On the road

On our journey to a fresh start, we passed through several states on the way..........

And saw some interesting things...........

We didn't have a bit of trouble on the road.

Hello, Oklahoma!

Visiting my family

After we left South Carolina, we drove to see my family in Alabama. I don't get to see them often, and the one night we spent there was just not enough time! Alison brought us over some yummy pizza for dinner and Amy made some deliciuos ribs. This was the first time most of my kids had ever seen their cousins.

My Brother in Law James (Amy's husband), Luka and Timothy


"Say cheese, Luka!"


Luka, Kayla and Bethany



My Mom, who is also known as "Granny". Grandad, were you hiding from the camera?





Luka, Thomas and Noah


Alison, me, and Amy holding Jacob. Aren't my sisters beautiful? We were only missing our other sister Erica.

Saying Goodbye........

As many of you know, in February we left the state of South Carolina which had been our home for the last 12 years. Unfortunately, the economy hadn't been kind to us, with a year long unemployment for David, ultimately resulting in our losing our house, and filing for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy wasn't an easy decision for us, but we felt we didn't have much of a choice. The last ten years were filled with a full time ministry position, two years of trying to establish a career in the financial industry in a failing economy and then a one year unemployment. So, we had used up, cashed in, and sold everything we had, but it just wasn't enough.

So, we decided to move to Oklahoma for a fresh start.

Why Oklahoma?

David's sister and family, brother, uncle, and cousins are near the Tulsa area. We thought it would be nice to finally, after 15 years, to live near family.

But, we left many in South Carolina that we considered to be family.

The goodbyes were hard.

The post where I talk about moving.

Well, it's official. We are moving.

After a long, long, while of hanging on by a thread, a very thin frazzled thread, we are losing the house. But, we're okay with that. We are ready to move on.

This "hanging on by a thread" has been the case for longer than just the year that my husband has been unemployed. It really has been years now that we've tried to move forward and, for some reason, just can't seem to get ahead. We are exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. We are ready to get on with our lives, and that can't be done in South Carolina.

So, we are moving to Oklahoma, where I am told, on occasion the wind goes sweeping down the plain. It is also where the remainder of David's family has migrated (all originally from Chicago.)

We are at peace with the fact that our 12 years in South Carolina is now coming to a close, despite the fact that we will surely miss all the special friends we have here. We are ready to begin a new chapter in our lives. The details of which are still not certain yet. Even though we plan on leaving in the next two months.

David was fortunate enough last November to get hired on part time at The Home Depot, where "You can do it and we can help." Hopefully he'll be able to transfer to another store out in Oklahoma. Maybe even move up to full time. Or otherwise he'll be getting several more part time jobs. (We are expecting our ninth baby.)

Which also leads us into another small dilemma- where to live. Since we have NO desire to take on a mortgage again, that leaves us with renting. Does anyone out there have a house they'd like to rent to a family of almost eleven?

Cricket. Cricket.

Helloooo? Is this thing on?

So, like I said, a few small details still need to be worked out.

Now after I've finally crawled out of my pit of despair, wondering exactly what is it that God is doing here (and I still don't know exactly what it is) I plan to get back to blogging again. I started this blog here to encourage homeschoolers and to journal our family's lives. I always liked the idea of journaling, but just the thought of picking up a pen and paper gives me a hand cramp. Although, I do like to use pen and paper if I'm writing a term paper.

Where was I?

Oh, yes. Now that I have come to the realization that God must have some sort of plan for us, and He knows what he's doing even though I most assuredly and obviously DO NOT, then I can get back to blogging about normal things again like science experiments, or the importance of chocolate, knowing that He will work all things out for His good, and also for our good, and also knowing that this probably is the longest run-on sentence I have ever typed on this blog.

Goodnight.