Moving.....

It’s always bittersweet in so many ways……

Bitter because I left behind a place I absolutely am in love with, the Cumberland Gap area has to be the most gorgeous place I have ever lived…..

Sweet because I know this is the Lord’s will, and nothing is more fulfilling that knowing I am doing what He wants me to do…..

Bitter because I know I won’t see my dear sweet friends as much as I am used to…..

Sweet because I know I am about to make more……

Bitter because I like living completely surrounded by cows and horses….

Sweet because my kids actually have a place to ride their bikes for once…..

Bitter because I will be paying more in rent ;-)…….

Sweet because my mother and her beloved Mollie are living with us……

Bitter because we left our awesome ward.....

Sweet because our new ward even when we were not technically in yet had already called and welcomed us and we had even had a play-date at the park with some of them…..

Bitter because there are ants at my new house, ugh!

Sweet because I found out that there are a whole bunch of home-schooling families in my new ward, yeah!!

Bitter because I had to pack and move my stuff again (10^th time in 10 years of marriage)……

Sweet because Immanuel will have more boys his age at church and cub scouts…..

Sweet because I have a yard to garden in this time…..

Sweet because I have neighbors who have children my kid’s age and they are already friends…..

Sweet because the one neighbor who is Eden’s age  told her that she was glad she moved here because she needed a best friend again……

Sweet because it is always an adventure and I love having new experiences that teach me great things…..

Sweet because I have blossom trees and irises in my yard and a front porch swing……

Sweet because I can have my cats at my house now....

Sweet because there’s so much to do in Knoxville and now we are much closer to those resources and as John would call it civilization……

Sweet because John’s work is only 18 miles away and that means more time we get to spend with him……

Sweet because we are about to save a ton in gas money…..

Yes, there are a lot of sweets…..more than I am listing…..and more I will find out soon I am sure of it. Looking forward is so much better, new opportunities, more growing, another chapter….more than anything I look forward to the new relationships I will form with new friends and wisdom and love of a mother and nana in the home. Life will certainly be interesting!

 Iman and Brady, one of our new neighbors.  These guys get a long fabulously!  Brady is a sweet kid.  :-)

 John and I one morning as we woke up still at this point sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags!  I was really happy when we finally got our bed moved in.  :-)

 Some pics of the house, not finished yet, but you get the idea.

 Mum and I at the Fountain City Park.

Blossoms are already gone, but the irises are here.  :-)

Jack-a-Lope is THREE! (Whew, finally!)

Okay, so i know that I've been MIA for the past month and a half, but i think i have a pretty good excuse.  The fact is that there's so much to be done when moving that I can't quite justify blogging as the guilt of not being more productive is overwhelming.  Truth is, it's okay for me to blog and not feel guilty as this is really like a journal to me, documenting my life and thoughts, that one day will hopefully be valuable to my posterity.  So today's blog is about Jack's birthday, which, yes, was the 12th of March which is exactly one month and one day ago, HOWEVER i did take the pictures and i do want to remember the memories. 

Be prepared that in the next few days as i get back into the habit of blogging there will be a vomiting of them like a woman with morning sickness!  I have lots to catch up on so please excuse the "outdatedness" (nope that's not a real word) of it all.

Back to Jack! 

Jack-a-lope has been excited for his third birthday ever since Christmas. (mainly because the only way i could appease him that he would soon get more presents that he didn't get enough of for Christmas - apparently, was to tell him he had a birthday coming up soon).  He pretty much asked everyday though from Christmas to his birthday if today was his birthday.  :-)

We celebrated on the Sunday after his birthday and had our dearest friends over for dinner after church.  Jack decided that his cake was going to be pretty much like what Eden's was except he really focused on the Zebras.  This time i made even the frosting from scratch as i recently found out that even white frosting bought in the stores has food coloring in it too (the shock and the horror) and having two kids that really can't handle coloring i was forced to forgo the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting we all love so much. Hey, if anyone has a "from scratch" cream cheese frosting suitable for cakes, let me know please! (i know you do!) :-)

I think Jack had a fabulous time being the center of attention and thanks to the Schutzes, as usual, Jack had endless gifts to open, the TRON cars were a huge hit!  ;-) 

Jack has mastered how to hold up three fingers when he's asked how old he is and is now finally not asking for things for his birthday, lol.  Boy do i love this little guy of mine!

Also from the Schutzes!  He loves it!

Love Hurtz....

....and so does acting apparently!  I have not acted in any form since really 8th grade although i was in the choir for a couple of musicals in High School, but singing is definitely NOT acting.  It really was a draining experience, but i am willing to bet that being a mother to four and wife to one, a full-time home-school teacher and part-time dental hygienist for starters had something to do with this being the experience that it was.  And contrary to what "some" people may think, i was not hating it every step of the way ;-).

My good, dear, beloved, friend, Sara Schutz was the director for the show "Love Hurtz" which played at Lincoln Memorial University the 16th-19th of Feb., and in my words anyway, "coerced" me along with my husband who will probably resent that i said this, into doing the show (really i only had like 10 lines i think, maybe less).  Anyway, she directs all the shows there and does a fabulous job.  I did enjoy working with her (like i'd have any other experience with such a wonderful glorious woman!) and i hope we were cooperative actors for her to try to shape and mold.

I will say though that the most rewarding part of this whole ordeal was seeing the kids act.  That's right, the part that Sara wrote and cast us as was a "family" in a scene to begin and end Act 1.  So John and i were the parents of Eden and Immanuel.  Not too hard right?  ;-)  Well i am no director, but i thought Immanuel was a natural!  Of course it helps that he and Eden have an amazing ability to memorize things.  No joke, after we had rehearsed ONE time at home as a family Immanuel had it down already.  He also put feeling into it and was excited and i was definitely impressed with his 9 year old self.  Eden got into it more and more as we kept rehearsing and by the end of the show, she was sure that she was completely famous!

In fact one day we were passing by the bank and it announced the show at LMU on one of those electronic boards that also tell the time and weather.  She was blown away and was like, "YES!  Now i really am famous!"  LOL! They really got excited that they got to bow at the end of the show too.  Despite the trial of making this all work, my love for Sara and seeing my children's characters come to life more made it all worth while.  And no, Sara that doesn't mean you can ask me to do any other shows, even though you already have!  ;-)

I will also mention that the last couple of nights doing the show i really enjoyed myself as we stayed till the end for curtain call and i had more of an opportunity to get to know the other cast members as previously our little skit had not required us to interact with anyone else.  There are some amazing people there and it was a great cast.  It really is always about the people and the relationships  we form in life, and you are all very talented people. Thank you for being kind to my children, it made their experience all the more fun and enjoyable.

A special thank you to all those who watch my two younger ones too that whole week while we were rehearsing and performing!  You are life savers!  :-)

"The Queen", (Cheryl Shoults)

Johni England was on the hair/make-up crew and is seen hear making "Ginette" (Tracy Loope) perfect for the show.

Tiffany Dean (top left) was also on the hair/make-up crew with her mother Johni.  She was responsible for my "red nose" that several people thought was a real red nose from being really sick.  Here she is making "Dulcibella" (Aspen Goad) perfect for the show!  ;-)

 "And she has a PINK throne!"

 "Princess Camilla (Caitlyn Cline) and Prince Simon (Luke Thompson)"

 Iman waiting backstage with some crew and cast.  

The kids were all about making friends.  :-)

 "Carlo" (Brent Rutter) Eden especially love him.  Such a fun guy!

 "Dulcibella" (Aspen Goad)

"The King" (Greg Shoults)

The set that we were on for our scenes.

"The Chancellor" (Jonathan Spires)

 "Mom's got a RED nose!"

So much work into being beautiful!  ;-)  "The Queen" (Cheryl Shoults)

These next few are shots of us actually on stage for the real show.
A good friend of Cheryl's (our darling friend and the Queen in this show)
took them for us all.

After the show at the party.

 So silly Eden!

 Iman and Raegan playing with the door after the show was all done the last night.  They are so cute!

 John and Sara the Amazing!

 A little party afterwards.

 

 :-)
p.s. I don't have everyone's FB or email so please feel free to share the link with anyone else who was in the show that might like to see this post.  Thanks!