Our dear church family

I don't think I've written much about our church in Virginia on here, and I'm not entirely sure why. The City Life Church was one of the first churches we visited and everyone there immediately made us feel at home and that feeling never went away. In the three years that we were there, my faith was stretched, I learned a ton, and I met some amazing friends. It it truly the thing that I will miss the most about Virginia. Yes, even outranking the Noland Trail that was right down the road from my house...

When we were planning our road trip/move, we decided it would be pretty cool if we could go to church Saturday night, go out to eat as a farewell and then hit the road.

Sidenote: when I say "we were planning", I totally mean Chuck planning. I did say "yeah, that would be cool" about leaving on Saturday night, but the rest of the trip planning was done without my input and I liked it that way.


So I called a local restaurant, reserved a room for 30 or so people, sent out a facebook invite and let that be that. Apparently, we are more popular than we realized. Let's just say that we had 40+ people, the room was full, and some people simply decided not to stay because they realized they would never be able to eat.

Despite the fact that I was sad not to be able to tell everyone bye that I wanted to, it was an amazing night and is certainly a great way to remember Virginia... by our awesome family at church. When I say I'm going to miss those people, it's the understatement of the century. Here's to hoping we find as awesome as a church here in Oklahoma!

Miss Steph in that last picture saved the night for me. Piper was not a happy camper and instead of me pacing around holding a not happy baby, it was Steph. 

It was such an amazing night and I definitely had tears in my eyes as I drove away. 

Last days...

This post might be picture overload for some of you. I intended to post this BEFORE we left Virginia, but *alas*, life got in the way and it never happened. But I decided to go ahead and do it anyways, because really, who cares?

Our last days at "home" (where is home, really?) were a bit crazy. I got sick. Like sicker than I've been in a long time. Just in time to host a yardsale that we didn't get ready for until the night before.

Just felt a little crappy...

The room full of crap that needed to be priced. With the exception of the bookshelves, everything in that room was GONE the next day!

Piper helping out at the yard sale.

The yard sale was Saturday the 9th. Our last day in the house was that Monday because the movers were supposed to come Tuesday. Chuck had some stomach pains that landed him in urgent care Tuesday, delaying the movers. But I treated Monday like it was our last night in the house! We put Piper in bed a little early and let Jade stay up late for a movie night. It was the first time we had done something like that, and Jade loved it. She chose Tangled. Which came as no surprise to me or Chuck.

Piper's last night sleeping at the house. Little did I know this would also be her last night sleeping for weeks and weeks to come ;) 

Jade is sort of in love with the front camera on my iPhone. Getting ready for Tangled.

Cuddling with daddy during the movie.

Because I'm not an idiot, I lined up some friends to watch Jade while the movers were at the house. She wound up being there for a while the last day while they were there, but that couldn't be avoided. Piper, on the other hand, got to be there the whole time, due to that whole breastfeeding thing. Luckily, she isn't running around and tripping people up while screaming at them for taking her toys like her sister would have been :)

Happy to stay out of the way.

Such a sweet girl... and a sweet daddy for wearing her!

7:30 pm Thursday. Moving.truck.closed.

Friday was a day spent buzzing around town trying to wrap things up before leaving. One of the most important things on the list: pictures with each girl in front of the hospital she was born in. 

The ONE picture I have with Piper looking, my hair was all up in my face. Nice.

Last trip (for the foreseeable future) through the HRBT. I will not miss you.

I will admit to liking to drive into the tunnel though.

Complete with Minnie Mouse.

And while we didn't actually plan this, our last family meal in Virginia was at the same place our first family meal in Virginia was. Chili's. Anyone who really knows me will not be surprised. I love me some fajitas. Needless to say, the meal three years ago with just me and Chuck was a bit different than this one. Wouldn't change a thing though!

Girl loves some mandarin oranges.

Soon to come: pictures of our last night there, eating out with our wonderful church family... and some pictures of the road trip itself. Better late than never!

4th of July

Our 4th this year was a little different. We had no clue what was going on around town during the day, but knew we didn't want to just sit at the hotel with the kids all day. A friend told Chuck about a parade in a local city, so we attempted to make it to that. Unfortunately, by the time we got loaded in the car, we realized it was too late to go so I just started driving while Chuck looked up somewhere to go on his phone. Another city had a children's parade a little later so we headed up there.

Of course, every other kid in the parade was ready for the parade. As in, riding decorated bikes (or even power wheels). We didn't care though because I really thought Jade would think it was fun. So we threw her on Chuck's shoulder's and just walked through it. When that was over Jade declared she was "very hungry" and since the "freedom fest" only had nachos to offer (really??) we headed to Sonic. Where Jade ate absolutely nothing, for the record.

After lunch, both kids passed out in the car and we drove around rather aimlessly for a bit. Thankfully, an old friend of Chuck's texted and invited us over to his house! They were at their neighborhood pool, so Jade got to swim and then we went back to their house for burgers and hot dogs. Jade had fun playing with their kids and it was so nice to talk to another mom for a bit!

We didn't get to see any fireworks... but the day was a complete success despite that! I'm so grateful for an Air Force family that can help you to feel at home even when you're living out of your suitcase.

A few pictures from the day:

Before we headed out. Jade's "cheese" face.

Yes, Piper is wearing the same outfit Jade wore last year at 14 months.

Jade exploring the carnival with her blanky and purse.

The parade is starting!

Our competition

Happy girl waiting on Sister to wake up

Jade LOVES the water!

Piper being an angel baby and sleeping in a (borrowed) stroller at the pool

Piper grows up- 7 months

Ok, this is really late, but I don't think anyone here will blame me :)

Piper girl,

You've been 7 months old for about 2 weeks now. You just started crawling today, which is crazy considering when you hit 7 months you couldn't even get yourself to sitting! Daddy and I think that you're gonna be a climber because you're already starting to pull up on things and Jade is so cautious we figure we're due a crazy kiddo :)

You are SUCH a social baby. You fuss plenty, but if we're in public and you're fussing and someone new walks by and looks at you, you stop crying for long enough to smile at them and then start crying again. It's ridiculous! Everyone just loves you and talks about how cute you are and how happy you are. I can't wait to see how this develops as you get older because if this is any indication, you are going to be Miss Social Butterfly!

Your 7th month was basically consumed by moving, driving to Oklahoma, and staying in an itty bitty hotel in Oklahoma. You have not been impressed by our journey across the country and implore me to return to some sort of normal every night when you wake up every 2 hours to scream at me and your daddy. Unfortunately, we cannot heed your request so I would like to ask you to start sleeping again please.

You also had your first ear infections and first stomach virus. I'm telling you kiddo, it's been fun. Luckily, we have found an awesome chiropractor here that seems to be keeping your ear infections at bay.

In the last week or so you have decided "hey, this food stuff is pretty good". We've done baby led weaning with you, just like we did with your sister. You didn't take too it very well at first but you are loving food now. So far, you've had avocado, broccoli, carrot, apple, banana, and maybe something else that I can't remember. Banana seems to be your favorite. If we put Jade at the table to eat and don't immediately put you in your high chair, you get very angry. It's kind of hilarious, I'm not gonna lie. However, you still don't like to bend. You get so mad that you can't reach your food, but it takes us (what seems like) forever to get you to actually SIT in the chair. If you could stand and eat, I'm pretty sure that's what you would prefer.

You're not too big on reading... I still have been unsuccessful in reading you a single book, although I have made it through most of the stories in your rhyme Bible. You mostly just want to eat the pages and won't sit still in my lap. Oh well ;)

Your two bottom teeth have come in, but I'm pretty sure you didn't have them when you actually turned 7 months. Your top teeth are right there as well, so I'm sure those will be breaking through soon.

Mama and daddy (and big sister!) love you so much sweet girl. We are so happy that you are a part of our family.

lots of love,
Mama

*pictures not in their normal chair, because it is in storage...

Sigh

We have now been in Oklahoma one week and 2 days. Living in the sorry excuse for temporary lodging that Tinker offers. Trying to exhibit some sort of positive attitude. Failing on an almost daily basis. Frustrated and discouraged in our housing search doesn't even begin to describe it, but I suppose I'll just warn you guys that this is gonna be a long one and start at the beginning.

There have been a couple things that have been huge blessings since we got here. Number one, Chuck's barely had to go to work at all. He doesn't have to return to work full time until the first week of August. He has to go in some, and will go in more and more as we approach that time, but that's when his class to become re-certified in the jet begins and until he's re-certified, he can't fly. Which makes him kind of useless. At work, not at home. I like him here and he is most definitely not useless.

Blessing number two is that Oklahoma has been surprisingly ok. I was trying really hard to be positive coming here, but was having a hard time. I mean, I was stationed in Alaska. Amazingly beautiful, wonderful, want to live there forever and ever Alaska. Then Virginia, which isn't my choice of places to settle down, but has a lot to offer and was really a great assignment. So when I heard Oklahoma, I basically thought "I guess it's time for a bummer assignment". I know that every assignment is what you make of it and is largely based on the friends that you make, but yeah. Thankfully, I have been pleasantly surprised. The city truly isn't bad at all... plenty of shopping and such. They have a few water parks that'll be great to take Jade to and lots of parks and trails and stuff. So it's been very nice to not really feel like I've moved to the middle of nowhere. Plus, we aren't far from the middle of nowhere and I like that. I love being able to drive to nowhere and just meander, which was something you really couldn't do in Virginia... well, without fighting traffic first. It's nice to feel like you have room to breathe.

Blessing number three is that we have decided what city we want to live in. There's lots of little suburbs and stuff and it's been nice to have that narrowed down. The right house could change our minds, but for the most part we're focused on Edmond and it's nice to have an idea of where we'll be settled.

And here comes the rant. Ohmygoodness at the lack of houses for rent. Truly, though, that hasn't been the biggest problem... the biggest problem is actually being able to SEE (you know, something other than the pictures posted online) the houses that ARE for rent. We have found several potential homes online. We then do the next logical step and call the phone number listed. Sometimes it's a realtor/property manager, sometimes it's the owner. Now, let me be clear that I essentially never expect a realtor to answer the phone. I understand that they're very busy and are generally with someone or already on the phone. I do, however, expect them to call me back! And to say "yes, of course, we would love to show you that home". Because, ya know, they are trying to rent it. Right?

We have called about some homes and never gotten a call back. Some, we have left messages, gotten a call back that said "yeah, I should be able to get you a viewing tomorrow... I'll give you a call in the morning and let you know" and then nothing. Many call back and offer to show us the house 5, 6, even 7 days later. Many of these houses are empty. They have no tenants to coordinate with. So what gives? When our house was on the market in Virginia, if a realtor wanted to show the house that day, I packed up my two kids and got the crap out of there. Once, I got 30 minutes warning and I still made it work. Obviously, we were motivated sellers but why wouldn't these property managers be motivated to show the home? A week is a long time when you're trying to find a house.

I have wondered numerous times if this is happening simply because we're looking to rent and not to buy. But that still doesn't compute, because our house in Virginia was on the market for sale/for rent and we treated every viewer the same way. Plus, if that is why it's happening, it does't actually change anything. We're not going to say "oh, we're being treated like crap because we're renters, so let's buy!"

We found one home online that sounds absolutely perfect. Chuck looked up the location on google maps and it's within walking distance of a small water park, a playground, and a park that has a 3-mile trail. Perfection. We emailed the owner (it wasn't listed with a property manager) at about 8 pm. Heard nothing for 24 hours and then received a response that said "we should be able to show it to you this weekend, call this number to set it up". So we call the number. Only the phone is turned off. Straight to voicemail. We leave a voicemail. Nothing. Needless to say, despite the perfect location of said house, unless the owner calls and informs me he's been in the hospital all day, we will not be renting that house. I can't imagine dealing with him if something's broken and needs to be fixed.

So we decided that we would just drive around that general area looking for signs. We drove. And drove. And drove. Nothing. I guess everyone agrees that it's a good area and doesn't want to leave. Jade is in the backseat screaming that she wants to get out (can't blame her) and I'm just... done. Told Chuck I was going to cry, that I was so discouraged, so frustrated, so grumpy, that I just couldn't hold it together anymore. Said "I just don't know what we're going to do". And I look over, and the license plate on the car in the driveway we're passing says "bestill". And in my frustrated, hardened, angry heart... I ignored it. Didn't tell Chuck I saw it. Told God that I couldn't be still right then because I needed to find a flipping place to live.

After a run through the CFA drive-thru for some much needed drinks (for all the good I've discovered in Oklahoma, it is HOT), we start to drive back to TLF and I realized that I couldn't really ignore God like that. He was trying to tell me something. And I need to trust Him. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still going to look for a place to live. After all, we can't live here forever (for logistical and other reasons... they only allow a certain amount of time in TLF). But I have decided that for 24 hours I'm going to take a break from the search. I know I won't be able to stop thinking about it, but I can at least stop fanatically scouring the internet and turn my worry over to God when the thoughts do enter my mind. We're supposed to hear back from a property manager on a house Monday (we'll see if that happens) and I'm not going to look for another house between now and then.  There's no telling how many miles we've driven looking for places and my poor kids need a day that they're not stuck in the car.

I'll admit that part of the reason I'm typing all of this is to hold myself accountable. Although 24 hours might not sound like a long time, when you're living in what feels like a shoebox (stole that from Nichole... and this place is MUCH smaller than your house!), it's a long time. So there ya go. This is me, trusting that God has the right house for us and abiding in that trust instead of saying that I trust Him and then working myself into a panic attack.

If you read all of this, I'm amazed. So here's a smily face for you :)

Yeah, I know, that was exciting.

Where did time go?

Ohmygoodness, it's been forever. I promise I never forgot about you guys, things just got so ridiculously crazy I had to drop a few things off the "to do" list.

We are in Oklahoma! After a whirlwind of everyone in the family except Jade (knock on wood) being sick, having a yard sale, dealing with movers, living in TLF (temporary lodging facility) in Virginia, loading the cars, trying to see everyone before leaving, blah blah blah we left Virginia last Saturday night after we went out to eat with wonderful friends after church.

Did that sentence (yes, that was one sentence) make any sense? I have no idea. Trust me that life has been crazy... there have been days that I was literally just trying to make it to the next minute I felt so horrible and there have been lots of mini fires that had to be put out.

The drive was remarkably not bad. Jade was ah-MAZ-ing. I think back and am still so amazed by her. She asked for her toys... I handed them to her, she played with them. Doesn't sound remarkable but for a two-year-old it was awesome. Obviously, there were times she asked to get out, but there were no tantrums over it when I said no. She loved visiting with her Auntie Beth in Indiana (where we got to stay an extra day because my fever decided to go up to 101.6) and genuinely seemed to enjoy the trip. We took it fairly easy and hit some touristy spots up along the way and only drove about 5 hrs a day. Until the last day, when I had decided that I was DONE with trying to sleep in a hotel room with 2 babies and we drove 8 hrs from St Louis to Tinker. Jade obviously got annoyed on the 8 hour trip, but really it was Piper that was the one that had me wanting to pull my hair out. Poor thing, at 7-months-old, there's not a whole lot she can do to entertain herself and with us caravanning (thus not being able to sit in the back with her), she was basically either asleep or screaming. I felt horrible but there was nothing I could do.

So we are alive and here. TLF here at Tinker leaves a little something to be desired... like an extra room?? We have one (tiny) bedroom, and a living room with a refrigerator and stove shoved to the side. It's been interesting, but we're making it work for now. We're looking for houses, but geez there just aren't a whole lot of places out there for rent that accept dogs that are the size we're looking for. We're just looking and looking and praying God shows us the house He has for us.

I will wrap this up now, but please be keeping us in your prayers as we look for a place to live. I haven't downloaded (uploaded??) any pictures to my computer yet, but for those of you on Instagram, I am "tcits" and took pictures along the road and am trying to continue taking a few a day.

Piper grows up- 6 months

Piper girl,

Right now, your daddy is upstairs with you trying to convince you to go to sleep and I can't help but feel like you've always been a part of our family. You are such a sweet baby and, now that I've gotten the hang of having two kids (which honestly means I no longer feel like I'm going to lose my mind on a daily basis, just an every-other-day basis), I can't imagine you not being here.

You are primarily a laid-back kid. You want to be fed quite frequently (just like your mama!) and certainly make your unhappiness known, but you love to play on your activity mat, sit in the bumbo with your toys, or just be pushed in your stroller. You *finally* really enjoy being worn, awake or asleep, which has been so nice for me.

It doesn't take much at all to bring a smile to your face, and you love to babble at us. Your sister loves to give you kisses, and as long as she doesn't squeeze you or fall on you in the process, you give her big grins which makes her incredibly happy. It won't be long until you're chasing her around.

I took you to your 6-month checkup this morning and you were 15 pds 15 ozs. Still holding strong in the 50th percentile. I am about to have to buy you some clothes because you're so chunky you can't wear any of the cute rompers Jade used to wear because they all have elastic in the legs. I absolutely love your rolls, but do wish that you would get around to crawling at some point because you are heavy!

You consistently roll both ways now and have gotten on your toes and hands a couple times. Every now and then you bring one knee up like you know you need to do that in order to move, but you haven't really figured it out yet. Mostly, I think it's because you're so content and you're just taking your sweet time learning all this stuff. If I sit you up, you can balance yourself sitting for a little while but not too long yet. Sometimes you put your arms out to support you, and then you stay up for a bit longer. Really, you don't like to bend (strange, strange, child) which is obviously impeding your desire to sit.

You have one tooth on the bottom and the other one is starting to poke through. We'll start solids with you pretty soon... I've been waiting until you were sitting up a little better and until we were back in town!

This month, you met your Uncle Greg, Aunt Heather and Kristan and Sara Beth. You met LOTS of other people in Georgia/Alabama as well. You had your first airplane ride and did as well as can be expected :) Everyone loved your chunky thighs and sweet smiles, just like mama does.

Your 7th month is going to be pretty crazy as we're going to be driving halfway across the country, living in hotels, and trying to find a new house. Quite the adventure, your first year of life is proving to be!

With bunches of love,
Mama

Stats:
Weight- 15 pounds, 15 ounces- 50%
Height- 25 1/2 inches- 50%
Head circumference- 16 3/4 inches- 50%

(Compared to Jade at 6 months)