Great Times!

Last Friday we went back to Family Park, here in Hot Springs, but this time with John and Crystal (our pastor and friends) with our kiddos. We decided to do a picnic lunch in the park and let the kids play and then fly a kite. We also handed out flyers to people in the park about our upcoming Easter Egg Hunt at the church.

We had a lot of fun with them, as always, and it was a first to fly a kite with Adam and Grace. Grace had so much fun! I am putting a video on here of us kite flying.. don't mind me in the video.. Ha! (silly Momma), I just wanted you to see how much fun Grace had:)











Around the house:
Adam has started his orientation at Lifeway this week. His schedule has picked up with school, church, and Lifeway but he is adjusting well. I start my job at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital on April 4th. We are really getting exciting about what is going on at our church. We have had some visitors the last few weeks that have come back and lots of things happening. Adam also found and ordered the curriculum for the Wednesday night program we are starting for the kids. As for the youth, I told Adam that I unexpectedly have already developed a love and interest for these kids (youth). We've also had some visitors in youth already.. so it's been fun!

This past Sunday night, we started a new thing at the church. Instead of having a full Sunday night service (like before), we are going out into the neighborhoods to witness, pass out tracts, invite to church, Egghunt, etc. etc.

We are also getting to know people in the community that are a asset in Ministry. Adam and John had lunch with a guy that works with troubled youth in the area. On Wednesday, Crystal and I had lunch with the Central Baptist Association Missionary's wife as well as another lady that has been in the ministry with her husband for a long time (and she's a teacher at a local Christian school) and another Pastor's wife in the area. It was very good to get to know them and I know they will be a huge help with advice, etc. etc. The two older lady's were kind of like "ministry Mom's" to us. A very sweet and re-assuring meeting!!

As for Grace:
At home, our neighbors have had her Grand-kids this week and Windsor is the same age as Grace and Max is 5. Grace has had so much fun playing with the kids. Grace is also loving to sing more and more each day. Just wait........... I am attaching a video of proof that my hubby may make my daughter a little "hick". Ha! Ha! He taught her this song, that I had never even heard, but it's pretty funny to hear her sing it;)

We're here!!!--- Hot Springs, AR

So packing up the house was a whole lot more difficult this time around with a (almost 3 year old) little girl!:) So thankful that we have had my Mom with us to help with packing up, moving and even unpacking. Mom even took Grace to Puzzles Fun Dome on Mon. of last week as we were getting pushed to get things done and Grace was begging for attention. Of course, Grace loved it and I will attach some pics that Nana took while there and in Louisville.

We left on Wednesday about lunch time and arrived late that night. Our caravan went very smoothly on the trip to AR. Obviously, it was very LONG and we even ended up staying at John and Crystal's (the pastor and our friends) that night when we got to AR per their invite. We knew it was late and we wouldn't have beds set up and the heat hadn't been turned on yet at our house and it was cold here at that time.

Thursday, we got the entire truck unloaded and over the course of the past week have gotten TONS done! We still have some boxes in the garage, but most of that is garage stuff, yard sale, and things we don't even use right now. So we are still looking at going through that. We haven't painted yet. Have done a decent amount of cleaning and we are waiting to hang things on the wall until after painting.

So we have taken a break often this week to take advantage of the GORGEOUS Spring weather that we have had. Grace is LOVING her new yard and culdesac to ride her riding toys, etc. etc. Our big dog Bud appears to be LOVING it too!:) We have ended up getting him a really long tie out because he did NOT like the tiny privacy fenced backyard that we have. It isn't very appealing. Nothing to look at and it is small with not a lot of grass. So he stays on the tie out all day in the front and side yard and lays under the front porch for shade. He LOVES being able to see up the road and see every thing going on and loves having us outside with him when we come out to play. He has even suckered our neighbor in to pet him every time she comes out of the house:) Loving this attention and I'm sure the weather helps too! We bring him in the garage at night to sleep.

Mom flew out of Little Rock on Wednesday to head back to AL. Before she left we visited Family Park with Grace and went to the Mall, a few other shops, lots of Walmart runs, etc. etc. By the way, there is NO Target here!! Very sad about that! It is 40 minutes away to the nearest Target. They have just about every other store you would want but that one!!:(

Church has been going great. Adam and John have so many great ideas. We have a community Easter Egg Hunt coming up for the kids as well as VBS that they are planning. Also, working with the youth and some other things. Been getting to know the people and so far it has been great!! Trying to invite just about every one I run into to Leonard St. Baptist.

Here is some pics. I will be showing more pics of the house after we paint, etc. etc. We are really happy with the layout of this house. Every thing is SO open and convenient. Lots of closet space. The only real adjustment is the size of the master bedroom. It is a good bit smaller than what we are used to.





The below picture of Nana was taken by Grace. She is liking to take pics herself now. I thought it was pretty good:) The other picture is a picture of one of the Spa's on Bath House Row. Hot Springs in known for it's thermal waters so the spa's are very popular in this city.

Louisville... Coming to a Close

My notice ended at work last Monday evening. I worked that Sun. night and Monday afternoon. On Sunday night, some of my night shift crew surprised me with a going away dinner and cake. They also gave us a little cash gift to help us with our travels, etc. I was very grateful and sad at the same time. Linda, one of the nurses I work with (whom I just LOVE!!) put all of that together and also left a card in my locker that I later found. It was one of the SWEETEST cards I have ever received. I just CRIED AND CRIED as I read this card in the middle of the night on Sun. night. On Monday, the day and evening shift had a going away party for me and another nurse that was retiring. It was so nice and thoughtful. I brought my camera this day and got some pics of a few co-workers, but unfortunately didn't have my camera the night before. That evening after my short shift, I said my final goodbyes which was ROUGH!!!






On a positive note, I was looking forward to seeing my Momma last Monday night when I got home from work. We flew her here to Louisville to watch Grace while we went to Hot Springs to find a place to live and to help with our move, etc. She arrived last Monday night. We left out on Tues. am. Adam and I drove to Hot Springs, once again for a hurried trip to find a place to live. It was very weird traveling without Grace. The trip went just perfect. We were able to find a place to live quickly that is just what we were looking for and also had our job interviews with (me) St. Joseph's Hospital, and (Adam) with the new Lifeway Christian Bookstore that is opening. He is going to do that on the side in addition to the part-time position at the church. They went great and Adam has already found out he has the job too (yay!!) and I will find out the end of next week. They did send me for a drug test also while I was in town. It looks promising for me too, thankfully. I had an interview with the nurse recruiter and the nurse manager on the floor. They even gave me a tour of that floor and introduced me to some people. It seems like it will be good but of course, it will be a change at the same time. They do things a little different. I told them I could start hospital orientation on April 4th. They acted like it is just pending backgroup check, and drug screen, etc.

We had gotten into town about 4:30pm on Tuesday and by Thursday morning we were signing the papers on our house that we are renting. It is just a cute basic little rental house. It ended up being a great deal and we are excited that it is a newer house so it has "updated" kitchen and bathrooms. We had looked at some that was OLD and rough too! All this house needs is some paint, and cleaning. The walls on the inside are all white and just dirty. We asked the owner to paint the house as part of the agreement for the lease but she stated she was unable to have it painted by Wed (when we are moving in), but agreed to knock off $100 from the rent every month for 12 months. How cool is that!!!! So we are going to paint. Thankfully, all of the flooring is nice and the carpets were just recently cleaned. It has the wood laminate flooring in the dining area and living room and tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. Also, a major bonus for a rental in this area, is a garage!! It is a 1 car, but we are just thankful for that! It's also on a cute little FLAT street with a FLAT lot, and is at the very end of a culdesac AND has a fenced in yard for Bud. We are also SUPER excited about working with our friends at this church. John and Crystal (John is the Pastor we are working with) are just awesome. We have so much fun together and relate to each other so well. They have the same visions, etc. as we do. This excites me!!

Overall, we were very happy with our trip and got back to Louisville about 11pm on Thursday night. Since then, Adam had to finish out his notice and work last night and tonight AND get LOTS of homework done by this weekend before our move. Me, Grace, and Mom spent yesterday running lots of errands and I took advantage of our good insurance and went to the doctor for a check-up and to Dentist (since I was overdue:) When we move I am going to be working PRN so that I don't have to work the every other weekend with a part-time position. Because of this, I can't get insurance so we will have to get health insurance through Guidestone.. which really stinks, because it is not that good.

Since then, I have packed boxes about non-stop. Mom has been helping some with packing and also with Grace, etc. It is a huge help to have her!

We will start loading the moving truck on Monday and Tuesday and will leave out on Wednesday morning for Arkansas. Next time you hear from me on this blog, we will be living in Arkansas!!!:)

Goodbye Louisville!! It's been great and we'll never forget how special this city, our experience, our friends, church, our neighbors, and memories that happened here!! Grace came in to the world in this great city and many special memories with her here since then. Four AMAZING years!!

Okay, now that I am in tears... I will go;)

Our house.. I will give you the before and after pics of the inside of our house later:)

Coming Together

All the pieces are coming together now as we prepare for Arkansas. We are much encouraged by our progress over this week. For one, I mentioned the washer wasn't working in my last post. Well, it is working JUST FINE! I didn't know that Adam had turned the WATER OFF while we were gone on our trip last weekend (for whatever reason) and that would be why there was NO WATER when I tried to start it!! Ha! I could have pinched him!!

As for our transition, I am so much encouraged by my job hunt now in Hot Springs. At first, I was discouraged because there were NO postings for RN needed in Rehab and I really wanted to do that because that is what I am most comfortable with for the time. I was considering going back to Home Health and had talked to some places about that, but still wasn't sure if I wanted to be out in the weather driving in the snow and ice when Winter came around and since I didn't know the area, etc. etc. So I was even looking into possibly driving a distance to find a rehab job.. maybe even Little Rock. THEN.... I decided to call the nurse manager on the rehab unit at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital (the big hospital in town) and speak to her directly and just tell her of my experience and see if she is looking at hiring someone part-time or PRN any time soon. (I had only spoke to the nurse recruiter before and she said a RN wasn't needed at the time on that unit). This manager (Tammy) told me that she was actually about to POST A POSITION!! She said she could give me a part-time position or PRN position on DAY SHIFT (YIPPPEEE, not NIGHTS)!!! After talking to her, I decided I wanted to go PRN because if you are part-time you are required to work every other weekend and Adam and I decided that wouldn't be good for a staff person's wife to miss church every other Sunday:) ALSO, I just LOVED this nurse manager after talking to her on the phone!! She was SOOOO down to earth and kept talking about what a great unit and staff she has. She said she drives from Little Rock to work there!! I could just tell... she's great!!! So, she told me to tell the nurse recruiter and consequently, she ended up setting up a INTERVIEW for Wednesday of next week while we are there!!!! I am SUPER excited about this. It is just where I wanted to work and already seems better than I expected!! We are not sure how our schedules are going to work out yet. We are already considering putting Grace in a preschool part-time since she is turning 3. We will see how all that works out.

Adam has a interview with Lifeway Christian Bookstore on Wednesday too while we are there next week. He is going to do this in addition to the church position.

Also, I was really worried about breaking the news to work because it comes at a time that we are "hurting" for help for a combo of reasons. BUT... they were so GREAT and understanding and happy for us!!! I just love them!

Also, our house hunt, is looking a little better. We were not really finding ANY houses for rent that would work for us. (We really need a house with a fenced in yard for the dogs) that we can rent. We finally found the site for the local newspaper and saw quite a few prospective houses that we plan on looking at this next week while we are there. We may just have somewhere to live there, after all!!;)

We started packing up yesterday. It is such a task but we already feel better about what we've accomplished!! We are also all WELL (except my little nagging cough), and Tracey's surgery went GREAT yesterday. Now just praying for a speedy recovery for her and healing!!

As you all know we got our van last week and all of that is taken care of. It is really nice but every time I look back in it, I feel like I am driving a bus! LOL. I feel like I need to have like 5 more kids! Ha! We'll see what the Lord has for us next!:)

Also, Adam turned 32 TODAY! Happy Birthday to my honey:) We have had a great day. Adam took a vacation day to be off today and we went out to lunch at Famous Dave's per his choice and just had a great day with ALL 3 of us!!

It's pretty awesome to see the Lord work out all the details!!!

Our ride... I still can't believe I am driving a van!!! LOL





The birthday boy...

A Lesson in Trust!!!-- It's Official, Arkansas Bound..

The last 2 plus weeks have been a whirlwind for us. As you all know, I totalled our car over 2 weeks ago, so since we got back from our trip we have been searching for a car/van. In the midst of that, Adam and I was really getting worried that we wouldn't be able to accept the position in Arkansas if no one bought or rented our house. So I proactively took the initiative to try to promote our house. We also set up a Open House for this past Sunday for our realtor to have while we were gone. This was one last try to sell our house. I posted a add on Craigslist about renting our house and about selling it and the open house. We have had a great response on the RENTING! None on buying! Our open house consisted of all people coming to look at it to possibly rent. The prospective renter that is a Highview Church Member, that our Realtor knows, (we thought) was not going to rent our house. We waited for almost 2 weeks for a decision from her and then when we had the overwhelming response for renting this past weekend, she suddenly decided she couldn't let it "get away" from her. It is working out for the best to have her rent it and our realtor is going to property manage for a great price since we will be out of town. She is recently divorced and has 2 children. She let us know on Sunday that she is going to rent from us. (More on all of this in a minute)

In the midst of van shopping all week, preparing for a trip to GA, trying to get our house ready for an open house while we were gone, etc. Grace comes down with the STOMACH VIRUS on Wednesday of last week. We had just started test driving our first van at Oxmoor Toyota that evening, and Grace kept saying her stomach hurt, all of the sudden she VOMITED all in the van that we were test driving!! AHHHHHH! We quickly made our way back and that was our cue that God was saying... "chill out about the van and just focus on getting every thing ready for GA and open house, etc."

Grace threw up one other time the next day and was just dragging and wanting to be held all day. This was SO hard because we were trying to clean, pack, etc. in the midst of her needing us!

The next day, on our road trip Grace was tired of the car, obviously because of the recent trip we took and all the running around we had done since then. We also noticed on this trip that Grace wasn't urinating like she should. I ended up paging our Pediatrician from GA about this that night. Thankfully, Grace FINALLY urinated on her own once we got to the hotel! She started having diarrhea too towards the end of our trip down there. Grace still was sluggish that day but was VERY happy to see Nana and Paw Paw and perked up!

The next day, Grace was off and on, acting ok. Still not her self, not very playful. Wanted to just be held a lot all day and whiny. She continue with diarrhea ALL DAY on Saturday, inc. even at the wedding she went a couple of times. So by that night, she was feeling HORRIBLE. All she wanted to do was go out in to the lobby and lay on the couch and go to sleep!! VERY unlike her!

Come Sunday am, she continued to not eat very much (and hadn't since Wed). In the car, all she wanted to do was sleep on the way home. She continued to complain of her stomach hurting and had diarrhea. We were really getting concerned at this point. We thought, she would be better after we got home but she then she VOMITED after we got home. I was shocked that she had not vomited in days.. and now vomiting again! Then vomited again on Monday am.

Thankfully, after talking to the Dr. We decided Grace started getting better during the day on Monday and eating and drinking and the diarrhea stopped. THANKFULLY, she is finally recuperating from this and has had a MUCH better day today:)

While experiencing all of this, we get a call from our Realtor that Lisa is going to rent our house. The only tidbit is that she has to be in our house on MARCH 10th!!! So we ended up spending the rest of our trip home and since then, in almost panic mode. This means we have 16 days now to go to Hot Springs and find a PLACE TO LIVE (rent), look for a job for me, put in our notices at work, pack up our house, find a van, and MOVE!!!

We managed to find a van yesterday and got it today without any problems (We got a 2007 Toyota Sienna- white). But Adam has spent yesterday doing that and part of today signing papers and picking up van. Despite this, yesterday hit me like a ton of bricks. It became real to me that we are leaving this city, (that I love) and people, church, work, etc. and have to find work, and start over again in Hot Springs. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW this is what we are suppose to do and I am excited about this opportunity. The whole finding work, really stresses me, just because I have such a great job here and not sure what I will find there.

We have made the decision for just Adam and I to go to Hot Springs next Tues. and find a place to live. I am flying my Mom up here to watch Grace. We just could not take her on another long trip (and too expensive to fly all of us) and then move the week after. So my Mom is coming to help with all of this and be with us.

Not only that, our washing machine isn't working tonight and we've all been or are sick with a cold and Adam is still busy with school work. AND my step-sister Tracey is having major colon surgery this Friday to remove the cancerous tumor after having rounds of chemo and radiation, and her son is sick right now too!

I tell you all of this because this has all been a REAL LESSON of trust! I really think the Lord is trying to work on us to try to teach us to just trust HIM in all of the details and that every thing will work out and to just focus on HIM. I also don't appreciate all of the every day blessings enough and to turn our "control factor" off and let HIM do the work!! It's pretty awesome to think of his mighty hands on our lives if we just let HIM!!


My theme verse and one of my favorites!!

Proverbs: 3: 5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Greg and Kelly's Wedding-- GA

My brother, Greg and Kelly got married this past Saturday in Braselton, GA. Adam took off Thurs, Fri, and Sat. (night shift) and we drove in on Friday. It took us 11 hours to get there due to a wreck in Chattanooga and traffic in Atlanta.

We and many other friends, and family stayed in a nearby hotel, inc. my Mom and step-dad. We got to spend some time with Greg some at the hotel and my Mom and step-dad. On the day of the wedding, we decided to get out that am to let Grace get out of the hotel room because the weather was beautiful!!! We found a nearby FABULOUS park! It was the best park for small, preschool age children! It even had a sand box!

We later went back and started getting ready for the wedding after Grace and Adam caught a nap:) Later, the wedding was at a country club that was beautiful and it was amazing that the weather was so fabulous because they were even able to have the wedding outside. It was very pretty. They had a huge reception party and I even had fun getting out on the dance floor.. complete with Adam:)

It was great that we got to go and that we also got to see family that we haven't seen since 2008 that are from GA. You will see the pic with some of them.. my Aunt Marsha, Kim, and Hannah with my Grandma. Also, Grace was really loving our cousin's Hayden and Hannah! Hannah held Grace a good bit too. Grace also found a little friend at the wedding that she chased around for a little bit.

The next day, we headed back to KY. Thank the Lord, no "boo boo's" on the car this time (as Grace calls it)!

Some pics from the "big day" and weekend..

Valentine's 2011

Grace got a gift in the mail from Nana and Paw Paw for Valentine's. It was a nice surprise for her. We got Grace a new DVD that had some of her favorite Nickelodeon cartoons on it and some Marshmallow candy.

In the midst of Valentine's Day we were actively searching for a van. We spent all of Valentine's Day and that whole week searching. We stopped to have dinner together as a family. We went to Cheddar's... our favorite place to eat in Louisville. Dinner was great and we spent the rest of the night relaxing.