Round 2...on a Friday

This mornings post was unexpected, so I thought it would only be fair to finally and fully fill you in on what the true big announcement is.

Sadly, and I'm sorry to disappoint but it is no baby. No pea in a pod...yet.

My big news is nothing that we are purchasing...it's more or less as opportunity that God has provided for us. A family in our church is moving and was unable to sell their house. Knowing that we would be interested in moving out, they offered to rent their house to us.

Sadly though, we couldn't afford it. [insert much sadness here] With no real jobs on the horizon, it doesn't lend very well to paying rent along with other bills. 

Despite this my official announcement is....

we are still moving! :)

In order to help them and help ourselves, it's been decided that we will split the house and the rent with Greg's younger brother and his new wife (they are getting married a week before we move). [this is where you will kindly keep all rude and un-nice comments to yourself please]. We all know this isn't an ideal or normal situation. We know it's bound to have some issues. BUT we have had enough of living in an attic with 95% of our belongings in a storage unit 2 miles away. 

We are moving to this house:

and yes...this house has an awesome garden, full of growing zucchinis, cucumbers, tomatoes of all sizes, mint, raspberries, dill, parsley, rhubarb, green beans, etc.

We are house sitting while the owners are on vacation, so I am already benefiting from the oh-so-plentiful garden.

I'm sorry this has taken so long, lots of stuff has been going on around here. Like how on earth we are going to replace this car when our money is already going to that house up there.

**Us trying to unload all of my hubby's "stuff" from his car to mine

We are praying that God led us to this position because He has bigger plans for us than we can see. While he hope and think we are making the right decisions, there is no way to be sure. The next month or two could be great, bad, or a little bit of each. I guess we'll see what happens...

January 7th

1995 changed my life. Prior to this day I was an only child...for 9 years and 8 months. Then what I thought was soo absolutely fantastic, I had a little brother. Of course to me at this time I thought it was cool. Then he turned 6, 7, 11, and it wasn't so fabulous.

Anyway, I remember being woken up by my parents and I don't remember what they told me, except that I knew I had to go to my best friends' house. I spent the rest of the night at her house and even slid..okay fell down the stairs the next morning when I woke up. I must have been pretty excited [or still half asleep]. I of course wanted a sister. What almost 10 year old girl wouldn't want a sister? Turns out that around 11:00am, my little brother was born. I was so excited to meet him and hold him. After all, I had wanted to be a big sister for what seemed like forever [in a 9 yr olds mind..I'm sure it was forever}

Someone called the house to announce that I had a brother, Gregory Michael [I always had trouble spelling Michael]. Eventually my dad came to pick me up to visit my momma and brother in the hospital. I had no idea what it would really be like to have a brother and I don't think I would have believed it if anyone tried to tell me. When I saw him laying there  he was wrapped in a multitude of blankets because he had a low body temperature [i think] and he was crying. I stood there staring at him and I soon got to hold him. As I remember it, he almost immediately started crying when I held him. Of course I thought this was so perfect that he stopped crying for me, but in reality he probably would have stopped crying if ANYONE held him. 

After all, he had no idea who I was. 

• He had no idea that in a few years I would be dressing him in a skirt and painting his toenails...
• ...and he certainly had no idea he wouldn't know any better. 
• He had no idea that I felt like a mom when I held him or tried to take care of him. 
• He had no idea that his birth would eventually mean I got paid to babysit :). 
• He had no idea that he would eventually tower over me [because HE got the TALL genes]. 
• He had no idea how much I wanted to show him and teach him (because in my mind I was his 2nd mother)
• He had no idea that we would play legos and games and I would let him win almost ALL the time, until I felt I should finally win just to keep him in his place. ;)
• He had no idea that for years and years to come he would constantly be asked "is Katy your older sister?"

As we both got older, I thought about how cool it would be to be the cool, older sister. You know the one I'm talking about...no not the one that buys him alcohol or cigarettes. Just the cool one that you can always go to and hang out with. The one that helps teach you how to drive. Yep, that cool one. Except that when I thought about him driving, I thought about how old I would be....25 going on 26! Yikes, I thought that was old. And now, here we are...a year away.

 He's 15, he's my BIG little brother, and despite how uncool he thinks I am and how much he can irritate me (as 15 yr olds purposely try to do), I'm still his BIG sister and I've still got big expectations for him.

So here's to you little brother---Happy 15th Birthday.

It's the little things that count

There are days in everyone's life that you just walk through with blinders on. Now I'm not saying that you are purposely ignoring everything around you, but things are going smoothly and there aren't any major bumps, turns, or other catastrophe's that make you look around.


Then there are those other days that just make you stop and question. Those are the days that you get a true perspective on your life and you have two choices:
         1. Focus on the things that are going wrong
         2. Focus on the things that are good


I'll admit, it is easy to look first to the things that are wrong, the things that could be better, or the things you aren't happy with. But why? Where does it get you. You worry, you lose sleep, you get angry or frustrated because it all boils down to the fact that you have no control over what is going on. And that's when I am so thankful I can turn to my God and realize I don't have to be in control.


Today, nothing happened to me directly. But hearing some recent events that happened to a dear friend (whom I'm praying for) and having a lovely night with my in-laws it really got me thinking. I am so thankful and glad that I have a loving and caring husband (even when he is preoccupied with sports...after all I knew what I was marrying), an awesome mom (who I've gotten to work with--not just visit at school), father, and alright I'll even say my BIG-little brother...

..who is quite a lot taller than me, and just generally and overall BIGGER than me.  And who am I kidding my in-laws are a wonderful group of people. I've got a few close friends who I would consider my "support circle"...if I need to talk to a girl, they've got my back (among other things..haha)


But the funny thing I realized in trying to offer some words of encouragement and support to this dear girl is that I was told that the people you were friends with in high school wouldn't always be your friends--some would go to different colleges and some would move away and you would make new friends. Then I went to college...and no one told me this. That you really possibly end up living farther away from the people you met in college. I realized that two of the girls who I adore and met in college both live over an hour away and I follow their lives on facebook and their blogs: (here and here). I saw one over the summer because she had a BABY and the other one I haven't seen for almost 2 years!!  But on the upside, I'm super happy that we have the wonderful ways of technology to interact and share about what is going on in our lives. 


Well there was your random thought(s) for the day (if they even made sense). :)


...maybe going to visit my niece and sister (who is going to have a baby in 19 days!)