Life Lately

I came to my blog to do a post about the books I've been reading. One of my goals for 2018 is to read more books! But then, I got here, and realized that I hadn't blogged in about 4 years.

OOPS.

It is so crazy how this blog was such a part of my weekly life, and it definitely helped me through some hard times. And then I neglected it for 4 years.

So maybe now I have another goal for 2018: Blog more! Nobody may read this anymore..but I sure do love looking back at my memories!

So, even though obviously I have a lot of catching up to do, I am just going to start out simple: An update on our life lately!

As most of you know (from following me on the facebook) we moved to Fort Worth in August! I will have to blog about our journey to moving in another post, because it is a miraculous, "only God" story that needs to be told! But for now, let's just start with: We moved here 5 months ago, and things are going really well so far! We moved here because Casey is now the Preschool/Children's minister for Wedgwood Baptist Church. His job is going really well, and it has been such a tremendous blessing for him to be able to focus on just one area of ministry, rather than doing about 5 jobs at once (which he was doing at our church in Temple, by the time we left.) He loves his job, and we love our church, and it has been a tremendous blessing.

I interviewed for jobs in July, but really felt like God was telling me that I needed to stay home to help get the family settled. After all, we didn't move until the Saturday before school started! So, I have been staying very busy getting us settled. We moved into a fixer upper, and we have been renovating it room by room. I have been figuring out what we wanted to do from a design standpoint, whereas Casey has been more of the doer. I guess you could say I have been the JoJo to his Chip Gaines. We now have most of everything unpacked, and really the only work we have left on the inside is the girls' bedrooms (for now). We will then begin the process of saving for massive work that needs to be done on the exterior (new windows, new paint job, new fence) and then eventually the bathrooms! It has been fun at times, and stressful at others (broken appliances, raccoons in the attic, etc.)



Kailey Rose is now 10 years old. TEN ACTUAL YEARS old! It is so crazy to me that she could possibly be that old. She is in 4th grade, and is doing very well in school. She is our rule-follower, so she stays on top of getting her homework done, without much prodding from me. She catches on to things quickly, and does a really great job in her classes. We have definitely been dealing with some pre-teen emotions with her for quite some time. Sometimes it seems like they have tapered off a bit...but she definitely keeps us on our toes with the drama! Her most significant decision within the last year, is that she was baptized on January 1, 2017.



Makenna Grace is 7 1/2 years old. She is our free spirit! She is in 2nd grade, and has recently been tested for GT. She is our out-of-the-box thinker. She says the craziest, most insightful things! She is also our risk-taker, and our squirrel! Even though she is super smart..she will just not sit still and do her homework! I have to stay on top of her, almost like prodding cattle, to get her work done! She is still our most loving sweet girl also, always willing to give hugs to anyone that needs them! Makenna's most significant moment this past fall was that she asked Jesus to be her Savior, and she was baptized on November 19, 2017.



Hartlee Ruth just turned 4 years old this past Sunday. I mean, where does the actual time go?? It is crazy. She is definitely a mix of both of her big "sissies". She has Makenna's spunk and Kailey's drama! She is definitely spoiled (my fault) and HATES to sleep. I mean hates it. We had a good year, before we moved here, where she didn't wake us up during the night, but ever since we moved here, she wakes us up once per night. It is exhausting. However..she is such a blessing to us, and we are so thankful for her, even if we don't get to sleep.

That catches you up on the basics of how we have been doing lately. Soon I will do a post on our journey to Fort Worth, and maybe even a couple renovation posts! Who knows? Maybe 2018 will be the revival of this ole blog!