Vacation

Whew! Remember awhile ago when I said we had gone on vacation?  Just barely?  Ok, well we did... back in early April. 

We drove 16 hours to get there.

Strangely enough, it didn't feel like that long of a trip compared to our trip to visit family back in September.

That September trip added another 500 miles to our drive. 

Anyway, we were on vacation.  Complete with a week in a hotel and a meal out every day. 

The kids, of course, loved every minute of it. 

Other than the fact that our family has outgrown the limit of people allowed in 1 hotel room (so Roger had to bunk with the boys in one room, while I bunked with the girls next door), we loved it too.

It was a little cold compared to our East Texas weather.  We left TX with some 80 degree weather and arrived in Indiana with something around the upper 30's?  It did warm up to possibly 60ish.  Cold for this TX girl.  :)

We played on playgrounds.  We checked out libraries.  (They are free there! And HUGE!)

It could be 68 degrees outside... but if you tell Nehemiah to put on a jacket, he will bundle up as if it were 23 degrees.

We ate at restaurants and enjoyed the food everywhere we went. 

We even checked out local thrifts shops and were WOWed at the amazing Goodwill they had.  We must have been a sight walking into that store because all of us (minus Keturah) gasped and said "this place is awesome!"  Haha!  We're an easy bunch to impress.  The boys scored a bunch of Garfield books at that store too.  Their book selection was amazing.  Anyway, enough about Goodwill.

It tickles me that their Target is part of their mall.  Speaking of their mall, they have a Books A Million store.  My boys were in heaven there. 

We had to do some grocery shopping to have some snacks and light dinners in the hotel room.  We also needed hot chocolate because... hello, it was cold there! :) 

In our grocery stops we never once shopped at Walmart.  Now, I used to be a die-hard Walmart girl.  Long story short, I've changed my mind. 

I do still shop there now because it's either Walmart or a store down the road that literally costs 3 times the amount that Walmart charges.  My budget can't handle that.

That's my brother on the far right...not some stranger hanging out with my children. :) 

But on vacation we were able to shop non walmart stores.  Yay!

So, we checked out all there was to check out...

and we decided to move there!

Now we are back here in TX, trying to get our house ready to go on the market.  We bought this house as a foreclosure a few years ago and have yet to finish everything that needed done to it.

We're working on it though.  Flooring has been replaced.  Counters have been replaced. 

You know how kids learn to say "cheese!" when the camera comes out?  Well... she signs it!

Walls have been painted. 

Yet there is still much to be done. 

We're motivated though!  The kids are totally on board.

Joseph has a goal of being there by early July.  He wants to go to a Tim Hawkins show! :)   

Feel free to pray for a miracle.

This move will be a leap of faith. We have no job lined up for Roger.  We don't have a house (yet).  (The job has to come first.) 

Yet there is a peace about this decision.  We know this is our next step.  There are many unknowns.  That's where trusting God comes in.