Well...

How is it that two months have gotten away from me since I last posted?!  All I have to say for myself is that it has been extremely busy around here, and there are many changes taking place.
We are MOVING! We had been somewhat prepared that this would be happening, but it still came as a bit of a shock as well (or maybe I should just say it is a bit surreal). We had been feeling like God was calling us to somewhere different, but we had no clarity on where or when or how or even why. Then.... "everything" started happening. Brad was laid off from his job (praise God that He had given Brad a "heads-up"). After sending out several resumes and applying to several jobs, he was offered a job in Oklahoma....definitely a God story all by itself.
And So...we are moving from our home of 10 years. It is a bit hard on the kiddos. They have all taken root and grown up here through those years. Our family has grown... we started with 3 little boys and we are now blessed with 4 more children. It is challenging this mom to say the least! Sorting, clearing and packing up the belongings of a family of 9 is quite the task. We are making repairs on the house, cleaning and putting it up for sale. Did I mention that Brad has already left the previous job and begun work at the new one. He is rocking it .... driving 4 hours a day, working 8 hours, and coming home to maintenance, updating plumbing, and making the repairs needed to get this home ready for sale.... not to mention, still being dad to 7 kiddos who demand and need his time  He has even found bits of time for us to take a date-night here and there. He is definitely my "Mr. Incredible"! 
 I am so grateful to friends from near and far who have come and worked so hard to help us. Special thanks to Mr. Clayton, Mrs.Connie and the K-krew for taking time out of their Spring Break to come help us get the homestead ready. Wow, the work that got done was amazing, and the time of fellowship we shared was even more so. Thanks to ladies from our church family who have come out to help me paint. We are blown away by their serving hearts and their love for our family.
  Of course, all of these changes make our children from hard places have stress and anxiety. We continue to keep open communication with all the kids but especially with those who seem to struggle more with change. Most of the kiddos are accepting that the move is inevitable, and everyone is trying to view our upcoming changes with a sense of adventure. We have traveled a few times to "check out" areas where our new home could potentially be, and the kiddos are finding positive things about the new state, town and place. We are trying our best to balance the work load and family time, trying to keep things as much the same as possible for the kids until the house sells. The "girlie" girls have 2 more months of dance and an upcoming recital to look forward too. Baseball season is upon us; however, we are not quite as involved with that this season as in the past. We had to shave a few things as we don't know an official move date yet. We do have a certain young baseball player who is playing with his team from last year at area baseball tournaments. He would have been so disappointed if he couldn't have played at least some this year (he loves baseball beyond words). We are still trying our best to keep our homeschooling on schedule. I am so thankful that I kept pushing the kids to complete extra skills and work. We have had to take several days off in order to complete projects and preparing the house to sell. More than likely we will be doing a bit of schooling this summer to complete the year, but it will give the kids something to do in what I refer to as the "boring"(their word, not mine!) parts of summer. 
   All in all...we are managing. We are just busy and going all the time. My days are full, and I fall into bed each night with little energy to do much else (hence, the lack of blog posts); however, I am renewed each morning and my strength comes from Jesus. I am so very blessed, and I would not know what to do if I weren't serving my family and glorifying God. He has given me my hearts desire of being a wife to my wonderful hubby and a mother to my many. He is stronger than any of my challenges...Oh Praise Him... hallelujah!!
    I will do my best to update as our move progresses, and as always it is my hope to continue to blog as often as possible. I hope that I still have a few followers left our there in bloggy world. Until next time...
  

A Month in Pictures...part 2

Our Church's Christmas Play:

 

Nate chose to do a speaking part in the play. He was a "city" kid, and he did a fantastic job!

Mia had a speaking part as well! She was a "city" announcing the arrival of the famous singer Rae-d-ence coming to the city . She was quite animated and did a great job! 

The "City" Kids Choir. Can you see Levi there in the background?

And then, there were the precious "Country Angels". Love all these sweet darlings so very much! But..., the one in overalls has my heart!

All the performers!

 Toby's Preschool Christmas Party: 

All of his classmates sharing their Christmas treats.

"I am going to break this thing open!"...Pinata Fun!
 



"Look at the tree I made, momma!"
 



Toby and his "besses fwend"
 

Christmas Cookies:

Anxiously waiting to frost the cookies...

Some of the finished products

Christmas Day:

We tried to steer our Christmas away from lots of gifts; however, with lots of kids there seems to be lots of presents.

The kids are opening presents from their Grandma, Grandpa and their Nana.

Two of Toby's favorite gifts... Monsters, Inc.!

Garrett showing Nate his gift that he had asked for...

Levi's Nerf Gun...one of his favorites

Mia looking at her stocking gifts

Nolan and his girlfriend... she got to spend Christmas Evening with us. Nolan is wearing his gift from "Santa". He asked us for a chain and picked this one.

A month in Pictures...part 1

Well, we made it through another crazy month at our house. I still remain somewhat in denial about how fast a month can go by when you really aren't doing anything amazing...just living life. Maybe it has something to do with our living life in the moment. We just enjoy each day to its fullest... doing our best to work on and complete things that are necessary for our large homeschooling family. I, personally, love to just sit back and take it all in. I love watching my kids in "action" doing all the things they do whether it is school work, playtime, or family time. I know that my time with them will be oh so short, and I want to treasure each and every moment! Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry and lots of times we fight, but we love this chaotic, messy, mixed up family and would not trade a moment of our lives together! We cherish the time we get to spend together and the love that we share.

              Basketball Practice and Games:             

Nate decided to try basketball this year. He is playing on a homeschool team. He loves the sport and since this isn't a very competitive team, he is enjoying the time that he plays.

 

Nolan has aged out of the baseball program here and so, he has taken up basketball. He is playing on a homeschool team as well. He really loves the sport and is playing well.

 

Garrett is playing on the same homeschool team as Nolan. He is liking the sport as well. Just look at those moves!

              Snow days:

Our first snowstorm of the year... it arrived a few days before Thanksgiving. The snow stuck around for a few days and then melted away.

 

Snowball fights

 

Making a snowman

 

Family Visits:

 

The snow left and the cousins arrived for a fun-filled Thanksgiving weekend. These are the cousins from momma's side of the family. We are missing 3 of the kiddos; sure wished they could have been here.

 

These two... always been close and love to be crazy together!

 

The "girlies"

 

Toby was quite taken with his cousin Ryan. They had so much fun!