One Last Snow... Before We Go!

See the HUGE snowflakes!?
( A wintery mix was forecasted... what do they know!? )

I found more than two uses for the moving box...
packing,

"sled,"

and getting snow off the car.

The road to church...
thankfully only 5- 10 minutes away

continued...

St. Peter's Lutheran!

Our last service here in VA...

We joined with Josh and 5 others for "abbreviated"services ;-)
Matthew 18:20

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

We weren't too sure about going out in the snow, but decided we should atleast "try."

We are certainly glad we did! :-)

the other side of the church

the drive home...

Josh and Nolan's snow ball fight!

I chose not to get in on the action - they play too rough - although they are Marines! haha

Our neighbors upstairs, who we don't know too well, invited us out to play on their sled with them... So in our jeans and coats and thin gloves, we took them up on their offer! We had so much fun! (Next time we will get a cheap sled; it goes SOOOO much faster than our U-Haul box) :-) One hill we picked, however, nice and steep, at the bottom the hill ended abruptly and my tailbone sure took a beating! :-( Oh well!

Time to rest up for packing the U-Haul and such this week.... maybe?

WHOOP!

The Move Has Begun!

The living room...

The guest bedroom... sorry no more guests ;-)

the other corner and packed closet!

From last week...
Nolan and his "sled" = UHaul Box

Our grill, it's been in hiding for the past 7 months... Sad, but true.

See... there really is a grill
We can't wait to use it again!

The Peachoid in Gaffney, South Carolina!

Nope, NOT in GEORGIA.. wierd I know...

It's rumored that in the early '90's, civic authorities ordered the Peachoid water tower repainted so it would look less like a big butt -- reducing rubbernecking fatalities on nearby I-85. HAHA

Do We Live in Florida Yet?!?!

Unfortunately, no, not yet.

Virginia has been nice overall, but lately, for various reasons, we can't get out of Virginia fast enough!

We are ready to continue our adventure in another state! ;-)

Reason #1
This morning I go to leave for work, subbing at the base school, and for the life of me, I can't get my truck out of the parking lot! (I meant to take a picture, but this evening a neighbor saw me hacking away at the packed ice/snow behind my rear tires and offered to push while I put it in reverse... and what do you know... I'm out! Nolan's doing a night flight tonight!) Thankfully Nolan didn't have to go to work until this evening , when I got home from school, so I took his car to work and made it just in time!

Reason #2
Visiting Florida last weekend, as crazy busy and tired as we were, it was HOME! Well, as close as we are going to get for a while.
Here are a few examples...
- Humidity is back - our cold drinks SWEAT in the MORNING! I hate humidity, but you really miss it once it's gone!
- Waking up to cool air, blue skies, and a warm SUN! Yes we get sun here, but when the high is 30 degrees, the sun doesn't help too much...
- The Coast = BEAUTIFUL
so much nicer than Galveston!

Reason #3
The sooner we get to Florida, the sooner...
- we will be settled for about 18 - 24 months
- I can get started on getting a full time teaching position
- I can hopefully start my Masters
- we can get our lab - although that'll be May/June now

Soon... just not soon enough, it seems!

On a side note, I LOVE working at the base school... the kids and staff continue to amaze me!
I will be sad to go for that reason....


Our trip to Florida, as previously mentioned was FANTASTIC!
We were so busy/having so much fun that I took only one picture! The Butler's were fun to travel with and hang out with when we were in Florida. Thanks to two other military families we know, neither of us had to get a hotel - Thank you Kyle and Stephenie & Bill and Krisitin!
It was great to have dinner and such with these 3 couples over the weekend!

Finding a new home wasn't a success for us, but the Butler's found a great rent house in Pensacola! Base housing is still giving us the run around, so we searched for reasonably priced rent homes and found quite a few we liked... just can't commit until we know for sure that the house we LOVED on base is taken! Oh the joy of WAITING!

On our drive home we randomly happened to stop at THE Original Chick-Fil-A in Hapeville, Georgia!!! I was ELATED! So exciting! God definitely had that one planned!! It tasted sooooooooooo yummy!

We are in the market for:

A New Washer/Dryer (Black)
Any suggestions on brands? We want new so we can keep it for the next 20 years!

Living Room and Kitchen Furniture (minus a couch b/c we have a one year old one)
IKEA had lots of great stuff...
There is one here in Virigina and one 5 hours from Pensacola, so we will likely buy stuff here before we leave.
This is one piece I'd love to have.. Corner Cabinet

but the Book Cases and TV stand come first ..

Until next time... God Bless :-)

Grateful Yet Confused

For all of these things we are grateful:

Yay! We have official orders that say we are detached from Quantico as of 2 March! Thank goodness, since we are packing our stuff and leaving Virginia on 28 February and will be in Florida looking for a place to move into by the 2nd of March!

It has been a test of faith, a good one of course, believing and knowing that God will work everything out with our housing situation/upcoming move and accepting that He works on His own time tables! :-)

I have been in contact with the base housing office in Florida and our current apartment's management since the 1st of January, trying to figure out when we would be coming/going and what housing was going to be available when we did get to Florida!

We are so grateful that everything is coming together, just as we knew it would!

Patience IS a virtue! :-)

And now the confused part...

which requires continued faith that all will work out how it's already been planned... just not by us! ;-)

The base housing office understands that as of 2 March 2007 we WILL be in Florida with a U-Haul full of worldly possessions and we will be looking for a place to make our new home... but until the minute we physically SHOW UP we do not have a guaranteed place to live?!?!
The can "pencil us in" to a specific address this coming Monday, since we will physically be in Florida, but that's not set in stone! Crazy to me! :-) Thankfully they claim they have plenty of options for us, so it's no big deal, but it sure would be nice to have a forwarding address before we get to Florida...

Hey Mom, be on the look out for our final bills/etc.... looks like your address will be our forwarding address! ;-)

We are looking forward to a great weekend in Florida with the Butler's!
Pictures when we get back on the 14th!

If you are looking for us on Monday nights at 9pm (Eastern)....

We are officially addicted...
We borrowed Season 2 from Josh and managed to watch the entire season - 24 hours! - without commericals of course - in about 2 days!






Paige will be submitting her application next week, to start her Master's in Special Education at FSU, through their Online Program, since we will live in Pensacola, not Tallahassee.
Please pray that I am accepted! :-) I should know early March; I think!

Completed blanket #2!

This one is for my cousin, Travis' baby!
The baby, Alecia (not sure on the spelling), is due in April.






Nolan will finish ground school next week and then begin flying... He will complete about 13 hours; then we will be moving! :-) March 1st ?
He has gone flying with a friend, Jason, who has been working on his flying hours these past two weeks.

Florida Here We Come! February 10 - 12!

We are excited to be driving down with another couple, Jason and Angela, to check out where we might be living for the next 18 months!
To the left is a picture of the base housing that has a fenced back yard (2 story town homes)... If that's available, that's what we hope to get... We are getting a Lab once we get moved in! :-)
We will look at rent houses in the area too, but 99% of them say NO PETS :-( so that is why the base housing has become so appealing! :-)

Until next time... :-)