Hhmm. . .

*This is a novel. . .and I really don't expect anyone to read it in its entirety! However, I wanted it written down for me as a reminder of what we have been through! *

I'm not even sure where to begin this post! So much has happened to our little family in the last 4 1/2 months that it is hard to organize it all.

Ricky and I have been married for 6 1/2 incredible years. We have definitely had our highs and lows, though. We have lived in 5 different towns and moved 9 times. Our sweet little Elijah who is now 5 has lived in 8 different places! Ricky has had all kinds of jobs. . .from ministry to restaurant and everything in between!

Our latest journey actually began in September of 2008 when Ricky was no longer employed with the church with whom he had worked for about 2 years. We went from making two decent salaries to one! We went from having a sense of security(sadly in ourselves and what we could provide) to absolutely none. We went from feeling like we fit in to wondering where to go! We were quite lost to be honest with you. We loved Amarillo(as strange as some people think that is) and didn't want to leave. We had a beautiful home that we had only lived in for a year that we did not want to lose. But, we were confused. We had no direction!

The end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 were very difficult months for our family. I wish I could say that we always had faith that the Lord would provide and just watched in amazement when He did. But, that wasn't the case. We had to learn to trust and oh, have we! We learned that the less we worried the more fun it was to watch the Lord take care of us. We learned to have the faith we had always heard about and desired! We were blessed beyond measure.

However, we weren't satisfied with the place the Lord had us at that moment. We kept pushing and pushing until we found something that we thought was what the Lord wanted. You can read that here. But, the short story, I quit my teaching job, at a school that I loved in a position that was made for me(math) and in August, we moved to the Austin area in preparation of moving to the San Antonio area. We excitedly left the house that we loved in the city that we loved and prepared for a new journey. We trucked along in Central Texas for a few months. The ball was still rolling for us to move to San Antonio and truthfully, we were still very excited. The excitement quickly faded and we knew this wasn't the right decision for our family(while we still continue to pray for this church plant and absolutely LOVED the people that we met through our experiences). So there we sat in Austin in early October wondering what in the world we had done! Our hearts still yearned to be in Amarillo but both Ricky and I were too proud to admit it! We continued to make our plans for ourselves! We were going to move to a little town outside of Austin. Ricky was going to continue to work full time outside of a church and a part-time position in a church. And, I was going to go back to teaching(something I realized I loved and is truly my calling. . .A WHOLE other story and blog!). We were going to rent a house and live happily ever after. . . .except. . .

One night in early November while Ricky was working nights as a security guard, I finally got up enough courage to tell him that I missed home. . .I missed Amarillo. (As a side note, I do realize that home is where the heart is, that we will never be completely happy until we are truly home in heaven, etc etc but Amarillo is our home here on earth and where we are SUPPOSED to be. . .this we know for SURE!) Much to MY surprise he said he did too! I couldn't believe it! All this time that I felt so miserable I thought he was happy! I thought he was loving every minute of it. . .and he wasn't! We decided that night that we would just truly pray and seek and find out what we were supposed to do. It didn't take long for us to KNOW that Amarillo was where we were supposed to be! For, I think the first time in our married life, we were putting ourselves aside(although this move is what we both wanted) and letting the Lord show us His plan.

If we could have, we would have moved back to Amarillo the very next day. But, we knew we had to be patient! So, we told our families of our realization that we had made a HUGE mistake and of our planned move back. . .some were happy, some were sad, some were mad, and some weren't really sure what to think. We knew that we BOTH had to have jobs before we could even make any sort of arrangements to get back. As Ricky searched for a job in Amarillo, I did the only thing I could think of. . .even though it was one of the hardest things, I emailed the principal at the school I had taught at for 2 1/2 years. I did this with very low expectations thinking she could at least be a good reference for me. I sent that email on November 16. I heard back from her on November 23 offering me a TAKS tutoring position! With the Thanksgiving Holiday that week, I didn't hear back from her with details until the following week which was the first week in December. I was officially offered and accepted the position on Wednesday, December 2. Kyle and I moved to Amarillo that weekend and I started on Monday, December 7! It was a whirlwind but it was incredible to be back. Ricky and I were just blown away by how fast the Lord had worked things out for me to get back to the school I loved. It was an opportunity that we just couldn't see me passing up. So, while it was hard to be away from him and Elijah, we knew it was only temporary and we could make it work.

We have this INCREDIBLE woman in our lives! She has blessed us more than she will ever know! She is always willing to help. . .even if it is an inconvenience to her! She is amazing and I am so thankful that the Lord has placed her in our lives! We love her. . .our boys love her! Cheryl Merrill (aka NaiNai) allowed Kyle and I to stay with her for the two weeks before Christmas break while I was working at the school. Ricky continued to work in Austin and Elijah finished out the semester of pre-k. Ricky had several promising phone interviews with companies here in Amarillo. And upon arriving in Amarillo to head north for Christmas, he had several in-person interviews. He had a serious lead on a great job and we informed the renters of our house that we would be moving back in when their lease ended in February(this was hard for me as I hated to leave them without a place to live but as He did in all of this experience the Lord orchestrated it perfectly as the renters were struggling over telling us that they were moving out at the end of their lease). Our only issue was that it was December and we couldn't move back into our house until the end of February. Where were we going to live for the next 2 1/2 months? Again, I was nervous and doubted! I just couldn't figure out a way that it could work out! And guess what?!?! The Lord proved me wrong! A lady we knew from a previous church had a lease on an (furnished) apartment that she was no longer living in. The boys and I could move in as soon as we returned from Kansas! We were blown away! Not only did I have a job at the school I love, we had a place to live with furniture!

After Christmas, Ricky headed back to Austin to continue working and I took on the role as single Mom to the boys. Honestly this was a struggle! It was hard not having someone there to help! I realized how much I took Ricky's help for granted! One of the hardest days was Kyle's birthday. My sweet baby turned 2 and his Daddy didn't get to see him! Another hard day was the day that we learned that Ricky did receive the offer for the job. . .except they wanted him to go to the Wichita, KS store! That was also the day that I realized I had lost the money order the renters gave me(to pay the mortgage). It was a struggle but we made it! The Lord continued to bless us and Ricky got to move to Amarillo in the middle of January. He still did not have a full time job but we both just knew he needed to be in Amarillo to find one. All the while, we continued to pray and seek that the Lord would open the door to the perfect job for Ricky for this season.

January and February were probably the two hardest months of our little families lives. Kyle, who is a small little guy to begin with, was sick for about 6 weeks. He threw up nearly every night losing 3 of his 24 pounds. This problem was made worse because we had no washer and dryer so that meant we ended up at sweet Cheryl's house nearly everyday to do laundry. Eljiah ended up with the bug at one point as well as Ricky and I. Ricky had an eardrum burst as well as Bell's Palsy(this occurs quite frequently after an eardrum bursts do to sinus').

We were everyday thankful for the apartment but we quickly realized how much more difficult things were! It was upstairs and of course during the snowiest winter in a long time. This made going and coming very difficult. Getting groceries into the apartment was different than pulling up into our garage. Everything had to be adjusted. I continued to work at the school and Ricky still struggled to find a full-time job! However, the Lord placed another amazing person in our lives! Bradley Maybin is the youth pastor at FBC Amarillo and welcomed Ricky with open arms. He immediately offered him a part time position until he found something else. And, after what seemed like at least a year, we were able to move into our house 3 days early!

February 24th was our move in day but the renters surprised us and told us they were moved out early and that we could move in on February 21st! What a treat! So, during yet another snow storm, we moved our few belongings to our house! It didn't matter that we had no furniture or dishes or beds! We were just so excited to be back in OUR house! We slept on airbeds and lived out of an ice chest for a week! And then the most incredible thing happened after Bradley sent out a massive email to some of the people of FBC. It is crazy how the Lord orchestrates things but this email uncovered a position that would be an incredible fit for our needs. Ricky was interviewed for and offered a position with Flowers Bakery. He is now delivering bread. I realize that doesn't sound like a dream job for most but he has incredible hours(done by 2 pm most days), great pay, and benefits. . .something he hasn't had in our entire married life!!! And, he is able to continue working at FBC part time!

After a week of living in an empty house, we were able to go down to Austin, rent a moving truck, and get everything back to our house! It was like Christmas getting to open all the boxes after not seeing most of it for 6 months! Kyle nor I had slept in our own beds in 3 months!

We have been back in our house nearly a month! While things haven't been all great since we have been back but Kyle has stopped throwing up and started gaining weight back, Ricky is working full time, and things seem to be better! We know that there will always be set backs in our lives but we are truly blessed! We look back and just think how incredible this journey has been to get us back to EXACTLY where we were a year ago! I see how God took our big mistake and blessed us anyway! We are so excited to be back in Amarillo. . .the town we love! We are so excited to be back in our little house that we don't take for granted any more! We are excited that we aren't in control of our life anymore!!!

Our sweet boys sleeping peacefully in their OWN beds!

We delayed switching Kyle to a "big boy" bed because all of our changes. When we put his crib together, we decided to go straight from the pack n play to the toddler bed. He has done amazing! :)

A life lesson

I know I should be doing a post all about our fun Halloween. . .oops I mean Harvest Festivals(why don't we just call it what it is?) but I have a better story to tell!

Elijah is in public preschool this year. As most of you know, we have had a lot of changes in our lives over the past few months. The switch from private to public preschool has been one of the harder ones. Elijah is extremely smart(am I biased? maybe!), hilarious, and overall just quite the character! He doesn't always listen and he doesn't always obey! And sometimes, he does the most outlandish things! But you know what, I love him all the same!

Well, he got into some "trouble" a few weeks ago at school. This just happened to be the day that we had planned to go buy Elijah his beloved Halloween costume for the year(Elijah LOVES to dress up and has been known to go just about anywhere in a suit. . this includes Wal-Mart, church, basketball games, etc.). Ricky and I decided that if he couldn't behave at school, then he didn't deserve the treat of a new costume. This was a Thursday so Ricky told him if he did better on Friday then he would take him to get a costume. Well, Friday came and it involved a phone call from his teacher to me during school. . .NOT good. This of course meant, no costume. This was much harder on ME than I thought it would be! He LOVES costumes and after all he did have an AMAZING week the next week(which was rewarded with a trip to see Where the Wild Things Are). But, as hard as it was, we knew we needed to stick to what we said! We had lots of discussions about which costume he would pick out to wear on Halloween(after all he does love costumes and has several he could have worn) and of course it changed everyday. He went as red/blue Spiderman to the carnival we attended last Sunday. And yesterday, his sweet cousin, Jonah, allowed him to borrow his black Spiderman costume(not that Elijah doesn't have one. . .it was just more special because Jonah let him borrow it). Elijah was excited to go trick-or-treating in the borrowed suit.

While waiting for all the family festivities to begin, the mail arrived. Elijah got a Halloween card from my Mom. This card included a picture of Grandma, Aunt SeSe, AND $5! The pictures got all of the attention at first with lots of hugs. And then, I told him we would go to Wal-Mart on Sunday to spend the $5. And then the question came. . ."can I buy a costume?" I thought about this for a little while. We had told him we wouldn't buy him one. So, after a minute, I responded, "you know, you probably can because all the Halloween stuff will be on sale!" He was beyond excited at the thought of a new costume.

Halloween came and went. Elijah wore the borrowed black spiderman suit and never thought anything about it. He didn't notice that his was worn and torn. And, he got just as much candy as everyone else.

Elijah with all the cousins right before the trick-or-treating began

This evening though, I took Elijah to Wal-Mart to spend that $5. And you know what he got? A $6 Captain America costume. (I figured after all that waiting I could handle throwing in a dollar and the tax.) It was the hardest thing watching him try not to cry every time he mentioned a new costume and we reminded him that we wouldn't be buying him one. But tonight, it was ALL worth it! He has NEVER been so excited to get a new costume! As soon as we got out of the store, he tore open the package and put on the mask. And then he started peeling off his clothes at the car to put on the suit. I am actually surprised I could convince him to take it off for a bath. But, I am 100% sure it will be put on as soon as he gets home from school tomorrow.

Sorry for the poor quality of picture, it is from my phone!

Lesson learned! For Elijah AND Mommy!! :)

*Update*

I went in to the boys room to check on them before I went to bed. This is what I found. . . .

Guess he couldn't wait until after school got out to put it back on! :) (Don't worry, I took the mask off. But, his brother is a VERY light sleeper and I didn't want to wake him by taking off the entire thing!) So, Captain America is sleeping at our house tonight!!

Fall Fun

This week is Red Ribbon Week at school which meant lots of fun dress up days. Tuesday was by far Elijah's favorite day, Pajama Day. He was very excited to wear his new Mario and two bad guys pj's!

One of the churches had their "harvest" aka Halloween carnival on Sunday. I was quite amazed that Elijah was patient enough to stand in line long enough to get his face painted much less actually sit still while she did it. But, he almost fell asleep!

Spiderman with his spiderweb face

My cute little monkey!

People often tell me that my boys look alike(I don't really think so, as much0, so for fun I posted a picture of Elijah wearing the monkey costume when he was 21 months old. Tell me what you think! Do you think they look alike?

We attempted to play outside a couple nights ago as we do as often as possible. This has seemed to be an impossible feat as of late due to the rain or the massive amount of mosquitos. We only braved the bugs for a few minutes but our niece, Jaimee, found lots of snail shells and a few snails. The kids were VERY fascinated by them.

Kyle is REALLY into saying cheese and posing when I pull out the camera! Here is his latest pose along with his favorite buddy and cousin, Jocelyn.

My Elijah is quite the character! I just love his little personality. . .or maybe I should say big personality! He also has an amazing memory! He sees or hears something once and we know we will hear about again at some point. Well, Elijah saw a commercial for a snuggie several months ago. He said he wanted one(as he does EVERYTHING he sees) but I just passed it off and thought nothing more about it. Last night, Elijah got under the load of towels that I hadn't folded and said, "look Mommy, I'm pretending like I have a snuggie!"

This and That

I have been absolutely awful about taking pictures lately(except with my cellphone) and therefore have been absolutely awful about blogging!

We have done some fun things over the last month and I thought many times about blogging but it just didn't happen. So, here is trying to get back in the swing of things!!

I am a HUGE college football fan, especially the OU Sooners(not good since I am in Longhorn (yuck) country!). It has been a rough year for my beloved Sooners but I will watch and cheer for them regardless. I am also a Big 12 fan! I have finally found a Garzon guy that will watch football with me and cheer right along side me!

Here Kyle is cheering on Colorado during the Colorado/Texas game(yes, I realize that Texas won! And honestly, at this point in the year, I hope that Texas wins out and can hold their own with whichever SEC team makes it to the BCS championship! I am a Sooners fan first but will ALWAYS root for a Big 12 team over anyone else! So, if OU can't make it to the championship, then I just hope Texas can get there and play the ENTIRE four quarters!!!!)

Very excited when Colorado had a big play

Anxiously awaiting to see if Colorado could score that touchdown

I wish you could see his face but he was VERY excited they scored!

I am pretty sure that Elijah has at least 30 funny sleeping pictures. This one isn't really unusual unless you look at his feet. I know they look like house-shoes but they are actually the covers to Kyle's armrests on his carseat. Elijah calls them his Sonic(the hedgehog) shoes! He REFUSED to take them off that night!

Elijah and Kyle have become best buddies over the last couple weeks! They play often and actually pretty well together! This makes my heart happy! Kyle has started talking quite a bit more and every time he says something new, Elijah looks at me and says "Mommy, he can TALK!"

Here the boys are playing a game together on my phone

A Reflection. . .

This post, as most of them are I suppose, is for me more than anything else. Do you ever have those days when you feel like everything is going wrong? When is seems like all the stress in the world is on your shoulders? When you feel like your children did nothing right all day and everything that came out of your mouth was no, time-out, or loudly saying their names? I have had those kinds of days for the last couple of days. I know a lot, if not all, of this is because of the stressful situation we are in as a family. However, I honestly think that I "yelled" at the boys more in the last couple of days than I have their entire lives. As I put them both to bed tonight, I realized (actually remembered) that I don't want to rush through their lives! I want to treasure each moment I have with them. . .each stage (even if it is a difficult one)! So, in honor of that, here is a picture walk through each of my boys lives. . .a short picture walk that is! :)

Elijah Mikal, January 2005

Elijah Mikal, January 2006

Elijah Mikal, January 2007

Elijah Mikal, January 2008

Kyle Brooks, January 2008

Elijah Mikal, January 2009

Kyle Brooks, January 2009

Elijah Mikal, now (with his buddy, Aidan, at Austin Park and Pizza)

Kyle Brooks, NOW (with his new cheesy grin)

And as an extra. . . Kyle on his first day of Mother's Day Out

When I look at each one of these pictures, so many memories come flooding back. . .

Taylor

Thursday will mark our third week here in Taylor. It has been a crazy, hectic, wild three weeks but we are settling in and developing a routine. We all seem to be adjusting pretty well. The boys are loving being around Popo and Grandma and Tia Jaime and Tia Stef and of course their cousins.

We enrolled Elijah in pre-k here in Taylor. This has been Elijah's first experience with public school. He went to Polk Street in Amarillo for the last two years and had the same teacher(she moved up with them) so this has been completely different. He seems to like school ok but is still trying to adjust to his non-bankers hours. He has to be at school at 7:45 which makes every morning a challenge for both of us!

These are a couple of pictures of him on the first day of school.

Ricky is currently working at Banana Republic at the nearby outlet mall (yes that means GOOD discounts on already discounted clothes). He is in the process of getting on with a security company that his cousin works for. This job will pay more and give him more hours.

We had the opportunity to visit our future home a a couple weeks ago. Ricky, Kyle, and I(Elijah was in school) headed to Schertz/Cibalo to meet Zak White and his lovely wife Amber along with their adorable little guy, Couper. Seeing the area and hearing how God is already moving through Revolution Church made us that much more excited to be there and "get started". However, we know that this has to wait a bit longer. We are anxiously awaiting the day we get to pack up and make our home in Schertz/Cibalo. This past weekend, we got to attend The Connection Church in Kyle, Texas(I am pretty sure EVERYONE we met made a comment about our Kyle's name! haha) where Zak was preaching. It was a great experience and again just made us that much more excited for what God is doing and that we get to be a part of it!

We are trying our hardest to enjoy every moment here with family! I know my boys will look back and treasure this time, as will I! Elijah wakes up asking when he gets to see "his" Jonah and goes to bed asking the same thing. I just had to add a couple pictures of the kids playing! :)

Kyle and Jocelyn. Jocelyn is 10 months older than Kyle but you can't tell from looking.

This isn't the greatest picture but if you click on it, you can see his combined look of fear and determination. He was so scared but his Jonah had climbed this so he was going to as well! And, he DID!

For some reason, this is how my sweet Kyle smiles when I say cheese!! haha

Elijah and his Jonah

The boys again. This picture is to set up the next picture! :)

Grandma decided to bring fudge pops to the park for the kids.

Sometimes I wish I could look like this and people wouldn't say a word to me! :)

He is feeding the ducks. And of course, I think HE ate as much bread as he threw to them! Silly boy!

For fun, here are some of the things I have learned about living in Central Texas!

#1 Instead of taking a rain jacket to a Friday night football game in early September, an

umbrella does the job MUCH better

#2 People do not slow down here. . .there are no down times. . .it is always GO, GO, GO

#3 Taylor schools have some WEIRD policies

#4 Running is so much easier down here!

#5 It is not fun to live in Taylor, Texas on a Saturday when my beloved Sooners lose and the

Longhorns win!

The Garzon's are. . .

Ricky and I along with the boys have been in what I have called "a time of transition" for over a year. Back in the spring of 2008, Ricky stepped down as the youth pastor at the church we were serving in at the time. He did this with the plan of getting a full time job and continuing to lead worship at said church. However, this plan(as most of OUR plans) did not work out. He continued to apply for job after job and while many things seemed promising. . . nothing seemed to work out. After what seemed like an eternity some days, Ricky found a job and I continued to teach. We both knew that this was not our calling and were constantly seeking where we were supposed to be and what we were supposed to be doing. We had some really rough days throughout this time but one thing that this time did was bring us unbelievably closer! For months, I have known that the calling on my life right now is to be at home with Elijah(when he isn't at school) and Kyle. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE teaching and will miss it immensely but for NOW my place is to be at home with my babies. This was a scary thing to realize as my teaching salary was the major source of income for our family. I shared this with Ricky often and after much prayer we both knew that I needed to not sign my contract for the 2009-2010 school year. This meant at of the end of August we would not have that major source of income. While this was an extremely scary thing, I was excited beyond belief to be a stay-at-home-mom but more importantly to see what the Lord did in our lives. Meanwhile, Ricky has been applying and applying and applying at churches. . . . If you are unfamiliar with this process. . .lets just say it isn't always easy. As with most jobs, the waiting is the hardest. After finding out that Ricky was the runner up candidate for two different jobs, we were getting a little heart broken. We were scared, nervous, anxious, all the typical emotions when your future is uncertain. At this point we knew what we had to do. . .we had to have faith that the Lord we love would take care of us just as He has promised us He would. In June, Ricky and I began doing something we have never done as a married couple (although we should have been doing all along). . .we began reading the Word and praying together nightly. Our faith has grown leaps and bounds and we fall more in love with Jesus together as a couple every night. That hour has become the sweetest of the 24 each day for me. I look forward to sharing my love of the Father with the earthly man that I love the most. We began to truly pray for our future. We asked that the Lord would open the doors that He wanted us to walk through and close the ones He didn't. I could tell you some truly amazing stories about how He did this! We have just watched in amazement this summer as the Lord began to reveal His plan for our lives. We were not always patient and we did not always have the faith that we should have but we continued to be there for each other and continued to seek the Lord's heart. So, all that being said. . .we are MOVING!!!! :) God has orchestrated some truly amazing things and we are ecstatic for our future!

We will be loading up and pulling out of Amarillo on August 22nd. We will be moving to Taylor, Texas with Ricky's parents during our next "transition" time! They have graciously agreed to allow us to stay with them for an extended time. Ready for the best part? We will be moving to the San Antonio area as soon as we can!! We are going to be a part of an amazing church plant called Revolution Church in the Shertz/Cibalo area. We are excited beyond belief that God has chosen us to be involved with this! The church will begin weekly services at the end of January 2010. However, there is much to do in the mean time.

While we are excited about what the Lord is doing there is still some fear and anxiousness that creeps in. We would covet your prayers for our family! Here are some specific areas:

*That our boys would handle this not one but two moves with ease. Elijah is our biggest

concern as he is dependent on consistency. Which is why we have decided to enroll

him in pre-school while we are in Taylor. (and the way this has all worked out is

another amazing story)

*After many months, we have decided to rent our house here in Amarillo rather than sell.

Please pray that God would send us a person/family to rent our house.

*For Ricky to find a job in Taylor to provide for us before we can get to San Antonio.

*Pray for our relationships to continue to grow/develop with the Launch Team that is

already established for Revolution Church.

*That we can get moved and settled in San Antonio swiftly.

*Please pray for Revolution Church in general as well as Zak White the pastor.

What would a blog be without a picture. . .our amazing friend Kara Mercer took pictures of us this summer. Here is one of our family pics. . .