Figuring things out, coming to terms or something like that

Still in the car, so typo precautions are still in effect. I've been thinking a lot about this house ordeal, which in a funny way seems to be a weird representative of my life as a whole and the house thing is just some metaphorical symbol. When we listed the house in December, I had reasonable hope it would sell smoothly. Afterall, my job situation fell into place in such a way that I couldn't imagine the rest would not follow suit, and I also assumed that our path was meant to take our family in a certain direction, or location, for that matter. Our first offer was quick and fair and it fell through just as we set our sights on the land and house we wanted. The second offer was insulting. We let our emotions control us and now we realize that it really wasn't that bad. Closing would have been this weekend, which means we wouldn't have gone to South Carolina, and I think I would have regretted that for years to come. There was hope that we could have made a third offer work, but that now also seems unlikely. So what am I getting at? I am not really sure. I've done a ton of praying...for the house to sell, but not as much for me to be able to recognize the direction we should go, and now, I think I've been chasing the wrong dream. It was my assumption that we were meant to live a certain way and that the way I had it planned out is what would be best for my family. In the meantime, I've been very consumed with stress and worry, which I can't deny have likely effected my family, too. It is never easy to step back and ask whether things just aren't working because He is stepping you through the challenges or whether His path is not the one I want so badly, and therefore, is difficult because it isn't the path He wants me to follow at all. I still really don't know the answer as to why this isn't working. In my mind, it only makes sense for my family, but I don't have the ability to know the end result so I am changing my prayers. It makes me sad to think that maybe the house we've been planning for isn't going to happen,but I certainly don't want to pursue something that He doesn't want me to or that will create further stress on my family. My new prayer is to simply know whether to continue this journey or stop, and then, to have the wisdom to know when to hop back on.

Reflective roadtrip

First, this is a disclosure about very possible and obvious typos, as it is 9:42 PM and we are smack dab in the middle of the Smokey Mountains. We are 3/4 of the way through a 2000 mile trip to Hilton Head, which was squeezed into a 3 day weekend. That sounds insane, I know, and believe me, we will likely never do this again, but we would also not trade the craziness of this weekend - not the 4 days in the car in a row (7 hours each day), not the extra miles on our new car, not the tiredness that will certainly ensue come Tuesday morning, and not my spider webbed phone screen (rocks amd glass don't mesh). It also appears that Keeton lost his new iTouch somewhere along this journey. The reason we made this trip was to see my grandpa who can no longer travel, who hadn't had the chance to meet his newest great grandson, yet. So, my whole family found a way to get to him, and while it was sad to see him looming so frail, his face was worth every minute of this weekend's journey. He said he would have waited his whole lifetime for the surprise he got to see us all there, which actually hasn't happened in almost 4 years. Unfortunately, less than 4 hours after we left, he fell and broke his hip, so please say a few prayers for him. He was already down in the dumps, so I am just hoping that maybe the joy this weekend brought him will sustain him through surgery amd recovery.

Little Lamb

We had a showing tonight and with the house immaculately clean, we didn't want the kids in the house to mess anything up.  So, we headed out to dinner at a little gyro place in town.  While eating, Jeff offered the kids a few bites of his gyro meat, which they apparently loved.  Most people who know me also know my theory on what kinds of meat I will consume (beady eyes only--think chicken & turkey & fish--which I do know is not really "meat").  I asked Jeff if he thought the kids would still eat his gyro if they knew what they were eating.  Part of me wanted to tell them just to see their reaction and the other part (the part that used to lie to Ella about things not being fruits or veggies) wanted to keep it a secret.  The curious side of me won, so I said, "You know you are eating lamb," to Ella.  She didn't understand so I said, "Like baaa...".  Still.  Did. Not. Get. It.   Then I repeated, "Lamb.  Like fluffy white lamb.  You know, they say baaaa..."  She looked right at the meat and declared, "Well, this lamb is yummy!"  Seriously.  This is a kid who won't eat an orange or a banana or broccoli, but she will eat lamb?!

Saturday soccer

Today was the last soccer game for the spring season and I think it was also one of the very few nice Saturdays we've had. Last week it was freezing cold and raining, so today at 70ish degrees and sunny was a welcome change.  Both kids worked hard this season, especially Ella, who we played "up" and really had to play hard against much bigger girls. 

Mother's Day

I know...I still need to post Easter pictures, but I am behind.  Mother's Day was nice-I slept until after 9 (unheard of!) and then got to get up to these sweet presents from my kiddos:

Keeton made me a mug and this cute hand-flower pot poem.  Ella's Top Ten Reasons she love her mom cracked me up and made my day.  She was also so proud of the card she made in computer class.  I love these adorable home-made presents...