Ten Years

2015 has been a year of remembering.

Remembering...

10 years ago March, getting the good news that we were expecting. After so many issues with infertility, we felt certain this time would be different.

10 years ago April, seeing the results of the sonogram that told us we would be enduring miscarriage #7.

10 years ago August, when we started praying about adoption.

10 years ago November, when we submitted our adoption profile.

10 years today, at this very moment, when we got the phone call telling us that we had been chosen. That a birth mother had selected us to adopt her baby. That this young women had asked the lawyer to call us on Christmas Eve so it would be a Christmas surprise for us.

10 years ago today when we spoke to her for the first time. We knew very little about her other than her name and where she lived. We would come to know more, but what do you say to the woman who is choosing for her baby to become your baby?

It's one of the most amazing acts of sacrificial love on this earth. I don't know how she did it, but we will be forever grateful. Thankful. Honored. Blessed.

Love comes in all different forms. We love our spouses differently than we love our kids.  We love our friends differently than we love our parents. There is a special kind of love for birth mothers as well. We don't know her well, but we love her for the gift she chose to give.

While not exactly the same, it reminds me of the gift Christ gave to us, starting in a manger and continuing to the cross. Selfless. Sacrificial. Amazing. Loving.

May your joy this season come from the the gifts that cannot be found under the tree, the gifts of family, of friends, and of Christ's love for you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love getting Christmas cards and letters in the mail. While social media is a fun way to stay connected with friends, I still love snail mail in the form of family pictures and annual updates about what is going on in friends' lives. Typically, I would jump in on the Christmas card bandwagon, but last year and this year I have failed miserably at making this happen. Instead, we'll use a fallback virtual version:

Here's what the Christmas letter would have said (mostly)...

It's that time again to look back and take a glimpse of the year that is quickly coming to a close. I would say that the year has flown by (which it has), and that life has continued to be crazy busy (which it has), but that seems to be how I begin every Christmas letter ever written. Maybe some day the intro will go something like this..."What an amazing year! This has been the most relaxing and kick back year we have ever experienced..."

Maybe someday. But for now...

The eldest child is in 7th grade this year. Sports have continued to take a high priority in his world. He played summer league basketball and MAYB in June, soccer in the fall, and is now back on the court for a new basketball season at school. Science and math continue to be his favorite subjects of study, but truth be told, he'd just rather hang out with his friends, camp at the lake, or play sports or video games. What teenager wouldn't? New events for him this year included starting junior high, hitting the big 1-3, and learning how to water ski.

The youngest child is in 4th grade this year. Bugs, spiders, snakes,

and all things gross have continued to take a high priority in his world. His mama struggles with this, although he has yet to suffer from a spider or snake bite, or need to be taken to the ER (now it is 99% sure to happen in the next three months). He also plays baseball and basketball, loves to sing and create things, and is a fish when it comes to swimming and tubing. Science and history are his favorite topics to study...once we can actually drag him out of bed and get him to school. He would function much better on a 10:00 am - 4:00 pm schedule. :)

The dear husband continues to be an engineer from 6:00 am 3:00 pm, a junior high basketball coach (and their bus driver) from 3:30-5:15 pm, and a 3rd/4th grade basketball coach from 7:30-8:30 pm. Thankfully that one is only one night a week and on weekends. It sounds crazy, but it is seasonal, so things will return to normal in March. In his spare time, he still serves on the local Fire/EMS crews.

My roles continue on as always - wife, mom, and school administrator; however, I did elect to stick with the "interim" part of last year's title and step back into an administrative role that requires a bit less time and responsibility.  I am blessed to work at the same school where my kids attend, and I am surrounded daily with amazing colleagues and students.

Highlights of our year included summer vacation to Tennessee and Florida, a trip to Illinois, summer weddings of former students, a visit from my brother over Thanksgiving, and a recent wedding celebration of friends. 

May the Lord bless you richly during this Christmas season.  Our prayer is that the focus is on the One who is the true meaning of the season, and that we celebrate the gift of a Savior all throughout the year.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

 

Video Games May Have Been The Better Choice

Many days I struggle with how much to allow my boys to play video games. They love tablets, the Xbox, and time on the computer.  They would play all day every day if no one ever told them to stop.

Yesterday morning, the youngest had a bit of an attitude crying fit major meltdown over something ridiculous.  As a consequence, he lost his tech time for the day. This is typically the thing that hits home the hardest with him, but he frequently surprises me at how well he handles it.

What did he choose to do with all of his 'spare time'? Sit quietly and play Legos? Read a book? Play football with his brother?

Nope, nope, and nope.

He built forts.

All over the house.

With trip lines.

All over the house.

He became a sniper.

And I quote, "Sometimes when you are a sniper, you have to lay really still and have a lot of patience in order to get the bad guy."

That lasted for all of four seconds because laying really still would actually require patience. He decided it would be more exciting to shoot - with nerf bullets and a homemade shooter (see it hiding in the blankets?) - anything and everything just for the fun of it. If his brother walked into the room, that was just a bonus.

He had so much fun. So much fun, in fact, I am positive he learned nothing from his consequence.

I learned something, though. Forts and trip lines equal mess and clutter at every turn. BIG messes and lots of clutter.

Late in the evening, another discipline situation began to occur in which my dear husband threatened to take all his technology away for another day.

It took everything in me not to shout, "NOOOoooooooo!!"

Top Ten - Wedding Style

This poor little blog has been severely neglected for the past six months. This neglect seems to occur more frequently than it used to, but I am going to try one more time to resurrect this tiny place of sanity in my world. I have missed documenting our journey, taking time to reflect on life, and finding a little humor in the craziness along the way.

Part of the reason for the lack of posting...I've been assisting for the past several months with trying to get these two married off.

Last weekend we were successful at this venture.

Since this was the first major wedding planning experience in at least 18 years for the mother-of-the bride, the bride, and for me, we were rookies through and through. We learned a few things along the way.

So, if you have a wedding coming up at any time in your future, take note of some very important wedding advice.

1.  Before buying even one item for the wedding, purchase stock in Hobby Lobby...and Sam's Club... and possibly Dollar Tree. Every time we completed our "very last shopping trip", we had to go again.  'Dollar Tree' may have become our new curse word by the end of the shopping sprees.

2. Speaking of money, start saving now. Your daughter is only 2 years old? That's okay. You'll thank us later.  Every.single.thing costs more money than you would expect it to. Don't believe me? Just ask the father-of-the-bride.

3. Buying tablecloths is just as expensive as renting them. Buying them seemed like the logical choice because who knows when you might have another event to plan? However, don't forget that every single tablecloth then needs to be laundered and folded. And folded. And folded. And folded...

4.When ordering invitations, it is best practice to be able to view them in person first. If you order them online, they may not end up being near as glitzy as they appeared on the computer screen...and you may end up glitter spraying 200 invitations and 200 insert cards on your porch.  On a positive note, your porch will be very sparkly.

5. When planning a wedding, knowing a CAD designer is a must. My husband whipped up this little plan, and it made life so much easier. Seriously. It seems crazy, but it was like our second brain.

6. Don't forget the garter. We came very close to doing this. It seems like an obvious item on the wedding list, but it never once appeared on ours.

7. When choosing friends, pick crafty, creative people. :) I like details, plans, spreadsheets, accuracy, and precision. I also like beauty, elegance, and the "wow" factor...unfortunately, the first list comes a bit more naturally to me than the second. Thankfully, we had friends and more friends (some we had never even met) jump in and help!

8. It might be wise to have the mother-of-the-bride purchase her dress more than one week before the wedding. Dress shopping (for her and for me) may have slightly cut into wedding week preparations (okay, I was more at fault than she was). She bought her dress one week before the wedding; I bought mine three days before. The sales people were a bit more panicked than we were. (Full disclosure: The dress I ended up with was actually dress #4. Three others had to be returned. I hate dress shopping.)

9. When picking a reception venue, avoid all choices which involve a basketball game occupying the facility until 10:30 pm the night before the wedding. Transforming a gym between the hours of 10:30 pm and 3:00 am makes for some very tired people...and lots of laughs and great memories. But, did I mention tired??

10. When picking a reception venue, ensure the electrical capacity of the facility will support your lighting visions. Losing panels of lights at 1:30 am during set-up causes a small amount of stress. Good thing we had experts on the scene.

Above all, enjoy every moment! We may have had our fill of glitter, shopping, creating, and planning, but it was all worth it to see the happiness on the bride's face on her wedding day. Celebrating the happy couple and spending time with friends and family is what it is all about!

Top 10 Vacation Mini-Moments

Today we headed out for the long, looonnnggg, loooonnnnnnnnggggggg drive home. It's always the moment when you really question your sanity about taking a trip so far away.

The week has been a great get-a-away. We have covered many miles, traveled through nine states up to this point, and have done some "big" vacation things.

There have also been a few smaller moments along the way that I want to be able to remember and laugh at years from now.  We'll call them "mini-moments".

Here are 10 that come to mind:

1) One of the best things about big vacations is having the boys learn about various parts of the country. For example, our youngest thought all the waiters and waitresses in Tennessee had to talk in a southern drawl type of accent for their jobs.  He was shocked to realize that was their normal way of speaking.

2) Throwback music. My husband raided our CD collection to stock the car with music for the trip. A better idea might have been to hand the 12 year old an iTunes card and had him load up the iTunes account.  Instead, we were serenaded with Rich Mullins, Ray Boltz, Wayne Watson, Michael W. Smith (from 1990) and Fernando Ortega for miles and miles. I'm not sure we've purchased a CD in over 10 years.

3) Florida stoplights - The longest we have ever experienced. No need to text and drive in Florida. You have plenty of time to keep the conversations going at every.single.light.

4) RaceTrac Gas Stations - We really need these where we live.  Ten flavors of soft serve ice cream and a toppings bar like we've never seen. Weird to have in a gas station, but we managed to look past that. Yummmm.

5) Always, always, always check the reviews of hotels before you book. This one we actually didn't learn the hard way...sort of. We booked a resort a long time before vacation. Four days before we left, I ended up reading some recent reviews. Elevators broken, restaurant closed, swimming pool dirty, terrible service...there was not one positive review in the last three months. We canceled, scrambled, and found a new one. A little more money, but we were so thankful we switched.

Except for...

6) Florida water.  Gross. The water at our hotel smelled terrible. At first I thought it was just at our location. However, at a restaurant they brought us water that tasted just like our water smelled. No thanks.

7) Funniest Car Comment from the youngest son: "That's what boys do, mom, they go crazy over stupid stuff.  No wait...that's what girls do." I'm not sure whether to laugh or be offended.

8) ALWAYS check to make sure there is toilet paper in the stall before using the restroom. Being the only female in the family makes it difficult to call in backup to come in and hand you some. This may or may not have happened to me today.

9) There are scary gas stations that need to be avoided in Montgomery, Alabama. My husband took the boys in to use the restroom, and by the time he had them inside, he was panicking that he left me alone outside. It takes a lot to panic my husband. We got out of there in record time.

10) Toll Roads - Guaranteed to cut your vacation budget in half. Florida definitely has figured out how to fund their roads.

Speaking of toll roads...I have a question. What does one do when the GPS takes you on an unexpected route and you happen to be on a toll road you weren't planning on, and you happen to exit on one of those "Exact Coins Only" toll booths? No change. No toll booth worker. No options. No warning. No nothing. What are you supposed to do?? Hypothetically speaking...of course.

The week is coming to an end. We have one more day of driving, and I am hoping for smooth and boring. After today's traffic issues and monster rain storms, we do not need any more memories to be made.

I would much rather just click my red shoes together and say the magic words...

There's no place like home.

We Are Turning Into Raisins

Day 6 of Vacation...More Water.

I literally could have packed a few swimsuits for each person, a couple of sets of clothes, and called it good.

Yesterday we headed to Aquatica.

Where it rained.

In case we weren't wet enough.

Thankfully, rain doesn't always mean lightening here, and the water was warmer than the rain. The wave pool was a favorite. Not of mine...Child #2 was seriously scary in there.

The big kid really wanted to ride the rides, but after this long line, he couldn't convince either of his sons to stand and wait and wait when there were things to do with no wait time. 

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the rapids, the lazy river, and the wave pool. 

And when the second rainstorm rolled in, we headed back to the hotel.

 

 For...yes...more swimming.

I thought these snorkeling things were pretty unnecessary when we got them, but as it turns out, they are pretty cool.  Granted, there isn't much to see in a hotel swimming pool, but the boys are having fun trying them out.  It is so strange to see them be able to stay under water for so long.

It's a good thing we had the pool all to ourselves. Other people may have thought these children were crazy.

We are obviously not from around here.

You Might Be A Tourist If...

There have been so many times on this trip when we have felt like complete hicks from the Midwest.

In fact, just tonight, my oldest son said, "Dad, do not turn around on this street one more time. We look like complete fools!"

If you ask my children what they did on vacation, they may say, "We turned around a lot."

Most of it was minor...trying to find restaurants, or Walmart, or the right parking lot for where we were going.

Yesterday the plan was to head to the beach.  We had heard over and over how beautiful the gulf coast beaches were, so we set out to head west to play in the Gulf of Mexico.

A couple of miles down the road, I opened my weather app to check out the details for the day and saw this.

High rip tide warning for the entire day.

     

Being from the central U.S., I technically have no idea how major that warning is. Is it like a thunderstorm watch in Kansas? If so, not such a big deal.

Is it a warning mainly for those who would be farther out in the water than we would be? If so, not such a big deal.

However, our lack of knowledge, combined with the fact that we have a son who thinks he's invincible and part-fish, caused us to decide to turn around (we're pretty good at that) and go to the other coast.

So we reprogrammed the GPS for Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

It may not have been quite as beautiful, but the beach was nice, and now my kids can say they have seen both oceans. 

See the flippers in that picture?

There's a little story there.

He so badly wanted flippers and a snorkel for the gulf coast. Before we left, we ran into Walmart and bought him a very cheap, plastic the only set they had available in his size.

He was thrilled.  He didn't care that we changed our minds and went to the Atlantic Ocean instead of the gulf. He was determined to wear those things into the water.

Two minutes later...a big wave came crashing in...and he only had one flipper.

Literally, two minutes.

Picture the little guy and his father searching for his missing flipper -- in the ocean.

Needless to say, they did not find it.

He actually handled it very well.  He played, swam, and built a little sand structure.

About an hour later, while playing in the sand, my husband looked down the beach and saw a lonely flipper that had washed up onto the shore about 100 feet away.

I wish I would have had a picture of my son's excitement.

All in all, it turned out to be a great day. The boys saw Cape Canaveral, the ocean, the NASA launch area, and a Disney Cruise ship docked for loading.

Travel Tip #7: Sunscreen. Use it. Lots of it. Several times a day. Ouch.

SeaWorld

Day 4 of Vacation - SeaWorld.

This was the first picture we took upon arriving at the park. You can't tell it here, but just minutes before this, the youngest saw the huge Manta roller coaster and went crazy excited about wanting to ride it.

Then he found out that he is too short. It was very difficult for him to understand how he could be going into FOURTH GRADE and still be too short to ride the roller coaster. This was just days after being too short to drive go-carts in Chattanooga. We really thought the boys were the perfect age for this trip.  Turns out they are...they're just not the right height.

This smile came after some serious begging and talking to.  Why is the oldest barely smiling? He's lecturing his brother on why he should smile for the camera. Go figure.

SeaWorld was HOT. And muggy. However, hearing of the heat index back home made me not too sad to be in Florida.

It was still worth it in spite of the heat.

The dolphin show was hands-down the best show at the park.

But this one was pretty amazing as well.

 

This quickly became the favorite ride of the youngest...after suffering the heartbreak of learning that the other big roller coaster had the same height limit.

Lots of waiting in lines. Lots of water. Lots of heat. Lots of fun.


And in other news...

Swimming at the hotel.

 

Again.

Take a Moment

What an amazing reminder of God's beautiful creation.

Our first stop in Tennessee was at Rock City. Granted, there has been plenty of intervention by mankind at Rock City, but I was still in awe of the vast beauty of the world we live in.

I am often guilty of living life in my own little rat-race in my own little corner of the world. I don't take the time to stop and ponder how much more is out there.

It was overcast the day we were there, but from Rock City, you can see 7 states. Yes, seven.

Here they are.

That was incomprehensible to me, but I guess I have to believe it.

They made a stone and everything, so it must be true. In spite of the haze, it really was beautiful.

It was also incomprehensible that we could be suspended on the edge of a giant cliff like this.

We look all calm and natural...but, we might not have been.

This little guy made the whole trip to Rock City worth it for my son.

The afternoon was spent doing a little cave sight-seeing.

Again, the wonders of creation were magnificent.

This was a cave in Raccoon Mountain, right where we were staying. It is the real deal. No man made stuff in there, except for the pathways and lights, of course.

 

Travel Tip #3: When packing for a trip, regardless of how HOT the forecast is for where you are going, always throw in at least one pair of pants and a jacket for each person. The family just might decide to do a little cave hiking, where the temperature is 60 degrees, and where every brochure said to dress warmly. This will prevent you from having to drive to Walmart to buy jeans for your children.

Travel Tip #4: Before you go buy jeans for your children (which we had already done), go check out what all the other people are wearing for the cave trip (shorts), since the cabin in which you are staying is literally within walking distance from the entrance to the cave. This will prevent you from having to drive to Walmart to buy jeans for your children.

Travel Tip #5: Sometimes brochures lie. The cave was not all that cold.

I'm sure this will shock you, but this little guy made the cave trip totally worth it for my little guy. It took everything in his power not to try to catch it.

And finally, Travel Tip #6: Seriously, take a moment to stop and be in awe of the world we live in.  Not the messed up, crazy, divided, agenda-filled world that humans have created, but the beautiful, creative, masterpiece that God created for us to enjoy.  It's breath-taking. 

10 Hours...5 States

Yesterday morning we set out for a fun-filled day of driving in the car.

Yay.

State 1: Missouri

State 2: Illinois

State 3:

State 4:

 

State 5:

 

...Which we crossed into for literally all of five minutes before we curved back into Tennessee for our stay.

Sorry, Missouri and Illinois, we travel to you so much each year that you are apparently no longer picture worthy.

However, we did notice something unique about Missouri. Their tax-payer dollars are at work in the form of driver's education. I wish I had taken a picture of these signs as we flew past them:

"Changing lanes? Show me your blinker!"
"Using turn signals to change lanes...the original instant message."
"It's a passing lane...not a cruising lane."
"Pass on left...drive on right."

I was always under the impression that one was supposed to know these things prior to getting a driver's license.

Maybe not.

We took Missouri's advice, and finally made it to stop #2. Here's our little home for the next 2 nights.

 

Travel Tip #2: Don't forget to pack hairspray. I have no idea how this happened, but it was a sad surprise this morning, especially when traveling to locales with 184% humidity.

And We're Off...

One of my goals this summer was to get back to blogging.

So far, I've been about as successful with it as I have with the goal of deep cleaning my house.

Negative on both.

But what better reason to get back online than to document family vacation?

Today we set out on a 9 day trek to the east coast. Three years ago we went west. We planned that trip for 18 months. Yes, we are that family.

Only this time we decided just a couple of months ago to throw together another "big" vacation. We were offered some tickets to a couple of Orlando destinations, and figured the kids were at a pretty good age to head to Florida.

Day #1 didn't start until 5:00 p.m. Such a mix of emotions today. This morning, we attended a funeral of a wonderful man, who's kids are friends of ours. I didn't know him extremely well personally, but the memories shared couldn't help but inspire a person to live for Jesus, encourage others, laugh often, and love freely. It is so hard to watch someone lose one they loved so dearly.

With a mix of inspiration and sadness, we finished traveling preparations, picked up daddy from work, and headed out to knock about 4 hours off of the first leg of the trip.

There were moments when I regretted that decision. Those same moments, my husband may have wanted to kick me out of the car.

It rained. A lot.

It was hard to see, and I may have suggested a time or two that we were traveling at a higher rate of speed than I would have selected.

He handled it well (both the rain and me) and we arrived safely at our first hotel.

Travel Tip #1: When leaving for vacation, do not wait 4 hours into the trip to check to see if both kids were wearing shoes when they left home.

One guess as to which child arrived with no shoes.

Funny...I was so proud of him at home that he put his pillow in the car and was waiting so patiently (for 10 minutes!) for the rest of us to finish loading up. It never even crossed my mind that he might jump in with no shoes on his feet.

Oh well, it's not the worst thing that could happen.

I'm really hoping to avoid needing the Blog Title: "The Worst Things That Can Happen on Vacation".

Different As Night and Day

These two.

I love 'em.

But sometimes...sometimes it takes every ounce of patience I can muster up to navigate their conflicting ways of thinking.

Their personalities are oh, so different.

Take the picture for example. One of my boys loves sports of almost any kind. He loves strategy and watched every play of the game. The other one split his time watching the cheerleaders, the jumbo-tron, and asking when the game would be over.

One loves spiders, snakes, and everything with six or eight legs. The other one despises them.

One loves math and thinks everything in life would just be better if it could be solved with a math problem. The other one? Math is his least favorite subject. He loves history and science.

One asks me to play games with him. The other asks me to do craft projects with him.

One asks his dad to play basketball with him. The other asks his dad to go hunting with him.

One loves legos, the other doesn't. One loves puzzles, the other doesn't. One will try almost any kind of food. The other gets pickier every day.

One, for the most part, is an avid rule-follower. The other, in a matter of one hour on Tuesday, tried to pick a lock into a classroom at school, breaking the paper clip he was using and jamming up the lock for the better part of the day. He quickly followed this up by showing some older boys how he could reach up into the snack machine and extract snacks without paying (about which he promised me he always put them back and never ate any, because "that would be stealing, mom!").

One is grounded for life. The other isn't.

One falls asleep quickly and wakes up early. Always.  The other takes forever to fall asleep and wakes up late. Always.

This week I found myself thinking this could be a really difficult summer (the lock-picking and snack-grabbing incidents may have had something to do with that...).

The list of differences is so easy to come up with, so I tried to flip to the positive and think of some common interests they have.

Turns out there are several.

Jet skiing and tubing -- even when the waves are high and it is so cold you wear sweatshirts under your life jackets. 

Boat time with grandpa and grandma.

Dirt-biking.

Rollerblading.

Traveling.
Long trips, short trips, hotel stays, or visiting family...they love it all.  This is a good thing since we will be logging well over 3,900 miles this summer.

Camping. Our home away from home.

 

Swimming.

Okay, so these things are probably favorites of just about any kid. But at least one doesn't hate water or being at the lake.

They may be opposites, but I am incredibly thankful they have each other. One makes the other be a little more of a risk taker.  The other one helps rein in a  little bit of craziness.

I hope and pray that someday down the road they will be best of friends.

For now, I will just put on my referee shirt and spend a lot of time at the lake.

Back To It

I've missed this little virtual space on the internet.

This past school year I stepped into a role that took a little extra time from our already busy lives. A few things had to be set aside for awhile.

Like this blog.

And cleaning the house.

And cooking.

And dieting.

Which you would think would actually work out well together.

Not the case.

My family didn't die from eating a few more processed foods, the house is still standing, and if I quickly reintroduce myself to exercising, there may still be hope of fitting into some summer clothes.

Actually, the thing that is bothering me the most has nothing to do with how crazy busy life was over the past year.

My current problem: I cannot find my wedding ring.

It disappeared shortly before Christmas.  I know this because I remember spending parts of Christmas break going through drawers and rooms in an attempt to find it.  I have always had issues with my rings in the winter.  My hands are like ice cubes, causing the opposite result of swelling fingers in the hot summer. My theory is that as I was putting clothes away, or taking gloves off or on, or something of the like, my ring slipped off.

However, my theory has not led me to find my ring.

The summer ring pursuit has begun. Yesterday I tackled two drawers in the kitchen. You know, those drawers that hold the pencils, tape, paperclips, and anything else four busy people decide to throw in there. No ring.

Last weekend I cleaned out the pantry. No luck there either, although I did find one long-lost shoe (my son's), monopoly money, and a blank field trip form from April. I'm thinking if I can find shoes and field trip forms in the food pantry, my ring could be just about anywhere.

Next up - going through every piece of clothing in my boys' rooms. That will be loads of fun.

In a bit of irony, our 18th wedding anniversary is today. No girl should be ringless on her anniversary. Which means...I either find my ring today, or I start working on convincing my husband to go shopping!

And Then There Were Three

Someone must have decided that I need to spend a little more time praying.

A few years ago, we started this madness with the simple purchase of a small dirt bike.

 

And then there were two.

And after a short 5 hour father-son trip yesterday....now there are three.

 

I go back and forth between wondering what kind of mother would freely give her blessing for this.........and wondering when I can get one of my own so I can ride with them.

Ten-and-a-half years ago, my husband and I decided it was time to move. I thought I was more of a city girl.  Scratch that.  The biggest "city" I have ever lived in had a population of 14,000 people.  I was more of a town girl.  You know...neighbors, paved roads, sidewalks...somewhere you could have your windows open without having to dust every day.

My husband grew up in the country.  He really wanted his kids to grow up in the country. When a family member offered us a few acres of land for an extremely low price, we couldn't pass it up.

Sometimes, it drives me a little bit crazy. However, most of the time, I am very, very thankful. 

 

 

 

As long as they all come home in one piece.