March 2024- Palm Sunday-Easter

Mom made a quick trip in this month! We’ll see her in May when we head to Italy, but she wanted to come visit the house. The weather was supposed to be nice, instead she had a real taste of life out here… massive thunder and lightning storms one night, muddy mess the next few days, wind advisory etc… still, we had fun and she was able to watch Caylee play volleyball and see both kids compete in Bible Drill. We were able to watch a movie and chill while they were busy! We also were able to take her to the “Eggspedition” at church… this was a neat family scavenger hunt! We got lost after the first direction and had to make a phone call, however, it turns out there had been a missing direction so we weren’t the only ones 🙂 The whole thing was fun and ended at a putt putt place! We had also taken our neighbor. The kids ate sno cones and played around. I thought the day was well-planned and very fun! Oh, and Caylee made us all matching shirts 😉 Just one month left and we’ll all be together again…. !!! 🙂

This Easter looked a little different. We usually do evening church and a glow hunt with our friends. However, our church doesn’t offer an evening service and there was no way Matt would get off early enough to do Sat night church back in Weatherford. SO! We had them out here on Friday night. We had a casual dinner, showed them around the house and property and the kids played. It was such a good time and I’ve missed having people over! We stuffed eggs while the kids played and then the guys took the eggs out to hide them. We had a perfect sunset and the kids had a blast running around. I hope we can make this tradition continue, they are a blessing to us and we love that we’ve been friends for 12 years now!! It’s fun to see the kids grow! The boys ran around shooting nerf guns, the girls sewed and everyone ate way too much candy. 🙂 Good times! The kids and I will still attend church tomorrow and there may even be an egg hunt for them, but I’m thankful we could spend some time with friends last night!

We also died eggs with our neighbors and I took them on the rock walk this past Thursday. I shared the gospel and the purpose of Easter and after they found the golden egg (empty tomb) their baskets were filled with treats! Fun times with new friends 🙂

March 2024- Extracurricular

It has been tough getting school work done this month with serving, family and trips, but we’ve managed to keep going! The kids have also been doing all the extra things too!! Caylee has been meeting up with her new Duds to Dazzle team, attending fashion 4H meetings and began volleyball practices. She even started meal planning and has made a few meals for me at home! When mom was in town she had her Fashion Show competition. There was just one girl in her group to compete with. Sadly, Caylee lost. She was bummed, but the other girl was great competition. Caylee made some mistakes with her shirt and they were obvious, that was the main reason they took off points- overall, the girls were SUPER close in scores! I’m still proud of her outfit and she’s excited to wear it for Easter!

Micah has been helping Matt almost daily, baking and started baseball. Both kids practice their music all the time and sang at the nursing home this month– Micah forgot his guitar pick, but thankfully I had a library card! It worked great as a quick replacement! Both kids have also been working hard at Bible Drill. Their group meets each Sunday evening and they have to learn 25 verses, 7 key passages and the order of the books of the bible (which they already knew, but now they know backwards and forwards!). There were two weekends this month that they had a full day practice. The kids loved it and passed the church competition with flying colors! They will both attend State in April! I’m so proud of their hard work, especially since they didn’t begin until Jan, while the others had begun in Sept!

We had the chance to finally take friends on the kayaks. The kids had a blast exploring on their own. They docked on an island and walked around. They found several nests! Finally, they were chases off by angry mom ducks! 🙂 Matt’s assistant’s dog had 8 puppies… the kids enjoy playing with them when he brings them by. They are super cute, but no, we won’t take one… 3 dogs are plenty for us!

March 2024- Bluebonnets and Weather

This month has been EXTREMELY wet! We have had massive storms! However, with the storms come amazing clouds and sunsets. We had a really cool moon over the barns one day and a bright full moon later on. With the rain came the bluebonnets, bugs and birds! The bluebonnets were in full bloom in Marble Falls when we drove down for our mission trip. We stopped, of course, and I grabbed a few pics. Later this month we had a HUGE patch in Stephenville. Matt came home from work early enough so that Mom could take a picture for us… It makes me happy. These are definitely some of the biggest bluebonnets we’ve had in years!

The bugs must have come out of the ground- who knows, but they were HUGE and everywhere!! Some people call them mosquito flies, but they don’t sting and they don’t eat mosquitoes… so they were just annoying. About 20 would fly in everytime the door opened! Thankfully, after a good rain, the birds came. They began eating all of the bugs and the end of the month has been better than the beginning!!

March 2024- Week 1!

This month was PACKED and really good! We kicked off the month with the Packs of Love Spring Break set up, packing and delivery. It seemed early this year, but I guess it wasn’t. The kids had a blast serving with their friends. We haven’t been able to make many Fridays since we moved, so these big packs are super special to us. It feels a little strange going back, almost like we’re out of the loop, but I’ll continue as much as possible because the kids love it- Caylee especially loves seeing all her girls, we definitely miss them a LOT! Immediately after the Wednesday pack we headed over for guitar lessons and then from there out to Glen Rose where we had been invited by friends to check out their vacation home. I had no idea Glen Rose had such a fancy vacation area!!! It was really pretty and had EVERYTHING. From the moment we arrived until 3 hrs later when we had to leave we were busy…. putt putt, archery, ax throwing, pickleball, hiking/touring, air rifles, rock wall, zip line…. they were so gracious to host us and we had a blast! It was good for Micah to hang out with his buddy too!

After those rush of 2 days, the kids and I packed up and headed down to San Antonio for the Family Mission Trip. This is the first mission trip the kids have been on!! I was nervous, just because Matt wasn’t with us and I didn’t want to be the odd family without a husband, but I was also excited. Excited for the kids to have the chance to serve away, excited to meet other families and excited for the extra adventures the kids and I had planned! The first stop down there was Pedernales State Park…. another one to check off our list!! We had gorgeous weather, so the kids were able to put their feet in the clear water, Micah put his whole body in. Then we went up to the falls… impressive rocks, but we are in such a drought still so there wasn’t much to be seen as far as running water. Still… gorgeous area!! We can’t wait to go back to that park!

We met up with the team- about 30 people in all- at the hotel. The kids immediately jumped in a game with another family. We all planned dinner out, but my gps took us to the wrong location, so we grabbed our meal and headed back to the hotel. We stayed up playing games with the families and had a decent nights sleep. The next morning we headed out to the San Antonio Food Bank. At this bank, we served with tons of other people. Our job was to sort items into categories (veggies, snacks, pantry etc)… they played music, we all worked hard and Micah was our main guy to carry the heavy boxes to their new location. At the beginning, the guy in charge asked for one volunteer with good handwriting. No one stepped up, so I suggested that Caylee do it- she ended up LOVING this job. She sat at a table and it was her job to log the processed food and record the weight. At the end, one of the kids in our group said “Man, I bet we did a lot today in just 2 hours, I wonder how much?” Caylee looked at him and said, “21,892 lbs”… haha, everyone was surprised that she was so specific, but they hadn’t seen that she had been the person in charge. It was a perfect job for her- especially because she had just taken her meds in the morning and often gets dizzy. If she had been at the tables with the chaos and fast paced boxes she might not have done as well. They appreciated her work and said her handwriting really was great!

From there we ran to grab lunch, and ended up in a walmart grabbing snacks bc the chick fil a we intended on was closed. We only had an hour and a half and the drive was a full hour to the next place in New Braunfels at the Food Bank there. We made it and this time just our group packed boxes together in a large room. This was fun and a little easier to chat with people. I was enjoying talking with the family minister’s wife. This process was very much like packs of love, but we had to build boxes and then send them down the line that contained larger staples for the boxes (rice, beans etc). Micah enjoyed building the boxes and Caylee was on the line packing. We were able to pack over 200 boxes.

We had another 2hrs to kill before we were all meeting at a local (mega!) church that evening. Many went back and had their little ones nap really quickly. The kids and I went to get yogurt and shopping. Church that evening was wonderful– it was huge and the music loud, but it was so much different than anything the kids have been too. Even though it was huge, it was neat because people didn’t just stand around bored and checking it off their list. They worshipped and you could feel that they truly wanted to experience life together. The message was that God is always working- even when we can’t feel it. After 2 long months of trying to adjust and figure out life, I needed the reminder that God is in it all and is still working.

After church we all decided Chuy’s would be the place to eat. The wait was long, but there was a Barnes and Nobles next door, so most of us headed there to kill an hour. The food was delicious and I was able to spend the time talking to another family. I enjoyed getting to know all of the families so much. Dinner ended late- about 930- and that officially ended the mission trip! It was designed to be one full day of serving and then families could continue with their spring break plans. Such a neat intro experience for us! The kids already want to go back next year 🙂

We had one more stop on the way home and that was to Longhorn Cavern State Park. For Micah’s birthday mom had given him tickets to see the caves. This was the perfect opportunity to use them! We loved the tour! It last about an hour and half. The cave rooms were huge. They didn’t have many stalagtites or stalagmites, but lots of quartz. We enjoyed the tour and then finally headed home! Our first week of March had been packed with serving, friends and adventure- not much more I could ask for!

February 2024

This month kicked off with Micah’s birthday! Sadly, the weekend we had available to have any friends over, they didn’t have so we just did a family birthday. Matt had off some time on Friday so we went to play pickleball, eat at Subway (Micah’s choice) and go see the Migration movie at the theater. On Sat, his actual birthday, we opened presents, played the games he received and he ate his angel food with strawberries cake. These kids are growing fast! It was a happy 11th birthday though!

We also began the month with an open house tour of Classical Conversations. I have several friends that participate in a group in different areas of Texas. It never interested me for the kids’ younger years of schooling, but I wanted to check it out again and see if it might be a good fit for Caylee as we prepare for 7th grade next year- yep, 7TH GRADE?!? I am amazed we are even thinking middle school and SO grateful for the years I’ve had to watch her grow, teach her etc…. Anyway, the group was great. One of the great aspects of 7th grade Classical Conversations is that I can drop Caylee off once a week. I think she’ll really enjoy this part. However, I am still the main teacher, so it’s just working with the material they use and seeing what we want to keep or not. I know we’ll stick with our math, but I’m excited she’ll be adding geography, science and history- as well as a solid writing course. She’ll being next fall, but this was a great intro to meeting some families and figuring out what the program is all about- I’m already excited about next year and the challenges/growth it will bring. Micah will not attend full day, just 1/2 and I’m good with that. He’ll get writing/grammar during his half day and I will be with him for that.

We also attended our first fashion meeting in Erath County. They only offer a few right before contest time, but Caylee was excited. We signed up to compete at the Fashion Show and she was asked to be on a Duds to Dazzle team with 3 other girls. We REALLY miss her girls in Parker County, but I’m hoping this will be fun all the same. They had their first get together last week, again not the same, but we’re trying to give it a chance and see what happens! After the fashion meeting there was a Consumer Decision meeting that we didn’t know was happening. We stuck around, met the coach/leader and she invited both kids to compete in CDM that following Thurs in San Angelo. We agreed and off we headed to San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo for the day!

San Angelo itself wasn’t super impressive, but we enjoyed meeting the other kids/moms from Erath who were competing. Caylee was in the top 10 Intermediate overall and had the 2nd best score in Erath county. Micah was in the top 15 Juniors overall and his score helped contribute to a 2nd place Junior Team win. They were both a little bummed that they didn’t score higher, however, we haven’t practiced and just jumped in last minute. We’ll spend the next month reviewing and hopefully to better at the District competition in April. Afterwards, we decided to hike San Angelo State Park. However, upon arriving we weren’t that impressed. Instead we walked a bit then decided to make the 3hr trek back home. Leaving the park, we saw a sign for a buffalo herd. We followed it and sure enough found a bunch of buffalo! That redeemed the park just a bit, overall, not our favorite state park.

We’ve had gorgeous weather this February. A few cold days, but mostly nice. We have had some gorgeous sunsets and time outside for that reason too! We had a really cool sun storm complete with a double rainbow. With it being SO flat out here we can see everything as it comes in- definitely neat. I love a warm Feb- we even had one day reach 94 degrees, unheard of in over 100 years!!

Micah and Matt finished up basketball and finished 2nd in the league. Bob and Sharen were able to come watch and stayed for 2 games. They were intense! Both kids sang/played at Spring Creek Musical this time around and Grandpa was here to watch! Micah played guitar and they both sang “Sunshine on My Shoulders” and “All the Gold”- two great ones! The next day was Sunday and the kids were able to help lead worship. That was a neat experience. Micah memorized Psalm 100:3-5 to repeat for everyone and Caylee had a solo and stayed on the praise team for “The Joy of the Lord”…. both did amazing and I got all teary watching them serve the Lord with their whole heart. It was a special time! We went to the nursing home with friends again. We go each month and the people love the kids. The kids enjoy singing/playing as well! I’m so thankful our friends can participate with us.

We were able to take a tour of a local ice cream shop this month too. We had PERFECT weather for ice cream- mid 70s! It worked out that one family from Weatherford came and I was able to take the older 3 boys of a new family here in Stephenville. The ice cream was VERY salty- thus the name of the place, so it wasn’t your normal ice cream, but it was good! Afterwards, everyone came back to the house and the boys’ mom and other siblings came over for lunch. It was so nice having people over and such a gorgeous day for the kids to play outside.

We wrapped up Feb with the Fashion Show in Parker County. Caylee couldn’t participate, but she was able to help set up/show the girls how to model the runway and announce each contestant. It was a fun night for her to see what her friends had created! She also finished her project in time to wear it as a special outfit to present in. Her outfit turned out gorgeous. She made the skirt/blouse and hand embroidered everything. The hem of the shirt she used her machine, but used a fun leaf design. Such a fun night.

Even though Feb was longer this year (leap year!) it went by fast. We had lots of friends, completed tons of school work and had some fun events. We are ready for spring!!

February Firsts

Since moving to Stephenville our life has kind of been turned upside down. We are figuring out how to have Matt around and yet not have him around. I am learning to leave the kids more often to get errands done and leave them to their schoolwork. Two sets of friends called to say they missed us for the Superbowl and yet didn’t actually invite us over even if we would have made the drive, so apparently we really have moved too far to maintain contact with some people. The church we have been attending is so sweet with literally the kindest people we have met. They are inviting and warm and I think just a little amazed at having new people 🙂

Anyway, all the change and then a big change… the kids went away to their first pre-teen camp. This was the first time Caylee had slept away since her seizures began several years ago and it was Micah’s first time EVER to sleep away – except for once with my Aunt and Uncle while I had neck surgery and Matt was still in Texas, but I knew they were in capable hands. On top of that, it was a TWO day camp! Talk about a BIG step….

Well, they were SO excited. We made sure they had sleeping bags (that we’ve had forever, but have never been used), flashlights (that we had to buy because we didn’t have any) and all the treats and food for Caylee to take with her and eat. They each had a friend they had made from church attending and were hopeful to meet more. We were to drop them off Fri at 7pm and pick them up at church that Sunday during service. I was already nervous about the late drop off because we normally don’t keep the kids up past 9 since getting good sleep is super important for Caylee and her seizure maintenance. With the late drop off they wouldn’t even be arriving to camp until about 8:30! Then they had a worship session, small group and games scheduled… I knew it’d be 2 late nights. Matt was worried, but convinced me this all was a good idea- he said I needed it, they needed it etc… so I went along with him.

He was right. I did need the time- we did. The kids LOVED the time away and both did EXCELLENT. Caylee did not have any seizures, met a precious high school girl that will be in our CC group next year and learned quite a bit about public school/life etc… she is very naive to the world in general, so this was a good step– that and I prayed through the ENTIRE weekend, which I know was helpful because it calmed me, but also reminded me that God can take care of them better than I can.

They came home exhausted, but happy. They are already excited about summer camp- which I know nothing about… so we’ll see.

At home, Matt and I went to bed early and in complete darkness (usually we have a lot of light from her camera), it was fantastic. We slept great, which can only be attributed to God allowing me to sleep 🙂 We also went out to dinner Sat night- Don Nico’s Mexican Food- it was good, nothing special, but nice not to cook. Matt worked ALL day Saturday so I had the day to go get my hair done, do a little shopping, clean the entire house, watch a movie and read… it was a LONG day, but I did enjoy my time. I also helped Matt in the evenings several times- so we spent some time together!

When they left Friday night, I cried. Matt got me out of the church before they saw me crying, so that was good. Then we headed to stop by the post office and another church had a verse on their lighted que. It was 1 Chronicles 29:13. I decided to look it up and it said “Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” I reread that verse over and over throughout the weekend. God is good, everything was fine and I am happy to see the kids growing up, spreading their wings and trusting!

January Blessings

Ok… January was hard…but lots of fun and blessings happened anyway! Here they are….

All the back and forth to Weatherford meant we could hang out with friends. We have been going through World Religions with some friends and art with some other friends. The kids have enjoyed the lessons, but mostly enjoy playing and snacks :) I am just reminded and blessed by a great homeschooling community!

While we cannot compete in Parker County anymore, our wonderful agent said we could definitely finish out our County jobs with Parker County. This means the kids still get to hold their officer positions in the Weatherford Day 4H group and Caylee gets to continue helping/leading the monthly Fashion meetings. We were also able to get our 4H membership transferred to Erath County, so they WILL be able to compete in Consumer Decision Making and Caylee will get to compete in the Fashion here at Erath county. 4H has been an incredible group to be a part of and I’m excited we get to continue the journey in our new county!

Micah’s buddy had a birthday and we were able to celebrate with him! We have known their family since just before Caylee was born- in fact, my friend Ann was the first one to hold Caylee at the hospital! The boys always have fun together and I’m glad we aren’t super far that we can still celebrate together and meet up. 

Caylee has had quite a bit of time to work on her fashion project! It’s coming along SO nicely… I can’t wait to show closer details in another post, but let’s just say that hand embroidery isn’t for beginners and she has done an amazing job. She has also been able to keep up with her sewing group. This was hard to leave since we started it over a year ago and the girls love sewing together, but they just meet once a month and others were willing to host! Sometimes it’s good to let others help out 🙂

Micah loves helping at Matt’s work. This has been a huge encouragement for him to finish up his schoolwork. He has enjoyed trying to speak to the Hispanic guys too! It’s been a great learning experience. Micah gets to stay with his guitar instructor. I was excited to find a lady in Stephenville who would teach both kids voice and Caylee piano, but that left me with Micah’s guitar. We decided to stay in Weatherford and love that we can go back once a week and I love that he has a great role model in Brandon. Micah loves practicing and singing, he even requested my favorite John Denver song, “Sunshine on my Shoulders”…. love it!

Even though the life has been crazy, we’ve found time for a few family walks. It’s much easier getting Matt home for dinner and most days he joins us for lunch as well. This has been a nice change about living here. 

We’ve made new friends! Sweet Jaxon gets to come over sometimes- they lived in the home that burned down, but now live in the duplex. The kids have loved riding bikes, kicking a ball etc with him. He’s very sweet and fun to be around. Mine have never had neighbors to play with after school work- he’s only in 1st grade so he doesn’t have much homework, and it’s fun in the evenings for them to run around the property together. 

Of all the animals we had we are down to 4…. Caylee gave the bunnies to friends a few months back, a wise decision on her part, and a bobcat ate the chickens, an unfortunate accident. So here we are… one cat, who survived the fire!, 3 dogs, who love that they have a new fence and 500 horses to help with (when we want) 🙂 Overall, very happy animals!

Finally, I didn’t post much, but Micah was able to compete at the Fort Worth Stock Show Equine IQ Test. He studied for several months, learning names of bones, types and breeds of horses, feed, care etc… anything equine related! It was tough because we really didn’t know what to study! But, it was great and he enjoyed the testing. He did not make the top 5, but was still proud of his work. I think he wants to try again next year. As a bonus, we were able to meet up with friends and he was able to hang with their boys- a great group of boys that I hope we can continue running into over the years because they would make excellent friends. 

I did not get pictures of the Thompson family and their amazing generosity! I called Beth at 9:30 at night and asked if we could spend the night. She didn’t even hesitate and said come on over. She really didn’t ask why, but I explained the fire/smoke was just too much for me to handle. Brian made us “fancy breakfast” (according to the kids), they just enjoy meat at breakfast and there were potatoes, cantaloupe, sausage, bacon, eggs etc…. so much food! I had originally planned on grabbing a hotel, but Micah doesn’t really like hotels- especially cheap ones- so he begged for me to call friends. I am glad I did, the fellowship time we could have missed out on was wonderful- just knowing people cared about us, loved us and were happy to have us at the very last minute was a gift. 

Along the same lines, Bob and Sharen were more than happy to host us, and we planned on it, but at the last minute decided to see if the smoke had dissipated some… it had, a little… but not enough to not make us have headaches the next day. SO… off we headed to their house to get schoolwork done. So generous, so sweet! They served us pecans and strawberries as a snack– it really hit the spot, we devoured them!

Having Wed as our Weatherford day has also been a blessing. We have been able to pack a few bags for our packs of love group- this is nice because it allows us to serve while we are figuring out where and how to serve in Stephenville. We get to run errands… thankful for some money to buy ALL the things to possibly help with smoke (baking soda, vinegar, diffusers, oil, air filters, sprays, lotions, charcoal, sponges…you name it, if it was recommended to help with smoky smells I bought it!) After 3 weeks the barn is STILL smoking, and occasionally a fire starts up again. The house has gotten SO much better though and I’m thankful for all the things and that Matt hasn’t tried to convince me it doesn’t smell, when he knows it does, just so I won’t buy more stuff 😉

Overall… the move will continue to get better and better, the adjustments won’t feel so awkward one day and we’ll settle in… right now, I am trying to focus on the friends we’ve been blessed with, the new ones we can get to know/love/serve and the adventure that is to come!

January wasn’t all bad… :)

January 2024

I think January has been the LONGEST month ever…. So this post is not super uplifting… full of frustrations with our first month here and all of the problems. First up is moving. We didn’t get to have our annual New Years Eve party with friends this year because we were moving the whole weekend. I’ll be honest, moving is extremely difficult on our marriage. I told Matt we needed help this time around, but he never listens. He decided we could do it on our own…. this though, in the midst of him also trying to move 500 horses, lab equipment, barn equipment etc down to Stephenville the same week. To say it was stressful is an understatement, and yet… we came out alive and hopefully stronger 🙂  

This move has been weird because I haven’t been able to easily switch all I needed to switch. Our address wasn’t (and still isn’t) actually registered with the county/city so it is difficult for me to have things shipped and to get a PO Box. I was able to quickly change a few shipping locations and found that Amazon locker (while not as convenient as your door) is pretty cool! The kids and I spent many hours back and forth to Walmart trying to grab all the things we needed… I really threw stuff away before this move, including old towels, pillows, furniture etc. It was time for a new/fresh start on a lot of that stuff! 

The kids were FAST at putting their rooms together- Micah just had to wait another week to get our bed since we had to wait for our new bed to arrive. But now, everyone is happy- including Hyperion who loves sleeping in a big bed with Micah and therefore does not try to sleep on top of me anymore! Yea! Our new bed is amazing! I am so thankful that Matt let us splurge and get something nice, we both sleep much better with a great mattress!

That brings up the dogs…. a fence had not been installed when we first moved in (and was just finished at the end of Jan). This wasn’t awful, but it did/does mean lots of walks to get them to go to the bathroom and constant leashes. Sammy can’t hear so taking him off the leash is silly because he’d slip through the front gate and get hit by I car, I have no doubt. Hyperion is scared and too big to be running off- he doesn’t listen when he’s scared either, so a leash for him. Flynn does ok when we let him off, but when we first moved in there was a stray dog constantly around (another source of contention). Overall, the dogs have adjusted well and seem to like it.

Now to the stray dog…. it was some pitbull mix, very jumpy and barked a bit with our dogs out. It just made me nervous. Then it began chasing the horses, not safe. I begged Matt to have the dog removed, he was busy so it frustrated him, but after several days of prayer Matt took the dog to the shelter. He’s amazing and knew it needed to go- but like I said, getting things put together at a new facility, working out schedules, keeping horses healthy is all VERY stressful. Between our kids, the neighbors kids, our dogs and tons of trailers/people/horses coming into the facility it just isn’t good to have a random dog around that we don’t know. I’m sure it will find a new home because it definitely had a sweet side…. I just don’t take risks with dogs. Ever. Too many bad experiences!

Our house had sold back in December, but we weren’t scheduled to close until Jan 18. However, they were able to move the closing date up to Jan 10- we were SO excited. It had been stressful going back and forth to Weatherford constantly to drip water (bc of cold), fix things (bc they wanted small things fixed) etc…. we finally moved out the rest of the junk (storage) and things were ready to sell. We closed on a Wed, had guitar lessons, lunch with Beth and Lily and then met Matt at closing. We weren’t overly excited, I think just relieved and exhausted. It had been a long two weeks….. We wouldn’t end up celebrating until a few days later when we’d eat at Hard Eight BBQ. But God is gracious and allowed our closing to happen BEFORE the hard freeze.

Then the ice came…. freezing temps…. trying to get waters broken, figure out the house, drip faucets so nothing broke etc…. we all HATE freezing weather. It lasted several days, not much precip, but super cold that walking the dogs, taking care of horses etc was miserable. Thank goodness it doesn’t last long here. 

After the ice, came the fire….. yep, the neighbors mobile home caught fire, which spread quickly to the hay barn. It’s been 3 weeks officially now and the fire is STILL burning and STILL smoking. Everytime I think it has stopped, it starts up again. It was an awful experience. Micah and Matt saw the fire. Micah ran inside to have me call 911, Matt ran into their house to make sure they weren’t in there. They weren’t, thank goodness, they had just left about 20 minutes before, but that was fortunate bc it’s usually the nap time of the little girl and her mom often sleeps too. Anyway, I told 911 to get there asap bc the hay barn was about to go up. I sent the kids inside, the smoke was already pouring from the house and flames were huge. Sadly, we couldn’t save their dogs. That part was heartbreaking. Thankfully, I had sent the kids inside our house, so they didn’t have to listen. Matt was trying to pull stuff out of the barn when several men in trucks pulled in off the road and asked me what else was in the barn. Equipment… with gasoline…. they jumped to action and helped Matt get tractors/lawnmowers etc out. The fire departments from 6 locations showed up. At one point, I counted over 20 emergency vehicles. They realized that besides hay, we had molasses licks in the barn too- apparently, those are very toxic when they burn. With that, they just wet down the area surrounding the barn and decided to let it burn. The family was safe, but lost everything. The business gave them money for a hotel for the week until we could figure that out. I sent them with a few things to stay warm and then the real work began the time following the fire. I have amazing friends and family who donated money, clothes, etc. We met new neighbors (I don’t recommend meeting neighbors this way!!), but they gathered supplies and money as well. 

Meanwhile, our house was fine. The wind was strong the first day and blowing the smoke away from us. However, that changed on Saturday and later that evening the smoke was SO strong in our house I couldn’t stand it. The kids and I called a friend and stayed with them. I didn’t want it to affect our asthma and give us headaches when we had people who would help. The kids loved staying with them and I so appreciated their willingness at such a late hour! We were able to come home and the cleaning began. I washed EVERYTHING in the laundry that could be washed, scrubbed EVERY surface with vinegar and started using essential oils. It wasn’t helping. We ordered new air purifiers with special smoke filters, kept cleaning, ordered stronger oil scents etc…. after 3 weeks we are finally not smelling as bad! It’s constant cleaning though and wiping down of vinegar, washing clothes etc. Jackets and jeans that we used to get multiple wear out of we just wear once and wash. BUT, nothing of ours is damaged and we are thankful. They may still have to do a duct cleaning and we may have to re-paint, but with the fire still re-starting we’ll wait… I don’t know how long it will continue, it’s amazing. 

Even though the fire was contained in the hay barn (once they put it out of the mobile home), we had huge flames for days. The nights were the worst because with it being SO dark out, the flames were SUPER noticeable. For that reason, we had people knocking on our door ALL day and night screaming at us to get out. They had not left any emergency vehicles to watch the area, so people didn’t know if we knew. It got to the point that the kids and I even made cookies and as we saw people pull in, we’d meet them at the door with the cookies and say “Yes, we know it’s on fire, thank you for being concerned about us, here’s a cookie” :) Just trying to make the best out of an exhausting situation!

A few days later, the family was able to move into one side of the duplex that is on the property. They have been amazed and appreciative of the support and donations, so it’s been a good time- again, everyone is safe and it could have been so different, so I’m thankful.

The next biggest problem with the new place was the plumbing. The first few times we used the bathroom we could tell something wasn’t right. Flushing the toilet would cause the shower to make bubbling noises, the shower wouldn’t drain when we showered etc. Matt told the guys and they told the contractor. The plumbers were sent out and basically worked for several days. They said, “We “fixed” it, but we aren’t sure how well, the pipes are decades old- iron in fact- and that’s just not what is used anymore. We imagine you’ll be calling us back.” Well, a few days went by and sure enough the problems started up. Matt’s solution was to not tell anyone and just use the one bathroom that works (it’s connected to another system). No way, that’s dumb. I gave him time, prayed again about my words and my attitude and finally said, “Look, if I had just spent a bunch of money on a remodel and it wasn’t working, I’d want to know ASAP why that contractor passed items when they aren’t done.” He did agree with that and finally told them. The plumbers and the contractor came out, the contractor claims he had told the original plumbing group to re-do the entire plumbing of the house, but obviously he never checked and according to the current plumbers it definitely wasn’t done. Everyone agreed the entire house needed re-plumbed. But… then the rain came….. so a week and a half went by and we didn’t see the plumbers. The skies cleared and ground dried and they finally showed up, spent 3 days with us and now we have a functioning toilet!! (This took 3 days instead of 2 because they discovered the fencing people had put one of the pipes INTO the septic tank- dumb move and the plumbers had to reroute again and do something different). Anyway, if you ask me for references I wouldn’t give any to the contractor or the fencing people, but the plumbers were amazing! They even scrubbed the floors when they finished! 

So… here we are sitting in Feb now, with Jan behind us. I’m sure new issues will come up, but for now I am thankful that Jan is over!! I joked with family that my private bible study has been on Job and the bible study at church on Acts… Job and Acts collided this month for me…. losing Weatherford was harder on me than I realized, losing the idea I had in my mind for this place with the immediate list of problems that occurred, seeing the sweet family losing all they had and having to readjust etc… and yet…. The church helping out with all we needed, letting us stay with them, giving us meals, money for our neighbors, items of clothing etc- SO much extra time of fellowship and sharing of things that I didn’t plan on this month, but needed… it’s been neat to see God work- both on my own attitude and expectations that I have held onto and the grace He has offered, the joys, the peace and the comfort. Not the start to 2024 I intended, but the one that God is using to shape and mold me individually and us as a family. 

December/Christmas

I never finished blogging about Christmas… basically, Dad came down for the weekend, we played pickleball, showed him the new house, went to church, ate ham and opened presents! It was a great Christmas and we splurged this year for the kids. Normally our gifts to them are smaller because 1. they never have a huge, expensive list and 2. by the time family buys for them we don’t have much left! This year was a little different. Micah had been wanting the Nintendo Switch for a long time. He’d begun saving his own money too- thinking he’d never get it. Caylee hadn’t asked for a vinyl cutter, but we knew she’d love it. With the move coming up, starting over, and just the fact that we don’t spoil them, yet we want to sometimes we decided to buy them those expensive gifts. They were both a hit and the kids love them! It made me happy to see their excitement and gratitude. We spent Christmas day letting Micah play videogames and helping Caylee set up and try the vinyl cutter. It was relaxed and easy, Dad headed home about noon, but we just hung around the rest of the day in pj’s and ate leftover ham! We also played several new games that we received, we love new games!

Caylee had her last small group Christmas party. I know she’ll miss these leaders and girls, but I’m hopeful she will have exciting opportunities in Stephenville too. 

I am also adding a few pics that I missed of our December season…. My week before Christmas breakfasts were sometimes a hit and sometimes a stretch this year, but it was fun anyway!

December 2023

What a whirlwind…. and we aren’t done yet! We kicked off the month with a quick day trip to Oklahoma City. (no pics) It was great to see the whole Flarida family! The kids loved playing with Granger too… it was so strange to see my kids play with him since I remember going to OKC when Cody/Courtney and Sam were smaller and we’d play, then my own kids were played with by them and now we’re playing with Granger… it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed, but I guess 20yrs goes by in a flash! Thankfully, Rowdy was able to come to our house and take care of our dogs for the day- we’ll miss him when we move, he’s been so great over the years caring for our dogs! 

We were able to decorate gingerbread houses with the Young family again- always a fun tradition! Although, every year I forget that Ann and I should decorate our own houses 🙂 Maybe next year… We also did an art class with the Paige family. The art is fine, but the kids really enjoy the snacks she provides, this month it was brownie reindeer! So cute 😉

Everything else has been a blur this month, so much of this will end up out of order…. First off, we listed our house! The first weekend of listing we had 5 showings and received an offer! After some negotiation, we finally have signed contracts and the option period has ended, so we’re hopefully they will love our place! We have a few repairs to do and then closing won’t be until Jan, but we are SO thankful that we just had one crazy weekend of leaving the house perfectly and taking the dogs to parks. 

Micah played 2 Christmas songs at SpringCreek Musical this month. He did great and had hard songs!! I’m so proud of him for getting up there in front of people. That same evening, Caylee had a birthday party with some friends, they went around town with cold drinks (bc it had been 80 that day!) and saw Christmas lights. She had a blast- what a fun, simple birthday idea!

Throughout the weeks Matt has been coaching Micah’s basketball team… in Stephenville… it’s been an interesting season, the boys are ok talent-wise, but have no drive at all. They have only won one game and should have won more. It’s been frustrating for sure, but a learning experience! One evening, we were leaving the game and the city was having a Christmas event downtown. We walked around to check it out and found free smores, free popcorn, free hotdogs, free cider, a great band and lots of fun lights and photo ops! It was super cute… and free 😉 Stephenville is about half the size of Weatherford and will definitely be small town, but we’re looking forward to being a part of it!

Caylee had her piano recital and Bob and Sharen came! It’s always so sweet of them to come. Caylee and I had a girls night on the town- we went shopping for her recital- and saw lights. She even packed us hot chocolate and hot cider to take with us. It was a great night for us to chat and catch up. She is growing so fast and has so much going on, it was just nice one on one time. Meanwhile, Micah and Matt went fishing. This was good for them too- Micah had been wanting to go fishing and Matt has been SO busy with the house and everything that it was good to take time to spend together. 

We had our big Packs of Love for Christmas. I won’t say it’s our last pol, but it will definitely be more difficult to get back each week once we move. It was bittersweet for sure, however, I feel confident God has areas where we can serve in Stephenville- and I don’t want to be always looking to Weatherford because we’re comfortable here after 10yrs. I want to be open to what God has waiting for us, praying for new friends, serving opportunities etc….

The kids had their final Christmas performance at the Carols, Candles and Children this past Sunday. Caylee was able to play Gabrielle and Micah was a shepherd. They both did great and had tons of fun! They were both able to help the preteen minister with recordings for a book that was read during the service as well. They’ve had a lot of fun in preteen ministry this year- another hard thing to leave- but I’m sure they can bring what they’ve learned and serve another church too! 

Finally, we wrapped up the past few days by keeping my cousin! Well, technically, he is my 3rd cousin, his Grandma is actually my cousin, then his mom my 2nd cousin and she was having a baby! We offered to keep Lincoln and had SO much fun with him! He has TONS of energy- it’s been a while since I’ve had a 3yr old in the house, but the kids did amazing entertaining him and he loves them. We went to parks, the museum for storytime, played at home, read books, ate lots of snacks and napped. Tuesday night we were able to go see “his baby” in the hospital. We spent the night with him Tuesday and hung out all day Wednesday too. By Wed he was a little tired of us and really wanted his “mommy and baby”… they were discharged and able to go home wed, so it worked out that he was able to go home too. We were excited to help out and can’t wait to spend more time with all of them! 

Christmas is a few days away and we’re all a little under the weather… hopefully everyone clears up and we can get a few more things done before Grandpa is supposed to head our way.