When it rains it pours

...sort of. I have been meaning to blog for a long time. I have a lot to share. But I haven't had the time. I go to bed after midnight every night and still there is no time. I don't know how parents of more than two children survive. Gold stars for all of you! I put up several new posts- mostly pictures. We got to go to FL. It is the first post and so it is farther down. Don't miss it!

We are still waiting to sell our house. This seems pretty impossible from human standards- that is why we are so thankful God is in control of all of this! We are very hopeful he does in fact have a buyer for us. If not, we want to be open to what he does have. He has been blessing us during this waiting period- AWESOME trip to FL, Graeters (our favorite ice cream here in OH) is now being sold in the Dallas/Ft Worth area at Kroger!, and many other things that I am trying to keep track of so I don't miss any of his blessings! Travis needs to be in TX in Aug. I am going to miss the cooler, mostly bug-free summers here. And our great friends we've made. And our house. Honestly, that is about it. I am ready to move back to the South- I think. The other day I was remembering how hard it is to move. It is almost like starting your life completely all over again. Everything is new and nothing seems like home. Definitely not looking forward to that. But I love our family and just being with them everyday makes everything doable!

Slate Run Farm

The girls and I went to Slate Run Farm- a working historical farm here in OH. The girls had a great time and even got to pet the baby calf. Annika was not a fan of the stinky pigs.

Annika

I couldn't pass up this picture- Annika in her princess dress on her princess scooter.

Florida!

We got to go on a surprise trip (or last minute I should say) to Florida! The short version: talked to my sweet friend Allison the night before they left for their trip to FL. We decided at 10:30 pm to go to. We packed and left the next morning. We had the best time! I will post more later. But here are some pictures. I have many, many, many more on our picasa site! This trip was more than a HUGE blessing to me! It was our first of hopefully many family vacations. The girls adored the beach and everything about our trip.

*some of these pics are ones that our friends took. I have messed with too many in photoshop to know which are which now! The ones that are edited really well are probably his!

New Blogs

I have found a couple of new blogs I really like reading. You have probably heard of at least one of them, but if not I wanted to give you the link so you can check them out. But beware- they are full of real life and God moving in those people's lives. :)

The first one is about a lady with some kids... http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ Please check it out. She has been all over the news and papers with good reason.

The other I found from MCK blog. I loved it. After reading for a while I figured out that she is the wife of a Christian band called Selah. She is an excellent writer. They lost their daughter a year ago. She lived for 2 hours. It is so awesome to see how God has used them bless others. She is currently in India with the Compassion program. It is great to see how they use money that people send. It makes it seem so much more real to me. We aren't randomly sending money to a number, but to a life. Some don't like things like this b/c money has to be used for overhead, etc. but other groups can't get into places like this and really help children who really need it. http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/
Please take the time to read her posts- esp. the one called "I have been ridculed and lied to."
So, so good!

I have so much more to blog about. I want to blog about the rest of our trip to AR, but the pics on stuck on Trav's laptop so I'll have to wait. I also have some funny stories about the girls. Hopefully I will remember everything- another day! Here are a few of the pics that we hadn't downloaded to Trav's computer.



Annika and Olivia with their cousin Ashley- We had a great day celebrating Easter!



Annika turned three on our trip. We ordered a blank cake from a great bakery and got to play with my yummy fondant. It turned out so cute! The other pic is the girls with their cousins at the cupcake place in Little Rock. So fun! I wish they could play together everyday!

Missed

Why today? Something wasn't right. Thank goodness it is finally clear. I miss her. So much. But why today? I have no idea what makes it seem so fresh. My sweet grandmother, who really was my second mom, is missed a lot today. I felt it creeping for days, but I was hoping to move onto another thought. Not today. It is funny. The one person who I feel like could really understand how I am feeling right now is the one I am missing. While thinking of what I wanted to say at her memorial service 8 months ago I realized that we were so much alike. So much more than I had ever noticed. If you've read the love languages book- she was like me- words of encouragement. And her words touched deeply. They didn't have to be many, but they were like thousands of anyone else's words. I can't wait to throw my arms around her neck in Heaven. I really am so thankful for her. Without her I would have been a totally different person. God blessed me enormously with her life.

We made it!

Well, the last time I posted we were in Little Rock. Only a few hundred things have happened since then. I want to blog about some of them while I am here and all the fun things we do while we are visiting.
Today we flew here and Southwest lost our bags. Actually they forgot to get them off of the plane, so they sent them to Dallas. Our bags have been on quite a journey. Thankfully my mom had gotten each of the girls nightgowns as gifts! Perfect! How do mom's always know? They were sad to go to bed without their pillows and animals, but they are ok. Of course a long day and being tired makes going to bed much harder. Our bags are supposed to be on their way now. The girls did really well on our flight. We were on the same plane for 3 1/2 hours, but only in the air for a total of 2 1/2 hours. The other hour was boarding and then waiting for the other people to get on in Chicago. The girls did really well and it was kind of nice not having to change planes. I actually even read some of the In Style magazine my sweet husband had gotten for me to read. It was funny b/c he accidentally got the UK version. Why do they sell that in Ohio at B & N?
Also, I don't think I ever said for sure- we are moving to Ft. Worth because Travis took a job with TCU (texas christian univ.) We are so excited to be moving closer to family, but we will miss the friends we have made and the girls drs and dance, gymnastics, and piano teachers so much! Our house in on the market, which is not good. I love knowing God is outside of the economy and he is in control and has a plan. Most days I can totally rest completey assured of this. However, there are some days I get worried- not many- only b/c God has blessed us with a lot of peace!
There is a digital picture frame next to my mom's computer. The girls look so young and now they seem so old! Annika ditched her paci after we got back from Christmas. She did great and it looks so funny to see her with one in pictures now. I love my girls so much! Really. I am so thankful I am the one to get to spend each day with them.
For a while I have been the top pick at bedtime- that's just the way it goes with kids. However, Annika has been picking Daddy every night. He plays some kind of bunny game that she LOVES! She gets so excited to go to bed every night. I love it! Travis is so wonderful and I love seeing him be so fun and enjoyable to the girls. He is very good at making us all laugh. Which I am so thankful for. I LOVE to laugh and I am glad to have someone funny to live with! The girls are definitely getting their own sense of humor. It is great to see Olivia catching onto things she didn't used to get. Oh, but they are getting too big too quickly! We all are. I will be 30 in a couple of days. What? Did I just type 30? I guess that explains the few extra lines. I can live with those. It means I laugh a lot. :) Which I love- so see it all works out perfectly!
Well our bags are here- all 4 of them- hopefully. :) Better get to unpacking. It was kind of fun to not have to lug bags in when we got here. But I am so thankful to have them back. Again I am assuming they are all back. I don't think the courier would appreciate me going out in my borrowed night gown. :)