Quick Update

Shannon wanted me to put a quick post up to give everyone an update...We did find a house but we are still waiting for the lease to sign. Shannon and the kids are still in Indiana visiting family and friends while I am in Georgia hard at work trying to get my dissertation finished. Shannon will be posting a more thorough update, with pictures, when she gets back to Georgia.

The Hunt is On!!!

We are on day two in Pennsylvania, and after a discouraging first day, today was much better.

We left Georgia early Sunday morning after cleaning up after Adalynn's party. We drove for about 11 hours (with too many stops to count) and stopped outside of Winchester, Virginia at my old principal's house. She was kind enough to allow us to sleep in her basement and meet their newest addition to her family. (Jack Waldrop is ADORABLE...but needs to share his hair with Adalynn). We enjoyed a quiet evening with them (the boys loved the pool table-which is not so quiet) and left early the next morning for Pennsylvania. We only had about 3 1/2 hours left, so we arrived in Allentown around lunch time. The boys were very excited to cross the Potomac River, and go through West Virginia and Maryland, before making it to Pennsylvania (all with an hour or so). The kids did amazingly well during the drive and we kept waiting for the bottom to fall out, but much to our surprise, it never did. They are a little stir crazy now and aren't listening the greatest, but considering the circumstances, we are very proud of them. Everyone is sleeping now...so all is quiet on the home front.

We visited a few apartment communities on Monday, and much to our discouragement found out the very few communities accept pets. We even briefly considered talking to John's parents about keeping Chase for the next year until we could actually buy a house. That discussion didn't last very long when we thought about how much we miss him already. We met with a Realtor on Monday late afternoon and he began searching for us.He sent us home-well, back to the hotel, with several possibilities and we had an appointment to meet him the next afternoon. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Cracker Barrel (everyone was sick of fast food and Adalynn's tummy needed some better food) and then went back to the hotel to swim.

On Tuesday morning we headed to the University to visit John's new office (which is EXTREMELY nice) and pick up keys/set up email for him. We met with a local Realtor suggested by one of John's new colleagues and saw a few houses in and very near to Kutztown. Both were extremely old and not quite what we were looking for. The second one we looked at really was gorgeous with original hardwood floors, and detached summer kitchen with a stone oven and smoke house and a large yard...but it still was really old and the owner really wanted to sell it, not just rent it. We grabbed lunch at a tiny Mexican restaurant in Kutztown and then drove around and looked at the area/the outside of a couple of other houses. The afternoon was great, meeting with the Realtor we'd spoken with the day before and seeing 6 houses. The boys loved the basements and 4 of the 6 are very strong possibilities. It is a small town (I think they call them boroughs up here) outside of Kutztown called Macungie. We hope to make a decision tomorrow and will take pictures when we do.

Wish us luck....

we have taken some pictures while here (the mountains are beautiful), but we have no camera connector to get them onto the computer....as soon as we do, you all can see where we will soon call home.

Party Day

We had Adalynn's birthday party today! Now, it really feels like she is 1. We celebrated her actual birthday by going out to dinner with some of our best friends at a Japanese Hibachi Grill (Adalynn fell asleep), but now, after her party and cake...it feels real. My baby girl is officially 1. She had a few meltdowns (lack of an afternoon nap) and a couple of bumps (fell and hit her head before the party even started), but still had a great time. Publix did a fantastic job on her cakes and she looked beautiful in her birthday dress and bow. Camden fought his way through the many kids and tried to help her open her presents and Broderick loved showing off his reading ability by reading her cards. All in all, it was a great day! Now here is what you've been waiting for...

It' s MY party and a I can cry if I want to!

One Year Ago today...

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!!!!

Oops, I forgot...

I forgot to mention Adalynn's post-op with the plastic surgeon went well. She still has a lot of stitches, but he said everything is healing nicely. The two places where he borrowed tissue are healing and the stitches should continue to dissolve over the next 2-3 weeks. We don't need to see him again until she is 4 or 5. He did say that we need to schedule a visit to the speech and language pathologist in about 6 months to see how her speech is coming.

Nothing like an 1+ drive to be in and out of the doctor's office in 15 minutes. Her appointment was at 12:30 and we were in the car heading out of the parking lot at 12:40. UGH!

One Week Till the BIG O-N-E

I can't believe that one week from today, my beautiful baby girl will be one. Despite all that she has been through, this year has flown by. I know that it will continue to fly by. Why does it seem that time goes so slow when your little, but then once your older, you blink and a whole year has passed?

Adalynn has officially received her first birthday gift. It came all the way from Washington State. Her big brothers had a blast opening it. Adalynn's favorite part was the empty box and the card. THANK YOU ABBY (and the Molsee family). This cleft world officially got a little bit smaller!!! You are amazing (be sure to check Abby's blog on the side).

School is almost out and I am extremely sad to say good-bye to a wonderful group of third graders and a very special school. I wish them all the best (they check the blog a lot) and hope to stay in touch. I know Friday will be hard for all of us for many reasons. The first class I had at Bethlehem will make their senior lap around the school as graduating fifth graders. It will be the last time I see many of their smiling faces. My baby will have finished kindergarten with an amazing teacher who is retiring. And I will only have 3 more days with an amazing group of colleagues, many which have become great friends. They each have played such an important part in the development of me as a teacher and many of their families I will always hold close to my heart. It will be very emotional saying good-bye to so many wonderful people. This chapter of my life (at Bethlehem Elementary) began on Camden's first birthday with new teacher training and will end (with the last day of post-planning) on Adalynn's first birthday. Such a special part of my life, beginning and ending on such special days. You can tell the Lord is always at work, especially at Bethlehem (how can He not be?).

God Bless you all!!!