13 resolutions for 2013

I must first start by saying that 2012 ended up being such a crazy unpredictable year that I decided as a New Years Resolution I was going to simply enjoy this year and make memories. As 2013 is upon me I want to have more specific goals and I am not sure why but I thought it would be fun to have 13 goals, resolutions, etc. I will try my best to accomplish them but not feel defeated if they do not go according to plan. So in a small nutshell, and probably too wordy for most here are my 13 goals for 2013: 1. Get uncomfortable and go out on a limb with my hair. My hair has been the same general color and style for over 15 years. 2. More Family outings to new places. I seem to get kinda lazy when it comes to making these happen. I do the research and planning and when we wake up the morning we stick to what we know. 3. Learn something new like cake decorating, calligraphy, knitting,how to quilt or use power tools. 4.Read 10 books to my kids this year. To name a few musts; Charlotte's Web, Boxcar Children, Little House on the Prairie, Black Beauty and Pilgrims Progress. 5. Go on a vacation 6. Start an Etsy store that actually has products for sale. 7. Do the 40 bags in 40 day declutter challenge 8. Write more encouraging letters, more thank-you, birthday cards and "proud of you" cards 9. Finish the craft/office/ guest room.... 10. Go on more dates 11. Read 20 encouraging, spiritual growth books 12. Spend quality time with Novi and Eden teaching them how to sew, bake, host, fold laundry and wash their own hair. 13. Save for a car 14. Oops counted wrong ;) 30 by 30 I would love to lose 30lbs by time I turn 30 and if I complete this goal by April 18th I will be sky-diving to celebrate!

Little bit of camp

Novalie's first time ever as a camper!!

The Kid's Kingdom Supervisor has spent the whole summer ministering and getting to know our children, she is huge blessing to us!

The rain never stops our fun! Just set up the inflatables on the Stage!

Andy making announcements for the Conference Center guests.

Off to School

The first day of school. Well, for us it has been a bit different. We lived in Hungary and the school system is set up differently than the States. You begin school in Hungary on the day you turn 3. So both Novie and Eden have been in a school-like setting for the last several years. What a blessing though to move back while they are still at a young enough age to start at the beginning. Novie is 5 and Eden is 4, though both have already been attending school we are starting Novie in K-5 and Eden in K-4. Both have tested higher than their current grades, but why rush life? Like every mommy I was still nervous about sending them to school not because it was their first day but because they were now in different classes at different schools! in a new country and learning in a different language. So weird to think that... Both girls completed their first week of school and had many comments on the differences of their schools. Even with all the differences I think the biggest one of all is for me, I can talk, discuss, ask questions, communicate, not use a translator, be involved with my girls, volunteer, be a room mom, and genuinely get to know my girls teachers! why? because we speak the same language! Excited about this new adventure; school in the America.

New Adventures

Since moving back to the States alot has happened some positive some frustrating, some amazing blessings and some major answers to prayers. You know that the girls and I flew back to the States May 2nd. Andy arrived back May 28th. It was a long month dealing with minor culture differences, jet-lag, and emotions from our quick move, from Novie, Eden and I. It was tough doing it by myself. It took a week or 2 to adjust from the jet-lag and as the 3 months have gone by quickly we are still adjusting to being back in the States many days we realize it has not hit us full force yet. After Andy arrived in the States he was home for 4 days and had to leave to PA to retrieve the contents of our container from Hungary. What should have been a 3 day trip took a week, the truck broke down 3 times, it was disappointing and frustrating. They returned in the middle of camp training week and 2 days later campers arrived. We are now beginning our 7th week of camp and life has not slowed down. Andy and I often joke around with each other saying, "this move has not hit us yet..and when it does neither of us will be able to function, it will be dramatic, painful and not a pretty sight to behold." Each night we go to bed begging for strength, peace and thanking the Lord for making it another day in our new role so far from the ministry we love. It's so crazy looking back and reflecting on these last few months and amazing to realize it has been 3 month already. The Lord has blessed us greatly. He always takes care of us and protects us, even from ourselves. The flesh is great but God is greater! He has given us the strength to embrace our new ministries head on. Since returning to the States we have lost almost $2,000 of our monthly support. It has been discouraging and disappointing... our director told us, " they are supporting you, your family not a country you'll be fine." The numbers often make it hard to believe that, BUT We rest in the promises of the Lord and KNOW HE will take care of us. And in taking care of us He has brought so many encouraging people along side of us with furniture, appliances, food, toiletries, He has also provided a beautiful home to rent, car to borrow, 2 amazing schools for the girls and a small job opportunity for me to help with our support loss. AND the BEST, GREATEST news ever is Novalie has seen her need for a Savior and has asked the Lord to be a part of her life!! No greater joy than to see your children walk in TRUTH!! Keep praying for Eden :) As we continue on here in the States in our new exciting roles at Word of Life Florida we have ultimate peace knowing this is God's immediate plans for us, our hearts hurt as we remember Hungary, but we are jumping in with both feet knowing the Lord has amazing things planned for us. We have 2 weeks left of summer camp, a week between to move into our new home and on Aug 20th the girls start school. Life will not slow down but move faster. Pray that the Lord will continue to renew us daily to keep up :)

Bittersweet Changes

I was joking around with our Director here telling him, "it seems everytime I hang that last picture frame on the wall, we get the news we are moving again, is that my way of getting comfortable?" As believers we know we are not to make this world our home, not to get comfortable and to wait excitingly until that glorious day we are with our Saviour! I am always hesitant to hang that last frame on the wall we joke often about it but it's SO TRUE! I hung that picture frame up last Sept and a week later we had a meeting with Al Konya the Director of WOL Hungary. We've known for about a year (since the new government got voted in spring 2011) that the chance of an International Resident tax would most likely be issued and enforced. We found out Oct 2011 that the tax had reached it's final level and would be passed. It was and would go into affect January 2012. We decided that first week of Oct we needed to move on, what a heartbreaking day for us to make that decision we absolutely love our ministry here. Andy and I doing exactly what we LOVE to do!! So after 3+ years we have spent the last month packing our lives up, saying our good-bye's crying, hugging and praying with dear friends who over the years became the family we've been so far away from. We've spent every holiday with them Christmas day, Thanksgiving, birthdays, yes, even 4th of July! We are proud to be Americans and always got together with our little flag, patriotic music and silly yard games and contests. We even had sparklers the closest we could get to fireworks :)

Our beautiful castle...after these few years I still have not grown tired of gazing at it and saying, "I cannot believe I live here"

There were so little when we landed in Hungary Jan 2009.

3 1/2 years later packing up to start our new ministry As I reflect on our past 3+ years I am overwhelmed with emotions... we do not want to leave and this is by far the only way you could have made us. We love Hungary, the ministry we had, the people with worked with and those we ministered too. Our girls have become "Hungarian" they prefer soup over any food even on 100 degree days, would rather walk than drive, they argue, play and love on each other in Hungarian. Novie became the best translator we could have ever hoped for! We have lived in a wonderful small village where the 19th century and 21st have seem to collide with each other. you can see the teens with their Iphones, IPOD's and European runway clothing right next to the Neni in her traditional clothing plucking feathers from a chicken and tending her flower garden. We will miss fresh eggs, having a garden, walking to school, church and friend's homes, we will miss the Interns dropping by to hang-out, watch movies and play with the girls. We'll miss singing Hungarian songs at church, walking around Budapest and listening to the girls talk about Ovoda and their teachers. We know we will never forget our time here and pray the girls remember Hungary as well. I hope the village remembers to 2 little blonde girls who stopped to hug and kiss everyone, I pray they remain loving, innocent and compassionate. We will always love our little home, village and castle. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us, we always seem to be having awesome adventures! Here's to our next stage in life, our next adventure. For those of you we did not squeeze before we left know you are all loved and will be missed greatly. We can't wait for you to come and visit us in Florida!

It's more than taming her hair

Ever see a movie about Wild horses? I know kinda weird..but you know that scene I'm talking about. A group of wild horses running across the plateau, muscular, dangerous, free, uncultivated, running, running, running completely wild.
I would never say I was that wild...but you know that saying, "what goes around comes around." Well, my "...comes around" is in the form of my crazy 3 year old. She is just plain wild! If we ever need a good laugh we always joke around and say, "just wait look at her face..she is already planning her next adventure." We got the girls a bunk bed, actually when they were 1 and 3! Yes, I know...but we were desperate to give them some space for playing. Now we've had this bunk bed for a couple years now and I had a weak moment last week..oops. I shared MY bunk bed adventures with my girls "bad mommy" mistake. I shared how we piled up pillows and blankets and would jump off, how I pushed my "friend" off (I'll call her Sally), Sally was not MY friend, my mommy and her mommy were friends and I was forced to play with her (yeah, I was not a loving 10 year old) anyways, I shared how we hid Andrew's toys up there (my little brother) how we used to put stuffed animals on the fan and then turn it on high speed and watch them fly off (that's how one of my glass dolls chipped her hand, the stuffed animal hit her, she fell off the shelf and somehow the carpet did not break her fall), so I was mistakenly sharing these with my 3 and 5 year old..I had a moment of pure weakness.
So my 3 year old is wild, even has blond wild curls to add to her look but I LOVE this about her. Her pure excitement over life is exhilarating. If she sees a bed she is the first to climb up and jump! she climbs every tree she can reach the first branch on, she scaled the top of the cellar door and proceeded to "slide" down the roof, she climbs our backyard fence,she climbs up on the counter to get her snacks...on top of all the craziness is her determination to be completely self-sufficient and do everything by herself, hence the outfits that never match but I LOVE it. I still remember that feeling of being independent, the sheer exhilaration when I figured something out on my own, feeling brave, letting loose, pretty much just having the best time ever every single moment possible. I'm remembering this feeling now as I watch my 3 year old jump from the top bunk into a pile of beanchairs and blankets on the floor ..I just don't remember feeling the heart attack my mom was having as I did it, but boy do I feel that now. Here's to those wild kids we are re-living our pasts through, I just hope there aren't too many white-knuckling, hair-rising, small heart attacks attached to these moments, the one I had today was enough.

Tulip Shoots

It's about 50 degrees out today and we were all outside running around, going for walks and playing in just sweatshirts. I grew up living in FL and I never understood growing up the excited that comes with spring. As we cleared some leaves out of our flower beds we saw the Tulip shoots are as anxious as we are for spring to arrive! They are about 4inches high. After playing outside and while the girls took a "rest" I was able to watch the birds eat their new seed we got for them and do my quiet time. Today was Acts 10.
After finishing up Quiet Time I got started on the girls new spring wardrobe! I have been waiting for warm weather to come and motivate me to start fulfilling my New Year's Resolution. I want to make most of my girls clothing. I have yet to attempt jeans, coats and shoes. Which WILL happen this year!

Here are a few things I made today for Novalie, I actually made 2 other dresses as well BUT I did not measure her and they are huge! She is NOT close to size 5/6 when it comes to dress patterns by Simplicity!

I was so excited to get them on her I didn't wait for her to completely wake up after her nap, here is my Sleepy Novie-Beauty