random pics

the women's retreat was awesome! It was so refreshing to spend time in the Word and praying and worshiping God! I also love love love my girlfriends and it was such a blessing to spend 24 uninterrupted hours with them!

Then today was a smokin' good day at church and afterwards was our weekly Cleade's lunch (Clausons and Meades).

Then we **attempted** to take a family picture in front of our tree. Beautiful day, beautiful setting, epic fail. :o)

We then skyped with Liz and Chris and met our newest, precious family member- baby Titus-, packed house stuff, went to a wonderful small groups, came home, gave away our firewood, and are now going to watch football and pack some more! What a wonderful Sunday!!

babysitters!!

Oh my goodness! God is so faithful to provide babysitters for the little lovebugs so I can pack! On Monday, Melissa Clauson watched the boys- sadly forgot to take a pic :(

On Wed, Carol Oakly watched the boys!

And today, Rebecca Brown is watching Jasper! Brody and I walked Jasper down to Browns and just went for a quick run to get some vitamin D.

After our run, I took a few quick pics of Brody and his first autumn.

Now I need to get ready for the day, Karissa is coming over to help me pack, Melanie Eggleton is coming over to drop off boxes, we need to go pick up Jasper, Andrew is then coming home, I need to pack, and then get ready and go to the annual Women's Retreat!! I signed up and paid non-refundable $$ for this Retreat months ago, long before we ever put our house on the market. I'm a bit stressed about going, but I'm also SOOO looking forward to spending time in God's Word and spending quality time with my bff's!

dinners!!

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe how God lavishly takes care of us! Yesterday, 2 different people brought us dinner (Carol Oakley and Jamal Titus), and today, 2 different people brought us dinner (Rebecca Brown and Sue Covert!)! We got a total of 4 dinners donated to us within the last 24 hours! God is so great! I have no time to think about food, grocery shopping, or feeding my sweet little family, so this is an incredible blessing!!!

Also, Melissa Clauson came and watched the boys on Monday and Carol watched the boys yesterday! The body of Christ is just showering love upon love on us and we're so thankful and blessed!!

rainy eve

It's a cold, rainy evening and Andrew will be at work for many hours still, so the lovebugs and I have plenty of time to stay inside, cozy up, and play together. I miss them lots, which I know sounds weird considering I'm a sahm. But for the last 2 months, I've been so preoccupied with cleaning, purging, getting the house on the market, cleaning, showings, cleaning, purging, packing, selling the house, getting the house appraised and inspected and repaired, etc etc etc that I've not had the sweet privilege of just playing with them, undistracted.

So... Jasper is just now finishing up his green beans and brody is finishing up his bread, and as soon as they're done eating, I'm going to forget about my to-do list and we are going to make a rockin' obstacle course, crank the music, and play the evening away!!

The boys woke up from their naps so joyful and ready to play!!

Brody NEVER takes his eyes off big brother.

Lake house!!!

This weekend, we had the opportunity to go up to my parents' lake house and spend the weekend with my sweet momma and Cade! It was such a treat and a precious (much-needed) mini-vacation!

A beautiful sunrise over Lake Erie!

Jasper and I took an early morning walk. It was precious!

His favorite part of the whole trip was throwing rocks into the Lake!

And yes, he did fall in... 

Then we came inside for an awesome breakfast of Jill's doughnuts and hot coffee!!

Brody wishes he could go play with the big boys, too. Jasper was reassuring him that Brody was still his bestest fwiend.

Then we went to Marble Head Lighthouse Festival. It was awesome! First on the agenda, shopping at Marilyn's Two!

Then, smothered bratwurst for lunch!

Oh how we love Uncle Cade!

They had this kids' craft area that we just loved! Jasper made lots of cute crafty things.

My sweet, sweet momma!

helping hands!!

So many people have been helping out this week, and we're so thankful!!

The Clausons brought us food last night (DK Diner Donuts!!)!

And Debbie Peterson came watched the boys for the day so I could pack!! We are so blessed!!

God's faithful grace

God is so, so faithful. And He is abundantly gracious to me. I have so much to be thankful for today!!

Yesterday, about this time, I sent out the following email to friends and fam:

~~~~~~~~~~~

I am so desperately overwhelmed and this is a desperate plea for help.

The boys and I are moving to Georgia 3 weeks from today, and I'm completely swamped. Andrew's busiest time of the year for Wasserstrom happens to be the next 3 weeks and he is so busy and completely swamped at work and will be working every waking hour for 6 days a week from now until we move.

Essentially, all by myself, I need to watch 2 little boys (which is a full-time job in and of itself); pack up the entire house; clean the entire house for "closing"; organize which boxes go into storage and which go to our new home; feed my family 3 meals and 2 snacks a day; get together with family and friends to say final goodbyes; be the "point person" for inspectors, appraisers, Realtors, electricians,and buyers; maintain life; take boys to doctors appointments and bible study and such, and be all set to go in 20 days. 

Andrew is unable to help with anything, so it's all up to me.

And I can't do this alone. I really need help.

There are 2 big ways people can help:

- move the packed boxes (and most furniture) into the garage so I can clean the house for "closing". This is more of a man's job (brothers- could you help with this??) I can get about 12 boxes packed a day. As they get packed, they need to go to the garage.

- come to my house and watch the boys. Even if it's only for an hour, it will be a tremendous help as they both require lots of hands-on attention. This will free me up to pack, organize, and clean.

- if you're unable to come to my house to watch the boys but can watch them at your house, that will be a blessing, too.

I love you all so much! Thanks for being the type of family and friends that I can send an "sos" email to. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After sending that email, God has provided BIG time!! Tons of friends have jumped at the chance to help! I feel so blessed! Sarah Kenoyer, Rach, Drew and Melissa Clauson, Debbie Peterson, Ang Manwiller, Cade and Jamal, Rebecca Brown, Stacy Leemkuil, Melissa Weston, and our small groups are setting up meals to bring. We are SO blessed!!

And here's just an amazing thing God did about 2 minutes ago...

We are basically out of groceries, but I have neither the time or availability to load both boys up in the car to take them grocery shopping. So, after lunch, I got on fb on our Maranatha Sisters page and started typing out a post to see if anyone from church could grab a few things from the store for me. As I started typing, though, I was feeling really guilty b/c I know all women are pretty busy with their own lives. So I quickly deleted what I wrote, having NEVER posted it. Less than 5 minutes later, my phone rings and it's a friend from church. I answer, and she says, "Hey! I'm just about to pull into Aldi's and I thought I would call and see if you need any groceries." I literally got goosebumps and started crying. God is so good to me, all the time. He knew what we needed and He took care of me. What an awesome, faithful God! 

Many times I feel like I won't be able to survive the next 3 weeks on my own. And then I remember. I'm not on my own. God is with me, helping me, giving grace and strength, orchestrating details so that others can help me, too. He's awesome!