Whirlwind...maybe!?

Well, last Sunday afternoon we were spending time in Lindale (as we often do) and got a phone call from a Longview friend. He said he wanted to know if he could give our number to a couple from a church here who had been house hunting for quite some time. Of course we said yes, because we knew that very soon we would be putting a sign in our yard. The guy called Stephen a couple of hours later and wanted to see the house as soon as possible. A little overwhelmed with a house not quiet "show ready", we said we could let them come see the house Sunday night. Let me take a little detour for a second. In conversation, Stephen figured out that the guy and his wife had just finished an internship at Northwood, the church that my uncle pastors and that we did our internship at before we moved to Longview. They had been to Vietnam and shared that experience with us. Small world! At this point in the conversation, we began to see God's provisions in this situation. Ok, so back to the story, the couple came to see our house and called Monday morning to say that they wanted to put a contract on the house and wanted to move in ASAP. WOW!!!!! We set a closing date of March 31st.

At this point in the story those of you who are counting along with me are beginning to wonder about the fact that I am due mid April...oh yes, we will close on our house and move in with my parents, I will drive into Longview for two weeks until my last day (April 11th). Then I will drive back to Longview on the 16th of April to have a c-section. Just writing this overwhelms me a bit...we are in the process of deciding on what comes next. We feel almost certain that Lindale is our next stop, but knowing if we want to build or buy is still way up in the air.

Sooooooo.......if you have a second, please stop and whisper a small prayer for us. We are more than certain that all of this is God sent. We will be relieved of a great burden of debt and this will ensure that I will be able to stay at home next year. We are thrilled that this has happened the way it has. And we know in our hearts that ALL things happen with great purpose and HIS plan is so much greater than ours.

Valentine's Day with a Toddler

The Chocolate Covered Strawberries...YUM!

Party Day at School...

The festive cookies...and

our little HELPY!!!!!

We have truly had a good time with Keatyn these last few holidays. I think there is an age that they finally reach where they begin to enjoy the cookie making, the candy, the gifts and well everything else that goes along with other holidays.

30 weeks!!!!

This is Keatyn's 30 week pic! Yes, she is wearing boy pajamas...she picked them out because they have footballs on them and her Uncle Juju is a football coach and she loves to watch him play!

This is the beginning stage of Addilyn's nursery. My mom is amazing and in one weekend finished everything you see here!!!!! It is so much more than I imagined. Not that I thought she couldn't do it, because she is amazing and I think she can do anything...I just had a hard time getting my fabric together. We are officially obsessed with the black and white Damask. Well, here it is and we LOVE it!!!!

30 weeks...I feel like I'm at least 36, so we'll see how the next 5 go! Not too much longer! We are getting really excited!

P.S. A little disclaimer goes with this picture...I grocery shopped today and was on my feet a lot. My family got to come to Longview for dinner and so it wasn't until we sat down to eat dinner that I finally got off of my feet. That would explain the tired expression on my face!

Too Sweet...

There are some things in life that just don't need words...these are some of them!

Gymnastics Fun!!!

Keatyn...the bossy little diva that she is, insists that she gives stamps at the end of each class.

Just her dismount into the pit...

Could there be a larger, nastier piece of foam in all the world and she LOVES it!!!!

Hugging the foam pit...the yucky foam pit!

Keatyn has been in gymnastics since last May. We were in a Mommy and me class and I think we both really enjoy that time together. I did notice that as she got older, she would mind less and wanted to do her own thing, but I have also seen her learn a lot about sharing and taking turns. I love the fact that she is moving and not just idle and I also enjoyed the challenge that it provided for both of us. No, I didn't do the activities with her, but walked along side her and encouraged her. Well, in recent months my belly has gotten increasingly bigger and my energy level has gotten increasingly less. I reached a place of delimma with our class. Keatyn will turn 3 in March, so I asked her teacher if we could move her up. This week was our first week to try out the Preschool Class and with a knot in my throat, I sent her off into the brutal world of gymnastics all alone....

She did GREAT! I watched her go from the biggest kid in her class to, what made her look like a baby. I watched her thrive and follow directions. I was a proud parent sitting on the sidelines holding my breath and hoping that the report at the end of the class would be good. Like I said, it was great and her teacher said she only had to threaten "time out" once. This seemed to be a low number of warnings for a first timer! I am pleased and yet again, we have reached another milestone of independence!