We are hoping to finally get the house on the market . We are so excited at what the Lord could be doing . It is bitter sweet to leave. We love our church, we love our family and friends. We are very comfortable in our situation. I think I should break into a stanza of " friends are friends forever" !

It does make me thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with. While my house is not a mansion, it is my home . It is filled with precious memories that will forever be etched in my heart . I rocked most of my babies to sleep in this home. It is the home where God blessed us with so many precious foster kids. We have a play structure in the back yard , we called it a park for Quinton when he first came to our house, Matt and his Dad built this together for the kids . My kids love to run in the circle of the downstairs and chase each other. They have all done it and they still do. We have had many a talent show and dance off in the family room. I have been able to teach our kids in the dining room for the last few years and I have loved our time at home. I am sad to leave , but again it is just a house , where moth and and rust could come in and destroy at any time. I am hopeful that the Lord is not finished with Matt and I yet ! We believe He has opened this door for us and so we await to see our next , colder adventure !

My heart is full and I do feel so blessed !!

House fixin stuff !

Today, like everyday the last few weeks we have been getting our house ready. You know touching up things to make them look new, taking out the old unlovely things and replacing them with new shiny ones. I was thinking how selling your house is like our relationship with the Lord. We sometimes wait until something "big" happens in our lives before we give Him any notice or spend any time on our relationship with Him, or mend the relationships in our lives that need fixin.

"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life , is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

We are moving to Illinois !

Matt got a promotion and we are moving to Illinois at the end of June ! Like any decision we make we prayed about it and discussed at length why this was a good idea and a good time to do this. On so many levels this is a good idea and great timing !

While we are really sad to leave so many precious friends and all of our family ( yeah, both sides)we do believe this is from the Lord and we have made it a habit, that if the Lord puts a door in front of us we walk through it and see what He has for us. Apparently , he wants us to move !

Matt and I started discussing how if the Lord opened a door for us to go to Africa as missionaries, we would say cool when do we leave. By the same token, who are we to say no to this opportunity?

We are going, we do not have any details worked out , yet. We only know when we are going and where he will be working. Everything else is up in the air. It is times like this that I realize my self proclaimed laid back personality , is actually really a bit impatient and kinda controlling. I want the details, yesterday ! It has been a great exercise in faith, for me. I have the feeling, this might be just the beginning of a new season of hopefully deeper faith and trust in the Lord.

The kids are excited about the snow ! That is probably because they think the winter there will be like our last Texas winter . I hate to break it to everyone, but there will be a little bit more snow than we are used to . I got to live in Ohio for several years as a kid and I have great memories of the snow !

We have been busy updating and decluttering the house to get it ready to go on the market.

We are trying to make good use of our time while we are still here. It is really important for me that the kids get to have some great quality time with friends and family before we leave.

It is also times like this that I am so happy about the sovereignty of God ! We do not have the ability to "mess up" God's plan for our lives !

" I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Job 42;2

Trip to San Antonio !

The following posts will be about our little family trip to San Antonio.

Here are some pics of us with my Aunt Grace and my mom.

Safari in Texas

Here are some pics from our safari and petting zoo trip !

Fun activity to do with the kids !

Remember the Alamo !

We studied the Alamo in History and we thought it would be cool to take the kids . Matt and I had not been to see it either. Crazy to live in a State your whole life and not see one of the most famous landmarks.

Anyway, the whole visit lasted around an hour and then we ran over to the River Center Mall and Matt took the big kids to see the Alamo movie at the IMAX. They all thought it was very cool !

We had a great visit seeing My parents and my Aunt Grace and Uncle AG. Thanks to my Aunt Grace and my parents , Matt and I were able to go on a date and go to dinner and the Spurs game ! So fun !!!

We also were able to go through this drive through safari. The kids had a blast, feeding the animals and getting to go to a petting zoo.

Overall , it was a quick trip , but so much fun and a much needed break for all of us !

Life Lessons from the ice

Patrick has been playing hockey for several years. We have all come to really enjoy watching the sport. We play house league and we have had a great experience . We have been blessed to have a couple of coaches through the years that have even been Christians. This season was a great one ! Our coach ( who is a Christian) is great with the kids and Patrick has really grown as a player this season.

Anyway, we head into the championship and we win our first game and lose our second. The kids are sad, but handle the loss really well. They played really hard to a team that was really good. We found out 2 hours after our game, they were a little bit too good. In our level for the championship games you were not allowed to play any of the travel players , apparently the team we lost to had been playing their players throughout the championship. They had to forfeit and so our kids who thought they were done for the season had one more game to play for the championship. This was totally out of the movie "Facing the Giants". Our kids played for the championship and they won it. We were able to share with Patrick the value in being honest and following the rules. God wants us to be people of integrity. The kind of person who does the right thing, even if they think no one is looking.

A great lesson for our kids and probably a really crummy lesson for the poor kids who's coaches decided it was a good idea to cheat and they had to forfeit the championship.