the suite life

 where did November go?!

we shared a wonderful Thanksgiving day with my family.

is my niece's daughter a honey, or what?

so thankful for my nephew Colin's life...literally.

He was hit by a car last month, and is healing

well - God has big plans for him for sure!

seeing my niece w/ baby girls

makes me feel O.L.D.

(notice Colin didn't lose his sense of humor in the

  accident. that family trait is a toughie to shake)

my dad had a little air soft target practice w/ Quinn.

LOVE seeing our kiddos enjoying

 the house I grew up in.

cousin beauties

the lovely hostess - my fabulous sista

now for the reality check...

remember that house closing that was supposed to happen?

as we watched the 2nd pod take our belongings down the street,

we heard that the closing couldn't happen the next day.

after we picked our jaws up off the floor, 

it was time for a little brainstorming.

thinking how nice it would be to save one weeks'
worth of extended stay fees,

we decided to...

camp out!!!

10 days in our empty little house.

between amazing neighbors, family

& church friends, we were outfitted w/

mattresses, bedding, pots & pans, etc.

it was all good.

especially the nights where some really cool families

had pity on us & invited us over for dinner in their homes! :)

we did close on our home this past Monday.

THANK YOU JESUS!

which brings us to our suite little home for now...

500 square feet of family bliss.

Quinn's words after loading up @ the free breakfast...

"this is the life. I could get used to this!"

so as everyone else seems to be scrambling to get  

their Christmas trees and nurse their aching feet 

from black friday, we are just trying to navigate

our new normal until we can close on our new home.

Gracie has had quite a few meltdowns,

which is understandable.

as Brian said, she's just acting out what

we're all feeling on the inside!

I'm contemplating taking Quinn & Gracie to 

the hotel laundry mat for a homeschool field trip of sorts.

then again, it may not be good for their phsyche to 

see Mama curled up in a fetal position on the floor

having flashbacks of the sketchy laundry mat

we had to frequent a few times when I was little.

yep, I can still see myself taking in that little slice

 of society eating cheese nabs while
my mother slaved away.

I am grateful.

grateful for a safe place to land as we transition.

grateful that we're together.

grateful God orchestrated the sale of our home.

grateful for His provision.

and grateful for the dollar spot at Target.

life may be a little upside down right now,

but I swanee, I can't not bring some Christmas

cheer to our home suite home!

all boxed in

THIS

is my life right now.

boxes, boxes, packing, packing,

sorting, sweating, panicking, cleaning,
praying, reminiscing, dreaming, etc.

Is the picture becoming more clear?!

We are moving this week, 

and our heads are spinning.

We close on our house Friday & will be

staying in an extended stay hotel for

2-3 weeks until we close on our new house.

6 people.

2 cats.

3 small rooms.
one national holiday.

did I say 2-3 weeks?

can you just feel the love?

family.bonding.super-sized.

so grateful to our heavenly Father
that our house sold while many others sit,
unsold, in our neighborhood & city.
so grateful to have a place to stay in the interim.

did I mention  is was 2-3 weeks?
6 people.
2 cats.
yeah, yeah....

we are looking forward to being in our
new home, where Gracie will finally have
her own room.
(2 years in our bedroom has been
a real blast, let me tell ya,
but the fun has run it's course.)

on the other hand, we'll all be processing
some sadness over leaving this house,
this side of town,
and our AMAZING neighborhood.
Quinn especially will be saying goodbye
to a lifelong buddy - definite effort
will be made to keep those two
playing together as often as possible!

for someone who isn't very fond of change,
I'm excited to see what God has for us
in a new community,
and so grateful that the girls will now be
only 3 minutes from school, and we'll be only
10 minutes from Brian's office & church...
it's all good.

as for that that 2-3 week window...
we're telling Gracie it's a vacation
at a hotel.
i'm trying to convince myself
of that concept as well.
hey- I love free trial size soap & shampoo,
and who can say "no" to a never
ending supply of clean
white towels and an
in-the-wall hairdryer?!!

as of today,
we're officially

POD PEOPLE!!!!!

*prayer update*

thank you for your emails & prayers for my nephew!

we are believing God for miraculous healing,

and thanking Him for Fathering my sister 

and her family so far.

instead of trying to update

his status in my own words, I'll

post the most recent update

 from my sister's Facebook...

Has been an eventful 24 hours. As we expected he developed lung problems that made us ramp up breathing treatments and get him up and moving more to open up that left lung that has collapsed a little. He still has off and on fever and we had to do an xray of his stomach tonight due to his tummy becoming very distended. Found out that the new g/j tube moved out of place and has to be replaced if possible or he needs another surgery for a different kind of tube. He is only receiving IV fluids right now and is not able to get anything by mouth. Praying for a calm night with sleep and healing of his lungs and answers for his feeding tube.

would you pray with me today for this precious guy?

my nephew is one of my heroes...

he's faced so many obstacles and surgeries

in his life, and we love him to the moon & back.

today he faces one of his most challenging surgeries

to date-an experimental, yet necessary one.
the doctor is creating a new ureter from his bladder
and will also be putting in a g.i.tube as it is now
necessary for him to have pump feedings.

we're believing the Father to supernaturally guide

the surgeon and bring grace-filled healing to 

Jeremiah's body. we're also asking for

tangible peace for his mom, my sister, as

she walks through this day.

Romans 15:13

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with 

joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow

 with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

a whole lotta fun going on

life is crazy right now

so I'm so thankful for the fun moments

we can find in our busyness!

we celebrated my handsome daddy's birthday

it's amazing, really, how a
 very bossy convincing 3 year old
can make a table full of adults sing
round after round of
"The Wheels on the Bus"

the yearly pumpkin carving while

watching Charlie Brown & the Great Pumpkin

she drew Quinn with his glasses

the kitty cat princess

the princess & the navy seal/black ops hero