All Moved In

Mom’s house is now full of boxes and new carpet!!  The old carpet and thus the old homeowners cats and dogs are gone, the house was cleaned from top to bottom on the inside, a tub surround was removed, new carpet was laid  and a truck full of Mom’s earthly belongings was moved in and partially unpacked- all in the span of 29 hours.  We got in the house Wednesday at 11am and this morning her kitchen is all but unpacked , the major furniture has been set up and her bedroom has begun to be set up.  There’s still much to do yet but little by little, Mom will settle in to her new house. 

Now for those of you who were skeptical that she was buying a house she had yet to see and trusting her daughter and son in law to find her a house she would love, I say to you “Pllllththth”.  That would be me sticking out my tongue and blowing raspberries at you!! J  She LOVES the house and has no regrets.  We are all in awe of how God arranged everything, working out details we could never have done on our own, giving us stamina to not only find her the perfect house but finishing off the end of a semester here at the school.  And keeping Mom going as she packed 24 years of life in Springfield all by herself (and with her friend Andrea’s amazing help)  And kudos to her that it was all done when Joel got there so all they had to do was load the truck.

And now for a small reward, we get to escape for the weekend, just Joel and I.  Last fall, we did a wedding for some friends and much to our surprise, the bride’s parents gave us two nights at a bed and breakfast and a dinner out as a thank you.  Mind you we asked them not to do anything but those Crittendens are stubborn people and didn’t listen!! J  Well I must say that today we are so thankful we made those reservations months ago, not knowing what was coming in our lives and we are more than ready to go away and celebrate 7 wonderful years together!  Joel’s brother and his wife, Jon and Christine are coming up to care for the kids while we are gone and of course Mom and Grace will be here too so I think they’ll all survive the weekend without us!

I’ve told Joel all I want to really do is sleep! Sleep and sleep and sleep!  Needless to say, we are ready to go!

 

 

Prayer request

Today is a monumental morning for our family, especially my Mom. Today my mom signs off on her home in Missouri and closes the door on a magnificent chapter in her life. The closing is schedule for 3:00pm this afternoon in Springfield and if you think of it, would you pray that all goes according to God's plan? We have seen his hand in all of this with miracle after miracle. As soon as the final signature is signed, she and Joel will head up the road on their way to Michigan, Mom's new home! They will overnight in Vandalia, Illinois tonight and head the rest of the way tomorrow. Mom has trusted Joel adn I more that I can even understand and allowed us to find a house for her to buy sight unseen! I hope we have done a good job for her! We will be doing a lot of cleaning and some minor repairs at the house on Wednesday, after she closes on the house here at 10:00 am and then Thursday and part of Friday! We would love your prayers for safety as Joel and Mom travel and then as we all try to make progress on her house here.. We are so excited that she is coming here and Kate is celebrating her arrival by cutting her first tooth!

She's talkin'

This post is really for our family who live far away and are missing the early days of the first granddaughter/neice in either family - Stroud's or Potters. Enjoy!

the (soon to be) new mrs. chubb

Monday night our house transformed from a 3 year old's birthday party to a place of sofistication for Chrissy Bruce's bridal shower.
Over 20 girls came out to celebrate with Chrissy as she looks forward to becoming Mrs. Donald Chubb this coming June. I had the honor of hosting the shower in my home and of making a cake especially for Chrissy! Joel and I have also had the honor of meeting with Don and Chrissy this semester as we have done their pre-marital counseling.
Don and Chrissy, we love you guys and can't wait to see all God has in store for your lives as you serve Him together!

...not impressed

Baby Caleb

I love this shot!

My Girls!

Oh the Temptation!

"Mom, we're just looking!"

Guilty! - Ellie and Owen - partners in crime!

CupKate

Joel's nickname for Kate is CupKate and I think it's so cute. I also think this outfit her Auntie and Uncle got her is super cute! It's fun having a girl!

And Yes, Kate was there too!

Kate was not forgotten this day, don't worry. She was happy playing with her mobile and baby Caleb, Robbie and Ellie's little brother. She is now able to reach up and get her wiggle bug, pull it down and watch it wiggle it's way back up. She's getting so big!

The Birthday Boy

Our kids love their Aunti Christine

The kids don't realize it yet but these days of having 'Mon Oncle' and Auntie Christine nearby are coming to an end.
It will be a sad day when they move to Conneticut and we will miss them dearly!

Oh no, King!

Somehow during the party, King took a bite out of the cake. I guess it was just too tempting for him!

All of our kiddos!

This totally captures it. Grace and the kids. All she has to do is sit down and she has four in her lap.
Admit it Gracie, you are a kid magnet!

4 kids and a cake

For Owen's party, our friends, the Mundens came over as well as Grace and Jon and Christine.
We had a grand time and the kids enjoyed getting lots of chocolate cake.
Robbie and Ellie - thanks for spending Owen's special day with us!
We love you!

brotherly love

Birthday # 3 for Child #2

Owen celebrated his 3rd birthday last weekend - the whole weekend long! Friday was the big day then Saturday he got presents and Sunday was his party. I was really happy with how the cake came out and Owen thought it was SO COOL MOM!

So our big 5 year old is ahead of the game and lost 2 teeth in 1 week! I am not ready for this - he's growing up before our eyes and soon he'll be off to Kindergarten. Where did the time go?

funny thing

This morning, Joel and I were in the kitchen disagreeing about something that turned out to be nothing really and suddenly from the dining room we hear Owen say, “Don’t get mad, get glad”.  Hmm does he watch too much tv? Needless to say, we both stopped, smiled, began laughing and forgot what we were disagreeing about!