times, eh?

E-Dub::6 Weeks

The last few pictures were of us just this morning. We didn't sleep a whole lot...actually hardly at all. Something I ate I'm sure! Good thing I'm okay with a messy house, no makeup, laundry everywhere, and hodge-podge meals. Hey, at least I took a shower last night!

My Husband: Mortician/Pastor

I don't talk much about Rand or his work on this blog. Mostly it's about me and kids, kids and more kids. I know some people have no idea what he's up to. Sure, we moved to Phoenix to plant a church and Rand is a pastor and what-not, but really, this part of the story needs to be told lest we forget this part of our journey when it eventually (hopefully) comes to an end.
Rand passed up a pastor-job offer in New Jersey right before we decided to move back to Phoenix. It was a tough decision for him. One of his main goals in life is to provide for us and to pass up that job, at first, seemed like maybe a not-so smart move. But moving back towards the West and pursuing his dream of church-planting seemed like good timing. And I agreed.
However, church-planting doesn't provide much of an income! And although it would be great to pastor and minister and worship without the care of money, the truth is, pastors need money! Money to live, and money to minister. Fortunately, Rand has a fall-back career. He's a funeral director! Remember that?! Right before we moved here he landed a job with a "transport" company and it enabled us to get into our house before we got here. That was nice since I was 30 weeks pregnant and double moving just didn't sound like that much fun. So Rand's job, for those who aren't in the "know" was working on-call for a company that did pick-ups from homes and hospitals for funeral homes. It was a HORRIBLE job. By far the worst job he's ever had. The work itself wasn't the bad part, but he was on-call 24 hours a day (96 hours a week) and sometimes was working way too much and sometimes he was sitting at home not working at all. The management was extremely poor and the pay was even worse. This company cannot keep drivers....and now we know why. So Rand started pursuing getting his funeral directors licence reinstated. It happened quickly and he got everything he needed done just in time for the April Board meeting to approve it (state test, finger prints, school transcripts ect). An interview, another interview and some more waiting and ta-da! Rand got hired by a big funeral home to be one of their embalmer/funeral directors. His first day was yesterday. His hours are pretty set and although he will be working overtime regularly (his choice) at least we know when he'll be working and what he'll be making. Phew!
All this is great and all, but let's not forget that this mortician/embalmer, if you will, loves Jesus and telling people about Him and Rand's passion is for that (not embalming!). It's a hard job working more than full time and trying to get Liberti off the ground (not to mention being with us as much as possible). It is going much more slowly than he would like, but he is sticking with it and plugging along. He is talking to guys all over town and anxiously looking forward to his first event: Beer and Bible Night (for the fellas) in May. He is talking to a lot of guys that aren't Christians and it's exciting to see their interest and there is hope for them to be the beginning of strong Christian men that will be a part of Liberti.
So there ya have it! That's what my hubby has been doing. He's busy, a tad stressed out (you should see the giant cold sore on his lip. Let's be glad it wasn't in his eyeball again!) but he is making the best of it all...even though it's hard. We are learning a lot about patience, and trusting God, and being content, and giving thanks for everything. It's hard to do sometimes, believe me.
So hats off to Rand....the best mortician/pastor I know!

More of Easton

Is there anything else to blog about? Um, no. And, I know it's not fair that I get to stare at his cute face 24-7 and his loving aunts and uncles (and others) have yet to meet him. We're hangin' in there getting all adjusted to life with a newborn and a healing body. I'm starting to feel a little more normal and the little guy is plumping right up.
But who cares about all that. Here's a few more photos for the baby beggars.

The view from my pillow one morning after a not-so sleepful night.