My oldest son turned 5 this month. Ever since I've come back from Tampa I am awestruck by this little kid living in my house. He's no preschooler anymore. He's my big boy. Immediately after they picked me up from the airport, we headed out to get something to eat. At the table, Ben began to color. I couldn't believe my eyes! He colored slowly, stayed in the lines, payed attention to detail, stayed focused. Maybe this sounds silly to you, but to me, I was seeing a transformation right before my eyes.

Today, I was sitting on the couch, folding laundry and watching tv. Ben sat down beside me and asked if "Reba" was on. That's a show we watch together sometimes that doesn't include light sabers or animation of any kind. I was so surprised that he asked me that, but very happy that he wanted to watch a show with me. 

Then it happened. We were all just hanging out at the house. Scott and I were sitting in the kitchen and the doorbell rang. "It's Jordan!" They boys shouted as they ran to the door. Scott followed after them. Ben opened the door and I heard this, "Hey, do you want to come out?" "Yeah, just let me get my shoes on." Then Ben ran past me, through the kitchen, into the laundry room to get his shoes on. He went outside and played with the boys that came to the door for the next couple hours. Scott and I just looked at each other. Kids just came to our door to ask one of our boys to play outside!!!
Every few minutes, I peaked outside to check on them. They were doing typical boy things, like chasing, riding bikes & scooters, & of course examining things on the ground. My little boy is getting bigger. We have a 5 year old in our house now. It's a new thing, but it's pretty awesome! 

I'm back, I came home to a sailor of a 3 year old, but he's cute and I'm back. Upon exiting the airport, Ethan and I saw a car full of our men. I couldn't help but smile HUGE when I saw their little heads in the back seat. They were smiling HUGE too! We were so happy to see each other! I opened the door to the back seat to get my huggs and they both said, "ETHAN!" Then the three of them laughed deep belly laughs and they hugged each other and reunited. It was incredibly cute! They laughed with each other the whole way home, so happy to be together again. I always prayed that they would be very close brothers. It only hurt a little that they didn't care at all that I was back.

So, yes, I found a house. It is a bit different then what I had pictured I would get when we went down there but it's great. It's bigger (sq.ft.) than any place we've ever lived and it's only about $55.00 more a month than we pay now. I like it so much because of it's location. It is within walking distance to the #1 school in the state. Right net door to that school is an awesome preschool with a great pre-kindergarten program. We are a one car family so the location is awesome. Scott can still do whatever he needs to do to get this church off the ground, and I can still totally run the house and handle the kids. The fact that it's such a great school made us decide that we'll try the school thing first, and if it doesn't work out, we know we can homeschool. The house doesn't have a pool, but the neighborhood has several really awesome pool/ water playground things that the kids and I can also walk to. It's gonna be tons of fun!

Now, I'm off to empty my suitcase, do some laundry, then fill my suitcase again. On Tuesday we head to Chicago to fly to Denver for a week. Ok, here we go... 

I've hijacked my wife's blog! While Sheryl is down in Tampa house hunting (she found one, BTW... I'll let her tell the details) the two big boys and I have been living the bachelor's dream. I'm scared of what she's going to do to me when she gets back, but until that happens... Check out this little video of what we've been up to:

Today begins the crazy business that is, starting our new life. Our year in Ohio is rapidly drawing to a close. Our year of staying at home, enjoying Scott working from home, getting to know our new baby, is about done. In about 30 min. Ethan and I head to sunny FL. Our mission: find a house for us to live in. We'll come back on Sat. Then I have a few days to do laundry, give our new address to all the people that would like to continue sending us bills after we move, you know REALLY fun stuff. Next Wed. it's off to Denver where my husband will receive his master's degree! We're so proud of him! We stay there for a week with my parents. Scott's parents will be visiting with us so it will be great to have all 4 grandparents all in one place. When we return to Ohio we will have 3 weeks to pack up our house and go. On May 31st we officially say goodbye buckeye's. See you later whoday (I still haven't figured out what that means but I know it has something to do with Ohio football). Hello Sunshine, new house, Disney, Bush Gardens, hopefully tons of fun. Goodbye to Scott as his partnering in starting this new church will call him out of our house for many hours again. And so, it begins.

The last couple of days I have been sick. Some kind of stomach thing with a bit of a fever. It really hurts. I have been feeling so bad. Today I started thinking about how hard it is to be mom. Life still goes on and little ones still have to be taken care of no matter how I feel. Remember the days when you got sick and you were allowed to lay on the couch, sip OJ and just be sick until you got better? I do. Well, once I started thinking about this, it just got the ball rolling, in my mind. I started thinking that if we still lived in Indiana, my mother in law would come help me. She would take care of the boys or help around the house, probably both. She's great at stuff like that. But not here. Not in Ohio. It's just me and Scott and the boys.

I took all the boys to the grocery story. It's lunchables for them for dinner until I get to feeling better. Anyway, even at the grocery store I was feeling very sorry for myself and very sick. I decided that once the kids got in bed tonight, Scott and I would have a talk. I needed someone to take care of me and the kids so I can rest. Since we are out here on our own, that job falls on him.  The main point that I was going to stress to him was that all I needed was for him to ask, "how are you feeling? and what can I do to help?" That's not too demanding or too much to expect right? So, in my mind it was settled. As soon as the kids were in bed I was going to tell him, I am pretty sick and I need help!

I got home with the groceries and put them away. I plopped down on the couch and Scott came downstairs from working. He walked over to me, started rubbing my back and said, "How are you feeling honey?" "Sick, I feel VERY sick." I said as I curled up into a ball. Then he said, "how can I help?" "You can take care of the boys while I rest." Then he went into action. I couldn't believe it! How did he know? The exact words that I was going to tell him that I needed to hear, he said to me, before I could even ask. 

Now, being a girl of faith I have to say that I don't believe in coincidences. If there is anything that God has taught me this year in Ohio is that there are 2 "men" that I can rely on to take care of me, never fail. My husband and My Jesus.  

I love you honey, Thanks for taking care of me!