Under Contract

After a lot of frustration, our house is officially under contract and we will be closing July 19th pending a good inspection and appraisal. We would have moved on at this point to start looking into building our home but with the interest rates on the rise we're not sure we want to wait to get our land surveyed, perked, appraised and then wait for 60-120 of the actual build process. Winchester also doesn't have much in the way of rental properties as there are no apartment complexes. So rental homes go very quickly. So instead we are going to try to go look for a home to buy. We needed this all to work out in this time frame because we have set a projected start date for the business on September 1st and we need to be in town to get everything ready at the office.

T-Ball Time

 Alli was so excited for her first T-Ball game. She kept asking us, "Is it time for my team?"

 

 A little silliness before the game.

 I think Alli enjoyed fielding. She stopped one of the balls that was hit to her but she had to fight for a few of the others. A lot of the other girls were more aggressive in running after the ball so Alli expressed some frustration in the girls "getting her balls". I'm sure we can work on that.

 She loved hitting

 but her first time up she ran towards first and never tagged it before she turned around for home! We had a lot of laughs.

 On her next at bat, she made it to 1st

  And then finally all the way around!

 

Alli loved seeing so much of the family there. Thanks for those who were able to make it. I was a little worried about how well she would do with us on the bleachers while she was left in the dugout. I tried to prep her before hand. She didn't sound excited about it but she's really been looking forward to us being able to cheer for us so I explained we couldn't be in the stands cheering for her if we were with her in the dugout or on the field. So she knew up front she needed to stay with her team. Ben stood behind her in the dugout early in the game to make sure she was ok. She then pushed Ben's hand off the fence and says "dad I'm ok. I'm not scared. You can leave." She's growing up. It's fun to watch! Love her.

March Madness - unrelated to basketball

March has been busy but it was the month that we finally received the answer to months and months of prayers. For some time now our plans have consisted of what Ben called two plan A's. Plan A one was the fire job that Ben was working hard to try to get. Plan A two was our business. We have been praying for sometime that the Lord would direct us. We truly felt a peace and comfort in our prayers that either plan was going to be a good one for us. We always prayed for the Lord's will to be done. While we had so much positive feedback to lead us to think Ben was going to get the fire job he had worked so hard for, we found out a few weeks ago that Ben was not selected for the position.

Once this decision had been made, we knew our direction was clear. We needed to go and throw ourselves 100% into working our business alongside our manager. This would not be adequately done from Smyrna. Some of you may know that the location we were going to start our service has hopped around a bit. We kept trying to locate in Wilson county but obstacles kept coming into play to keep us from moving forward. We finally stepped back and thought it made more sense to start back in the county where our manager, CFO and Medical director are. Here we have a stronger potential for a client base because of how well Ben and our manager are known in this county. As soon as this decision had been made, things began to progress and progress quickly.

While many of you already know from a comment Ben posted on his old Fire Department's facebook page, I will officially post it here. (Ben was not aware this post would post on EVERYONE's facebook page and it robbed us the opportunity of telling family personally.) We are moving back to Ben's hometown. We are excited for the opportunities ahead of us.

Unrelated to this: Ethan had his 1 year check up and continues to grow at a rate unexpected to us. He gained two lbs and two inches. He is now 23 lbs 5 oz and is 32 inches tall. What astounds me is that he is in the 99% for his height.

Ethan's One

This past weekend we celebrated Ethan's first birthday. I decided to base his party around the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was a favorite of mine as a child and I thought it would be really cute. I didn't realize until the party that not Everyone was as familiar with this book as I was. Oh well, good thing I had the book there for reference.

Ethan's Caterpillar  - Each circle had a picture representing one of his first 12 months.

I always regret at parties how few pictures I get of the kids with their aunts and uncles. Kara is the lucky one to get a picture with Ethan. Sorry guys...I was rushing around and didn't get pictures.

Happy Birthday sign and guests

The kids loved playing outside and we were thankful for the nice weather to enjoy.

The food was my favorite part. Each food item referenced back to food that the caterpillar ate in the book.

Ethan wasn't very sure what to do with his smash cake.

Ben had to show him how to do it.

He was much happier once we gave him a spoon.

Happy chocolate covered baby!

 

Ethan may not have been energized about opening up his gifts but...

he loved each and every one of them. Thank you everyone who was able to make it to celebrate his special day. We are thankful to have you as a part of our lives.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

BS in Fire Science

Ben finished his BS! Hallelujah! I'm so proud of him. Great job babe! Not only that, but he finished with a GPA of 3.83.

Life Size Bear

Shannon's family got Ethan this adorable huge bear when he was born. The initial purpose was to take monthly pictures of Ethan beside or on the bear...but seeing as how Ethan never cooperated and I usually forgot or lacked the time around his monthly birthdays, this is how we play with the bear. What can I say, we like to rough house! (We discovered that Ethan liked to attack the bear a few days back when Alli was beating the bear up with some nerf swords. She kept dive bombing the bear while I held it and attacked her. Then Ethan joined the fun.)

A second video

Testimony Strengthened

I won't go into a lot of details in this blog because I feel that it is the inappropriate time to do so, but I do want to reiterate what I posted as my status on facebook tonight.
  
"When we finally decide to quit fighting against God's plan and asking the questions, "why us, why now", stress dissolves and life becomes more clear. In time all things make sense and you realize just how good God is and how blessed you are. I thank God for all I have now and all we will have in our future. My eyes are finally seeing the fruition of our hard work and some of the reasons for our trials. Feeling blessed."


Ben and I have seen numerous blessings in our short 7 years together but there has always been one very hard and major trial for us...Ben's job vs. his aspirations. The struggle only grew as each year passed. One hurdle successfully handled led to another hurdle to climb. 2012 was the year of our greatest uncertainties and we still aren't 100% to a conclusion but we are finally getting to the point in our trials where we are seeing the reasons behind some of the trials, the reasons things happened to put Ben in the right place at the right time to be able to talk to the right people.

The trials sucked....don't get me wrong....but knowing the result....knowing now what we didn't know then, makes me realize just how ever-present God is in our lives and how blessed we are.  Every time we hurt because Ben was passed up for a promotion he deserved....now we better understand why. Every time we had to deal with confrontations issues as a result of Ben being disliked by management in his fire career, yet being adored by his EMS management....now we understand the purpose. Ben was being guided. We were being guided. I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for knowing our needs and knowing our desires. I'm just thankful. I can't wait to be able to finally share with everyone all of the exciting things coming. I look forward to 2013.