Fun Facts For Friday - Boxes

When you are living out of boxes you will inevitably run into things that you KNOW you have but cannot get to or just don't remember where you put them.  I hate not being able to find something.  It's all I can think about until the lost item is found (or in this case bought because half of our stuff isn't even here, HA!)  

Here are a few objects that have gone MIA at some point during this transition...

1 - Breast milk storage bags.  I only have one left which means that the new box of 100 bags cannot be opened and I'll have to go get another box at FULL PRICE! *gasp*

2 - My white out.  I set up a make-shift office in attempts to keep the ministry going and I simply CANNOT find my white out!  I need my white out...

3 - My kids...oh wait, I at least know where they are even if they aren't here with us=)

4 - The box of diapers and wipes.  We were down to about a quarter of a tub of wipes and a handful of diapers.  Glad we found this one quickly!

5 - My phone charger.  Between closing on the old house yesterday and the new house we found the same day my phone is in desperate need of a charge.

YES, we found a house!  We'll be moving in mid-November.  God is so good!  We sold a house and found a new one all in the same day.  Thank you for your fervent prayers.  We will have plenty of room for all our friends that one to come visit;)

Here, There and Everywhere

Just SOME of our awesome friends who helped us move.

We could never tell you thank you enough.

We miss you ALL!

Currently my family and I are nomads in the land of Raleigh.  We pulled our moving truck into the Raleigh area on Sunday night after leading on Sunday morning at Ridge Church.  We still have one of our vehicles in the Charlotte area at a friend's house and the closing on our house is tomorrow (please pray that everything goes through smoothly!) but other than that our lives are in full swing here in Raleigh.

We dropped the majority of our stuff off at a storage unit until we find a house.  The rest of our stuff is here with us at our temporary home.  Have I mentioned how awesome our friends are for allowing us to take over their basement as a temporary residence!

The very next day after moving here we started the final rehearsals for "God Be Praised", the live recording and worship night for our new home church.  We had plans for Josh's mom to come get the kids so they wouldn't have to be around the craziness of rehearsals and recordings but yet another Via baby was born...early.  Apparently I am the only one in the Via family that ever has to go to or OVER their due date. (I'm not bitter though;)  Josh's youngest brother and his wife gave birth 3 1/2 weeks early to little Izabella and she is beautiful.  Needless to say we have had an even crazier week than anticipated.  The kids have been in 3 different places so far since we've been here and off to go see their Grammy and Papa tomorrow until the recording is over and then we get to just chill.  

Tonight after our family devotion Josh and I were laying out the newest plan for them and Zeke looked at us and said, "We sure go to lots of places." *sigh*

I'm so excited for next week.  No boxes, no unpacking, no rehearsals, no worrying about the Charlotte house and all the details of closing, nothing!  Just hanging out here in the country with my best friend and her family.  

We do think we've found our house and are so excited to see if we get it!  We might actually be in our new home by mid-November.

So, we are still here, there and everywhere, but an end is in sight=)

Giggles And Grins

We are on a mission today.  We are out looking for a place to live, but I couldn't resist posting this picture of Micaiah's new found past time.  He LOVES to be up!  He kept pulling my fingers to sit up and then to stand so I figured I'd try him in the Johnny Jump Up and he absolutely LOVES it.  I'm in trouble though.  Now he won't just lay on the floor and play.  He wants to be up where the action is.  He's not even 3 months old yet, sheesh!

Fun Facts For Friday - Saturday Night Edition - Things I Won't Miss

1 - Ant season.  Is there even really such a thing?  In this house there is!  I'm not going to elaborate much more on this one just in case our buyers are perusing the internet and come upon my blog;)

2 - The poison ivy that covers Josh's body every time he would do yard work.  Poor guy.  It made him absolutely miserable.

3 - This is yet another piece of our dishwasher that has rusted off.  Not too sad to be leaving this behind.

4 - The electrician who wired this house was a bit over-zealous.  Why does 1 small room need 4 different light switches.  There is even a switch on the wall for the dishwasher.  Heck, it took us 3 years to find out what one of the switches was for in the hallway.  Of course it was for the light up in the attic.  Good grief=)

5 - Our bathroom.  Every time Josh and I move we say that "we will definitely buy a house with a BIGGER bathroom".  The funny thing is that we have gotten significantly smaller each time we've moved.  I'll let this series of pictures speak for themselves=)

As you can see, this is a one-man bathroom.  Josh and I have had to learn a new form of language to navigate around it together.  It consists of taps on the shoulder, nudges on the back and sighs...letting the other one know that they are taking too long at one station and that their turn is complete.  Oh, did I mention that our closet is in there too!

Thoughtful Thursday

My friend, Jenn, does these thoughtful thursday posts and I just love them because they are random and that is exactly what our life is like now...random and crazy.  So, here it goes!

This is what the outside of my house has looked like for the past 2 days.  Our buyers decided that they would like a new roof and that we should pay for it.  It was an answer to prayer when insurance said that they would cover the whole process (minus our deductible).  So all the racket on the roof and all the strangers walking around our yard is an answer to prayer.  I must say that my shower was quicker than usual as I felt the need to plan a quick escape just in case one of the hard-working latinos came falling through the ceiling to join me=)

This is what the kid's bedroom looks like.  Yes those are empty beds.  The roofers have gotten here early and worked very late so no naps have been had by the children in this household...

Except for this child.  Nothing has interrupted his schedule=)  Just give him food and he's happy!

This is what the inside of our house has looked like for over a week now as we pack to enter the next chapter of our lives in Raleigh.  The Sunday moving day is quickly approaching.

"So, where is that lovely house you found to move into?"  you ask.  Uh...yeah, about that.  We haven't exactly found a place to live yet.  So, we'll be moving in with some of our best friends Jeremiah and Jenn.  They are practically family and they live in the area and have been gracious enough to share their house and their lives with us until we find a place to live.

This is how they treat their children so I can't imagine what they'll do to ours.  Please pray for us;)

Happy Thursday!

Ebates Is Awesome

I know, 2 "deal" posts in a row, but this one needed it's own title=)  This is the coolest thing.  I've seen it all over the money-saving websites and blogs but never checked into it until yesterday.  If you do any kind of internet shopping you HAVE to do it through Ebates.  Check out THIS LINK to use me as your referral.  We both get an extra $5 added to our account!  Then start shopping.  (Read the rules to make sure your account is credited.)

Here's how it worked for me:

I got the freebies at Office Max yesterday using my MaxPerks card number.  It was free shipping because it was over $50, plus going through Ebates made it an additional 3% off and I got a $5 rebate added to my Ebates account.  I made money purchasing our office supplies this month!  There are TONS of stores that go through them.

So, for your internet Christmas shopping make sure you shop through Ebates and use me as your referral!  They'll be benefits for both of us=)

Free Office Supplies

You have got to check out THIS DEAL.  I just racked up at Office Max today and made money doing it!  Follow her simple directions to get the ball rolling.  These are everyday things we use for our ministry so it's nice to see that I can save some money on office supplies too!

Josh Knows How To Make ANY Circumstance Fun

Check out how Josh has made this moving experience FUN for the kids=)

Get To Know Us Better - Areyna

Ok, so I was reading around in the blogosphere this weekend and saw this great idea!  I'm going to do it for each of us in the family so you can get an inside peak of this Via household and get to know us better. 

So, the first one in the family I'm going to interview is Areyna.  I'll ask her a series of questions so that you can get to know her and her world a little bit

So, is there anything you want to know about sweet Areyna?

One Week From Today

We could use your help next Saturday, starting at 3pm to load up our moving truck=)

Click HERE for the details and to RSVP.  Thanks friends!

Fun Facts For Friday

1- Found THIS recipe this week and it became a family favorite.  You should really sign up for Kraft Kitchen's newsletter.  It is e-mailed to your inbox every week with great recipes and ideas!

2- I played a show with Sara last night at Belmont Abby.  It was really fun, but I'm getting way too old to be staying out so late=)  J/K

3- We have a moving plan:  We are packing up our truck next Saturday evening (the 24th) and unloading the truck (somewhere*sigh) on that Sunday evening (the 25th).

4- My goal for today - pack up the kitchen.  Josh went out and bought plastic cups and paper plates so we can make a dent in the kitchen.  We're doing pretty good I think.

5- Just for because - The Boys;)

6- Bonus Fact For The Day - we gave in WAY too early this year.  We turned the heat on last night, gasp.  It was in the lower 60's in the house, though, and the mountains were predicting 2-4" of snow.  I don't feel all that bad though seeing as the warmth made us ALL want to stay in bed.  Micaiah didn't get up until 8:20 and the older kids got up at 9:00.  We'll start holding out again in the new house...maybe;)

Pedals

This is a common picture in this house during Josh's rehearsal times in the back room.  Zeke runs to get his stool, picks up his "electwic" and "atoustic" guitars, grabs a couple "tootar" picks and heads to practice with daddy.  Josh even found some old pedals and a patch cable for him to play with.  He gets SO serious and watches every move his daddy makes.

What do you think?  Is this a musician in the making or what?!

Today's Goal

It's cold and rainy here today.  Kind of makes me just want to curl back up in bed and sleep some more but I wouldn't dare miss Micaiah's conversation with his friends hanging over his bouncy seat this morning.  I love his first morning wake time.  He is so happy after sleeping all night and getting a full breakfast.  

Josh finally got home from Raleigh last night and the kids were absolutely thrilled to be able to wrestle for a while (maybe a little too long, they were WIRED during their bedtime routine) before they went down to bed.

I drove back from Raleigh with the kids on Sunday evening so I could be here for the roofers who were coming to give estimates on Monday.  We are trying to negotiate roofing repairs with our buyers.  I know there are definite plusses to owning your own home, but you couldn't pay me a million dollars to look into buying another house right away.  This has not been a fun process.  Plus, we are going to be completely debt free after selling our house!  That will be such a GREAT feeling, even if only for a short time.

Josh and I were trying to get our calendars together so we could set our moving dates.  First of all, when you can't find a single day that would work to move between rehearsals and studio time then I'd say you are too busy;)  But that's just a side note.  While we were looking at the calendar we realized, we have less than 2 weeks left in this house.  We better get packing!  But where are we going?  We still haven't found a place to live.  I'm feeling a bit like Abraham, obeying God and going where he leads, but not knowing the details, you know, like where to forward our mail and such!  I HAVE to keep getting my freebies=)  So, we just press on in faith, believing that God has a special place for our growing family that will fit our needs.

I decided that I needed a goal to get this house packed while balancing all our responsibilities and kids at the same time.  I'll spare you all the details but my goal today is to round up the boxes and packing supplies and get one room completely packed up.  In theory it seems like it will work, but now the cold, rainy day is calling me back to bed.  So maybe I'll go put "sleep in until the kids get up" at the top of my to-do list so I can check that off first.  THEN I'll start packing=)

Happy Wednesday Ya'll...

Words Of Wisdom

Out of nowhere during dinner...

Zeke:  "Daddy, when you are old mommy will give you to me and I will take care of you if you are alive."

Josh:  "Well thanks buddy=)"

Zeke:  "And I will take care of mommy and Rainy too!"

You better believe I'm writing this one down as proof, HA!

Pocketbook Challenge

For some reason Josh and the kids think that my pocketbook is the place for them to store EVERYTHING we need on an outing.  After several weeks of shoulder and back pain from carrying the thing around I figure it's probably time to clean it out.

Here's what I found today:

Diapers, wipes, onesie, spit-up cloth and USED bottle (EWW!)

Gummie snacks and Raisins

Wallet

Several Pens

A Journey worship guide

Coupon folder

Floater coupons that never got put away

An empty Ziploc baggie

Coloring book

Some of Rainy's toys

Gum

Guitar pick

Zeke's undies

Starbucks VIA coffee

Lip Balm

Change purse

Camera

Notes (yes, that plate had an address on it that we checked out for a house, HA!) for house hunting

Now that is just ridiculous!  But now I want to know...

What's in YOUR pocketbook?

God Be Praised

We are gearing up for the first live recording for Journey Church at the end of the month and we are stoked!  If you are in the Raleigh/Durham area on October 30th we better see you there.

Check out this site for all the info. you might need to know and become a fan on facebook so you don't forget this important event.

Just Like Me

Yesterday morning as we were getting the house straightened up for the inspection Zeke began frantically gathering ALL his favorite belongings and trying to carry them in his arms.  He was absolutely beside himself, dropping one thing after another, because he just couldn't seem to hold everything at one time.  

After several minutes of this he began whining and crying.  The whining and crying has been an on-going thing over the past couple of months so I automatically began to reprimand him for his bad attitude and sent him to his room, I just didn't have time for this.  He then began screaming and really carrying on.

We were running out of time before the inspector was to arrive and we had to be GONE so I continued to "get ready" and Josh went in to deal with Zeke.

This is just another reason why Josh is such a wonderful dad.  He will get to the heart of the issue, no matter what is going on!

Here's the thing, ever since we put our house on the market our lives have been in constant transition with no routine or predictability.  This has slowly been wearing on Zeke to where he could no longer take it.  To add to it, we have been leaving our house for complete strangers to look at, to inspect, to fix, etc. and each time we left, Zeke would go around and gather all his favorite things.  It wasn't until today that we realized why.

Zeke believed that those people were going to buy our house and that we weren't going to be coming back or that we would come back to all of our things GONE!  His animal friends...gone.  His bubbies...gone.  His guiyars...gone.  His lunchbox full of stuff...gone. His pumpkin pale full of even more stuff...gone.  I couldn't stop from getting tears in my eyes.  I just hurt for him.  I hurt for him, because I knew exactly how he was feeling.  

I was that exact same way every time we moved with my family growing up.  I would literally get sick every time our house would start filling up with boxes, not knowing when I was going to see my stuff again and not knowing where we were going.  Too many unknowns.  (Don't get me wrong, I had a great childhood and looking back now I am so glad we had so many opportunities in so many different places)

As a matter of fact, I'm STILL like that, except this time I know (or will know as soon as we find a house...sigh) where we're going and that we'll see our stuff again.  Now it's the inspection that shows that we need to replace the roof, the buyers loan that hasn't finalized yet, meaning that the contract could fall apart at any time, and all the details of our personal lives not to mention the ministry, that I have to deal with.

Even as a believer, knowing that God is in control (not me), that His way is perfect, that He has our best interest at heart, that He knows what we need and when we need it, that His timing is perfect, it is still hard to live that out sometimes in the thick of it.  But this is my time to grow in my faith and persevere.  James wrote:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers,

whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith

develops perseverance.  Perseverance

must finish its work so that you may be

mature and complete, not lacking anything."

So, I need to choose, right now, what kind of example I am going to be for my sweet boy.    He doesn't need to see his mom all stressed out over things that are out of my control anyway.  He needs to see me living out my faith even when it's hard and so many things are uncertain.

Train Up A Child

Josh and Areyna

Zeke and Josh

Micaiah and Josh

This is one of Josh's favorite times with all his kids as a dad. It's one of the first things he looks forward to every time we find out we're expecting again.  When they get old enough to sit in his lap during his morning quiet time and "talk" to him while they chew on his highlighters and listen to the Word.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Proverbs 22:6

2 Months

13.7 lb - 90% 

(as you can tell from the picture)

24" - 90%

39cm - 25%

This month our little boy chunked up fast!  Don't laugh at that double chin...it just means he's healthy=)  He went from preemie and newborn clothes to 3-6 month clothes, completely skipping the 0-3 month ones.  We moved his car seat straps up to the top slot already and he is on the verge of being in size 2 diapers!  What in the world=)

Micaiah shared his first little giggle this month with his big sister Areyna.  She was playing peek-a-boo with him and he LOVED it=)

He has become very fond of his new friends dangling above him in his swing and bouncy seat.  He coos and smiles at them for long periods of time.

He did start talking a little this month, but he still mostly communicates with fluctuating grunts, fidgety body movements and heart-warming smiles.  I know he is really trying to tell me something when he can't seem to hold still!

We are seeing the colic less and less the more stable his routine gets.

He began sleeping through the night this month.  I'll feed him anywhere between 10 and 11pm and then again between 7 and 8am!  The only thing that wakes him up now at night is a full diaper, I can handle that=)

In spite of us almost forgetting him in the car or nursery a half dozen times because we've forgotten we've added another child to the bunch we can't imagine our lives without him.=)

You CAN Use Expired Coupons

No, not here in the USA but you can send them overseas to help military families.  Check out the details HERE and start saving and sending your expired and unused coupons to help someone else out!

Just Because I Can't Get Enough Of This Smile

Driveway, Car, Pistol, Relief

Last Friday night I played with my friend, Sara, at Jackson's Java across from UNCC.  It was a lot of fun.  Josh was really wanting to be there so we figured, since it wasn't going to be too late of a night we'd bring the kids.  It was like a family reunion seeing so many old friends.  It was nice to be able to hang out with everyone altogether one last time before we move.

We got home it was around 11:00 or so.  The kids were beyond tired (not so much cranky and whiny but talking crazy and saying really funny things) and Micaiah was WAY over stimulated!  Plus it was past time for him to eat.

Anyway, we pulled up to our driveway and there was a car parked at the end of our driveway.  We couldn't get around it from either direction to park our car and go inside.  We weren't quite sure what to think or do.  It wasn't like the other driveways in our cul-de-sac were full.  Most of them were empty or only had 1 car in them.  Also, the car had a "Terrific Kid" bumper sticker and there is only 1 neighbor with school-aged kids.

I got out and checked out the empty car.  Locked with an alarm set.  I tried to set off the alarm thinking that maybe the owner would come to its rescue but nothing happened.  Josh honked a few times...nothing.  

We'd heard of teenagers getting into vacant houses and since ours is on the market with a sign in the yard and both our cars were gone we thought maybe someone was inside.  Josh went over to one of our neighbor buddies houses and got him to go inside with him "just in case" someone was in there.  Our friend grabbed his pistol and they went inside.

The kids began rattling off a million questions and commentating every move they saw inside by their daddy.  The kids just wanted to make sure that the guys checked EVERY room of the house to make sure it was safe.

The house was clear but still no sign of the owner of the vehicle.  Josh decided to ask our next door neighbor thinking there was no way it was hers or her friends because her driveway was practically empty.  She finally came to the door and it WAS her friend's.  They thought we were gone for the weekend (why in the world would someone ever think that, HA!  Just kidding, they probably wonder what the matter is when we stay at home for more than 3 consecutive days in a row!) and they had a full driveway when this car arrived so they were just borrowing our driveway.

Shew...glad that is how this story ended.  I was beginning to run all sorts of scenarios of escape through my head=)

Fun Facts For Friday

Thursday was cleaning day and boy are we clean.   

Here's what got cleaned around here:

1- The kids got a bath.  This deserves applause seeing as it wasn't even a Tuesday or Saturday bath night=)  Even Cai smells of soothing lavender.

2- The laundry.  Yup it's ALL clean!  Now, I just gotta get it folded...any takers?

3- I got a shower and even put on makeup=)  Josh and I had a HOT coffee date yesterday afternoon.

4- The dishes.  O00h yeaaahhh...the dishes are all clean for one day.  What a GREAT feeling.

5- The WHOLE house, you know, bathrooms, showers, sweeping, mopping, dusting...  I was just going to sweep the kitchen floor but I got a little carried away I guess, HA!

My Church Is Better Than Yours

Read HERE if you haven't been convicted yet today and I promise you will be.

Double Duty Dads

During this transition time to Raleigh we have been able to spend some great quality time with Josh's brother Jonathan, his wife Kelly and their 3 girls, Cana, Kayil and Karis.  Areyna is the oldest of the 6 kids when we all get together and Karis is just 4 weeks older than Micaiah.  Living under one roof for several days when we come in is quite eventful to say the least.  All I have to say is that I'm glad we have husbands like this...
***Yes, I did say that Karis was OLDER than Micaiah although you couldn't tell from this picture.  Man he's a chunk, HA!