first day.

my kids were at school all day, and i still didn't get the laundry finished.

hah!

actually, i didn't even start it until after they were in bed.

we had a good first day here.

jakob and leah start a day later than the other kids... so we'll see their first day tomorrow!

ellie- 3rd grade with Mr. Holroyd

anna, 4th grade with Mrs. Rutledge

drew, 6th grade with Mrs. Thompson- homeroom

cute kids.

sweet teachers.

yes, i even took a picture of drew's teacher.

when we pulled up to the middle school he asked, "are you going to walk me in?"

i said, "if you want me to."

he said, "sure."

he gave me directions to every class he had that day from his scrupulous study of the map.

i told him i was going to bring my camera to take a picture of him with his teacher.

he siad, "really?  i guess that's fine."
{i love that drew saved his black vans for school... they are $6 Target clearance shoes, but he would only wear them in the house so they would stay nice for school. the night before school i saw him cleaning the bottoms with a baby wipe. sweet boy.}

i could tell drew was nervous, because he was acting confidant.

i cried walking out of the building.

(i have a tendency to get teary in kindergarten and middle school...  funny huh?!)

i LOVE these kids.

a lot.

jakob and i went to breakfast with two of his friends and their mothers.
i love how he always wants to share his food with me, "you can try this mom."
and how he asks, "can i try your hash browns?"
and how he offered me some money to pay for his milkshake.
(he ordered a vanilla milkshake and pancakes.)
he's a good kid.
this year i have 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, preschool, 3 year old and active baby...
speaking of firsts... 

 check out that-- FIRST ponytail.

she's a cute little bugger.

today, life is good.

and tomorrow, i'm going to finish my laundry.

it's going to be a fun year!

what i do.

we went to church yesterday, and I instantly loved our new congregation.

i'm intrigued by the families that surround me.

i know that someday, these people will be a part of me.

right now the people are all blurred together in my mass meeting.

someday, they will feel like my family,
again. 

i wonder who i have already met, that will change my life for the better?

i was caught off guard meeting a young mother who has kids the same ages of some of my kids.
(when you have lots of kids, EVERYONE has a kid about the same age as yours...)
this girl asked, "what does your husband do?"
i explained again, "he is a professor at OSU, that's why we moved here."
her husband worked at the university also.
and then she asked, "and what do you do?"

i stumbled.
"i, uh... nothing. i stay at home.  what do you do?"
she explained that she recently lost 50 lbs and was now a healthy living life coach on her way to a business conference in Florida.
as she explained her work to me, I was remembering my own answer "nothing, i stay at home" and wishing i could try again..
nothing?!
i stay at home?!
BLAH!
even if i added, "i'm so LUCKY!!  I get to stay home with my children."
or "i do laundry."
that would have been better.
but, nothing?!???

what do i do?

why, thank you for asking.

i am...

a teacher.

a child development consultant.
a household manager.
an assistant professor.
an occupational therapist.
a child psychologist.
a minister.
a nurse.
a wet nurse.  :)
a chef.
a marriage counselor.
a writer.
a financial consultant.
a maid.
hey, i'm a healthy living life coach too!

i'm a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend.
i create babies.
i create home.
i create love.
i create harmony and peace and order and fun.

i almost NEVER do NOTHING.
and, i don't stay at home... much.
i do...

serve and love and stretch and learn... every day.

i work.  hard.

i get paid.  lots.

i'm doing.  every day.
in fact, what DON'T i do?

and, even if i did work outside the home... i wouldn't want that to be what i did.

what do you do?

i SAVE THE WORLD, one child at a time.

or
i'm a super hero.
or
i create.
could you imagine if i had really said that?
next time...

today,

i unpack boxes, and feed a baby, and converse with my tweens, and decide where on earth i should put the coloring books.

want to see another picture of my house?  ok.

life is good.

welcome to oregon.

we drove all day and arrived in oregon late.

for days i had been anticipating this arrival.

i had almost cancelled our house rental many times, because i was worried.

our house is BEAUTIFUL and it is nestled on a mountainside with gardens and woods surrounding us.

we have a two story deck on the back of the house that is like extra rooms in the house.

we have neighbors close to us,

but because we are on a mountain, we look over them and can see other mountains in the distance.

my first impression--  WOW!! It is so pretty here.

to the right of our house we have a field with lots of beautiful trees. 

to the left we have a neighbor with dogs and left of them is another field with 3 horses- brown, black and white.

so fun. 

 our back yard is a tiered garden (another reason I was VERY nervous about this house). 

who has tiered gardens with 7 kids?

can i tell you how much i love it?  

when you stand on the deck, you can smell the beautiful flowers.

AND, we have a gardener that comes on Thursday so we don't even have to weed if we don't want. 

There are some big, nasty slugs that we found... hmmm.  Gratefully, i haven't found one in my bed yet!! 

 i still need to take better pictures of the inside. 

it is two stories- 3400 square feet.

it's newish and very pretty.

it is big and very open... and very hard to photograph.

upstairs is the living room with a large fireplace, master bedroom/bath, study, kitchen, laundry room and half bath.

downstairs is a half bath, full bath, kitchenette, two bedrooms, big toy closet under the stairs and a large open area.

we have 5 sliding glass doors (two on top, three on bottom) that open up to the deck.

and lots and lots of beautiful windows.

this home feels so bright and open-- the outside is such a part of the inside.

and, it's beautiful. 



kitchen, dining area.

laundry room.

Sorry I don't have better pictures of the house... my 50mm camera lens doesn't do rooms very well.
We really love Oregon so far.
But, how I miss all of our good friends in Texas.
And... my mind is going to burst with unpacking...  burst I tell you!
setting up a house is HARD work.

we're here.

just a quick note to tell y'all that we are here in oregon.
it is BEAUTIFUL.
when i step out onto our deck i feel like i'm camping.
we live on a mountainside with beautiful gardens and trees and frogs and owls...
i have lavender all along one side of my fence, a dogwood tree, aspens, a beautiful blue hydranga bush... and a gardener. 
it's lovely.
we feel SO blessed to be here.

we had a bunch of people from church help us unload our trucks last night.
the professor is off to school (he starts teaching on Monday) and I'm up to my ears in boxes.
my mother and father in law kept ellie, leah and lily in idaho until next week.
i have my three oldest, and the baby helping unpack.
our new home is beautiful and perfect and full of windows.

it's cold here.  i hardly have anything that i can wear- coming from 100* Texas weather.
I think it is going to be 70* all week.
there have been off and on rain showers.  it is SO pretty.
coming from texas i still feel SO BLESSED when it rains.
(There is a drought in Lubbock- we have been fasting and praying for rain.)
i know it rains a lot here.  i wonder if i will always love it as much as i do now? 

today my mission is to unpack.
to make my new house feel like my home.
soon i will get to know the area better.

i have LOTS of pictures-- but i'm still missing the cords to connect my camera to the computer.
so, pictures coming soon. 
i can't wait for you to see this place.
thinking of you... hope your summer is going well!!

guess what?

we got an offer on our house.
someone wants to buy it.
for our asking price.
i'm so grateful, and excited...
but
i'm still holding my breath.
in case.

my neighbor asked if there was an included prayer fee- for her.
yup!  i'm asking the Lord to repay ALL of your prayers with a 6% commission.
thank you!

we're driving to oregon on wednesday...
i can't even wait to see the town where we will be living...
i hope i love my new house (we're renting)--
i've only seen it on craig's list.

happy sunday!!

moving.

yesterday we are packed up EVERYTHING.
today we are loading the truck.
tomorrow we are driving...

please pray for us.
(or perhaps i should say, pray for our children.)
Thank GOODNESS for all the sweet service we have received.
Thank you for watching my kids, feeding us, and helping us pack and clean.
We couldn't have done it without you.

Anybody want to buy a house?

supermover!

 I married into a family of SUPER-movers!!

My father-in-law repacks the boxes I have packed... so they don't crush when the movers load them.

And, he's GOOD.  SO GOOD.

We are very thankful to have him and my mother-in-law here to help us transition...

again.

(They helped move us here to Texas when I was 9 months pregnant with Leah.)

My father-in-law uses tractor tires to secure things.

Big tires... that he cuts into tubes and rubber strips.

See?

So grateful for the good men in my life.

friends.

i love these people.

and, i hate saying goodbye.
someone said that i'm just gathering friends all across America.
and, i like that idea.
so far we have friends in New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Utah, Maryland, Idaho, Michigan, Texas... and HOPEFULLY many to come in Oregon.

friends.

i HATE saying goodbye.

and so, i don't.
but, we have been having lots of friends over...
and trying to squeeze in every last minute of Lubbock that we can.

Friday we spent the morning having piano lessons, the afternoon at the pool and the evening with good friends.

Saturday we sent jakob off to scout camp...

had a house showing from 4:30-5:50pm and had two families over for dinner at 6pm!

AND-- I LOST MY CAMERA, so i have no pictures.

I found my camera-- stuck in the CRAFT cabinet (must of been the last minute straightening for a showing).
We had some friends from Todd's PhD program over last night...

and have some more friends coming tonight.

Yes, I'm still packing.

And yes, Todd is still up at school grading papers and fixing format stuff on his dissertation.

My friends are having a late-night appetizers at Applebee's to say goodbye-- on Tuesday at 9pm.

Let's see if I can make it through the night WITHOUT saying goodbye.

My father-in-law arrives late Tuesday night to help us pack-- what a saint!

Today, I'm doing laundry and packing some more.

We are driving away next week... 

How I will miss this place.

ps-
sigh... can i say one more thing?
(i'm a bit teary)
i really, really LOVE people.
this world is so full of so many GOOD people.
i cry thinking of the people who have touched my life over the past five years.
and, i feel such JOY when I think about my friends and how far they have come since I've known them.
The mother side of me wants to stay here in Lubbock forever, so I can be here for them.
Not that I actually DO anything, but just having people over, feeding them, letting them know that I love them and that I'm here.
I'm going to miss that.
People-- that's what I'm going to miss most about Texas.
Hopefully, we can be friends long-distance.
Because I hate saying goodbye...

driving summer.

Mothers drive the home, especially during the summer.
I've learned that sometimes it's difficult to figure out the right speed limit.

Most days I try to keep myself in a low gear.
When I have low expectations for my day, I tend to be more kind and able to handle distractions.
I pick one or two things that I would like to accomplish, but basically just focus on the basics.
Dressing, feeding, cleaning, calming, directing, etc.
On slow days we don't go anywhere.  We just hang out.
I talk on the phone or check my blog or read a book or just spend the day doing whatever it is we do when we don't get anything done...
My kids play together and make messes. 
They laugh and fight, read, watch tv, and graze on food all day long.
I love slow days.
But, after a few slow days, my insides start to scream!
My husband comes and goes, accomplishing tasks.
And I'm stagnating at home, drowning in the slowness and monotony of my life.
I feel an intense desire to get something DONE.

Some days I have a list of "destinations", and I go fast.
Speeding fast.
On these days I have a long list of To Do's... and, I try hard to accomplish them.
If I try to bring my kids along, I'm a mac truck.
Usually I'm trying to fill my day with just one more thing and urging my family forward FASTER. 
Let's GO!!  Let's DO!  Faster!!
Clean the house so we can go someplace fun.
Hurry up, we have people coming over.
We just need to run to this store, and then this store, and then this store.

OR, I do as little as possible for my kids and I try to become a one-woman goal accomplishing machine.

My little girls are in their pjs at 4pm, I have the bigger kids make breakfast and lunch so my kitchen is a mess, the kids are watching tv or playing video games all day, and I'm DOING things I need to get done.

My kids can only handle a few of these days before they get lost in the background and begin to rebel with contention.

I do love my fast days.  I find great joy in crossing things off my lists.

Sometimes, I feel exhilarated after a speedy day. 

But often, I feel bothered and annoyed.
As soon as I complete one task, I begin to thirst for more and more and then I am frustrated that I have to stop and cook lunch, or calm an argument, or feed a fussy baby.

The faster I go, the more I crave speed.

My mind is naturally Nascar fast.  My soul is a horse drawn carriage.

Oh how I struggle to find the balance between my mind and my soul. 

Sometimes my life is fast and I'm just the passenger...  my car is automatic.
We are running all over town, dropping off one kid here, picking up another kid there.
Home for a few minutes and then running again.
Quickly finding shoes and spraying sunblock, buckling car seats, filling our backseat with Happy Meal wrappers..

Kids hanging out the windows of my life... laughing and pointing "Mom, let's go here."

I love these days... but after a few fast and crazy, friend filled days, we are sunburned and windblown and we all need some time at home.

I believe in life we need SLOW days and FAST days.
They're just part of our journey.
BUT, I do feel like the perfect speed is not too fast and not too slow.
The perfect days are days that I plan well or just navigate well.
Days when I'm driving, and BRINGING my children some place that I want them to be.
Days when my kids are on my To Do list and I am thinking about my To Be list.

This summer has been interesting for me.
I have a new baby, and so my days are naturally slower.
But, I am also MOVING and need to pack my house, so I'm naturally in a revved up frame of mind trying to accomplish super-human preparations.

Because of my baby, I begin to feel like I can NEVER get ANYTHING done.
I'm a victim to my children with a list of important, unfinished tasks piling up in my mind.
I don't like feeling like my children are speed bumps, so I often just switch into neutral and glide through my days.
It's better than screaming and going crazy, but neutral is not a great place to be in.
After a few days in neutral, I'm smoking internally.  Unhappy, but not sure why.
I honestly have to give myself mental permission to set a goal and accomplish it.
I have to get my husband and family on board.  I let them know that I'm on the brink and I need some time to get something DONE.
My husband is good about giving me a few hours on Saturday morning to run errands sans children.
I need that time, especially during the summer.

Because of my move, I look around and panic.  I have so much that needs to get done.
I become a mac truck, moving everyone forward.
When I'm in mac truck mode, my days involve cleaning, packing, being the task master for my kids.
And at the end of the day I remember it's summer and my children need more time to enjoy their summer days.

Because of my six older kids, somedays are full of balancing schedules and carpools and fun stuff.
Older kids are a down hill ride. 
Life naturally speeds up if I take my foot off the brake.
Play dates, summer camps, scouts, sports, friends, swimming, library, museums, water parks, etc.
Big kids can fill a calender VERY quickly.
Most of my days I coast down the hill with them enjoying the wind in our faces.
But sometimes, I need to brake from the fun and regain our family life.

Life is a journey and my car is packed full.
I am never happy when I completely loose myself. 
And, at the same time I am never completely happy when I focus on myself.
That's why I've learned it's a great journey where we must learn to control the speed limit.

I love road trips.
I love driving.
I really love being a mother, who is at home each day for the journey of family.
Each morning the road stretches before me, and I can choose our destination.
I set goals, like speed limits in my life.
Before 9am, 25 mph.  Dressing, eating, watching tv...
Toll booth at 9am-- family devotional. 
We decide where we are heading for the day and how fast we will travel.
I LOVE IT.

Yesterday was a perfect, cruise through daily life.
We had a slow early morning, and quick chore filled mid-morning. 
I crossed things off my list... and my list was full of tasks and relationship builders. 
My kids set their own goals and spent the afternoon in drivers ed.
They wrote fiction stories, and read books to their little sisters. 
They practiced math facts on the computer, drew pictures, went for walks outside, read books, read scriptures.
We read two chapters of Robin Hood together as a family- oh how I love spending time with my kids.
Todd got home from work and took the kids swimming while I cooked a nice dinner and tried a new recipe for dessert.
I remembered to love and bond with my baby every time I fed her.  I spent time looking her into her eyes and enjoying the hours we spent together.
I packed a few boxes and organized all my cds and dvds (a BIG check off my list).
Oh, the joy of the journey.

Yes, I am driving this bus.  I'm driving it.
And, I have many passengers, but I can still choose where we go each day and how fast we travel.
I love this journey.
I love setting the speed limit.

timing.

Yesterday we met with a sweet woman who is putting our house on the market to LEASE.
LEASE, not SELL.
Why?
Because we are moving in TWO WEEKS and still haven't had an offer on our home.
I'm feeling a bit sick inside-- a kind of deja vu... 
5 years ago we were in the SAME predicament.
Surely that wouldn't happen to us TWICE?  right?!

Today I really, really want to sell my house. 
I don't want to rent it-- I want to be DONE with it.
I want to see a miracle in my life.

I had a friend tell me yesterday, while we were packing up my linen closet,
"Let it go.  Just accept whatever happens.  It doesn't have to be your plan to be a great plan." (thanks julie)
And then I read the quote "Faith in God includes faith in his timing." from this blog (thanks Heather)
Blah!!???!!!!

And I thought... 
1. I can't change my situation.
2. I can change my attitude.
and I remembered this scripture...
"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
D&C 123:17


I think I want that scripture tattooed across my chest...
CHEERFULLY DO, STAND STILL and SEE!!!!
It's all about timing!! 
And I'm trying not to yell at God to HURRY UP!!
Life is good... (and hopefully better tomorrow.)


and, can't i just whine for a little bit?
Life is good... but it's HARD!!!!
ok, i'm done...
time to turn OFF my tv (for kids) and computer (for me) and start scripture time...
another day, another day...

the doctor.

guess what happened yesterday?

the professor became Dr. Moss...  a certified PhD.

can you believe it?

he defended his dissertation and they didn't make him do any revisions!

we had a surprise "guy's" party for him...

so he could play all the games that he hasn't played for the past 5 years.

in a way, i feel like he just gave birth to an elephant.

not very fun, but definitely an accomplishment.

leah keeps asking, "Is dad really a doctor?"

i say, "yup."

she asks, "when is he going to get his costume?"

ConGRADulations Dr. Moss!!

We sure love you!!