It was all worth it

It was two years of some serious craziness, while Derek was the youth pastor. Having a newborn while he was doing two essentially full time jobs. Having to change plans at the last minute numerous times due to meetings or people needing him. Attending things by myself because he had to work. Having no real routine or schedule because we just had to fit in family time whenever we could. Many, many inconveniences.

But going to youth group this last week showed me how it was all worth it. And it has been a very emotional week for me.

Our new youth pastor started this week, and they did a fun "get to know you" kind of youth group meeting. It included a "Newlywed Game" with Derek and I, the new pastor Mac and his wife Naomi, and two guys who used to be youth groupers and are now youth leaders - yes, I said two guys. One of them dressed up as a girl, to add to the comedy factor. Derek's old intern, Jake, was the host and asked us the questions. It was pretty funny. Even though we lost.

After the fun and games, Mac gave his testimony and told how God had brought him to our church. He ended his message by saying something along the lines of, "You guys have had an amazing man lead you for the past two years, and I want to take some time to appreciate the impact he has made." He opened up the mic for kids and leaders to share how Derek has affected their lives. I had almost been ready to leave, but I'm so glad I chose to stay because God knew that I needed to hear what so many of them had to say. I almost bawled my head off, listening to so many of their stories and examples of how Derek had impacted their lives. The last one to speak was Derek's intern, Jake, and he was very emotional about it. He said if he was able to touch half the lives that Derek had touched in the last two years, he would count his life as good. It was just amazing to listen to and I was so, so proud of him.

As I left youth group, that is when it really hit me that this was what the last two years were all about. All the family sacrifices were nothing compared to how Derek was able to do God's work. I love the quote that God is more interested in our character than our comfort, and he developed our whole family's character through this experience. There were so many times that I would read about the wife of noble character in Proverbs 31, and pray that God would help me to be that kind of support for Derek. Because although Derek was the one actually working in the lives of kids, I was the one behind the scenes doing the kind of work that God had set out for me to do. Every time I stopped focusing on myself or what I wanted, my whole family was blessed, including myself. God took care of meeting my needs, whether it was through family and friends helping out with the kids, or random texts from Derek telling me how much he appreciated and loved me, or particular Bible verses or studies that told me exactly what I needed to hear that day. God is amazing.

My husband has been giving me all sorts of credit, and it is way more than I deserve. He said it to the whole church last Sunday and he pulled me up front at youth group a couple of weeks ago, as well. I am only posting this picture so you can see how totally embarrassed I was, it has to be the cheesiest picture I have ever taken. In my defense, imagine standing in front of over 100 students while someone tries to figure out how to use the camera to take a picture. Pure torture. Oh, and you can't tell in this picture but also up on the screen behind us is a huge picture of our wedding day. He was clever and tied the whole thing into his message.

As much as he gives me credit for supporting him, he has supported me. I am so thankful for this experience God gave us, and part of the reason that this blog post is so ridiculously long is that I want our girls to know all these things I am sharing and the way that God used our family. They are pretty young, but they understand a lot about the last couple of years.

So, we say goodbye to this phase of our lives, thankful for all that God has done. Please excuse the misspelling of the word "pastor" on the screen below - high school kids were in charge of the slides! What an amazing ride.

Can't wait to see what the future holds as we move on! I do know it will begin with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, paid for by a collection of $620 from the students and parents. What a great and thoughtful gift.

A new toy and new "do's"

Well, new to us. Derek and his brother Kurt did a trade of sorts and we ended up with this quad. The kids got to ride it for the first time on Saturday - well, not really the first time, since they ride all the time when we are camping in Cle Elum. But it was the first time at our house, and they rode around and around the house.

Oh, and after months of begging to get haircuts, I let them go short again. I really wanted Symantha to grow hers out for a while, but she was dying for it short. Maybe one day I can convince her to grow it out again, but for now I do think it is pretty cute. And MUCH easier to take care of and not look like a neglected child:).

At least Addison will let me keep hers long... and I think it is so pretty. Even if it gets a little crazy sometimes!

Clothes Management

It's not pretty, but it's a big part of my life. I call it "clothes management" and I am pretty good at it. With three girls, I have to be good at it or we would spend a whole lot more money. Every few months or each new season, I box up the clothes that are too small or out of season and bring in new boxes from storage. This used to be much easier with only two girls, but the third girl about pushed it over the edge. It turns into a week long project every few months. Because if all the laundry is not done, or you don't get a chance to do every box and every closet then you will have loose ends. I hate loose ends - the few items of clothing that now need to go into some packed away box.

And due to the girls ages not all falling in the same seasons, I now need to specify sizes, ages, and often when I should pull that box out. Then there are the clothes that are on the verge of too small or too big - do you pull those or save them? Yes, it is probably a little easier if you don't have quite so many clothes to manage. But they are girls, and more cute clothes get added to the mix every time one goes through that age.

For the most part, it's fun for me to organize the clothes but there are also three little girls who LOVE the new boxes of clothes that come out. They want to help and see what is "new" to them, and this slows my process down. Especially when they want to try things on...like Addison here...

This is how I found her after I had been immersed and distracted in clothes management. She kept finding random things and the big girls would help her put them on.

I think clothes management will slow down as Addison continues to grow and she doesn't change sizes quite as often. It should turn into a once or twice a year thing, which will be very nice! But I am thankful for how much money we have saved and the cute clothes my girls can wear over and over.

Addison @ Two

So glad you can get images on cd at Yuen Lui now. Although I take a ton of pictures of the girls, I can't stop my tradition of the formal portraits, especially since Yuen Lui is so much more reasonably priced now. Here are Addison's two year pics:

Ten on Ten: April

We had pretty much nothing planned all day, except a trip to the park to enjoy the sunshine. That is my kind of Saturday. Here it is in pictures, every hour for ten hours.

Saying Goodbye

We went to say goodbye to our old house a few days ago. Derek was working on fixing up a few things before it officially went on the market, so I brought the kids to see it one last time. I hadn't seen it for almost 2 years, since our renters moved in. It was quite nostalgic for me, as I had all three babies in this house and it was the first house Derek and I had owned.

The girls thought it was pretty cool to see it all empty. Symantha said she was in gymnastics heaven, due to the wide open living room!

Then we went to visit our neighborhood park, a couple of blocks away. The kids have been dying to come back here and visit. It was really nice being able to walk to the lake and park whenever we wanted.

When Symantha was about 3 years old, she found some of these little green balls hidden in the wood chips at the park. She called them "Little fellas" and would collect them and bring them home to play with. It was funny that I found one today and asked her what it was. She knew right away and said, "A little fella!"

Amazingly enough, we just received an offer on the house yesterday and we accepted. It was only on the market for three days. I am very excited, but it is a little sentimental for me to say goodbye to our first little house where our family began. Now, we are hoping our property sells soon so we can finally be settled and feel like we are home again.

Goodbye binky

After putting it off forever, last night Addison went to sleep with no binky. We had been putting her blanky and binky "up high" (as she would say) on a shelf whenever she woke up, but it was time to be done with it. She looked at my with a straight face when I explained before bed that we would only be going to sleep with blanky and we were all done with binky. She was ok for the first five minutes, then cried hard for about 10 minutes. I kept going in and comforting her, and finally she asked for her baby and was done crying. As I closed her door, I heard her talking to her baby a bit and then she just went to sleep. She did wake up once during the night crying, but I cuddled her a bit and she went right back to sleep. What a relief!

All my baby milestones are flying by.... potty training, check. No more binky, check. My baby is not so much a baby anymore. I have mixed feelings about that, but I'm thankful that these things have been so easy for her (and me!).

From Hailey and the rest of us

Visiting the neighbors

I love that we can walk out our door and see these guys.

And take great walks to barns, woods, fields, rocks and rope swings. 

And have great picture opportunities along the way.

I will miss the views outside when we finally move off the mountain.

It has made living here so much more enjoyable!