Too long in the car

Proud

This is one little girl who is so proud of her Daddy. I found this onesie in a box of clothes we borrowed from Troy and Jen G. (our Portland Marshal friends). I gave all of her clothes back before we left, but with a prayer in my heart that my little Jewel would be able to show off this shirt one day, I tucked the onesie into my suitcase to come with us to Arizona. It is a 12-18 month, so it was a serious prayer as she is already wearing all 18-24 and some 2t. But, when we got our official call on Thursday morning, I ran to my room and dug under my box of sweatshirts and pulled it out. I put it on her right away and with tears in my eyes snapped each little snap successfully.

It was fun to snap pictures of her, fun to watch her toddle around with her sweet chunky little legs sticking out...but nothing was as sweet as watching Jordan come home and with shrieks of delight she walked over to him showing off her steps and her Daddy love. He is always excited to see her, always scoops her up and covers her with kisses, always squeezes her tightly. But when he saw her shirt, it was an even higher level of excitement. They just stood there together, giggling and laughing and hugging and celebrating.

Announcing...

On Tuesday of this week, Jordan came home from his job and had a goofy smile on his face. He did his normal thing of unpacking the car and his lunch box, checking his email, and getting ready to get cleaned up (he's working for a contracting company that cleans foreclosed homes...it's messy work). When I saw him he said "I had a neat day today".

I was glad to hear it and asked him to tell me about it. He was just getting started when we heard the garage door open and my mom's car pulling in. He said "I'll wait until your mom comes in". I started to get a racy heart...waiting for her means it is something big.

He started again, telling us about a raise they had given him in pay at work and they gave him extra hours to compensate him for the driving time he's done. I could tell there was more. Then he said "I also got a call from the Marshals today".

WHAT!!!???!!!

Well, the guy who facilitates the fitness tests in Portland called while he was working and left him a message to tell him that his fitness test results had expired (it's been 6 mos since he took it the first time), and he needed to come in on Thursday morning to take another test because it looks like they are going to try to get him into the academy coming up soon.

What does this mean? Do you have to go back to Portland to do it? What is 'soon'? They are going to try to get you in or you are in?

Don't know, Jordan called him back but he didn't answer. Can't celebrate just yet. Too many unknowns. We've been here before.

Wednesday he calls back. Yes, they can do the fitness test in Tucson, that would be fine. Friday morning at 7:30...the other side of town. Well, the facilitator can't really say anything, but he's heard that they are trying to get him into a camp in November or December because they have a job opening for him in Portland.

WHAT???!!!!????

Can't celebrate yet. It's not the official word. It's still just hearsay...he's not headquarters.

Wednesday night, Troy (our Portland Marshal friend) calls Jordan. Had Jordan heard the news? NO, PLEASE TELL US THE NEWS! Troy was in the meeting at the Portland office, Jordan got one of two spots in Portland. Troy thinks maybe academy will start in December.

WHAT???!!!????

Thursday morning, official call from Marshal Headquarters in DC. Offering Jordan a position. Academy starts November 17. It finishes April 1.

Jordan passed his fitness test with flying colors, superior in all categories. I am so proud of his dedication and hard work.

Is this for real? After all this waiting and changing and anticipating and waiting and hoping and wondering and doubting and PRAYING...are we finally actually in?

YES!!!!

God is so far beyond amazing. Of course his timing is perfect. Of course he is totally in control. Of course it is always easier to see it, marvel at it, rejoice in it, bask in it, praise him for it, and just giggle with delight about it when you are on the other side.

I can be a bit independent and self sufficient. I like to do things on my own and feel like I can handle life. I know that had this call come when we were still in Portland, I would not have come to Arizona. I maybe would have come for a visit, or asked my parents or Jordan's parents to come to me, but I would not have moved here for the duration of the academy. I was too set in my way of doing things in our house in our city in our comfort zone. Now that we are here and settled in I can see the immense blessing it is for me to be here. Of course everything up until now has been great, and it will continue to be that way until Jordan has to go, but after that I won't be great. I know it will be hard for me. I know I'll start getting into "survival mode". But, I'll already be here. My kids are already used to everything here. We are settled and safe. This is now "our" everything...here in Tucson where I can be taken care of and have help and support and encouragement. Our rooms, our suburban, our cousins, our grandparents, our backyard, our home.

I am overcome with the personal way God knows me and cares for me. Jordan was probably ready to go to camp months ago...but God knew what needed to be done for me. I feel like I can't believe he loves me so much, and is willing to be so specific in his attention to me. When I think about the details and the planning and the thought...it's just overwhelming to me. Breathtaking and precious. I am personally loved by a God who can orchestrate all of these things, and he orchestrates them with me on his mind. I don't know what else to say...I am bursting with praise and at the same time soaked in humility, I am just overcome by him and that is exactly where I want to be.

We will fill everyone in on more details when we have them. THANK YOU for praying with us and journeying with us. Thank you.

Boys and Girls

One of the greatest gifts in being here is time with my nieces and nephews. I took my kids to Hessel and Heather's house last week to hang out while Heather had some moving errands to run (I know how hard it is to do anything with moving with a 1 and a 3 year old, Heather has both and they are getting ready to make a move to another house in Tucson).

Silas and Audrey an impeccable illustration of male and female. It is so entertaining to watch them, and listen to their conversations.

While I was there, I treated the big kids to popsicles while the little ones napped.

Silas promptly sat down to get to work on eating that popsicle. Audrey was talking to him, well she was totally talking, I don't really know if it was to him or herself or if it was reciting a story.
She was very into her narration. Speaking dramatically and with gestures. Silas was very into his popsicle.
She began dancing around and talking less and singing a little more. Silas ate his popsicle.
She made an attempt to engage him. Beautifully sitting with feet crossed and toes pointed. He showed her the popsicle in his mouth. She was not impressed.
Oh boys. If you only knew all that you were missing out on...girls are far more entertaining than popsicles. (although, I know I will be shouting a different mantra ten years from now...or less...gulp)




This precious blond haired, brown eyed little lady...Silas is certainly not the only one she has eating out of her hand.

Grammy Turns 60 in Style

It's not very often as kids that we get to spoil our parents. This was one of those incredible times when all of the kids got a chance to show Jordan's mom how loved and appreciated and wonderful she is. It was her 60th birthday and Pops had been planning a surprise for a long time. Since our family and Mandy's family are all ready in town, we promised to all meet at their house on Thursday night to go to dinner together. We arrived...hugging and kissing Grammy for her birthday...she had no idea we also had the first surprise.
Look how excited Abbie and Pops are to get Grammy. Pops had flown Chris and Christine and Ellsie and Nixon down from California for the entire weekend. No planning or prep for Grammy. We were going to spoil her rotten while she played with her grandkids.
We ordered in Mexican food for dinner (welcome back to Arizona, the Mexican food is AMAZING) and did cake, ice cream and gifts.
We then proceeded for the next 24 hours to act as normal as possible. We told Grammy that we wanted to serve her. We would go to the grocery store and clean the house. All she had to do was relax and enjoy having her whole family together. So, in between furiously cleaning and whispering about plans, we tried to do the normal stuff.

Aunt Mandy snuggled Jewel and read her books
Grammy got ample story time with her little girls (this may have been one of the only calm moments between Jewel and Ellsie...we are going to have some big adventures with these two in the coming years).
The girls played on the slide
Everyone went swimming
The three boys serenaded Ellsie with her song "5 Little Ducks"
Little did Grammy know, there was more of a surprise coming. Pops and Grammy's friends planned a huge surprise party. We told her that we were taking her out to eat for her birthday. But really there was a crowd coming to the house...

Jewel and I debated costume ideas the night before.
We had the entire house clean, we had taken Grammy shopping to get her out of the house so that the guys could do some final prep work, we got everyone ready to go out to dinner...we stalled, we took pictures of everyone getting ready to go out to dinner. Aunt Christine took a really long time nursing Nixon. We debated over car seat arrangements. We forgot things. WHERE WERE THE PARTY PEOPLE????

Jordan and I finally had to actually load all six cousins (minus Nixon) into the Bury 'Burb (which Jordan pointed out to me when it was full that we could easily fit 6 kids in the suburban...hint, hint) and drive away. We ran into the caravan of party-ers coming in together a few blocks down the street. We turned around, we stalled some more, we finally just waited at the top of the drive way. It was TOTALLY worth it. All of Grammy and Pops' friends arrived completely decked out in 60's and 70's attire. It was amazing. There were joints tucked behind ears, long beaded necklaces, bell bottom pants, protesting signs, and tie die every where you looked.
We even got the kids involved...is it just me or does it look like Ryan and Silas got a hold of a few too many party favors?
Actually everyone in this picture looks like they could have just come from Woodstock.
The party was a huge success. Pops made big points with his bride. We had a ton of fun, and were able to spend the next day and a half just enjoying each other.

When we left, every room in the house looked like this.
It was evidence of a fabulous time.

Happiest Birthday to our Amazing Grammy. You are such a gift to us! We love you.

Arizona

Arizona is all that we hoped and imagined that it would be, and more (and more and more and more).

I had a few fears and apprehensions as we planned this move. My parents have been empty nesters all summer, a luxury that they have been long awaiting. Before that, they hosted an array of visitors ranging in relation and reasons for coming and staying, but all of them over the age of 18. There is something different about hosting a 1 and 3 year old. They tend to "cramp your style" a little more. When we first arrived my parents were in Pennsylvania with my oldest brother and his family, so we had a couple days to organize all of our things, get settled in, and back on track with our schedules. The house was ready for us. A room for the kids decked out in Thomas the Train complete with the kids' names painted on the wall. Silas was delighted. A room for us with windows facing the rising sun and all the cozy, relaxed feelings that home provides. It didn't take long for us to embrace the gift God had given us.

Jordan quickly found the lawn mower and dusted off his yard keeping skills.

We started to get adjusted to the climate change. This picture doesn't show it well, but rosy red cheeks and sweaty brows are typical sights with the kids.

We were thrilled when my parents came back. My mom and I do things very similarly. I love that right around afternoon naps, we are both starting to wonder what we will do for dinner. I love that we can laugh about the creations we'll come up with from the fridge. I know we can share our plans, change our plans, include each other in our plans, and make our own plans as needed. She understands our need for independence and wants to help whenever she can. I understand their need for some quiet and space without toys strewn about. Some evenings we all wind up on the couch watching a movie or TV together. Other nights we gather on the front porch under the stars to catch up on our busy days. Sometimes we just do our own activities, enjoying the fact that we get to do them under the same roof. There is just a comfort and relaxation and peace here, so refreshing and calming...a huge need for us following the season of intensity we have been in for the last year.

The kids are feeling the same way...well, that's what I am guessing. They both really struggled to get into good sleeping habits when we got here. There have been many night time wakings, and very early morning rising. Jewel is getting back on track, Silas is still working out some kinks. Granted, we have been busy since we walked through the door. Not a bad busy, we have a lot of catching up to do with our family here, but still very busy.

Across the street my cousin Tasha and her family are living. She and her husband, Ryan, have two kids that are miraculously close in age to mine. Roderick is 5 and Avery almost 2. Many days start with Silas asking if Roderick can play. We spend many mornings listening to the boys play cars and airplanes, watching them build forts, and rolling our eyes at their wild and silly little boy humor at the table. Then at 10:50 Roderick has his farewell party at the end of the driveway as he heads off to kindergarten for the afternoon.

Silas loves his little cousin Avery, and sweetly says "Come on Avery-Girl, let's jump on the trampoline."
We are getting creative with water play...it is still summer time here!
The best part about this picture is that it will forever remind me of Jewel's first self tanning bust. The kids had been outside for a while, and I was all of sudden noticing pink shoulders and cheeks. It was our first week here, so I wasn't totally organized with my things nor did I totally know where all of my mom's things were. I did a quick search for some sunscreen, but I didn't find any and I didn't want to leave the kids outside alone. The only thing I could find was my Arbonne self tanner. It is SPF 15, so I figured that was better than burned babies. I gave everyone a quick spritz. Silas and Avery were fine, but not long after I gave Jewel her even coating, her big brother poured a cup of water on her head. It washed the self tanner off a portion of her back. She had a dark brown streak of tan across her back for a week. So, the moral of the story is, yes...Arbonne self tanning spray WORKS...but do not use it in wet conditions :)

The Trip- Heading South for the Winter

Things had been crazy, crazy busy before we left town. Between the needs of the house getting taken care of, good bye parties (LOVE MY FRIENDS!), last trips to everywhere we could think of, packing every last thing out of our house, and Jordan working up until three days before we drove out of Portland, we were swamped. In the midst of all of it, God had a really special gift for us, that we almost missed.

When we were selling the Altima, there was a guy who was interested in buying it who owned a suburban. Jordan commented when he came to look at the car that ONE DAY we would like to have a suburban. The guy joked back that maybe we could make a trade. The joking became a little more serious and Jordan ended up calling me to ask me what I thought of the idea. I didn't. I mean I didn't even think about it. We were supposed to be leaving in a week and we had way too much going on to be thinking about getting another car, and not a suburban...it is so unpractical! We don't need it. Don't even think about it. You are a little whacky. Goodbye. He agreed while we were talking, but a seed had been planted and his brain was working. He brought it up again later. I had a similar (and more detailed) response as to why it would not work. We accepted a down payment from a different buyer for the Altima and just let it go (well, I did). But, the guy came back to take a 2nd look at the Altima, hoping that if the other deal fell through we may still be interested in trading. I was upstairs cleaning and packing when he arrived and Jordan really wanted me to come and just look at the suburban. After refusing for quite some time, I relented and went down to see it. I have a thing for clean cars...this was NOT. There was gunk everywhere. I peeked in the doors, and walked around the suburban once to humor Jordan, but I had no intention of ever thinking of it again. Plus, what in the world would we do if we traded it. Then we would have a suburban and Jordan's Xterra. We did not have time to get his truck fixed up and ready to sell. It just wouldn't work.

Jordan agreed. I went back inside to continue working and Jordan was explaining our situation to the guy and telling him why it wouldn't work. Jokingly he said "I have an Xterra, you could trade me for my Xterra." Much to our surprise, he seemed interested. He told us to call him if the Altima didn't sell, he wanted to buy it regardless, and he would be thinking about the Xterra. The Altima sold to the other person, so Jordan left the guy a message telling him the Altima was gone. To our surprise he got a text back asking if we were still considering a trade with the Xterra. We had separate activities planned for the next couple hours, so Jordan said "just think about it and pray about it. If we don't want to do it we don't have to, but let's just ask God if this is the time he is wanting to give us our big family car." So, we did. As I was running my errands I am thinking about being in Arizona with all the cousins. We could all ride in the same car together. I could pick up all the kids to go and do something fun. When we have another baby, we wouldn't need to worry about getting another car, we'd already be set. I've always wanted a suburban. It could be cleaned up. Hmmmm....I am starting to want it. When I got home Jordan felt the opposite. We don't need it right now. Maybe it is too much to try to do all of this before we leave. I felt sad. I couldn't believe it. We decided that we would go ahead and meet the guy, do a simultaneous test drive, and if he wanted to do a straight across trade we would do it. But we would not buy the suburban and then try to sell the Xterra. The Xterra's AC was broken, the CD player didn't work, and there was a giant crack across the front windshield. It was a long shot. The suburban is older, but the miles were the same. On the test drive I was starting to get giddy...praying that the guy would want to trade. When we got back to the house, after some strange conversation (do you like my car? I like your car. Do you want my car? I want your car.), we signed titles over to each other and swapped cars!!

We are now the PROUD owners of a beautiful red suburban. Jordan scrubbed and cleaned it for me and it totally meets my standards. We filled the back to the VERY BRIM and hung our bikes on the rack. Off to Arizona we go. What an amazing gift with incredible timing. Thank you God!
The house had been looking like this before we left, and the kids were suspicious of what was happening to our things. No amount of explaining to Silas was getting the idea across. He reported to Lisa that many of his toys were lost. It was time to get going to the next phase. We found outstanding renters for our place, left the house in good hands, and took off.
Unfortunately our first set back was a big one. We had stayed the night with Kyle and Lisa the night before leaving. Jordan and I put our kids to bed and then went back to the house and cleaned well past midnight. We had finishing touches of packing and some errands to run (including a final stop at our beloved apple farm, looking like the Beverly Hillbillies) before heading out of town around 2 pm. We made it to Redding, California the first night and stopped to get some sleep. Jordan and I tend to take the cheapest route possible when it comes to hotels, but since we had our kids with us and all of the belongings we were taking to Arizona, we sprung for the higher grade. Sadly, so did the thieves who stole Jordan's bike AND our two seating bike trailer for the kids. Seriously, who steals a bike with a baby seat attached and a kid's bike trailer. It was a huge damper on things. Huge. We had just bought the trailer and Jordan had bought his mountain bike as a comfort toy after selling his motorcycle last summer. But, we packed up, counted our blessings that Silas' Strider bike was still there and that they didn't break into the Bury 'Burb to get anything else, and headed down to Orange County.
We stopped at a park for lunch. It was total dejavu for me as I watched Jordan run Silas all over, trying to get all of his energy out. It took me back to our family trips up to Washington when I was a kid, stopping at rest areas and my parents instructing us to run races, chase each other, or whatever it took to release the pent up car energy. I would make myself pee twice, worried that I would be the one to have to tell the family I had to go again. Then with hot lungs and tired legs we would get back into the car to continue the journey.

Jewel getting a break from her diaper, and seeing what the view is like from the front seat.
Praise the Lord we had a lot of this in the car (as opposed to the last AZ car trip when Silas slept a collective 3 hours in the 27 hours we were in the car).
And Jewel spent the rest of the time happy as could be (Silas was watching a lot of movies, I'll admit now that we were on the verge of brain rotting...but he survived. I didn't take any pictures though, because a three year old with blood shot eyes, not blinking while he watches his portable DVD player just isn't as cute as this). :)
And waiting for us in Orange County was Uncle Chris, Aunt Christine, Ellsie, and brand new baby Nixon. Chris totally spoiled us and got our family a room at a hotel that was right on the beach. I mean we literally walked out of our room, down the hall, and on to the sand. Talk about amazing. I love the ocean so, so much, and this was exactly what we needed. Thank you Uncle Chris and Aunt Christine for spoiling us. We love you guys.
Both mornings we ate breakfast at the Orange Inn, the same people were there both mornings, having the same breakfast. It was so fun to be a part of that world for just those few days...and the breakfasts were delish!

When we left California, reality started to set in. We no longer had a home in Portland, someone else is living there. We don't have our own home in Arizona, we are staying with my parents. There is no job. There is no for sure plan. We did not hear from the Marshals before we left, so the October academy is out of the question. How long will we be in Arizona? How hot will it be? Will we ever go back to Portland? Will the Marshals work out at all, or are we going to Arizona because God has something totally different in mind for us? The kids slept a lot the last leg of the trip. Jordan and I talked a lot about what we were hoping for our time in Arizona. Relaxation, a change of pace, spending time with family, enjoying each other, seeking God and loving him on a whole new level as we get to know him even better.

There were so many emotions, there still really are. We miss Portland so much. We miss our friends and our church and our beach and our hikes and our stores and our big green trees. We haven't yet experienced "our things" in Arizona. It's hard to look forward to an unknown. But we know we are loved, we know our family is there waiting for us...so we won't turn around, we'll trust and keep heading south.