Wordless Wednesday

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Leaving on a Jet plane...

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We are in the air on the plane. Our day started very early, 2:50 A.M. for me, 3:20A.M. for the girls. Today is the day we have all been looking forward to since 2005 when Mike got his commission as a Naval Officer. We initially wanted to go to Virginia for our first set of Officer orders, but God had a different plan and sent us 1 hour South of NAS Oak Harbor to NS Everett, Marysville and the USS Abraham Lincoln. Now is finally our time to leave the great state of Washington (after 11 great years)and head East. It will be a great transition and new beginning for our family, including the birth of our newest daughter, F. McKenzie in late Sept./early Oct.

The girls and I took a limo (riding out with style) to the airport because of the early departure time, they are overly excited for this and have been talking about it all week. The driver will arrived at 3:50 A.M. and we arrived at SeaTac by 5 A.M.

It will be a long day with a 4 hour( yes, you heard me right, 4 hours!), layover in Atlanta, but the end result will put us in Virginia. We will be staying with Aunt Joyce and Uncle Al, and cousin Sebastian (the dog), for a few weeks until we get settled. Look out Sebastian, here we come... :-)

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

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Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to Grandma...
Happy Birthday to YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!


Can you hear us singing :-)

Hope you have a great day, love you always!!!!
Mike, Jacque, & the girls

A day with friends

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We spent the day a few weekends ago with our good friends, The Morgan's, our WA family. We have known them for 10 wonderful years. We will miss them all dearly as we move East, but they know they are always welcome in our home whether near or far. Here are some of the pictures from our day. Love you guys always, we will keep in touch!

changing blog address

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Hi all,
FYI, I will be changing the blog address at the end of this week to www.astablebeginning.blogspot.com. Hopefully my 5 followers will come along for the ride too, if not thanks for hanging in. I am changing to avoid the confusion between my email address and the blog address.
Thanks, I can't wait to start this new adventure!!!!

Our new home in VA

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The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to purchase another house in Virginia while still keeping our house here in WA. We will be moving and closing in mid-July. Mike picked out the house, from lot to colors, the whole 9 yards. I have only seen the house through pictures from our fabulous Realtor, Debbie. The house is not completely finished yet, but should be done by the beginning of July.

Our house here in WA has ben rented after 3 months on the rental market, Praise the Lord! Getting it rented was such a stressful expierence for me. The whole time I prayed that we would have a renter before we leave WA for VA. Through all the stressful times and heartfelt prayers, God was listening ( not ignoring me) and waiting for the right family to fill our home. He did it in His time, not ours, and we had to put our faith in the whole process that our prayers would be fulfilled. Sometimes that is such a hard lesson to learn, that God works in His own timeframe. I was given this quote from a friend and fellow blogger and thought it was perfect for this situation, thanks Emily :-)

"The Lord puts challenges in your path to mold your character. For your own personal growth He will often let you struggle with a matter for a while, even when you are pleading for help. But as you follow true principles, He will finally see you through. He intends that when you have reached your extremity, you will turn to Him for comfort, peace, and assistance. He will send these through the quiet prompting of the Spirit. He will give reassurance and guidance that are essential to correct decisions in your life. "You are learning powerful, eternal lessons. Be sure you understand them. The Lord does not abandon your urgent pleas, nor is He ever, for even a moment, unmindful of your anguish and heartache. He hears every supplication. He invariable answers according to spiritual law. Understanding that law will help you appreciate how the Lord answers your prayer. His silence and seeming absence at times are a powerful means of expanding your vision and understanding as you continue in faith to do your best."
~Richard G. Scott

16 hours....

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Yes, you read that right. It took 16 hours for my movers to pack up the truck with all of our earthly belongings. They started at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning and didn't finish until 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Now you are probably thinking we have A LOT of stuff, but we don't! That is why I was wondering why it took them 4ever to load up. The girls and I had to stay the WHOLE time, I put them in the van and they fell fast asleep at 830 p.m. and I sat waiting and waiting. It is done and behind us now, let's just hope it doesn't take 16 hours to unload the truck at our new house in VA.

WA moving day

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Moving day is here!!!



The truck arrived at 9:00 A.M. ready to pack and load all of our earthly belongings into a truck and ship East. It was a bitter sweet thing, to see the items go. Montana doesn't understand and is a bit overwhelmed with all the changes happening right now. She knows we are going to Virginia, but she doesn't fully comprehend why all the things that she has known since birth are disappearing. Any suggestions on how to alleviate this separation anxiety in young children?

Wordless Wednesday

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It's official...

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Mike and I have decided that we will home school our girls for the coming school year. The girls will start A Stable Beginning Christian Academy using the Sonlight Cores for 1st, 3rd, & 7th grade curriculums in late August. After much prayer and thoughtful email/phone discussions with Mike for the past month and a half....this is the way the Lord is leading us for our girls next educational step. It is what we feel will be best for our girls at this time. After weeks and weeks of research, input from others, I was drawn back to Sonlight's website. The girls will each take Latin America Spanish with the Rosetta Stone program. I am going to refresh my Spanish skills at the same time.

You can't ignore what the Lord says to you through prayer and guidance from others who are already on their homeschooling journeys. We want them to have a sane and biblically sound education and there is no way right now that we can send all the girls to a local Christian school, it just is not financially possible without us eating beans and weenies morning, noon, and night (we kind of like steak and potatoes sometimes).

The Hampton Roads area of Virginia has many home school co-ops and support groups to help newbies like me, and for field trips, etc. Check back often as I post what we are doing in our classroom.

Homeschooling might seem difficult at times, but so are a lot of things in life, but in the end it will be a lifetime reward. I am positive that the girls will excel with this new one-on-one learning, why else would the Lord lead us to it? It all comes down to having faith. No, not my baby Faith, but FAITH-Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Got Faith? We do, and the Lord will guide me in teaching the girls, and I just have to be obedient and follow his guidance. That is the only way we will succeed.

I love my Odyssey!!!

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Last July when I traded in my 2005 Yukon XL Denali for my 2008 Honda Odyssey, people thought I was crazy. No, what was CRAZY was the $4.59 gas prices! I couldn't stand paying $70.+ for a HALF tank of gas, that didn't even last two full weeks. We stopped driving as much as I usually drive and that was barely nothing anyways, since I was working full time with the daycare all day, so my driving was limited to cheer practices, grocery store, and other errands like that. Mike was deployed, but I knew I had to do something and soon. I did all my research and found the perfect vehicle that still offered space and was apples-to-apples in my opinion. Fully loaded Denali to fully loaded Odyssey. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I really do LOVE my Odyssey! I have always wanted one, and now I can cross that off my list, so to speak. I think my favorite feature is the Variable Cylinder Management™ , that saves a ton a gas. I am currently at 19.5 mgp at a little above a half a tank after traveling throughout town and up and down the highway for over two weeks. Love it!!!