November

It has been a whirlwind of a month, there is no doubt about that.


We wrapped up Clayson and Matt's 8th grade football season and hunting season began. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Clayson's 14th birthday. I sold many household extras through Facebook and garage sales and started hitting up sales to buy Christmas presents.


The ENTIRE month was spent moving out of my house and merging into his. The combining of two households required rearranging, reorganizing, replacing, redistributing, repainting and rethinking. Kayla now shares her room with Ashlyn and the formal dining/office is now a room for Clayson and Trey. It became a six bedroom house for ten people overnight ... well, not overnight, but in a hurry. We decided to use most of my furniture since it is newer, so it was out with the old-in with the new. (Thank goodness that Joey is not picky because I am happy to continue using my teal bedding and bathroom decor that I loved so much. He is amazing. He has told me from the beginning to hang what I want to hang and put things where I want to put them because he wants me to feel like it's my home, too. Yes, he is truly amazing.) We've laid wooden floors in the living room, structured a corner for the fireplace and come up with many ideas for future projects. But, we have not lost sight of what is important - our precious kids or the time we spend with each other (away from the grind). With the Christmas season upon us, we will work on projects when we can but will keep our priorities focused and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.


Looking back I can see what wonderful memories we made this month - things that I have always dreamed of having, memories I've always dreamed of sharing (togetherness ... we do almost everything together). Grocery shopping was so much fun, ending up with 16 pie crusts led to quality time in the kitchen and good desserts to share with others. Together, Joey and I learned how to bake apple pies (he did get overly creative with these), pecan pies and chocolate pies (with the cow-lick topping). All were tasty and the chocolate pie always hit the spot - morning, noon and night.




Thanksgiving was a great day spent with family and a weekend spent with friends at the deer lease. I have definitely counted my blessings this month. I am glad that the hard part is over and now it is on to creating the life I have dreamed of living.

my love that I will be forever thankful for

Seasons change, celebrations happen, moving takes place and love grows.

memories in pictures...

Joey's doe posing as a buck

girls of the deer woods

Joey and I with my brother, Jason, and his wife, Megan

on Thanksgiving day (before the mad rush to the deer lease)

my three littlest loves but biggest blessings

This should be part of my Christmas card. Such is life, right?!

November: filled with so many things to be thankful for...

change

People change. Times change. Things change. Sometimes change is for the better, sometimes change is hard, sometimes change is inevitable. Sometimes change is temporary and sometimes it's permanent.

A year and a half ago, Joey changed my life. I tried to resist the change - not quite ready to put my heart on the line after certain circumstances. But his irresistable sense of humor, his amazing personality and his ability to get along so well with me and my family, well, I had a change of heart. Sometimes, change is inevitable.

It's been a great 18 months together falling in love and creating so many fun memories with just the two of us and with all of the kids. We've enjoyed vacations, weekend getaways, sporting events, hunting seasons, holidays and family get togethers. Most of our time is spent together, very little is spent apart.

For the past couple of months, my kids and I have been staying at Joey's house. When I buy groceries, that's where I unload them. When I do laundry, that's where I put the clothes up. My house became nothing more than a run in - run out location. It wasn't where we wanted to stay. After some deep discussions with each other and talking to the kids and considering this to be a permanent change, we decided that it'd be best for all of us to move into his house. My house went on the market Monday. This change is good.

I loved my (new) house but if "home is where the heart is", it was never a home. I look forward to being able to function as a family/ team and a future filled with hope. This change is what we needed. I am so thankful and blessed for all of the positive changes that will come out of this and all of the positive changes that have taken place in my life over the past year and a half.

Yes, sometimes change is for the better.