About 10 days before Stephan was offered his job, we found out another bit of life changing news. Stay tuned for more:

As if keeping up with a toddler is enough to keep me from documenting her milestones and happenings on this blog, our life is about to change in a major way! Stephan was offered a new position within the same company about a month ago.  By the time the approvals went through, another week or so had passed. But within 2 weeks we realized that we had committed to uprooting our household (1 toddler, 1 dog, 2 cats and a house full of stuff we didn’t have when we moved here 3.5 years ago) to…Miami, FL!

We have felt God’s hand in orchestrating this entire situation, so we are confident that He has a plan and that his faithfulness will carry us through the entire process. But with just 6 days until we move, things are feeling a bit hectic and a tad stressful! But let me back up just a bit.  This job that Stephan was presented with is a full time, on-site job at Miami International Airport.  His company not only agreed that he couldn’t be separated from his family, but also offered to move us out there. (Major obstacle/prayer request answered #1)

As it was, Stephan’s previous position had a very short expiration date, as his group was running out of new work.  We knew that he would either be looking for a new job by this summer or would be at the very least changing jobs at his current company. This new job is not permanently located in Miami; rather it is project based. When they complete their work there, they will move to a new location (rumor has it, next stop is Orlando).  The job description for this newly created position actually sounded like it was created for all of Stephan’s strengths, which is pretty incredible. And he will no longer be working with the Postal Division (and therefore, the USPS) and will now be in the Airport Division. Let’s just say that Stephan was getting very burnt out in his old job, so this new, long term job with a different customer are answers to prayer requests numbers 2 and 3.

On a personal note, we had been talking about wanting to relocate back to the East Coast in order to be closer to family. We really didn’t know where, but we wanted to be within an 8 to 10 hour drive from the Tampa/Clearwater area. So, if we do end up going to Orlando after Miami, we will be in Florida for at least the next couple of years–and within a much closer drive! Miami is about 5 hours and Orlando is only 2. So answers to prayer request #4. And if you add the beach in Miami, that’s answer to prayer #5.

We originally were not going to do anything with our house except put an alarm on it, hire a lawn service and let it sit. As the days went by (yes, days, not weeks or months), we pondered our different options. Stephan was trying to see if I wanted to sell, since we could probably do it very quickly, but I was not ready for that much change at once! So, I began to think about renting. On a Wednesday, I was talking to a college roommate, Sara, who still lives up in Illinois.  She mentioned that they had friends who had just received an offer for the husband to come to the DFW area to teach at a local Bible college. We commented on how unfortunate it was that we would be moving just as they got here and that Sara wouldn’t miss out on visited 2 friends in Texas.  The next day she texted me to ask if we were seriously considering renting our house out. I said, “yes!” So, her friend contacted me Thursday afternoon. We exchanged some information and made plans for Julia to come look at our very-not-ready-to-be-shown house on Saturday morning. She saw our house first thing. And even though it was the furthest away from the college, she apparently fell in love with our house and convinced her husband that he wouldn’t mind driving 18 miles to work every day. She called Saturday night to let us know and in less than a week we had renters with excellent references. They were praying for a Christian family to rent from and were hoping to for a nice neighborhood with young kids like theirs and good schools.  So, answer to prayers #6 and 7 (one for us, one for them).  To be honest, it would have been quite stressful to rent to complete strangers, so this situation has been ideal.

The decision to rent the house has resulted in a number of extra items on our to-do list, which we are still working out. As you know, we did a lot of work on this house when we moved in, but we didn’t finish everything. So, we are planning to have these items completed before the new family moves in–mostly painting, caulking, etc.  A few repairs. We are trying to find a good price and company to use, but we are kind of in sticker shock over how much it’s going to cost. I guess that’s understandable for people who have done everything on their own. So, we are praying for the right solution with that.Today is Wednesday, and in reality, we really haven’t started packing yet, but we are, by nature, procrastinators that work well under extreme pressure. Not that it’s the smart way, but it’s just our way.

Late tonight, my brother will be flying in. He is packing up all of his stuff that has been living here for the past year and a half and moving it to his house up in Oklahoma. Since he works on the road 100% of the time, he hasn’t needed any of his stuff! Stephan will officially be on move tomorrow afternoon and we will be working on getting things moving. His dad flies in on Friday evening and will be here this weekend to help us pack, load the truck, work on the house and drive to Florida with Stephan and our dog.  I will be flying out on Tuesday morning with Eisley and our 2 cats. We will be flying into Tampa and staying with Stephan’s mom until the guys get there. We are actually going to put some things into storage in that area, as we feel that we don’t need to have all of our long term storage items with us–especially if we’ll be moving every year or so! Then we’ll be driving down to Miami!

When we first arrive, we will be staying in an extended stay hotel until we find a place to rent. So that is a really big prayer request that we are looking forward to seeing how God answers.   While it would be nice to just move once, we also want to be sure that we find the right place in the right area. And it will take some time to figure out what the right area is, I’m sure! Miami is very new for both of us, so we will be learning a lot, including a bit of Spanish, from what I understand.

We are definitely excited about this transition, but also sad to leave Texas. No, there isn’t a beach and we are far from our families, but we have become very comfortable in our little house (our first place together) and in our neighborhood. This is the place we put A LOT of hard work, time and money into, as well as where Eisley has spent her first almost-2 years.  Although, as I listen to her NOT sleep over the monitor right now, I’m hopeful that maybe she will take better naps in Florida. I can hope, right?

Stay tuned for more updates!

Before I update you on the move, I want to post an abbreviated update of Eisley over the past few months. I am not going to do January right now, but check back for that. As usual, pictures for your enjoyment.

February gave us some interesting fashion from our little emerging princess.

Like the winter hat inside

And the summer dresses over random leggings

Daddy let her pick this out by herself…

For Valentine’s Day, I got her a musical card, which she loved, and a Princess Cinderella magic wand

This was Eisley’s favorite dress (until we got to warmer climates and I had to hide it). And the coffee table shelf spot was a new place to chill.

Before we left, we went out to dinner with our friends, Scott and Becca. Eisley did so well and stayed put for most of the dinner. She was checking out her menu and a little while after this shot, she proceeded to take off her shirt. Her first public stripping! yay.

Last night the weather report showed that a winter storm was coming, but that it would be a wintry mix in the morning and then switch to snow around noon. But when we woke up around 7am, we already had a few inches of accumulation! Stephan decided to go to work for the morning. Since Eisley is sick, we pretty much were going to be at home anyway. I took Eisley out in the morning. She had a ball walking through the snow. The dog was really getting into it; she is a nut for snow, I guess.

After Daddy came home, he took Eisley out to play in the backyard. This time I pulled the camera out.

It’s not DC depths, but it’s still pretty deep for the kid and the dog

Daddy couldn’t wait to build a snowman

Eisley helping Daddy with the snowman

For some reason, Eisley was really into sitting next to this snowman. She didn’t seem to notice that the ground was cold.

I’m a little snow girl.

With Mommy

Shiloh was having a ball!

Still working on the snowman

Not too bad for Texas, eh?

Daddy helped with the snow angel part; Eisley just wanted to lie in the snow.

My two angels chillin’ in the snow.

You’d never know that Eisley is sick! Snow must be invigorating.

I’ve posted some blog updates. If you haven’t been here in a while, here’s what you can check out:

Christmas Morning at the ER

Eisley’s Second Christmas

December Silliness (videos)

Bekah’s Birthday

Yogurt and Pretzels

A Walk in the Park

I didn’t want to miss out on all the good weather because we were still not feeling great. So, Eisley and I went to the park one morning. I had to keep her from trying to go into the nearby pond. We walked along the edge, picking up various sticks that she deemed special. Then we walked back over the bridge to the park to find a couple of turtles enjoying the warm sun. The top turtle actually moved up to make room for the other turtle. How sweet.

Right next to this rock is a water fountain that includes a dog fountain. Eisley normally insists on drinking out of the drinking fountains, but these were turned off for winter. Thankfully, she was content to “sit” on this rock chair.

Stephan taught Eisley a neat trick. Yep. She can take the lid off of her yogurt and lick off the yogurt all on her own. You may also be able to see that she can also give herself a yogurt facial.

Fingers. Pretzels. They’re all the same, right?

Geez, Mom. Do you really have to get so close?

Can you determine her eye color? We’re still guessing.

While I typically look forward to my birthday, this year I was feeling pretty tired and still under the weather, so we stayed home from church so that I could rest (and to keep our runny-nosed kid out of the nursery). It was the first nice day we’d had in a while: sunshine and near 70 degrees! Thankfully, we had decided to try a new crock pot recipe that cooked the night before, so we pretty much had our dinner taken care of. I was rather happy to just stay in instead of having a big birthday celebration. All of us thoroughly enjoyed our beef brisket tacos. Yum!!

I think Stephan was trying to capture Eisley’s special bed head here.

Out at River Legacy Park. Eisley was rather interested in this tree. She had also stumbled walking down the hill and her knees were a bit muddied. Oops.

And that’s about it for pictures, folks. Hopefully next year we’ll all be well!

Keeping up with the blog these days has been a challenge, as you can see. We have had a very busy holiday season, though, for some reason, I kind of wasn’t expecting it. There are so many things to update you on, but I figured I’d just give a little snippet of where we’re at today.

We returned from a trip to Florida on Monday. Everything seemed to be going alright, although we certainly felt that we could have used an extra day or two to recover. Towards the end of our trip, we thought that Eisley might have been a little off, but it was kind of hard to know for sure. But as the days went on, I realized that the combination of night wakings, runny nose and then the random outbursts of crying and clinginess meant that something was going on. So, I got her right into the doctor and found out that she has another ear infection. (Check back for the story of her ear infection on Christmas Day!) Now that she has had a few days of antibiotics in her system, it seems that she is doing better–specifically napping and sleeping at night a little better. But I’m not feeling so great. I am very grateful that Stephan took Eisley this morning so that I could sleep in. It has been a long time since that has happened!

A little while back we got Eisley a baby stroller. She loves to push it around the house, but won’t allow anything to be in it. A few days ago, though, she decided that she just had to put her dolly in the stroller. I decided to take a picture just to capture the novelty of it. Since then, she has allowed dolly and her pillow to sit in the stroller a few times. It’s fun to see how she changes before our eyes.