It's been a while...

Where to begin!?!? We have been back in our house for nearly 4 months now. When we moved back in, we decided to not get cable or internet for a while. Ricky surprised me this week and got internet. We have iphones for most things and one of our neighbors had unlocked wireless internet we could access. So, I didn't really see much point in purchasing our own. . .but Ricky is right, that really isn't honest! So, with our own internet, I can now blog more which I am excited about!

Life has been crazy busy since my last post!

Elijah's t-ball season is winding down with 3 games and a party left. I was very nervous for him to play but he has done really well! The first game was pretty entertaining! All the kids ran in all different directions, fits were thrown(not just by Elijah), and it was pretty much mass chaos. But, the kids have learned a lot and are all playing better.

Elijah graduated from Polk Street. This was a bittersweet day. I am excited for him to go on to kindergarten but Polk Street has been his "home" during the day for 3 years! He started as a 2 year old. He came out of his shell during his 3 years there. And it looks like we will continue our years at Polk Street with Kyle.

We have had quite a few activities with the church including Elijah's first time to sing in "big church". Once on Sunday night with the children's choir and then again on a Wednesday night with his Mission Friends class. We also have gone to Wonderland with the youth, went to the WT swimming pool, and several other things. Church activities will keep us quite busy this summer. We are loving First Baptist though! We are so blessed to have been welcomed in to such a great church family!

Ricky bought the boys a pool a few weeks ago. They LOVE to swim and would stay in it all day, every day if I allowed. Last weekend, we had some of our friends over for a cookout and swimming. This family goes to First Baptist with us. Adam is the Associate Youth Minister at the church. Our entire family adores this sweet family! We feel so blessed that the Lord has placed them in our lives! I attempted a picture of the three boys(Logan, Elijah, and Kyle) but this was the best I got.

And we can't leave out sweet Kenlee (she didn't want to swim but still looked precious in her little swim suit)! I have loved being around a little girl. . .something I don't get to do very often!

And last but DEFINITELY not least, this sweet little boy is potty training(ed)! He has been wearing his cute little big boy undies all week and has very few accidents. He is even waking up from naps dry! We are delighted at the thought of having a diaper free household!!

That Kid?

Elijah, who is 5, is going to be playing Kids Inc t-ball this year. This will be his first time to do an organized sport. This isn't necessarily something that was/is his idea. He would probably content to just sit at home most of the time. However, Ricky and I both agree that he needs the social experience. He also needs to learn sportsmanship. He has a very difficult time when he doesn't win. . .aka losing! We are hoping that feeling successes as well as defeats will him with that. And since he hasn't ever played before, we decided it would be good to practice with him before we even signed him up. Elijah and Ricky went by themselves the first time. Lets just say it wasn't the greatest lesson in the world. Elijah hit his ankle with the bat and it all went downhill from there! So, we decided to all go on a gorgeous afternoon a few weeks ago.

Elijah practicing batting. . . he did great! He hit the ball several times and a couple times it went pretty far.

Kyle joined in the fun. He will be so excited when he turns 4 and can play.

When Ricky told Elijah to crouch down a bit to get ready for the ball. . .this is what he did! haha!

I love this one! He finally caught the ball!!

His favorite part of the whole practice was "running" the bases after he hit. When we finished practicing, he asked Ricky if he could go run on the moon. Ricky was a bit confused but Elijah has a wild imagination so just told him sure. Well, sure enough, there was a moon shaped patch of weeds very close to where we were practicing. So, he ran on the moon!

A few minutes later, an ice cream truck drove by blasting the tune "Hello my baby, hello my honey. . . ." Ricky and I looked over to see this. . . .

Can't tell what he is doing? Maybe this one will help. .

Oh yes, that is our boy doing show tunes. . .on the moon! I wish the pictures did it justice! It was hilarious! We have since decided he just might be "that kid" that doesn't NECESSARILY do what he is supposed to during the game but is VERY entertaining to the crowd! :)

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. . .