18 months!

Our sweet Eli is 18 months old today!  It is definitely hard to believe. I did want to document the day and include a few shots for your viewing pleasure!

Eli loves to be outside and swing at the park.
He points to everything and asks what it is "that?"
We recently turned his car seat around so his world has been enlarged :).
He eats almost anything but some of his favorites are blueberries, eggs, broccoli casserole and pretty much anything that has a "sauce" on it.
He is 26 lbs and 31.75 inches tall.
He does a good job playing by himself, but loves for anyone to read him a book.
Recently he has gotten very sweet and has started to cuddle more.  I LOVE that!

We love you Eli and your sweet personality!  So thankful you're ours!

May you be a man of great faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

The Emotions of Moving

One could say I've moved a lot in my adult years.  I went "off" to college (only 3 hours away, but a lot for me).  Then I went across an ocean to live in East Asia for 6 years, then to Boston, Austin and now Louisville.  There is part of me that thinks this should get easier.  The packing up, de-cluttering, exploring a new place, meeting new friends.  Well, the truth is I am low change.  I think if this life were up to me I would stay in one place, especially after having a child.  I like my routine, my Bible study, my life.  However, my husband is HIGH change.  He likes to see new places, have new experiences, work in different areas of his field, etc.  It breathes life into him.  I'm glad God put us together. I'm glad on the days when the emotions of moving set in and I cry for the 10th time that day I can look to him and see the hope and anticipation in his eyes.

One day last week after telling a sweet friend that we decided to move I got off the phone and literally broke down with just Eli there to comfort me.  However, since he's so young he didn't get it and actually thought he should laugh rather than pat me on the shoulder and tell me everything was going to be alright (don't you love 1 year olds!)  So, I preceded to text Keith and tell him I wasn't doing very well.  At that moment nothing seemed easy to me, the decision to move to Louisville was rocking our my whole world and I couldn't believe I had said "yes" to this just days before.  Keith called me when he got a minute and shared words that were definitely from the Lord and brought me back into reality.  Was I really worried that the Lord wouldn't provide community, a church, friends, a house?  All things that I have seen him lavishly give us here in Austin and I think he will just stop now?  The truth is I know these things will come, it will just take time.  I may have lonely days but God is still faithful and I know the Lord is taking us to Louisville for a purpose.

Since we decided to move we started praying that we would see the Lord guide us through this process and He has yet to let us down.  We actually sold our house here in Austin 6 days after we said yes to Louisville which is just amazing.  That means no cleaning up the house for showings (which would be next to impossible with an 18 mo running around) and it also means we can move out whenever we need to.  We sold it to a sweet family in our church who have been renting in our neighborhood.  They have two young kids and have even been over here to play.  It is fun to think this house will still be filled with laughter, baby sounds and prayer. This makes it easier to leave.

We are still working on the complete details of our move, (I'll update you when we know when we will set out on our 15+ hour drive).  We are looking at houses in LV and trust the Lord has the perfect one picked out.  Thanks for praying for us when you think of it, it really means so much!

The countdown is on...

Well, the shock of moving is slowly becoming the new normal.  I think Keith and I know that we are supposed to move to Louisville, not only because of the job but because the Lord wants us there.

This weekend we decided to start checking things off our list of "last things we want to do in Austin."  I have to say, the list gets a lot more interesting when you have a child in the picture.  As you can see from the the pictures, Eli wasn't the one begging to do any of these things but he is the one we wanted to do them for.

Eating breakfast at the original Kerby Lane Austin, TX

Next we took a trip to Zilker park, this is the largest park in Austin and is located downtown.  It is where many famous festivals are located throughout the year and is loaded with people on any given Saturday.  It has a great playground and kids train which is what attracted us to this place.

Waiting for the train to start...

getting dirty on the playground

Still waiting...

Weeee...

Once the train started Eli just sat back and relaxed (in typical Eli fashion) with little awareness he was on a train, it that was nice for us holding him.

The day was hot (typical Texas weather in Austin) and a good nap followed the morning but it was fun to get out and explore.  We are glad that Eli is at such a fun age and will hopefully be up for doing this again when we get to Louisville.

More to come from our leaving checklist...

We are going where?

For the past 3+ years we have lived in Austin, TX.  Even though neither Keith nor I are from Austin we have grown to love this city.  It is the place we first lived as a married couple, found our first church together, first group of friends, new jobs, this is the place our first child was born and on and on.  We even bought our first house here 4 months ago.  It is the kind of city we considered "settling" down in. The only pause we have is it is many hours (by car) from both of our families.

Over a month ago Keith received a call from a recruiter about a job possibility.  He took the interview to keep his options open and to work on his interview skills.  Little did we know that the Lord had dropped this opportunity into our laps.  The opportunity for Keith to grow in his career and for us to trust Him more.

A couple of weekends ago Keith and I were invited to visit this new city, meet some people, stay in a nice hotel (first time for both of us to leave Eli) and for Keith to have his final interview.  Our immediate impression of the city was that it was small(er) but beautiful.  We know almost zero people there, so is this the right move for our little family??  And the questions kept coming.

Well after much deliberation & prayer we have decided to move.  To Louisville, KY.  Yes, when we went and visited that was my first trip there, but as the days go by and the Lord continues to show us He's in charge of this journey the tight grip I had of holding on to Austin is loosening.

I am overwhelmingly proud of my husband and all he has accomplished in his career and will follow him anywhere, but still the tears come, the doubt creeps in and I wonder if we've made the right choice.  I do...right now... at 2:50pm...on Friday.

That's all we know right now.  We are packing up our life in Austin, more on Louisville later.

To blog...

I have been toying with the idea for sometime now to start a blog.  I am a blog reader, I just love it.  I love to read about what other families are up to, know how to pray for them and just stay connected even though I hardly ever comment, I do read them faithfully.  Now that I'm a Mom I find myself wanting to read but not having the time to commit to even a chapter of a book, blogs are great for that.  I also think they are great ways to document your life and they give me more incentive to take pictures of life because I can put them on a blog.  So, here it goes...

Let me introduce my family...

Keith & I

We started this journey together not too many years ago and are enjoying every minute of it!  We currently live in Austin, TX and have been blessed by jobs, friends, a church and bright warm sunshine here!

A couple of years later this little guy appeared on the scene...

Eli

Now almost 18 months later he makes us laugh, keeps us on our toes and reminds us how blessed we are to be his parents.  

Hopefully the things I want to get out of blogging (like documenting family memories, keeping up with friends, etc) will come with time, but I desire to be honest and not just write about all the good stuff.  Hopefully this blog will help me to be real with others as well as myself.  

Thanks for reading!