What is home???

It was a year ago this week that we packed up our family and our worldly possessions (in a 1984 tractor pulling a 1964 trailer )...Trekked 1800 miles to start a new life in Denver Colorado. 

The past year has been a huge struggle. Emotionally. Physically. And spiritually.

We have experienced all kinds if challenges & changes from health to work which then becomes financial... And you know how that goes!

This year has been about great bonding amongst our family. After all we really have only had each other.

We've each in our own time said this isn't home. And frankly we've sulked... We miss our comforts.. Seeing people you know in public, knowing the short cut around traffic jams, being able to meet my mom for breakfast & quick run to Target, 20 ft ceilings in my house, a huge gourmet kitchen, a bathroom that is physically impossible to pee, brush your teeth & put your feet in the shower all at the same time (hehe), a private backyard, a snow day with the girls, a secure bank account & a steady income!

But really these are just things.... This is not what makes it home. I guess I should throw in a quick note: we had many other things in MD that made it home, sometimes it's easier to focus on the things we don't have than the things we did ;)

Finally, on Sunday it hit me... THIS IS HOME!!! No I didn't get a bathroom remodel.. But we have friends to fellowship with from church, a neighbor to love on my family while my daughter has surgery, a group of believers to pray for us during tough times. The Lord has finally given us this feeling & for that I am grateful!!!

But I must admit we do miss home in MD.. Our family, friends, our pastor & our church family... 

Weary....

There's so much to post to explain where we are. Things are complicated. We've been sick w/ various viruses since Labor Day... I've been sick for over a week. 

Do you know that when you're a mom to 4 girls there's no time to be sick?!?

We've sold our business, that's a blessing... But the future seems so uncertain. What will we do?? How will we support our family of children with mounding special needs?? God knows, He is in control.

I've been in such a funk lately, searching for answers, jumping hurdles. Just going thru day to day life without expressing much joy. Today for example, I had a lovely tea with our family. Very nice time to sit & relax & catch up... But I must admit I spent half of it worrying about my next duty. Today happened to be the day for Kayla's weekly IV infusion. This is a great thing & we feel blessed by the medical care we have. Unfortunately I spend too much time griping about the amount of time it takes to drive, wait, see the nurse, get a room...the infusion itself takes 1 1/2-2 hrs... Then we get to drive home in traffic.... On & on I go.

TODAY.... As we entered the infusion department which is located in the oncology department... I was stopped in my tracks... 

Why?

As soon as we entered we saw a family. Mom, dad & 3 kids....

One of the daughters, appearing about 10 years old had lost all of her hair. And then I saw mom... She had shaved her head to soften the pain of her daughter. They both made eye contact & smiled.... they had a JOY. I was quickly humbled by this sight... I can't imagine what this family is going thru but I do know, my whining & grumbling is unnecessary& probably a bit disappointing to God. I know The Lord wants us to have joy regardless of our circumstances. It's easy to have JOY when things are good. Try shaving your head & taking your daughter for cancer treatments and having joy...that's tough, I admire their strength. 

Greg & I learned a few years back during a study called Experiencing God. He speaks with us in 4 ways. I'm grateful for God's communication today through circumstance. The other ways are through the bible, church & prayer.

A visitor...

The weather in Colorado is quite different than we are used to. It is terribly dry here. Literally I can count on 2 hands the number of times it has rained here since we moved here! 

Over the past few weeks though we have hit "monsoon season"... It has rained many times a week, like heavy afternoon downpours. The rapid increase in moisture has caused the spiders to come out. Ugly spiders. Big, hairy, nasty spiders. They tend to be worse in the basement & since this is where Emily & Sami sleep we decided to call an exterminator. They sprayed inside & out. The guy even mentioned that our flower beds were FULL! He also told me that we would see some stragglers... 

Well...

Did we ever except these weren't the regular big ugly spiders... Once they were dead, with their legs curled up they were still the size of a silver dollar! They belong in a museum... Behind glass... Eewww!

And as if that wasn't enough..

We found a SNAKE in Sami's room!!!!

I'm ready to pack my bags & move to a hospital... A sterile hospital! Our skin is still crawling... Even as I type!

Yuck!!

Prayer Request

Mira will be having surgery tomorrow am to "open her eyes". If you think if it, please say a prayer for her. I will post & update tomorrow!

Heliotropism

Heliotropism: an orienting response to the sun (usually referring to plants)

This week while listening to our favorite radio station they were discussing the wild sunflowers that are growing everywhere. They are just beautiful. They discussed that sunflowers are heliotropic. They reposition themselves to always be facing the sun. (So I began to watch & it's true!!!) they continued saying that as followers of God we should be like the sunflowers and constantly reposition ourselves to be following the SON. 

Awesome!!

We have been going through a tough spot recently and now it's all making sense.

We've never been promised an easy life.

We've been promised that if we focus on HIM he will provide. That doesn't mean money, fancy cars, big houses or exotic vacations. If we focus on Him all other things will fall into place.

I'm a stay at home mom, we've been blessed, my husband is a very hard worker. He is a provider, spiritually & financially. Our business has been struggling for the past several months. It's been a huge burden to figure out why, what to do next, is it of God?? We've earnestly prayed to show us His will all to end up frustrated, empty handed, discouraged. We've been asking but seeking our own will.... Until... There was a revelation. 

We've been seeking success, a business to pass along to our children, something we can do together, an investment and to serve him.

I'll end this here to say, we're focused on God, following the Son. We will be persecuted for our decision. It is not of the world but it is of HIM!

What would you do!?!?

A neighbor blessed is with the.largest.zucchini... EVER!!
Seriously it could feed a small village!
After we took pictures (lol) I thought what am I gonna do with this thing! Well, here you go!
First I made 2 delicious loaves of Banana Chocolate Chip Zucchini bread.
YUMM!
This recipe yields 1 loaf:
In medium bowl combine:
3/4 c sugar
1 beaten egg
Splash of vanilla
2 smashed bananas
1 c grated zucchini

In another medium bowl combine:
1.5 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients & blend. Then add 2 TBSP melted butter & stir. Then add 3/4-1 c chocolate chips.

Bake in greased loaf pan at 350* for 1 hour.

Well that only used like a 1/4 of it!

So since we were having burgers & hotdogs on the grill I decided to make Panko Breaded Zucchini Chips. They were a hit!
I simply sliced the zucchini in 1/4" rounds dredged in salt & peppered flour, beaten egg & then coated with Panko crumbs. Baked at 400* for 30 mins on a lightly sprayed baking sheet.
We dipped in ranch at our house!
YUMMY!!

Hard to believe but I still have a chunk left!
What would you do with it!?!?
Here are some pics:

School's Out!! (post from June)

Woohoo!!!
This has been the longest school year..... ever!!!
All the girls were in up to 3 schools each... Somehow I think that may qualify as child abuse! Lol
We kicked off the summer with a family trip to Aspen...
Absolutely breathtaking. One of the most beautiful places I've ever visited in the US. We are NOT Aspen people... Aspen is geared for the rich, famous & beautiful people... But we didn't let that stop us!!
It was the most relaxing vacation out family has had in a long time. On Friday we visited Glenwood Springs Adventure Park which was sooo much fun! We had a ball! Then on Saturday we visited the Maroon Bells which is absolutely GORGEOUS, this is the mountain scene that you see in the beginning of some movies for Paramount pictures. Then on Sunday Greg, his Dad & Kara golfed while the girls & I shopped! Probably one of the coolest things we "did" was take the girls to the fountain in town. It was huge water sprinklers on the sidewalk that all the kids (and some adults) play in... Our kids were entertained for hours!
We valued every inch of Gods beauty during that weekend. It's amazing to see how majestic His creation is!
Enjoy the pics!!

It's been a while now....

So I've kinda dropped the ball on posting.. So much has happened!
My mom came for a 10 day visit it was very nice! We did some fun things.. See pics below!
In late April Kayla had cardiac ablation surgery. We praise God daily for keeping her safe & repairing her heart!
Life has been keeping us busy & at times we find ourselves pouting, frustrated as we search for purpose & direction. We are trying to look at life from a positive perspective. We know that God is working on something big for our family. He doesn't ever promise that life will be easy. In the meantime we search for ways to serve, take care of our crazy busy family & trust...& wait.
Here's a few pics...

Stepping out of his comfort zone

Last Friday, my dad, Dale stepped out of his comfort zone. He faced his fear.
My dad had never flown in his life, he & Liz came to visit for 5 days. It was nice!
We did several things, see in the photos below. A favorite was Beau Jo's... Yummy colorado mountain pie. The most delicious pizza I've had, they serve it with a bottle of honey to drizzle over the crust as dessert! Yum-o!!
I'm so proud of my dad for overcoming his fear to come visit his family!

A little DIY.....

After the move to Denver, our family purchased a house. We jokingly call it our "new old house"! It is a 1972 ranch home on 2.75 acres complete with a horse barn & arena! Initially when we decided to move, part of the motivation was to turn over the things that were important to us, worldly things, and to submit our trust in The Lord. We had a fantastic, big house in MD. We loved it, Greg and I built that house from trees to keys as he says. It's true. We cleared the wooded lot, worked long tiring days there and eventually moved in and made it our home. I loved ga house... Sometimes a bit too much! I said the words, lord I would be happy to live in a small rancher.
Well, fast forward to February 28, 2013. We were the proud owners of a small ranch. We are a big family... 6 of us & 3 dogs! The small ranch seems a bit optimistic at times. But the Lord has blessed us with a house that has 2 full floors of living space, each girl even has their own room! The house truly is perfect & has tons of potential! One truly important thing is that Greg has a workshop and we have a detached office to run our business from. Since it is a 70's house & people have different tastes we've had to change some of the paint in various areas. In addition to the paint, we decided to tear out the kitchen... It literally just didn't work and the cabinets had seen their days! So my hubby decided to tear it out and put in a new kitchen. That continues to be in the works!
However, Sami's room was formerly a boys room complete with large Ewok stickers on the doors & brown wallpaper! The words she chose were.... I will not sleep one night in this room like this! Lol! So we've done a complete makeover to her room. She was able pick her colors, brace yourself you may need sunglasses to enter this room! Sami is very expressive & if she chooses to express herself through colors than ill just choose to thankful, it could be worse!
By the way, wallpaper is a NIGHTMARE to remove... Thank God for my Shark steamer!
Here are a few pics of the before/after of Sami's room!

Emily...

Emily didn't have to be at school until noon last week so we had a little bonding time. Just Emily & me. It was GREAT!!
After dropping the other girls at school we went for a yummy breakfast. We went to Mimi's Cafe. The food was DELICIOUS!!!
Then we went for a little shopping at Marshall's & Kohl's. the time went by so quick, before we knew it we had to pick up Mira! I'm thankful for these times together, we've been blessed to have such a sweet girl in Emily!

Touched...

**Caution**
Mama bragging ahead!!

My daughter, Sami.
She's 11, going on 21. But VERY mature... Most of the time.
When we moved to Denver, the kids started school on jan7th after winter break. Sami went to school nervous but confident. Her primary goal was to make friends!
The first day of school she came home talking about random girls, she got a few cell numbers. Sami is a good student so I don't worry about this desire to be social. Soon after the first day of school, Sami came home talking about her new friend, Rika, she's from Japan. Sami continued to get to know her, quickly finding out that Rika is moving back to Japan in March. This didn't stop her & Sami from growing close... Like BFF close. If have to say I am beyond proud at the level of maturity it takes to grow close to someone you will likely never see again. To love with an unguarded heart. My prayer is that Sami & Rika will stay in touch, Sami's heart will be healed from the loss & that Sami will make more friends. Thank you Heavenly Father for teaching Sami to love beyond limits, just as you do.

The longest 2 weeks... EVER!

We made a commitment as a family, 2 years ago, to give Mira the best life possible.
Little did we know that we would move half way across the country!
On Saturday February 2nd Mira & I flew back to Baltimore to continue with corrective surgery.
As a family we are used to spending bursts of time apart. Greg has gone on several mission trips, hunting trips, 4 wheeling trips etc.
This time it has been extremely hard.
I think it is because we live in an unfamiliar place and we don't know anyone. For this reason we've become incredibly close! Greg & I are best friends, we are the only friends each of us have in Co. None of this is bad, it's actually been healthy for our relationship. It just makes it hard to be apart.
I miss my girls terribly too. We spend a lot of time together.
Greg is envious that I've been able to "come back". I got to go to church twice during my stay, which was nice. I miss my church family... A lot.
I've been able to spend some time with my parents too which was nice. To some it may sound a but vacation like but I can assure you it hasn't been. It's hard to be here, apart from my family, no place to call home, not enough time to visit some people that I truly miss...
It's funny, as I type this, I'm chuckling to myself about the title..."the longest 2 weeks EVER!" How soon we forget! It has been almost 1 year since I traveled to china to get Mira and I can promise you THAT was the longest 2 weeks EVER!!!
But in this particular moment, the past 2 weeks have been tough!
Tomorrow am Mira & I return home to be reunited with our family. It will be the sweetest Valentines ever!
I can't wait to hug my girls.

Not sure where to begin

I had big dreams of setting this family blog up with some very specific posts.
But.
I can't make a decision on where to begin.
Because of this, I have missed out on some good posts!
A brief catch up:
In December of 2012 we packed our family up with every belonging we own and moved west.
We left everything we've ever known behind and we now live in Denver, Co.
Why??
It all started in January of 2011, we had gone to visit Greg's dad & family. Kayla asked us if we could live there because it is so beautiful. Greg & I chuckled it off and said maybe one day!
And so it began... After many lengthy conversations we decided if it was meant to be it would happen. This was our dream home. Greg & I built it with our own 2 hands. We placed the house on the market in June & it sold in October. A few days later, our business sold too.
I think it was meant to be.
During this time we had begun Mira's reconstructive surgery to her legs. We decided Mira's care would remain in MD with Dr Standard. It may not be easy but it is worth it because we know she is in good hands.
Fast forward to now... The month of Dec was a complete blur. After several trips back and forth... By January 1st we had moved everything out to Colorado. We currently live in an area called Lone Tree , we absolutely don't belong there. It's where the beautiful people live.. Fancy clothes, fancy cars, congested neighborhood. We are currently in the process of buying a house in an area called Parker. We feel this is a better fit for our family.
We've been attending Crossroads Community Church in Parker. It is a mega church. Approx 2000 members. It is very different than what we are used to. We like it there but just aren't sure it's the right fit for our family.
The girls are all attending public school which is a good thing. They have all made friends, the transition appears seem less for them.
Greg & I on the other hand are struggling.
Everything is different.
We continue to walk by faith, not by sight.