Some recent Pictures

Life has been busy... I've been packing...packing... and doing more packing. We have made time for a few things though which are shown below. In one week we will be in our new house.


You would think this is just an ordinary packing box........ but it's not! :-)

Abby and her good friend Eva swimming....

Me and my little boy-- this was his first time swimming.

Emily swimming. She loved her water wings.

Abby pushing Kenan around the lake

Kenan chillin'

Emily pushing Kenan

Kenan playing with the water

Kenan's first time in his high chair-- he was picking up the food and eating it.

My cousin Veronica got to meet Kenan for the first time.

My Uncle Ron met him for the 1st time too and carried him all around.

I borrowed this from my sister but didn't think she would mind. It spoke to me...


“It starts with you. In the end, God simply calls you to be faithful to the things He has given you to do. He doesn’t require you to be a superstar, just faithful and obedient, by praying, loving, serving, giving, forgiving, healing, and caring— doing small things with great love.”
— Richard Stearns

Crazy Life...

Life has held so much for us lately. I don't even know if I have enough words to put it all down.



Joel and I have been struggling with our house for awhile now and after pursuing all options and avenues to keep it we have decided that selling is our best option. We put it on the market 7 weeks ago with hardly any shows or calls. At the same time we have been searching out different jobs for Joel around the area where all our family lives-- 3 hours north. We have been prayerfully searching everything we have felt God leading us to.

The same weekend Joel received two job offers - we also got a call from our realtor with an offer on the house. I had been praying for them both to happen at the same time so we would know what to do. God is good!

We then moved on to finding something to rent. We thought we found the perfect place. It was a huge 7 bedroom farmhouse. The old part was a trailer and had quite an animal smell to it but with new carpet and paint we thought we could fix it. The new part was amazing. Big, huge rooms with hardwood floors. It was beautiful. To top it all off the guy even dropped 100.00 off the rent to make it in our price range. It was only 15 min. from where Joel would be working so it seemed like a great fit.

We went out to the house one evening at dusk to show our family and I just got done telling my MIL about the top of the barn (which is 20 ft. from the house), how much the kids are going to love going into the top of the barn and having clubs... forts... ect... We walked up the stairs onto the deck leading into the french doors and found a dead bat. I didn't think much of it.... there was also tons of poop.... still didn't think much of it. As we are standing there things are flying over our heads. I'm just thinking they are birds and it isn't bothering me. We walk back down the stairs and my FIL was talking about the absence of mosquito's here and since we are in the middle of pastures with ponds all around he thought it would be a major problem. We then realize what is flying out of the barn is bats... I counted over 40- just as we were standing there, not to mention the things that were flying over our heads before and after we left. I get the shivers just thinking about it.
I hate bats.... HATE. They creep me out and are the ugliest little things. Joel still wasn't to concerned even though there had to be over 50 colonizing in the barn, 20 ft from the house. He figured we would just kill them. After doing some research I have found they are an endangered species and you can't kill them. They also only need something the size of a thumbnail to get into. The trailer house is old and not tight. I just can't bear to think of it....

So.. needless to say we had to keep searching. It ends up that for now we are moving into a small home on the opposite side of my parents ranch, right next to my brother and his wife and our nephew Tucker. The house is small and leaves much to be desired. The basement has some mold issues and there are only two small bedrooms upstairs so Joel and I will take the mold. We have talked my parents into letting our rent go into fixing up the downstairs for a bit. We want to knock out the old sheetrock/paneling that is there and seal the cement blocks and add egress windows and frame a larger bedroom, and re-sheetrock with green sheetrock and add tile floor. Hopefully it will be much easier to be there then.

Life holds a lot right now and it has been hard for me not to be overwhelmed. I do believe we are doing the right thing. I feel God has led us here. It is still going to be hard to move and leave friends and leave my house and my neighborhood and all that is familiar. We have learned a lot of hard lessons in the last several years and now it is time to move on and leave our struggle behind we hope. His new job has room for growth which is an amazing thing we didn't have before. The pay is less but we have contacts up there to make extra money. We are just putting one foot in front of the other and stepping out in faith.

It is going to be really nice to be with family. It is a good change for this stage of our lives. It is time.......

Baby Steps

Lastnight was my last shift at Applebees. The answer as to why will be coming soon.....

Blog Award

Missie from Thirsty gave me my first blog award today. Thank you so much Missie! If you haven't looked at her blog yet I encourage you to do so. She is a friend I have recently met up with again. We were good friends in middle school. She has a passion for the Lord and is pursuing him. Her blog is a constant encouragement.

The award has some instructions with what needs to be done with it from here.

1. Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.



2. Share 7 things about your self.



3. Pass the award to 6 fellow bloggers that inspire you.



4. Let them know you gave them an award.





7 things about myself:

1. I long for a simpler life, one where I can raise our own food and live off the land, and while I'm at it, maybe sew some of our clothes.... :-)
2. I like to be very well-informed about everything before I make any decisions
3. Even though I have been a christian basically all my life, I'm still amazed that God died for me when I did nothing to deserve it. He loves me, even when I am unlovely, he cares for me when I am too selfish to care for others. God is so amazing!
4. I love being a wife and mother with my whole being. Not a day goes by I don't thank God for making me both.
5. I'm striving to become a women of Godly character-- one with a gentle and quiet spirit. I want to raise my little girls right.
6. I start homeschool in the fall with my little Abigail-- I look forward to it and dread it all at once. I believe for us it is best because I want to guide and teach my little ones. I want to direct their socialization and point their focus heavenward. Year by year... we'll take it as it comes.
7. I am really into politics and would love to work behind the scenes of a candidate I believe in, like Sarah Palin!





The 9 bloggers I pass this award onto is:



1. Leah at in the hands of the master poet
She is my sister and you should for sure read her blog. She follows God wherever he tells her to go and that is currently to Uganda. She has an amazing heart and I am so glad to call her my sister.



2. Beth at the stamper story
Beth is a friend I met shortly after moving to the cities... she is a super neat person who raises her children in the Lord and somehow manages to create all kinds of beautiful things in the midst of it all.



3. Kara at Delicious Ambiguity
Kara is an old friend from school who is now an at home mommy with soon to be 3 children. She is a sweetheart and it has been fun catching up with her through our blogs and also in real life off and on.



4. Danie at Living on Letters and the Lord
Danie is another sister-- my little brother married her. Danie is such an awesome person. She has a gentle and quiet spirit! I'm so glad she became my sister!



5. Lindsay at Our Lives---In a Nutshell
Lindsay and I haven't actually met in real life but I feel like I know her. She is a mommy to 3 and we seem to be on the same mindframe in life. I would love to one day get to meet her. Check out the amazing adorable things she makes to sell. Again.... I don't know where these busy mom's find the time.



6. Jenny at Lyla Jane
I met this mom through a very good friend. She is amazing. What she has had to go through with her little miracle Lyla Jane- no parent should have to. Watching the grace with which she handles it all and the Glory she gives to God has been such an inspiration in my own parenting.


I have several more fellow bloggers who inspire but they are all set to private so I guess it wouldn't do any good to send out a link for other people to try to look at them! :-)

This and That

The girls with my mom ( I have no clue why I can't get the underlining off or the pink font.)



Life is a highway... I want to ride it all night long..... We sure have been burning up a lot of highway these days. This weekend will be our 3rd weekend in a row heading up north. I have been there more than home these days. We have some big changes coming up that I will be able to let you in on when I know of them fully. As for now... we are cruising down the road... praying for God's will and hanging on for the ride.

My dad taking a very rare moment out of his busy schedule to spend some much needed time with his grandkids.

Abby's awesome bridge. She is amazing at this and can hold it for several minutes. Her teacher told me that she is really good.
This is how messy Kenan gets when he eats. He rubs it everywhere.
My really good friend since high school had a baby girl and I got to meet her for the 1st time. She is just itty bitty and the most precious little thing. I'm glad this is just a first for the rest of her life! :-)
The Kopkie grandkids- minus Kenan and Stephen. They were all ready to head to the rodeo.
I've been doing lots of reading, praying, and soul searching. I found this to be good and speak to me at the moment...

"Human nature has a tendency to try to reconstruct old ways and pick up where we left off. If we're wise, we won't continue to go back to the way things were (we can't anyway). We must instead forget the old standard and accept a "new normal.""--- Don Piper in 90 minutes in Heaven.

Good to know

This is a good video to watch to keep us all aware.

Sorry I have been so absent on the blog world. Life is just too busy, between wildtree, swimming lessons, making baby food and gluten and dairy free food, researching to make said foods, taking care of 3 kids, figuring out our next step in life, keeping the house constantly clean, entertaining neighbor kids, talking to those I love, visiting those I love....well, that about sums up what I have been doing. Life is good!