Decisions, Decisions

Some of you may have noticed our long blog silence over the last week or so. Yes, there was a reason for that. We have been in the throes of major decision making for several weeks now and boy are we tired! Finally, we THINK all has come to a rest and the dust has settled, so we can share it with all of you.

The big decision, that a lot of other factors in our life hinged around, was a job offer for Greg to transfer/ promote to a large hotel in downtown L.A. This would be a big promotion, with lots of added responsibility. It would be a great career step forward. It was a great opportunity, but much in the same way that it would be if your friend told you he would sell you a Mercedes at a great price because it needed a little "fixing up." Still a good opportunity, though not easy or perfect. And here's what made it not perfect, and a hard decision for us: it would add a 2 hour (at least) daily commute to Greg's day. It would also require longer work hours to boot. It would change Greg's 48 hours a week to... well, we don't even want to think about it. Probably 60 hours a week plus the commute (12 hours a week).

Well, we prayed and sought counsel and realized there wasn't an easy choice. We made lists and talked about it and talked about it. Finally, we decided to move forward and take the job. We started to spread the word- we wouldn't be moving to Dallas for awhile, we were staying put. And then... yes, there's an "and then"...

We had no peace about it. I mean none. We both felt heavy hearted and tense. The Lord allowed there to be some gliches in the salary negotiation process that gave us a few more days to think about it. We realized that for us, time as a family is more valuable than anything else. The toughest times in our marriage are when we don't have enough time together. We also realized that what we had hoped to gain through the promotion were things we could live without or the Lord could provide through other means. And none of them were worth what we'd be giving up for them.

Thankfully, Greg had not yet officially accepted the offer and spoke to his supervisor, who seemed to understand completely. So now what? We have decided to still aim for Texas, though it may be a year or two out still. Only God really knows what will happen in the future for us and when it will happen, we just want to be sensitive to His leading and follow His route.

If I'm Ever Captured By the Enemy...

So,
If I'm ever captured by the enemy during a time of war, and they want to get out of me the secrets I hold,
they can beat me, and starve me, and I will hold my tongue.

But if they take me into a Chuck E Cheese "Restaurant" (and I use that term loosely), then it is all over.

It is definetly the highest form of torture I can imagine.

My adventurous, young-at-heart, sister-in-law Jess convinced us that taking everyone to Chuck-My-Sanity would be so fun. Well, the kids DID have a good time. But I learned a new lesson. Little did I know that amidst the strip malls and eateries of the American suberbs was a place so frightening, so horrifying that it would cause a grown woman to tremble. Maybe I wasn't trembling from fear, maybe I was just shaking from the cacophany of children screaming, bells dinging, electronic music butchering classic children's songs, and 18 year olds making announcements over the loudspeakers.

Here we are, marching to our doom.




OK, OK, in all fairness. It was a Saturday night and the place was packed. The pizza was actually good, and the kids had a lot of fun. I think I might just be the kind of mom who is just an old lady trapped in a young lady's body. This might be the place where Greg and Addie go when I am otherwise engaged.


See? Addie had a great time. Cruising with Stuart Little.
Micah rode the Bob the builder dozer with Papaw.

Addie rode on the slide over and over with Daddy.





All in all, we survived and made it out alive. Amazing.

Funny kids

Here is Addie with cousin Micah. These two were so cute together!
Micah makes a monkey face (with a toy in his mouth), copying a picture of his daddy Mark making the same face.
Just a cute picture of Addie.

Greg Does Hard Labor

Greg happily accepted the title of swingset-installer while we were in Phoenix last weekend. Since her husband Mark is off serving our country, we figured helping Jess out a little was only fair. But we don't know many other people Greg would do THIS for! He and his dad worked all day in 110 temps. Yuck.
Meanwhile, inside, the women and children enjoyed the air conditioning. :) Here's Addie, enjoying lunch with her cousins.

Pool Time

Hi everyone! I'm in the pool!

We were glad to have a pool to play in while we were in Phoenix. Greg's parents have a great one in their backyard! It is all shallow (waist deep for adults), with an extra-shallow area at one end that the toddlers could stand in and walk around. Addie decided she liked to go under water and would just sit down all of a sudden until we would pull her up to the surface. Enough to give me a heart attack!
Greg and Jess corral the kids. Notice little Caleb on his mama's lap, happy as a... well, as a fish in water.

Trying to get all four of us looking at the camera at the same time proved to be quite difficult....
We never did succeed. But oh well.

Expertise

With all the time she's spent with them, maybe Addie will become one too!

Fun Times with my Meemaw

Well, we're home safe and sound from our weekend visit to Phoenix. Wow is it HOT there!
But we had a really good time, so it was worth the heat.

Addie had a great time with her Meemaw (that's what we call Greg's mom). And here are the pictures to prove it.

Meemaw and Addie made potato salad together. Addie got to eat the mayo straight out of the jar (she's a quick one!) and she liked it. Ew.













She also got to color with her cousins because Meemaw has special markers that only mark paper, and not clothes! So fun!













And finally, this is my favorite picture from the entire weekend. Don't you agree?

Making Small Children Dissapear

What a nice cabinet this is. I wonder what it could be used for?
Oh! Hiding away a small cute child! What a good idea!
This child fits too! How nice!
(acutally, this child started the whole "lets-crawl-inside-it" game)
She also approves of the side table as a secret lair, in case you were wondering.

Learning the Fine Art of Massage

OK, in actuality, the kids were wrestling with Greg when we were all hanging out at the Kropfs the other night.
But when Addie decided to try to stand on Greg's back....
We decided she may have a future as a massuese.

(Parents) Shaken, (Baby) not Stirred

Last night at 1 am, Greg and I were awakened with a start so we could experience our first earthquake together! We've been in them seperately, but in six years hadn't gotten to enjoy one together. Like a good boy, Greg jumped right out of bed and went to the doorway. I laid in bed, daring the earthquake to get serious enough to really make me leave my cozy bed. It never did. It did last a while though, one of those with a big shake to start and then a minute of rolling shakes. A little startling when it wakes you up, but overall I think they're kind of fun (this is, of course, because I didn't move here until the year after the big Northridge quake. Anyone who was here for that does not find earthquakes entertaining).

Since it was powerful enough to wake us up, I was hoping maybe it was centered a little ways away and big enough to be on the news in the morning. Turns out it was centered nearby (Chatsworth- a valley or two away from here) and not big enough to really be newsworthy (it was a 4.5). The news this morning was reporting that 2 ceiling tiles in a grocery store fell down. Good grief.

Thankfully, not a thing in the house moved or even tipped over. Addie didn't even realize she'd been in her first earthquake. At least if we're going to be awakened in the middle of the night, it was by something new and interesting!