List of the Latest

In light of my trend of constant *behindness* on our blog (or let's be honest, maybe that's true of life right now for me in general --- morning to do's become afternoon to do's and that gets pushed out for days, weeks & months sometimes) - something I can do, is a quick list of the latest happenings which hopefully shed light into the neglected posts.

** We celebrated Ken's 33rd birthday on April 10th.  Wait, did we celebrate? ;)  Oh yeah! A few new books, dinner as a fam, and a really sweet time with our small group that night & blessed by an incredible chocolate/coffee cake made by Krystal to top it off and a spotlight on Ken with really wonderful, affirming words for Ken that meant a lot to him.
**  I turned 32 on April 29th.  Stressful day, but worth it... why?
** Because we bought a house on some land - and closed on my birthday - 2 kids with the stomach flu that week, Maggie with strep, and me fighting a cold - signing location changed at the last minute & was a little tough with all 3 kids at escrow with us trying to keep them occupied while we signed what seemed like a hundred pages as it was a short sale and a little more involved. ;) 
** First weekend in May, we moved.  Or, started to.  So thankful for the help of friends & neighbors who were beyond generous/gracious and made that possible at this stage of life with our kids' worlds being turned upside down for a few weeks.
**Spent 2 days in the new house before we had a deputy briskly walk up to us that afternoon in the field the kids & I were standing in while talking to our neighbor, and let us know there was an armed suspect trying to evade the police, headed right towards our property (shirtless, running through neighboring farms) and to get the kids inside since they had the police dogs on the chase.  With a can of bear spray and gun I didn't intend to shoot near my side, kids hiding under the dining table, we had the warm fuzzies about our new home for sure. ;)  In light of that, - we all (rather than just Ken) left for a planned trip to Spokane early the next morning, to install a sprinkler system at our rental house.  The kids really were craving time with grandparents (us too!) and we all could use a break from the moving chaos to try our hand at something equally exhausting - sprinklers. ;)  What a dirty project!... gratifying, glad it's in there, but wow, a lot more to it than we had mentally prepared for.  Ken did an awesome job - so proud of him & am constantly amazed by how many things he's able to juggle/manage well at once.  It was SOOooooo good to be in Spokane to see family and friends, albeit way too short to catch up & see everyone -- but just what we all needed after the stress of the move & chaos "back home."
**Drove 9 hours back to our new home after the sprinkler install, to turn around and head to Sutherlin the following morning to finish packing up our previous rented home there.  Spent the night in Sutherlin sans furniture, amidst a pile of-who-knows-what-or-how-we-collected-all-this-stuff, and headed back to our new home to finally begin unpacking boxes last week.  This past weekend, we still hadn't wrapped everything up at the former house, so it was another trip back down over night, to finalize the deep cleaning & last of the move. 
**This week:  feels like our first official week in our new home, slowly unpacking & getting settled into country life.  We LOVE it!  And for those who may be wondering:  not sure whatever happened to the guy they were looking for -- probably long gone by now and no one ever came near the property nor any neighbors.  Pretty sure my farmer neighbor, Red, would have taken that poor fellow out with  his shotgun.  The house is feeling more and more like home & the kids are beyond excited.  Ken's been commuting for work & gearing up to transition full time into gutter business/metal roofing come July. 
**We say this too often & I have often wished we didn't use this as a crutch, but this really does feel like a crazy time of life!  Exciting, love it.  Tired.  Love it. :)  Eyes closing literally as I try to finish typing this....  sigh... :)... hopefully some pics & fun details to share in the next post. ;)  Until then...  hugs & love!