This is what God's faithfulness looks like

And this is what I mean.

We have been looking for an ER travel nursing position in Colorado for about a month now. Tim and I have frequently prayed for something, ANYthing, in the state that might have a contract for Tim to work sometime after this current contract runs it's course on Nov.2nd.

Nothing.

For a month.

There was one in Boulder that opened then closed like a flash pan. It was so popular that Tim's submission was cancelled because there were too many submissions. He called. He left a message in hopes of reconsideration. No news.

You know, God can do whatever He pleases. That could be scary save that He IS love to go with that omnipotence. And He doesn't waste anything. And so we took Him up on His offer to ask Him anything. I prayed for an ER position at PVH, in Fort Collins. Mind you, this being a hospital that doesn't take Travel Nurses. Why not go crazy and see what He can do?

Then this week we got the call saying that our contract here could be extended 4 weeks. We hemmed. We hawed. This wasn't what we'd prayed for but it seemed to make the most sense while we trusted that God had a plan.
We said, "Ok." on Tuesday.

Yesterday we woke up thinking, "We'll be in New Hampshire four more weeks, then we'll just have to drive thru Colorado for a visit."
Cut a few hours later when this email shows up in Tim's inbox.

"Hi Tim! Happy Accident!... PVHS, COLORADO wants you back as a traveler!!!!!"

WHAT.

I have a feeling God is creating a pile of impossible situations just so He can show Himself able. There is no reason why the hospital should open up a Travel Nurse position in the ER when it has never done so, and when they didn't advertise. This is what God's faithfulness looks like to us.

And so, Ft.Collins. We shall meet again. Nov. 11th.

We're coming for ya!

Quotable quotes-school edition

I thought I'd share some of our more hilarious or quotable moments in this adventure of homeschooling!

Last week at Classical Conversations I had (finally) prepped the boys for their "presentation" for the morning (much like Show-n-Tell but with a bit more teaching). The boys had chosen some favorite toys of theirs to share about. We had been absent the week before and hadn't gotten the memo that the theme for the day was to share your favorite Bible verse or story. Woooops.
Disappointed and confused, we tried to quickly re-prep both the boys for what they might like to share. Tim talked to Vrai, asking,
"Hey buddy, what do you think you'd like to talk about? Do you have a favorite Bible story or verse?"
Vrai cooly answered,
"I'm just gonna make something up."
(WHAT!)
Trying desperately to stifle his laughter, Tim recouped and asked again,
"Well, what are you going to say?"
"You'll see."
----------------
GAH! We DIED. Thankfully Vrai didn't say anything heretical and made it short and sweet. We were covering our faces to try to hide the fact that we wanted to fall down in tears of laughter. (whew! I'm cracking up just thinking about it!)

Here's another gem for those of you not on social media. Wyatt has started some really interesting and awesome historical revisions in his cursive book. He's got an historical image to color after each practice letter. Well, being Wyatt, simply coloring will just not do. Here you can see his mind at work.

Joan of Arc becomes Joan of Shark with a light saber

King John signs the Magna Carta while a knight casts a spell ala Harry Potter style on the Monk. 

In other news, I currently know all my 1st person Latin endings for present and imperfect tenses. Look at me, so special, woo hoo hooooo! :) Actually, I can't get the songs out of my head. They're super catchy almost to the point of annoying, which I think is a good thing.

It's never a dull moment at our little Travelers Homeschool. Pray for me.

30 days

Posted by Tim-

I was listening to the traffic report the other morning and the lady with the view from heaven said there was an accident on 1

-93 heading North just past exit 18 and that if I wanted to avoid timely delays then I should take route 132 or route 3.

Then I thought of the panicking shaky phone call someones mother received or the grave voice of the ER doctor's apology of his best efforts as he divided the timeline of a spouse between wife and widow.

Someone's tragedy is anothers timely delay on a morning commute.  Southbound traffic is moving right along.

Amber said it was strange how we scroll through blogposts so quickly.  Titles like "Starting third round of chemo".  Some we read.  Others we scroll past.  Somehow it seemed the same as the lady with the view..  Not that other's tragedy is an inconvenience to us, or that we don't care, but just the point that scrolling is so easy to do.  Many have scrolled past this.

Thomas Jefferson was a deist. God got the ball rolling, as it were, then he's pretty much hands off.  Please move your accidents from traffic so others may scroll by.

My point is this: who cares about this blogpost?  Then my point is this: God. 

God is.  He is working.  Jefferson's dumb.  Whatever fresh dystopian hellscape  has opened in a humans life which has prompted a blogpost, God has not scrolled by nor does he reroute his GPS to avoid a timely delay.

He is at work to reveal His Son inside of me.  Working, not like a manager, not like an engineer, but on a cellular level.  The work of making Life. 

The revealing of the Son is the purpose behind the blog posts.  The hidden purpose, God's purpose. 

We have 30 days before our contract ends, which is cutting it close, even for us.   We don't know where we are going yet.  But God is working to reveal Jesus in and to us through our waiting. Our circumstances are apple-red happiness compared to the other blog posts, and I know that.  But time and opportunity happens to all and this working is at the back of this blog and what is happening in the life of our family.  And in yours, whoever you are that has taken the timely delay to read the accident that is this blogpost.

Big and little

I may or may have not been scolded by a few of you.

First off, may I say that it's always surprising to me when people are riled up because I haven't updated the blog. You have asked to know what's going on in our little traveler world and I am kinda surprised anyone is keeping up on it.
Secondly, I'm sorry that my jacked up belief has kept me from putting time and energy into this blog! We really do love you! I also have realized that because this is a 'personal' blog, I get overwhelmed at the thought of really putting some emotional energy into it. It's easy to post things about my businesses, quick "stati" (plural for status?) and my daily little stuff on social media because it does not require me to sit, ponder, assess, and delve deep.
Doh.
So, there's the honest truth. I have a hard time sitting still and focusing my brain. (wonder where Wyatt gets it?) That's not an excuse. Just how I currently am. I haven't made the time for it. And I don't like it. And I don't plan on staying there. And really, it's not about me.
Here's what we ALL have been up to here in New Hampshire!
My sweet mother-in-law had shoulder surgery this summer and it has been a pretty big deal in the household. Not just because it's a tough surgery and recover period, but because she's been independent for the past five years, doin' life on her own. We are forever indebted to her kindness in getting to live with her these past five months, and it's been a great opportunity to get to help her out in whatever way we can. We've joked that for those first several weeks that she was my best 'child' :) She's doing well and making progress every week in PT! Pray it continues!
Tim is working it like he do' at the hospital in Concord, NH. We are so thankful he's been able to be on the mid-shift and not have to do full nights! 12 hour shifts can be brutal if they are 7p-7a. He's gotten along well with the staff and it's so funny to have him working in the same ER his own mom used to be charge of! It's circular. We are wrapping up our 2nd contract with them and just signed an extension to stay on until Nov. 2nd. We are so glad to get to be here for more of the fall.
'Dos KIDS-
We JUST started homeschool last week for those not on social media...here are the obligatory first day of school posts complete with my ghetto-fabulous signs. (you're welcome for making you feel better about yourself)

We are all easing into the idea that this is really happening. Yes. As if doing it last year didn't make me realize that before now. Consider it my denial coming to an end that we are really a homeschooling family. By necessity and by choice now. Not that it looks like what you might imagine. Think a pinball machine with children as pinballs and our house as the table. If we get them to stay in the school room for the majority of the time, it's a win!! Let me just say that I am really thankful for Classical Conversations this year too. We didn't participate in this once-a-week program last year and I am really grateful to connect our everyday learning with something more than my fly-by-the-seat of my pants style teaching :)
In other news the kids are adjusting and proving more resilient than we ever imagined. Not that there aren't the tough days, but we are proving God's faithfulness to provide every place we go. The boys miss Colorado and mention it often. They miss their Marmie and Papa in Florida and some dear friends we made there too.
Just the other day, Tim asked the boys where they missed most. They both answered both Colorado and Florida. Tim told them that we'd probably be missing NH as well when we leave here, and Vrai piped up excitedly, "Yeah, we'll miss it. But we're TRAVELERS!" That boy. He's such a tender heart and an encourager. We don't know where God will have us plant our roots eventually but we are confident that it will be good. :)
So, the latest is that we will be in NH for the next two months, ending Nov. 2nd. After that we hope to find a placement in CO for about three months. We have some things on our to-do list, among which is just get to BE with some of our dear friends. We'll keep ya posted on how things shape up but we may need help celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas if we're there! :) After January, we hope to get out to CA for a bit! That's as far as we know now, but anything is possible!

I was just pondering here (ha-progress!) and realizing that it's not that we have things easier or harder really...we all take ourselves with us, WHEREVER we go. We all have to confront the same ole' struggles, baggage and history that we have had for ages. I have found that this traveling experience has caused me to be able to see those things more clearly and I'm less afraid to confront them now because there's a major hurdle you cross when you make a big, brave decision. The littler issues seem more conquerable. :) Little by little, state by state, we are learning big things and seeing God come through. Thanks for caring about the journey. Stay tuned and we will do our best to update more frequently!
MUCH LOVE!
Am for
The Constants

Next stop....

These are the faces of a family that just found out they have a placement in New Hampshire! A miracle!

Packing again...so much LUV for our sweet family and friends here in FL!

 You're going to want to read this one from the Travel Nurse himself-

During a lull at work, I typed in our old address on Erin Court into Google/maps and peered into a frozen history. Our little home tucked at the end of a chip-sealed cul-du-sac, hidden by overgrown elm trees; two graffitied dumpsters standing sentinel at the entrance to the parking lot, waiting to ingurgitate themselves on the next piece of dead furniture.  If you zoom in far enough you can see two pixelated, white, plastic lawn chairs problem solving over an apoplectic kiddie pool in the back yard; a wire fence still ajar from a foregone small figure in search of parking lot adventure, the ground missing grass that laughter trampled bare. 

Such a strange happening that a photograph can fumigate the past.  Judging by the still life of our house in what looks like the convection of July heat, we hadn't a care in the world and were probably down at the creek chucking rocks at ducks.  Life always seems simpler in pictures.  The pictures taken today will be simple in a year from now, though I wouldn't call my life simple now.  The thing missing from pictures is the future and its the future that steals the simplicity from the now.  

  

 In that dormant picture off stage there is a man not wanting to go to work and wondering how he can pull his family out of debt and lead them spiritually and raise his kids to be anything but what seems like the inevitable sociopaths they are destined to become if he can only restrain his temper that bays like bloodhounds on a scent.  And a woman with fingers chapped from changing diapers and suffering multiform toddler abuses, with a heart that beats to sing the world a new song but the blood shunting towards keeping kids from dying every moment of every day, choking herself out with Pinterest expectations of what motherhood really is.  

  

 Yet when I gold pan my memories, pleasantness and grace remain and the dregs and silt of the anxiety I carried like a passport sifted away.  Because we are all right. And back then, we were going to be all right.  God promised to preserve us, and He has preserved us. In this moment I am kneading and rolling the mass of things that I need to accomplish with the ending and beginning of contracts, the moving of my family, the emotional tectonic activity rumbling in our souls, and the myriad other duties I wish I could subcontract out.  Even as I write this I can feel this acrid leaven rising in my soul.  But when I Googlemaps this moment in my life in a year, I will know then what feeble faith struggles to see now: that come what may, it will be all right. And there is a host of saints with severed heads that say the same.  The only  functional difference between the tranquil past and tumult of the future is the promises of God waiting in the queue. 

  

 I'm thankful for the nascence of our family in that fair city.  I don't know if we will play our game pieces back on that board. I don't know where we will hang our trellis and let life grow all over it. But for now we are on a ship with full sail, the tell-tale pulled stiff, a landless adventure off the bow.

   We will have been in Orlando 8 months by the time we leave in two weeks, a near full term pregnancy.  And if I may extort the analogy a bit farther, it didn't take long for us to implant our life into the fertile and wombish community here.  We were able to spend both Christmas and Thanksgiving with Phil and Cathy, Amber's parents, which was such a rich and valuable time; mostly for Cathy, I think, who would love nothing more than to roll around in a bin of grandchildren, like a kid in a ball pit.  We owe a great deal to them for the life changing trajectory this time has had on our lives, and we thank them for a little borrowed time. As to the other mischief that was done in Orlando, are they not written in the annals of the Book of Face? (Ha!, a 2 Chronicles joke)

   Our next stop will be in Concord, NH and, as we have seen God's providence carving out a path for us so clearly, this is evidence to me of his preparation.  As far as I could tell, this was the only job for an ER travel nurse in the state of NH.  I wasn't qualified for it, nor did my start date jive with the facilities.  I was initially rejected for the latter reason, but they reconsidered, I interviewed and the job was offered to me. I could take from this one of three things: 1) The hospital manager was so awestruck by my composure and articulate answers she immediately shredded the rest of her applications, fanned herself, and bequeathed the job to me 2) The other applicants were a scurvy lot of opiate addicts and misogynistic inbreds, against whom, my interview was passable. 3) The Lord worked some butterfly effect that mazed its way down, starting in the stratosphere, one consequence agitating another, like a raindrop on a window, to His intent.  He blows me away. A God with Whom it takes no effort to know the location and future of every thought, molecule and electron position in the universe; and sovereignty over their outcomes. I will take # 3.  Even if He used #3 to make #2 happen.

   We miss you, all of our friends and family, and a special preemptive 'miss' to the friends and family we are about to leave.

The surprise of my life!

Some of you may have caught my social media posts when Tim completely surprised me last Monday with a 4 day/night cruise to the Bahamas.

To understate, I was completely FLOORED.

The big reveal...he straight up handed me the receipt to the cruise! AHHH!

I have never been on a cruise, or to the Bahamas or had four whole days and nights just with my husband (since we became parents)! I can say that living with your parents/in-laws totally paid off in this one week! A HUGE thank you to my mom for not just keeping my kids alive, but very well and to all the family that contributed to this extravagant gift!
Some of my favorite highlights were finding a giant sting ray while wading out in the ocean; snorkeling with tropical fish and sharks (they were at least 6-8 ft!) and dancing the night away with my personal Dance instructor hubby on the ship! Here's a few photos for those who aren't on facebook, etc. A picture's worth a thousand words so, Enjoy!

Are you ready for this!? Best President's Day, EVER!

So stately in our state room :)

Excited much?

We've got a ticket to RIIIII-HIDE!

Waiting to set sail!

Second day, taking the boat out to our own private island-Coco Cay!

Found this sponge on the shore.

This sting ray was at least 6 ft. across, and two yards from my feet!

Chariots of Fire anyone?

Soaking it up at Coco Cay!

Our table mates all the way from China!

I love it when they do this. So easily amused, am I :)

Formal night!

Our cruise liner! Apparently, she was small for her kind...go figure!

A little scooter ride to start the day in Nassau...it's actually quite terrifying to drive here. Kudos to Tim.

We swam with reef sharks!

Snorkeling adventure in Nassau!

Tim won the rockwall climbing contest-Big surprise!

Last night on the Monarch of the Seas. It is simply breathtaking.

Ha! Tim sneaks a peek away from our romantic sunset kiss :)

Chocolate chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Wyatt is wiley.
 He is beyond capable and smart as a whip. Now that he's learning to read, he's also figuring out how to use all the electronics, and get whatever food he wants out of any storage spot. And so his latest has been sneaking food in the wee early morn and hiding it under his bed.
Needless to say, his room gets a prison style shake-down every day.

So, this morning, like any other, we get up, and shuffle down the hall to the boys' room. The boys have chocolate on their mouths. It's 7 freakin' AM, guys. What the what.

My precious husband and I have been trying to figure out a consequence that fits the crime. We've tried talking about stealing, making good choices (ha, ha. Reasoning with children=funny); we've tried getting up before them so they don't have a chance to do it (but they still find a way to sneak it earlier or other times in the day!); we've tried setting a good choice out on the counter for them; we've tried setting an alarm for when they are allowed to get out of their room and we've tried more traditional methods of discipline. Believe me, we have tried. And we are not seeing a change.

So, this morning, at our wits end, God gave us a gift. A consequence that is a natural one. If he wanted chocolate chips for breakfast, then chocolate chips it is! And for lunch! And for dinner!
If any of you know the Wy-guy, he has an appetite the size of a grown man. And he burns energy like nobody else. It's only for one day, but man is he madder than a wet hen! I'm praying that WE make it through today without our heads exploding.

Chocolate in the mornin', chocolate in the evenin', chocolate at supper time....