Friends and Family

I have a lot of recent pics of the kids with their little friends and they are too cute! I can't believe that in 6 weeks we will be leaving this place. So this is just a little recap on the haps.

I should really post the pic of them laying side by side at ages 1 month and 4 months so you can all appreciate this the way I do....not a whole lot warms my heart more than watching these two together. This is Austen with his BFF Gracyn.

This is something we like to call "tripod". It occurs when you are least expecting it...it's been happnening for the last 6 months.

My dad drove his Harley from Tyler on his birthday to come see us! He is hardcore.

Noelle likes swinging at the park...you can even push her higher, she will only smile.

I told him "Landon you are too big for the baby swing". He was persistant. And he does not like to be pushed higher.

This is Jacob and Pierce...Noelle's boyfriends. I said "It's picture time babes!". Clearly someone has had some photo-op training.

Summertime!

Our last month has kept us pretty occupied doing mostly...nothing. We've been in our rental house for almost a month now and it's starting to feel more comfortable. Jordan and I have been talking about how weird it feels to know you will only live somewhere for 3 months...we can't really "get settled" or really unpacked for that matter. I think we are trying to find the balance between our excitement of what's to come and still be productive and meaningful while we are here. Tonight we had dinner with my mom and swam at the pool...it was great. Here are some random pics of the last few weeks! Noelle kind of dominates, but what's new.

For the record, Noelle is NOT a fan of the pool.

I hear that in addition to adding 10 pounds, the camera also can make your face looked jacked up while catching flying children in a pool...weird coincidence.

This is the closest Noelle would come to the pool...no kisses for you Dad.

The girl looks good in orange!

Grandaddy was in town took us out to eat! It was good times!

A brotherly pedicure. Just take my word for it...this did NOT end well.

Me and "the officiant".

I seriously can't stop myself.

Relocation Schizophrenia

I have really delayed writing a blog on what's been happening with us purely because whenever I say we have a made a decision about something...then the opposite seems to happen. It's like we have bad blog-ma or something. Either way, I feel compelled to share so I must.


Well, we were obviously pretty bummed about our previous house deal bust, however about a couple of weeks later we received a second offer on the house. The same week that we were mulling over this offer, the college in Portland (Multnomah Bible College) called and told us that we have been approved for on campus family housing....a 4 bedroom almost 1500 square foot house! The rent for the house is about half what we are paying in mortgage! So....after about a week, we did decide to accept the house offer and are now planning on moving to Portland at the beginning of September. As excited as I was about Dallas, I think I would have been devastated to hear that we were approved for on-campus housing AFTER having relocated...so these crazy turn of events really happened at exactly the right time and we are truly thankful for it. I wish I could articulate into words how Jordan and I feel about this move for our family, but I really can't. Just know that as hard as it will be to leave our friends and family here, we are equally excited to see just what God has planned for us in Portland.


In other equally exciting news...Austen "graduated" from preschool. We are still undecided whether or not to start him in kindergarten this year. His birthday is September 1st which is THE cutoff day...so we'll see. Landon is still Landon, and Noelle is walking now...so cute! My mom is "offically" engaged and will be getting married in August or September. I am very happy for her!!!




She graduated from the walker recently, but is still just as excited about it!




Watermelon is clearly the summer fruit of choice!

Sometimes they really do love each other!

And of course....the RING. Good one mom.

If Gap sold tricycles...

Noelle would be a shoe-in for an ad model.

School pics

I've always thought that school pics were so boring and pretty much un-cute....until I got the boy's preschool pics this year. Seriously...how cute is this?! Due to financial situations we had to pull both of the boys out of their preschool classes in December, but thanks to the generosity and grace of Jordan's parents they were able to continue going this year. We are so thankful to them for that!

Hopefulness in frustrations

Here are some things that I have said in the last 2 weeks:

"Wow, I can't believe everything is working out so perfectly!"
"This is crazy timing!"
"I can't believe our house sold!"

On Monday morning, my girls at work threw me the most fantastic going away brunch ever! It was fun, laid back and exactly what I had hoped it would be. 5 hours later my travel contract for my job in Plano came in the mail and as I was looking over it all to sign and mail, Bob the realtor called to tell us that the buyer's "pre-approved" loan did not get accepted. He also non-chalantly stated that he would be over in 30 minutes to take our SOLD sign down and replace it with the flyer tube again.

So hmmmm....here we are back at square one. I think we are as disppointed now as we were excited 2 weeks ago. I've heard everything from "This must not be God's timing", "This is God testing your faith", "This is Satan trying to tear you down", to "This is worst case scenario". I can not say that I really agree with any of these. It is what it is. Nothing is guaranteed. We wanted to move in 2 weeks, and we planned on it, but now it's not happening and that is okay. We have everything in the world to be grateful for and one setback is not going to destroy that! It's taken me about 48 hours to get over my initial anger and now we are ready to persevere!

I have a some faith left in the housing market and it is still our hope to be in Dallas by the fall for Jordan to start at Criswell. A good friend of mine shared this verse to me yesterday...it is encouraging and daily I am trying to figure out how to do what is says :)

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Goodbye rain, Hello humidity.

I think I may create the ultimate blog blasphemy and create a post with no pictures...bear with me because I just have a lot to say. Jordan and I have had an incredibly crazy last week or so. I think I can best describe the events in a screenplay format....here we go:

Sometime last week
Stacy: I've been looking at schools online in Dallas, TX and I think you should check them out. Maybe, just give us some more options.

Jordan: Why would we want to go to Dallas...that's dumb. I'll talk to Richard and see what I can find out though.

2 days later
Jordan: I found a sweet school named Criswell College. I wonder if it's legit.

Stacy: Let's just freakin drive to Dallas this weekend and find out.

Sunday morning in Dallas:
Stacy: I like Criswell. And I can give you list of a million reasons why Dallas trumps Portland. But it doesn't really matter because no one is ever going to buy our flippin house in Albuquerque.

Jordan: Yeah...stupid housing market.

Sunday afternoon in Dallas:
Bob the Realtor via phone: Someone just put a sweet offer on your house.

Jordan: Shut up.

Bob: Congrats. You close on April 25th.

So....this was the turn of events in a nutshell. To say we are surprised and overwhelmed would be a massive understatement. We really had no preconcieved ideas of going to Dallas or even considering it before last week, but for some reason it was on my heart and we started talking about it. It made no sense to drive all five of us down there for 4 days to check it out...we were really just searching for clarity because it seemed that we had none. Why would our house out of the other 150+ homes for sale just in Ventana Ranch sell...and for an actual profit!!!! It's truly a miracle and we feel that we are walking right where God has intended all along. We don't have many details finalized as far as where in Dallas we will actually be living in 3 weeks, but we are working on it and we have a number of options.

I am devastated to leave Albuquerque. I can't imagine not living near my mom or our best friends, but in order for Jordan to complete what he dreams to do, then we must. The past 3 1/2 years have created so many memories, that I am liable to break our housing contract if I think about them right now. I'll have to create another blog later filled with all the things I am going to miss here.

I look forward to Dallas and Jordan finishing his degree with excitement. If we have to be anywhere else than here, then Dallas is a perfect fit. I look forward to the plans God has for us. And it is my prayer that our eyes and ears remain open to Him so we can follow Him humbly wherever he may take us.