What's been goin on the past 2yrs?!

Soooo, it's been about 2yrs since I last wrote...life's been super busy, and I just didn't feel like writing. Now, I have a fresh mind to write, still not much time, but there's definitely more interesting things to talk about ;-)

Let's recap what's been going on in my crazy 2yrs almost to the date:
* Most important: I had a baby!! We welcomed our beautiful princess, Gracie, in late spring 2013!! She's the absolute light of our lives and brings SO much joy and happiness to everyone who comes in contact with her. I never knew I could be so much in love with someone (like more in love with than even my husband and family!!). Didn't think that was possible, but when you have a baby, it happens just like everyone says!! She's an exact mini-me, a complete replica of me..bless her heart, haha. It's crazy how much she looks and acts like me! She'll be ONE soon, and that's just hard to believe how fast time flies!!! I meant to start blogging again after she was born to capture all the stores, but lack of time and learning how to be a mommy took over :-) So, now you'll get to hear more about our precious princess.
                                    

A day after she was born   

February 2014

*2nd Most Important: We made our 5yr Wedding Anniversary in 2013!! It's been the most fun, crazy, hard, amazing, journey I've ever been on!! I've love every single second of it though! If you'd told me I would experience the things I have and see the things I have, I never would've thought it possible. Jon makes me be a better person and see things differently than I usually would have.  He is the calm and collected to my crazy while I'm the calm and collected to his crazy. We balance each other out perfectly...not saying we're perfect, I mean what couple doesn't have their arguments, etc....but it's our perfect. God definitely knew what He was doing when He brought us together!! On our 4th Anniversary, we celebrated early (because we knew fall of 2013 would be too crazy) by driving through Sedona and taking a train ride to the Grand Canyon (checking off Sedona, train ride, Grand Canyon on my bucket list!!) and staying for a few nights. It's was AH-MAZING!!! We're definitely going back one day!! Just sad that we only went once while stationed in AZ.

Took a detour to see Sedona, AZ! Absolutely beautiful!!

Sedona, AZ

Us in front of the Grand Canyon!!!

It was just more beautiful than you can even imagine!

This Bible verse sums up the experience of the Grand Canyon...majestic!!

Jon at an overlook

We were given a beautiful rainbow on our last day there

Happy Anniversary!!

*I started teaching. I got a "teaching" job for 2012-2013 school year at a school I had subbed at that was down the road from our house. It was a great school and had a lot of qualities and values that I stood for in teaching. I "taught" computers. I was ecstatic and went in with great enthusiasm. However, that year was also the year this school started a program that let one area/grade teacher write the curriculum for their area/grade for the whole district. Well, needless to say, the person that did mine had NO CLUE what she was doing and it was NOT a computer class at all!! It was basically was a play time for the kids and supplemental library/English class for the ridiculous state standardized test prep. I fought and fought it, my principal was supportive of needing a change, but in the end I had to follow this clueless person. So, needless to say, the kids and myself were miserable the whole year, and they didn't learn computers. I liked the people in my particular school and developed a few friendships (they even threw me an amazing baby shower!!). Even though it wasn't my ideal teaching position, I made great money that helped up get out of debt almost completely, had a good schedule and didn't have to work overtime like most teachers (which was great considering I was pregnant the whole time), and got some experience to add to a resume should I ever go back to work. So, all in all, it was good.

*Now for probably the biggest news..we got orders!! I still remember the phone call waking me up one morning when Gracie was barely one month old, "Hey Hun, We got orders to...!!" I was supposed to be excited and thrilled and speechless because this was a dream we never thought would happen because this
was a one in a million thing to happen because this was like the lottery of bases to go to...but I wasn't, I was devastated. Poor Jon, all he wanted was finally a good job and a good squadron after getting the short end of the stick for 15yrs, he was excited, but had to deal with an overly emotional wife who could only think this was the worst thing in the world. Yes, we had always dreamed of this, but never in a gazillion years thought it would happen. We had just had our princess and were looking forward to being stationed in the South again so our families could be involved and visit more now that she was here. Anyone who knows me knows how insanely close I am to my family, and this was even further away. AZ was really rough, but we were only 1-2hrs time difference depending on the season (AZ doesn't do Daylight Savings Time), the plane tickets weren't super cheap but we could do it on short notice if needed, we could talk all day every day. This was 6hrs time difference, suuuuper expensive plane tickets, and because of time distance and depending on internet connection we can't talk all the time. I bawled and bawled, and it was not a good phone call to Momma to tell her either. We knew this was not what God wanted and said we would pray and get everyone we know to pray about it. WELLL....funny thing is, God knows exactly what He's doing and this WAS in His will for us to do!! While praying for a different answer, we got the answer we really needed: peace. Peace that this was gonna happen and peace that this was God's will and peace that we were gonna be ok. I mean, we weren't going to Mars or somewhere like that. We were going overseas to get the opportunity to live and experience how people only dream of living and being. This was a once in a lifetime experience God was blessing us with!! And this is modern day where technology is abundant and there's such a thing as video chat and international calling plans where calls are free and the internet. We began to let ourselves get excited for this chance to explore and visit places we never ever thought in a million years we'd thought we'd get to even visit, let alone live there and really experience Europe. So, now we're here and on a new journey and loving every single minute of it!! God knows what's best, and all I can say is I'm SO glad we followed Him to this new adventure He put us on! I'm sitting here watching my baby play in my English house, in my little English village, surrounded by history older than America, with lime green grass, trees, flowers, and beautiful weather!! And guess what? We talk to my family maybe more than we ever did thanks to a free video chat and messaging app and our house phone plan has free international calling. The time difference is a little tricky, but we make do. Thank you Jesus for this great blessing!! SO, stay tuned for some great stories and pictures of our new adventures....in jolly ol' England!!