Mark lit a fire the first evening we were home. How I have missed sitting and snuggling up by the fire with him. Lulu was a bit nervous about the popping and crackling of the fire and Levi got to enjoy his first time ever being in our home. 
Here is our moving crew. That's my older brother Todd and his amazing wife Stephanie along with Mark and Lulu. Todd and Stephanie were such a blessing to us. They showed up early Friday morning (the day after Thanksgiving) and started moving everything out into the van and their truck. The day before it was pouring down rain, Mark prayed for nice weather so we could move everything with out it getting all wet and the Lord gave us a beautiful clear day with blue sky and sun! We finished in time to rest a bit and then head over for a Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house. 
This is a picture of our moving caravan and you can see the black van in the rear view mirror that Mark drove. This was the most fun I have had driving in a while!!
And here is my mom who did ALL the cooking for our fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. It was so great to go enjoy a wonderful meal with our family right after doing all that moving.Thank you mother for all the leftovers that you stocked our fridge with and thank you Todd and Stephanie for all you hard work helping us move. Daddy we also want to thank you for always being there for Mark and I and allowing us to live in your rental house this past year. We love you all and are so thankful that God gave us such an amazing family.
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1
Last night we had to take Lulu to the ER. She stepped on a nail from some tack strip that was on the floor of our house that we are moving back into. We took her in to get a tetanus shot. She did so well and only had some tears when she had to get her two shots. How it happend was that Lulu was so excited to be back in our house that she was running around and we just were seconds behind her when she stepped right on the tack strip. So instead of moving some boxes into the house we drove to the ER and then went home. My mom came with us to help but really she was there to support me while Mark took care of Lulu while they were helping her. He's so good at these kinds of situations. We all prayed and were able to praise God for his protection and healing hand on Lulu. We got home at a decent time but Lulu went right to bed in our bed and we spent the night as a family all snuggled up in bed together. 
Here is Lulu this morning resting her sore little legs and foot watching Mary Poppins. She's holding her new doggy that the ER staff gave her. God is so good how He comforts in stressful times. She's doing great and seems to be back to her happy, cheerful self.
Are you wondering what that beautiful vehicle is? It's the "Fun-mobile" and it's helping us move! My parents bought that van back in 1992. It was Father's day and my parents went to the store. In the parking lot was this van in robin's egg blue and it was for sale! If you know my parents they like things that are a bit odd that "normal" people would probably pass up. The seller offered to sell my dad this van for $500. My dad looked in his wallet and he had 3 one hundred dollar bills. So my dad offered him $300 then the guy said $400....SOLD! My dad wrote a check for the remaining hundred and they drove this $400 van home. I was in 4th grade and my brother was in 5th and we were at a new school. My parents were very involved in our classes and always helped drive for field trips. Well this van not only was a great deal but it sat 13!!! My brother and I were so not excited about this. Can you imagine being our age and this was the vehicle your parents were going to drive all your new friends in? But to make matters worse (funny now) my mom took my brother and I to Home Depot to buy spray paint. We each got to pick 4 or 5 colors. We then drove it to the local park-n-ride parking lot. I got the passenger side of the van my brother got the drivers side and my mom got the front and back. We painted the van multicolored, this was actually really fun. It looked like we drove the van into a bunch of confetti. The first field trip I felt like staying in the girls bathroom while everyone loaded up into the cars. Everyone else's parents drove the normal min-vans or sedans and then there was my family with the psychedelic hippie van......but to my surprise when everyone went outside to get in the vehicles all the kids wanted to ride with us. This totally embarrassing van was actually cool! The really cool thing was that whoever got to ride in the van got to sign their name on the interior ceiling in a back, blue or red permanent marker. You can still read most of the names and dates even though they have faded some. Fast forward to my brothers senior year....every senior wants a cool car, right? Well my parents knew this so they once again went to Home Depot and bought all black spray paint....voila... Happy driving Todd. That's how's the van's been since then. This van has been such a great vehicle for my family in many ways. Almost 20 years later and only a $400 investment with many memories and now we are able to use it to move home. I'm sure my parents had no idea how much fun this van would have been for us all over the years, and I'm sure they didn't think it would have lasted this long. 
Here is our first load of boxes to take to our house. A little bit about the van is that the interior seats in this van have been removed but it was just like a bus. There was an aisle down the center with 3 seats on each side that sat two people. The original use for this van was at a local hospital busing people from one part of the hospital to another. 
Here's the man with the muscle moving all these boxes!! 
There goes Mark off to work in the "Fun-mobile" this morning. After work he is doing the final walk through with our tenant and dropping off our first load of boxes into the house. We officially get our house back today. The really neat thing is that our tenant and his two young boys just moved two homes down from us and will now be our neighbors.
We started the day off with some pancakes to keep us 
No that's not Lulu's doll that's Levi!! Lulu thought this was the coolest thing pushing Levi around in her doll stroller (she only pushed him about 3 feet.) He didn't seem to mind, because he loves anything his big sister does. Look how BIG Levi looks.....he's 2 1/2 months old and he weighs about 15lbs!! Lulu is 2 1/2 years old and she weighs 30lbs.....LOL. He is half of her and I'm sure soon enough he will be bigger then her. We are so blessed to have such amazing children. They truly love each other and it shows. Lulu will always make sure she knows where Levi is and make sure that I'm not going to forget him. Levi will start to cry if Lulu has been playing with him and then leaves to go do something else, but the moment she returns he's all smiles. I'm so thankful that the Lord has given us a little girl and a little boy. For a sister to have a brother is so special....she will always have someone looking out for her and she will always be there to help guide him. I know because I have an older brother and he was always looking out for me. I will never forget my first date. I was going to the homecoming dance and the moment my date and I arrived at the dance my brother and his best friend were waiting for us at the front door. They took my date aside and gave him a talk.....I was mortified, and a little proud that I had such a cool big brother. I never did find out what they said to him, it didn't matter because my brother was just doing what any good brother would do. I know that Lulu and Levi will do the same for each other someday.
After all the fun Lulu and Levi had, daddy and Lulu climbed into her bed to snuggle and noticed that her bed needed to be made so they did that together. After the bed was all put back together Mark read Lulu a story from her children's picture bible. They have been reading through the whole thing together each night before bed. So far Lulu's favorite story in the bible is Jonah and the whale.
Here is Lulu really excited to dig in and enjoy the cake she helped make.
When we got to his office Lulu and I waited out front. I kept seeing all these employees coming out the front with their box of stuff and a blank look on their face. The company that Mark worked for was one of the largest companies in our area, many people were getting laid off. Then out the front door came a gal that Mark worked with. Her and I had become friends and Lulu and her son were just a month apart. She came out with tears running down her cheeks. My heart broke for her. Then about 10min later here comes Mark with the biggest smile on his face and not just one box but about 5 or 6 boxes on a cart (his desk was full of pictures of his family and Volkswagen toy cars). He was glowing with JOY! I couldn't help but smile and laugh at the sight of my husband so happy at this really hard time. But you know what? He was joyful in his trail set before him because he knew God was in control and that we were not to worry. And that is why I'm so proud of him.
I don't think Lulu or Levi needs "pre-school", but they do need a mommy who is always there ready to love them, kiss them, play with them, read to them, teach them, sing with them, dance with them, hold them, cry with them, laugh with them, pretend with them, create with them, learn with them, pray with them, nap with them, cook with them, bake with them, draw with them.....and the list goes on. I know God has called me to be a mother and because of that I am going to give it my all so I can give my children more then anything they could ever receive in a class room.
