Always Remember

Our neighbors... remember how much we love them? Here they are:

Donnie and Angela... still lovebirds after 27 years

Matt, Kate, Zack, and Ben

Tyler, Drew, Jonathan and Caleb

Katie and me

John and Sharon

Our neighbors had a BBQ for us as a farewell on Sunday evening, and we had great food, great company and perfect weather.

9 years, 3 cities, 7 residences

My mother commented the other day that when we arrive at our destination after our move next month, we will have lived in seven different "homes" in our nine years of marriage. Three major moves to new cities. And, we won't be entirely settled next month as we will still be looking for a new home to own.

Today marks nine years of marriage. Nine years of loving, laughing, refining, changing, and commitment. We look back in amazement at where God has taken us, enjoy today because we still have great fun, and look forward to what is yet to come.

Our annual celebration usually includes a little more fanfare than will be occurring this year, but we are both weary. Weary of limbo, weary of driving here and there, and weary of saying good-byes. We will celebrate with a quiet dinner out tonight and will look forward to time away this winter when things are calmer.

James and Sarah... sitting in a tree... :+)

Fall Fun

It was the weekend of parties for the Guild family, and we had one good time after another. Party number two of the weekend was at our friends' house about thirty minutes from here. It was a gorgeous evening, great company, and super duper kid things to do. We had a blast and Jonathan would consider moving in with them, as I think he thought that he had arrived in heaven with all of the fun things to do!

Jonathan and I... Connor and Chad Allison

Jamie and Caleb, Chad and Connor

Kaila, James, and Jonathan

Trying to catch a fish

The mini-bounce house... kids' paradise!

Biggest little boy

Jonathan requested that the tractor be green and yellow with a blue seat, red wheels, and a few sprinkles on the blue part. Mission accomplished.

Jonathan turns four on Thursday, and we had a little shin dig for him on Saturday at the YMCA park. He had a great time playing and eating cake (made with love by Daddy).

Jonathan and Hannah

Jonathan, Andrew, and Caleb with the beloved, Esther.

Jonathan and Andrew Nehre

Jonathan and Esther (babysitter, friend, and good pal of all of us)

Guild family with the John Deere tractor cake

Almost, Sort of, Not Really

We almost offered on a house today. We sort of felt okay about it. When it came down to it, we didn't actually feel all that great about it. We felt rushed, kind of frazzled, and not all that enthused about the price for the house we would have gotten.

Alas, we will be renting. Large financial decisions have to ruminate in my gut for a while. I've probably seen too many deals made in haste go badly. We are remembering three years ago when we almost bought a financial nightmare of a house in a small town near where we live. The only thing that saved us from that disaster was a bold appraiser. All these things have made us skittish and slow to decide.

We actually feel tremendous peace about renting for the next six months and deciding slowly.

Back-up... Beep, Beep!

We are still hanging in limbo. We will (hopefully) have an offer on a house very soon, and then we can begin moving towards the next season. Jonathan is still a little out of sorts. He is a thinker. Something will happen and he'll ask about it days later, and he'll actually process the situation days later. I think this change requires a little more time for him.

Caleb is oblivious now that he is sleeping better (not quite so enamored with his brother in close proximity). We are all still here, and that seems to be what matters to his 22 month old little mind.

Caleb has begun to talk like crazy and here is one of my favorites:

"Truck, back-up. Beep, beep!!"

Caleb also loves puzzles. He will sit for 20 minutes, by himself, doing puzzles. He also likes us to do some of the harder ones with him, and who could say "no" to that?

News on our new digs coming soon :+)