The Time Has Come....

Well, the movers come tomorrow morning around 8:30. I am emotionally drained. I have cried more in the last week then I ever thought possible. My week has been filled to the rim with lunches and dinners with all of my amazing friends here in Omaha. Every single day, I have either had lunch or dinner with someone or a group of people. I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the effort that was put into each lunch and/or dinner and for all of the love that has been shown to me and my kids. Tonight was the very first set of goodbyes that we had to do. It was heartbreaking to watch my kids say farewell to their friends. I sincerely hope that we will hear from each and every one of you. You have no idea how much we will miss all of you. I do have to tell one quick story. Tonight, my neighbors threw us a going away party with the neighborhood. I have spoken countless times of our wonderful evenings that we have spent outside sitting in the driveway with our neighbors. Well, tonight, they gave us a home made purse that was made by Diannes mom (thank you so much Diannes mom. I LOVE IT) and it was filled with items to help us remember our wonderful summer. Then they brought out two Nebraska Husker chairs (we are DIEHARD Alabama fans) with a message written by each and every one of our neighbors on the chairs. I am so excited to pull those chairs out and use them on our new driveway. I just cannot get over what a fantastic idea that was. Thanks you guys. I will truly cherish them forever. We love you all. We love Omaha. Please, please do not forget us. We will never forget you. Thank you for changing my life. I love you.

Tough Times

The night before I returned home from Albuquerque, there was a tragedy in our neighborhood. A tragedy that has affected all of the neighbors that I have come to love as if they were family. As many of you know, my neighbors mean everything to me. There are no words to express how much they mean to me. At news of this tragedy, not only was my heart broken for the immediate family involved but for my other neighbors as well. They new the affected family far better than I did. It has literally made my stomach hurt to see them going through such a difficult time. I have cried for them more than once and I just so badly want to make it all better and I cant. The fact that I am leaving in what is now only 9 days only makes it worse on me.

This tragedy helped me realize just how lucky I am to have what I do. I know for a fact that Heavenly Father loves ME because he allowed me what I call "bonus time" here in Omaha. He did that so I could develop this amazing relationship with Larry and Tricia, Sean and Diane, and Cary and Melissa. I hate that they are hurting at this time. It shook me up however, to realize just how quickly everything can change. I don't know what I would ever do if I got the call that one of them was gone. I know that nobody can be here forever but how fast life goes by is just overwhelming.

I feel incredibly blessed to have lived on Jacobs street for the past two years. Lots of things have happened in our lives over the time we have lived here and I could not have asked for better people to share that with. I am bound and determined that wherever the future takes my family, we will make friends with our neighbors. I will indeed bring my chair outside as often as possible and sit each night and encourage others to do the same. Of course it will never be the same and I know in the beginning I will get emotional at seeing different faces around that circle, however, my dear neighbors will NEVER be forgotten and regardless of the miles that seperate us, I will indeed be there for them. I love you all and thanks for loving Buddy and I and my kids.

New House???

So we are back from our house hunting trip to Albuquerque. After much looking and much deliberation, we decided to rent a home. We had full intentions of either buying or doing a rent to own, however, after looking at lots of homes and with great prayerful consideration, nothing ever felt right. We were not comfortable owning two homes at once among other things. Although it is not official yet (just waiting to hear back from the rental agency on our approval) this will be our new home as of October 1st. The story is long and quite frankly amazing however it was VERY clear to Buddy and I that this was the place for us to live. I still think about how it all worked out in an unbelievable way. Our Heavenly Father most certainly had His hand in this one. These pictures are 2 years old and there is now grass (yes grass in New Mexico!!! Another sign that someone from above loves me indeed) in the front yard. It is in amazing condition. The current family who is renting it is just as sweet as can be. The mom and I felt like we had been friends forever. It was sad for both of us to realize that we couldn't live next to each other or something. There is a very large balcony off of the master suite and the back yard has a huge covered patio and there is plenty of room for a trampoline (Buddy is running out of excuses of why we cant have one) and for Buddy's future fire pit (Thanks for the idea Cleggs!) It is 2700 square feet (I think ) and has 2 living areas (family room and living room) plus a loft. 4 bedrooms and 3 of them have walk in closets. The kids bathroom has double sinks and has a seperate door to the shower/bath and toilet area. It is just gorgeous. So here are the pictures.

Kitchen (obviously)

This is the view from the Kitchen looking into the family room.

A small part of the backyard

Master bath (also has a HUGE walk in closet)

Moving

We are moving. I am emotionally and physically exhausted so I hope that this post makes sense. Buddy spoke with his boss today and in order to get us together as a family, the company will pay our mortgage here in Omaha until our house sells. We will move to Albuquerque and rent a home until our home here sells at which time, we will buy a home in Albuquerque.

I am experiencing about 1000 different emotions. First off, I am more than elated to be a family again. I have missed my husband more than I can say. I cannot wait to have him home each night. The kids are so happy to be living with daddy again. On the other hand, we are so very sad to be leaving such a wonderful place. We have absolutely loved Omaha. There are no words to express how much we will miss it here. We will miss just about everything (excluding the tornados and the -30 weather).

We will all be flying out on Sunday September 14th to go house hunting. We will return that following Wednesday and then move somewhere very close to October 1st. There is so much to get done between now and then and I am feeling extremely overwhelmed. I know that everything will work out for the best and we are excited for a new adventure. (tomorrow I will be excited. Tonight I am just too tired).

I of course will keep everyone posted. To our Omaha friends, thank you for making our 2+ years here so amazing. Please do not ever forget us and know that we love you so very much. I don't know how I would have made it without each of you to keep me going. One of my best friends told me tonight (as I was bawling) how much it must mean to me to see just how many friends I have here. Heidi, you are right. I am very blessed to have so many good friends.

Part of me wants to sit and type a special message to each of you but this is not the place to do that. You know who you are, and you know what you mean to me. I love you all. Let's make this next month, the most amazing yet.

Happy Birthday Ricky Ticky Tavi

Today is my oldest brothers birthday!!! Richard turns 45 today. (I am sure he appreciates me announcing that to everyone). I don't have a lot of memories of Richard from when I was little since he is 15 years older than me but I do know that I have always looked up to him. As I have become a wife and mother I have gotten to know him more. Our dad passed away 9 years ago and Richard has done such an amazing job of stepping in. He is such a spiritual giant. I only wish I had 1/4 of the knowledge and understanding that he has of the gospel. I have seen Richard face some very difficult things in his life. I know that he has suffered greatly throughout his adult life. However, he has come through it all and is even stronger spiritually. I love you Richard. Thanks for being such a great big brother. Thank you for being such a wonderful support to me in my life. I still have one email in particular that you sent me and I read it often and draw strength from it. I appreciate the fact that I know you are praying for me. There are days when I feel so overwhelmed and yet I know that you and Lauri are praying for me and my family and I feel those prayers. I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Pudding anyone????

We had a BBQ with my neighbors on Sunday and I had seen on "Jon and Kate plus 8" this great idea. It is body painting with pudding. So the kids got their swimming suits on and went at it. They had a blast!!!!

(Kimbo)

(Rachel)

(Rachel, Carly, Hayleigh, Emma, and Kimbo)

(Carly)

(Hayleigh)

Katydid

We were sitting outside the other night with our neighbors (as usual) and this came crawling across the driveway. At first we thought it was an ant carrying a leaf but upon further inspection, we found it to be a "Katydid" aka: leaf bug.





We put it in a jar.....



And the next day I took it to school to show each of the kids classrooms. They all loved it. We then let it go to so it could live happily ever after.