November was fatter than a stuffed turkey.

(SIGH)
I know in the course of events this last month I have been pretty lax in my family blogging updates! Sorry! I'll own up to the fact that I do life better in short bursts of information and in the moment! I apologize for the lack of information here as I have felt so far behind that I get overwhelmed trying to update anything that I give up before I even get here!
Let's see...Since the end of October, life has clipped along at a swift pace!
SCHOOL-
The boys and I delved full speed ahead into homeschool as I realized I have MUCH to learn about what I'm doing and how each of them learns SOOO differently. Wyatt is reading everything these days and I'm encouraged that I got to play a small role in that magical miracle! Seriously watching the gears shift and the ideas click inside a small boys brain is amazing. Wyatt is smart as a whip. I'm thankful for God's grace in that since I have felt as though I'm stumbling along in my first attempt to be his academic teacher. Wyatt is also loving gymnastics, increasing his balance, strength and agility even more! Look out Cirque du Soliel!

The 3 Muskateers, just messing around.

Ah, and then there's Vrai. Vrai is a creative and right brained wonder. His mind is full of color, form and pareidolia images. He understands life in creativity and relationship. I've tried some fun ways to get him to remember his letters and numbers. He's drawn all his letters in a flat pan of dry rice. He's made pictures out of each individual letter or number. He's doing better at recognition but still tends to draw sting rays all over any worksheet I have for him :). Vrai is also in gymnastics but prefers to make friends, and enjoy his imagination while he plays on the gym equipment.
Hazel's favorite part of any school day is holding the flag and pretending to say the Pledge of Allegiance and doing our ABC Bible verses. She's also the singer of the fam and yells loudly at Wyatt and Vrai if they don't sing along with her song ideas. She's starting to potty train herself (hallelujah!) and is a busy busy little toddler, chatting it up with anyone who will listen!
WORK-
Tim took a work trip to Ft.Collins at the beginning of November for about 10 days. If none of you heard from me during that time, there was a reason :). Tim's first contract with the hospital here in FL ended the first weekend of November after which he took off to complete his relief hours in Colorado at PVH. He had a great time getting to be in Fort Collins and see a few friends in his free time. Thank you to all who hosted him for meals and the Jacobson's for being a great bed and breakfast! We started our 2nd three month long contract with the hospital here in Deland, FL after Tim got back from CO. We are starting to look at our options for the next assignment. Maybe New Hampshire (we definitely want to be up there sometime soon!), maybe somewhere else until NH warms up a bit :) I think we've gotten a bit soft since living in these FL temperatures!

I have been hard at work figuring out networking here in a new city for my two businesses. Strictly business-wise, it has been a new challenge to start afresh and engaged my mind in a new way to figure out what exactly I want to grow and focus on. For my Mary Kay business, I've joined a networking group of other direct sales women to help each other grow and learn. It's been fun and a cool way to branch out. I've wanted to maintain personal integrity and purpose with the personal stylist/image consultant business that I've started and I'm honing in on my main goals. I want to work with women to uncover their own authentic beauty and style for their encouragement and helping them better bear the image of beauty they were created to portray. And lastly to have confidence, fun and ease in getting ready! You can check out my personal blog at The Closeteer or my facebook page to get an idea! Like any client based business, it's the building stage that is hardest and takes the most patience. So here I am. :) I certainly know that I love doing it and that I believe I was made to encourage others, so I press on! If you're the praying type, you could pray that I would work diligently on what I know to do, balance it with my first job as a wife and mom, and let God show me what He has for me in this endeavor!

HOME-

Mom's birthday breakfast in bed!

Mom's great displeasure at my brothers' Movember Mustaches.

Mom's another year more awesome!

In November, home schedules kinda flew out the window with Tim gone the first half, then ALL of the Thompson side of the family coming to visit for the week of Thanksgiving! We had SO much fun celebrating Thanksgiving and my mom's birthday with the whole fam! Per my mom's request, we put on a "Talent Show" in her honor. Talent is putting it loosely. :) The last of my dear siblings and neices and in-laws left this last Wednesday. We are still reeling from taking in that much fun and busyness with 15+ people under one roof. Perfect example; as I write this, I am half in my pj's and just ate my fourth meal of leftovers this weekend. I don't think I want to eat or cook for another week.

My sweet Grannymaw-Blanch Branch!

As a family we have been checking out a church with some of our new friends here (brother and in-laws of some of our dear friends in Ft.Collins) called Mosaic. We've enjoyed the teaching, worship and sense of community here but are still very much in the beginning stages of getting our feet wet.
We dearly miss our church home in Colorado but see God providing for us while we are miles and miles away!

(SIGH)
One last thing! If you are sending Christmas cards to us, we'd love to get it here! You can mail it to:
4363 Tidewater Dr.
Orlando, FL 32812

We miss you. Please know you are on our minds more than we can ever express and we love you.

Vrai's own invention-he's a stuffed turkey!

Picnic fun with the deluge of family!

The WHOLE fam, actually smiling even!

CONNECTION-
We'd love to hear from you! You'll find us on social media connecting with family and friends who are scattered all over the world, so, I sometimes forget to compile news of the fam here! You can also email us anytime or call us on our cell #'s (they're the same as before!)

Holidays are a slight bit different here...

We've been so busy with Fall, the holiday season has completely snuck up on me. I haven't even bought one Christmas present, which for me, is totally out of character. Since this is one of many firsts for me, it only follows that the holidays would just be...different.
With Halloween rapidly approaching, I find myself quite stunned to realize that my kids will actually get to wear their costumes WITHOUT coats! What?!?
While this is exciting news to any kid who's spent the majority of their young life dressing in their favorite costume only to be bundled up and covered over to go anywhere, it's weird! I'm glad, but it's weird!
 When I think about Halloween, I think about Thanksgiving, which makes me think about Christmas...my brain just jumped holidays faster than the seasonal section at Kroger! So, I was looking at my favorite site for holiday cards (I know, I'm a photo-card geek) I was putting together a little "inspiration board" for our first Florida Christmas. This is funny. People put flamingos in Santa hats on their lawns ya'll. Funny.

So, in the spirit of good fun and trying to go with it, this is what my board looked like:
Our First Florida Christmas!

My Designs board by Amber. See more Minted.com

I'm looking forward to this week, because of all the mommy-tax candy I'm going to eat and because it will actually hit 65 degrees! That's the coldest it's been the entire time! I'm so giddy, I might bust out my Snuggie!

Geeeesh, has it been that long?

Well, I am tryin' my darndest to do my thang style-wise and if it's not one thing it's another...a girl's got some balls to juggle, ya know!
So, in my attempt to balance, I am back. We are back. We never actually left.

We've been right here. Plugging away at having a life :)
The BIG news tonight is that we are RE-signing here for another 3 months! This will bring us all the way to the end of January/early February. I'm excited to have a familiar home for another few months! This has been a great starting point for our adventure. It's like training wheels. We have family and a few friends so the transition blow has been softened, though not absent.
The homesick blows have hit hard in the last week for me (Amber). You don't realize how important time/experience/history is with people. I am getting more used to feeling like a stranger and the odd woman out. It's not pleasant, but it's just where we are right now. I'm getting over my stage fright of bothering people and just jumping right in where I can. The social waters are chilly and unfamiliar, but I'm learning to swim all over again.
Home has been a very current theme for us lately. Here's a few of our car ride faves as of late:

Well, that's all for now. Talk soon? We really miss you.

Announcing....

The launch of my very own new image consulting business!

Yup, you heard right...a new adventure to be sure! Check out more of the details at thecloseteer.tumblr.com. It's a "style blog" I've had for a couple years but it has lacked focus and purpose, so now, I have a vision and I'm really, really excited about it!
My goal? To work with you to unveil your own authentic beauty and style. Let's make the most of what we have!

I am thrilled to be starting something I absolutely love and can't wait to work with you!
Offically introducing-
Amber Constant, Personal Image Consultant :)

Sea World and priorites.

Well, it's been a full last week to say the least.
Dear friends from home (I say that, because Colorado is just home in my heart) came to have a family vacation and do the Disney experience. Lucky for us, they got to stay at the Thompson Bed & Breakfast for the first few days. Wyatt and Vrai had a sweet reunion with their buddies Sydney and A.J. Needless to say, it's been a full and busy house with lots of happy squeals and wild running :)
Today we had the pleasure of going to Sea World with the Steins, my mom and all the kiddos.

Looking at the Dolphin Nursery!

What a wonder and glory! Seriously guys, I teared up the moment that Shamu jumped out of the water. I'm either a really big softy or there's just something glorious that is reflected about the Creator in such an amazing underwater giant! Could be both. Anyway, I really loved it. That and I loved that my sweet mama took Hazel home halfway thru the day since she has an annual pass. Best Marmie ever! The boys had a blast freaking out over the sharks, feeling the rays, riding the kiddie roller coaster and climbing on the world's best play place (crazy high and a dream for Wyatt), and watching the new 360 3D Turtle Trek.

Sweaty and soaked from the Shamu show

This cracks me up...I told them to act scared.  

Going anywhere public with kids is always a challenge, much less trying to stay with another family. But it became so clear as we spent the morning trying to decide when and where to meet up and what to do with the limited time we had with our sweet friends. The choice is always to put people first. Dropping our own agenda so that we could make the most of time with people we love made the world of difference. We have been learning how to (try) do this with our kids in this new place. It's easy to try to jump into life head first when you know you have very limited time. You won't get anywhere socially or emotionally healthy if you don't just get out there and try to meet people, try to make connections and find community. But trying to balance that with making sure our kids know they have a safe haven with us is the real challenge. You can pray for us in that :)

Now, off to bed, off to bed...


Tomorrow, I call about a Classical Conversations group in our neighborhood, try to get together with a new friend here and finish some more research on my up and coming NEW change....to be revealed soon! Keep posted, my friends. I can't wait to share it with you!
P.S. We love you, Steins! Miss you already!

Habituating

What have you been up to?

At the Lake lot playground in our neighborhood.

You mean besides polishing off a half gallon of half&half in two and a half days? (That's a lot of halves, ya'll) I'm not gonna lie, we drink A LOT of coffee here. Weeeeeell, let me catch you up!

Swimming.
Lots and lots of swimming. Thankfully, Marmie (my mom) has been around the block a time or two with small children and decided that the pool doesn't open til 10:30am :) Much better! Both boys have made amazing strides in their confidence and ability in the water. Vrai was the first to do a flip into the water! Amazing! And unexpected. Wyatt can now dive to the bottom of the deep end and retrieve a dive stick. That kid. While we feel somewhat spoiled rotten to live in a home that has a built in pool, it comes with it's cons...re:I'm the new lifeguard in town, and it's just too bad if you didn't want to take up swimming as your new hobby. :) I guess I have a chance to perfect my Marco Polo game and shark attack moves.

Apparently, it's hurricane season. Rain, rain & rain! Good thing I married a man who likes long walks in the rain. 

Sorting.
While it takes an incredible amount of energy to pack up an entire family into two vehicles, then it takes an army to keep a single room in this house from exploding with toys, mardi gras necklaces, tiny shoes, and forbidden objects like glass jars, pet snails and waterballoons.

Toddler proofing.
Or maybe I should say toddler PROVING. Most of the things in my dear parents' home did not pass. :)

Hey Sister Hazel!

I'm proud to say that at least now the electric outlets are interesting to uncover and the cleaning product cabinets are a constant source of 1 yr. old frustration. Hazel may be tiny, but she's incredibly strong and wily! Truth is, she doesn't actually realize she's barely 20 lbs. at 17 months. She has quite the spunk (I have no idea where she gets it, right?) and is already saying/screaming things like, "I ALL DONE!" "I WANTA BIIIIITE!" Her shrieks of displeasure are heard loud and clear anytime someone gets in her way or touches something upon which she has ever laid eyes. Predictions or prophecies for her teen years? Keep it to yourself. :)

Gymnastics!
Wyatt started up classes this last weekend and simply LIGHTS UP when he's in class or whenever we talk about it. I bet he wishes we lived in a gym. That boy is a muscly, flexible, fearless gymnastics ball of fire. We'll see if Vrai takes it up soon. When asked what activity he might like to try he replied, "a dance class" even though we know he'd be perfect at professional snuggling, or stand-up comedy.

Another morning coffee time with my sweet Vrai :)

Wyatt reading the paper and drinking a mug of joe like an old man. Ha!

Napping.
Let's just say that moving across country takes it outta ya. In more ways than one.

Speaking of bedhead...Did I mention that it's (VERY) humid here? Move over Lyle Lovett!

Let's see...what else...

Planning.
Driving.
Grieving. Celebrating.
Adapting. Resisting. Changing.
Growing. Being still. Laughing. Crying.
Holding on tight...

 Habituating.

How are you?

The question echos in my ears and heart at every new inquiry from loving friends far away. How am I? Good question. I'm sorry if I haven't really answered you who've asked. I've simply been trying to figure that one out for myself.
I had a little freak out session earlier this week. I felt kind of useless. The homeschool books haven't arrived yet (uh, yeah, so that's the beauty of homeschool, you can start when you want!) and the city isn't so familiar to us to be out all the time. Useless and stir crazy. Such is the sentiment of many a stay-at-home mom. You sit there, in the mundane and this anxiety hangs over you, "Do something!" (as if looking after 3 littles under 5 yrs isn't enough) There's this impetus to need to make a mark outside somewhere. I talked to a dear sister-friend today who said when that happens to her, she thinks, "Well, I guess I'll go Pin some more crap, or look online at stuff I could be doing." HA HA! I laugh because I relate.

Why do I feel the need to be busy, be creating, be fruitful?
Oh, yeah, because it's in our fabric.

I am meant to echo the heart, the image of the Creator. My sphere of influence seems to have shrunk and my soul is in a bit of a shock. Learning your way into the lives of a new community is just as hard as finding my way to the library at this point. (yup, still get lost)

I DO miss my friends, and my chosen family and that sweet circle of people who would challenge, encourage, and love me despite myself. I think that's how I'm doing...I'm feeling the weight of the space between.

We have great family and great connections through family here, but there is no replacement for time and experience. I know this intellectually. But that's like reading about childbirth and thinking you know everything there is to know about it. Clearly, not. Not until you live it. I miss knowing I had weight in someone's life and had a place I could make a difference.
Things are going well on the Nursing front. The job is relatively easy, considering a new facility and new employers, but the job isn't more demanding than we're used to and we're really thankful for the placement for our first assignment. Ask Tim for more on that to see if I'm giving an accurate portrayal :)

Now is the time to take one day at a time. To take the job on with the precious littles in front of me. To meet each job, trial, demand as it comes and to keep on the look out for others to whom I can give.
I'm out of my fences ya'll. It's a bizarre, exciting and strange land.

There are some changes coming of course, because why not add the overall theme? Keep posted...
(don't even joke about being pregnant, cause I'm not.)

Life on the Road

(SIGH)
To say I've adjusted to life in a new land and in a new phase of life is a generous statement. We rolled into Orlando this week on Thursday around 7pm to much fanfare; long time friends, The Baileys were at my parents house and helped unload our van and black sedan in the 15 minutes it took for my mom's homemade pizza to finish cooking. It was a wild ride! We left Saturday afternoon(...yes, afternoon!) after we finally finished cleaning up our place(thank you, THANK YOU, Schmidts!), packing our two cars and finally getting to the store to buy snacks for our roadtrip. Planning a roadtrip at this point in our lives is simply going to be an afterthought. It's almost funny thinking about how much I stressed out about our road trip to California earlier over Christmas. This is our life now, people! :) Call it the new normal.

"Stoked" about her new carseat-thanks Hannah!

We rolled into Salina, KS the first night around 1am (ouch) after a few hours being stuck in a torrential down pour and INCREDIBLE lightening storm. It was a kindness and a grace from God to make sure both Tim and I each were DEFINITELY awake through the sleepiest part of the first days drive. No nodding off to that kind of insanity!

Truckin' along on the first day

The boys get settled in for the long haul

We awoke late and had a lazy start to the second day. Our goal; Dallas, TX. We made it to our dear friends, the Pitts, home around dinner time and had the pleasure of dining with Aaron as he played host since Lara and the kids were at Grandma's house. (We missed you, LARA!!!) At that point, we decided to give ourselves have a self-appointed Sabbath. We stayed at the Pitts the next day and let the boys play in the kiddie pool the whole day. It was just what we needed after weeks of having the kids live in chaos whilst we moved and packed. I think I finally started to let myself feel the weight of this kind of change in my life. It's nothing short of a trauma. A chosen trauma, albeit, but still, a trauma. I am missing home terribly. I keep reminding myself that this is something that we have been convinced we should/could do and have a peace about, but it doesn't make the human emotions any less raw and in-your-face. We are confident in where God has us merely if for the fact that we are having to CLING to Him for dear life!

Speaking of clinging for dear life...bike rack broke as soon as we put the bikes on...DUCT TAPE!!!

        Tuesday morning, we packed up and headed for Meridian, Mississippi. After crossing the Mississippi River, Wyatt exclaimed that it was his favorite! Ha! He loved how massive it was. THAT is a river folks. I couldn't help but think how much more fun it would be to float down the river on a raft Tom Sawyer style than to drive a van packed with screaming kids....but alas, I digress :)

At the Cracker Barrel!

Fitting right in with the Hill Billies :)

We had a cross cultural experience waking up in MS, eating breakfast at the hotel crammed full of a Black church group that was meeting there for the weekend. Grits, biscuits and gravy, and waffles were all served with pleasure by a super sweet grandma who treated everyone like her own grandchild. My only complaint was the Southern penchant towards powdered coffee creamer (blech-I'm a coffee snob, I admit.).
The drive through much of the south on toward my grandma's home was all under construction and through every tiny town you've never heard of. We probably averaged 40mph. Ugh.  Ashburn, GA (otherwise known as the model for the Andy Griffith Show's Mayberry) is home to my sweet Granny Maw. I was so glad to spend some time with her (and two of my uncles and cousin)and spend the night there before making the last leg of our journey to Orlando. She's one of the best ladies I know. We're not sure how much time we might get with her these days as her memory isn't what it used to be, but it is a privilege just to be with her. The night we got there, I think Tim ate about four plates full of roasted ham, butter beans, peas, creamed corn, and a jello mold with shredded carrots.  And she apologized for not making sweet tea and biscuits :) Ah, the south!

Swinging at Granny Maw's in the deep south

Me and Blanch Branch, aka best Granny Maw ever!

The last day was just a bite-the-bullet-and-get-thru-it type of day. I was in the van with the kids that day and the last hour of driving my baby girl started screaming just for fun. No kidding. She was just playing with the boys which resulted in an All Van Scream-a-thon. Felt good. :)

Well, this is getting longer than I hoped...which when you think about it, was the same way I felt about  our road trip.

Washing the dust off our feet...WE'RE HERE!!!

More later...if I can muster it in the midst of the chaos. :)
 Thanks for your prayers and messages and love. Hugs to you all!

And we have a job offer!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO! What fun to finally feel like we can point our car in an exact location! We just had an interview then job offers this morning. Yes, offers! Plural! Amazing!
We decided to take the one in...drumroll please:
DeLand, FL!

We are so thankful to God for giving us a first assignment that's close enough to be able to live with my parents in Orlando. We are breathing a bit easier today simply knowing anything about where we will be for the next three months and possibly more after that. If you look on the map it's about 48 miles Northeast of Orlando, close to Daytona Beach. We'll stay with my folks in Orlando and Tim will commute each week for his 36 hrs.
Here's a breakdown of what this first job entails (as far as we know):
Tim will most likely be working the same shift as he has now (3pm-3am) which we know we can do and he actually sleeps a lot better doing than the full night shift.
It's a fair sized hospital with 23 beds in the ER which is pretty comparable to PVH.
The job starts August 6th, so we will be leaving Ft.Collins July 28th to start the drive down and to get settled in there before everything starts.

We are beyond thrilled!
Thanks for praying with us and being excited with us. We can't tell you what a support that is!
Now...to get packed.

Letting go, or as I put it, House Bulimia

This weekend was arguably one of the busiest and most unorganized (don't believe me, look inside my house right now) of my life. We basically sold the "farm"! As a majority of my earthly belongings were being haggled over and passing out of my life, I realized just how little you can actually live with. After Friday's sale, Saturday was like a whole new sale as I realized how many things I had forgotten to pull out and include out in the yard. It looked like my house threw up.
Now, it just looks like my shelves threw up all over my floor because there are no shelves now. I'm not looking forward to pressing on and just going thru all the piles, but I am feeling better and better about how free of stuff we are getting!
My thoughts are scattered as I prepare for these next weeks of tying up loose ends, and I can't quite seem to triage them as well as my McDonald's toys.
Random thoughts on purging your belongings:
1.) Sleeping on a 3 in. memory foam on the floor is actually WAY more comfy than I could have imagined.
2.) TV trays make a lovely family dinner table.
3.) When selling your children's toys, involve them in it and give it a purpose. Our boys have done amazing because they have had a friend to raise money for, instead of just giving up their toys. I'm thankful to God for that strange blessing.
4.)Once again, it's been proved that we have the BEST FRIENDS in the whole wide world. "Having a two day sale and need help so you can still parent your children? I'll come up for two days and basically man the cashier box and organize the crap outta your crap." "Sold your infant carseat? Here's one to use; heck, just have it!" "Don't have a bed for your dad who's coming to visit? Here, use our air mattress!" "Need to get rid of some extra dishes and home goods? Here, we'll pay you more than you're asking, just because we want you to have extra gas money!"

You know who you are...

GEEZE. I'm humbled.
5.)Also, I had such an AMAZING time and was over and abundantly encouraged by some of my best gal pals this weekend. Love you, ladies.
6.) I'm so fried after this weekend that all I want to do is drink a beer and watch The Bachelorette. Is that bad?
7.) I'm sorry I've been such a bad updater. I PROMISE you this; you will know the DAY we know our first assignment! Yup, we're still playing the waiting game...but we're still praying that we'd be able to be in the Orlando, Florida area or New Hampshire area first. Time will tell...
K, I'm gonna go now.
MUCH LOVE.

Huggin' my kids just a little tighter...

     Despite the blood boiling disobedience that can normally happen with 3 kids ages 5 and under on an evening when my husband is at work in the ER, I feel the need to appreciate those crazy little buggers tonight more than ever.
     Two families that we have the privilege of rubbing shoulders with at our church are both going thru tremendous faith testing trials. Both families have little girls with cancer. One baby girl is just a few months younger than Hazel and is struggling with brain cancer. The other family has a 3.5 year old daughter who is in the same class as Vrai. She was just diagnosed with a cancerous tumor growing on her skull. Both stories just bring me to tears.
    There are times in life when the phrase and doctrine of "God is good." get put to the test. When all the props get pulled out from under you and you can't tell which way is up, God is still good. Our extremely limited human understanding can hardly fathom it, but God doesn't waste anything and is sovereign in all He does and allows. We've experienced the rubber hitting the road in this area and it is NOT easy. I am amazed and encouraged by these families and these mom's especially as they walk through this bitter time with amazing faith and thankfulness to God.
You can follow these families' journeys at:
The Conleys
and
The Alvarados
Please lift them up in prayer and be encouraged by their faith!
Savoring the sweet moments....

It's the Gypsy in me...

Let's just start fresh, shall we? Now is as good a time as any to start blogging again!

We are weeks away from a rather wild adventure. Yes, we, a family of five, are going on a two year Gypsy run :) Well, rather, Tim is taking the job of a Travel Nurse which is unfamiliar to many.
       
 People understand when you say, "My husband is a nurse in the ER." Yes, they might initially give you the "he's a male nurse?" look, then move on, but overall, it's a normal and very respectable job. Add the word 'travel' to the front of it and you really get some fun faces.  :)


Well, to be really obvious it is simply, a nurse who travels to work. But here's how it basically works:


1.) You sign on with any number of Travel Nursing Agencies (of which there are a great many)
2.) They have liasons and a systems set in place that allows you as a nurse to take an assignment at any number of locations (in the U.S. for us) that have a need for a nurse ASAP. The average assignment is 13 weeks, with a possible option to extend the stay for up to a year.
3.) You negotiate a contract based on what they are able to compensate you with, what you need and you got yourself a job! The pay is usually great and they pay for your living costs (rent/mortage). $$$$! Let's kiss those students loans GOODBYE!!!
Here's where it gets really exciting...
4.)You move your family to wherever it is and set up shop!

 Needless to say there are countless things that go into making a decision to do this and let's clear the air to say they weren't flippant and spontaneous choices. We've thought about doing this for a loooooooong time, but weren't actually free to do it until this Spring. We have wanted a way to pay off debt and save a chunk of change in the hopes of being able to really make a difference with our resources. Yeah, yeah, I know it's brash and rude to talk about money, but deal with it. We hate being a slave to debt and we can think of almost a million other awesome, encouraging, generous Kingdom-building things to do with money other than throw it down the deep pit of student loan despair. In the long run (mind you, this is only two years we're talking) it will hopefully be a benefit to all who know us and make up the family and friends that enrich our lives.

 Are we excited? YES! Are we sad? YES! Do we have a lot of feelings regarding this whole thing? YES! But are we convinced it's where God is leading us and giving us the go ahead to do? YES!!! In all honesty, I have no idea if travelling this much with all of us will work well, but I'm willing to give it the ole' college try and see:)

 We have a mess of amazing family and friends who have already volunteered housing in possible locales(so we don't have to look for something big enough for a family of five on our own) and have volunteered help with moving, packing, selling, storing and the like. We are blessed to have such support. We seriously couldn't embark on such a journey without you. We SERIOUSLY covet your prayers as we venture out.

 A few things to keep in mind...
-Tim IS going to be staying on at PVH as relief; a position that we weren't even entertaining he'd be able to do! This is an amazing "foot in the door" that they are letting him keep. We are so encouraged by this tie that connects us to our fair Ft.Collins.
 -When he comes to town for his 72 hrs. a quarter he might need a place to stay...just keep that in mind:)
-We will be having a moving sale to end all of our other yard sales...so if there is something you are looking for contact me! We are selling nearly EVERYTHING. I'm kinda giddy about starting fresh in that department! We got beds, couches, tables...please, come buy my stuff. Some time in July. I'll keep ya posted.
-Pray for me and our kids as I begin my job as a homeschooling Gypsy mom. I'm excited but kinda nervous.
-WE LOVE YOU!!! Believe us when we say this transition is probably just as hard for US as it is for you, just in a different way. We don't take your friendship lightly. You are like stars to us...even when we don't see you, we know you are always there.
 Welp...thanks for hanging in there through that long post! If you made it this far, you really DO love us! We are in for one wild ride, my dear ones.
Talk soon!