these last few weeks here

Well. Life just keeps moving doesn't it. 

This girl. She thought she was so funny.

 October 24th and 25th, I had a conference for work in Chicago.  Since neither of my kids sleep well at night and Aurelia is still nursing, I feared for the person who would keep them both over night. So, instead, Gideon went to my parents and Aurelia went with us.  Kayla, Kandace, and Carli came and watched Aurelia during the day. 

Aurelia loved running the halls in the hotel

During the day the girls treated Aurelia to #whitegirllife hahaha. Coffee and shopping. 

'

:)

The Replanted conference was great. It was basically spiritual refreshment and encouragement for Christian foster, adoptive, or safe family parents or professionals.  It really was great and we got to meet a lot of different people from all over. 

Once we were done we met the girls for supper and deep dish pizza.

 Gideon didn't seem to have missed us too much. Which was good. 

helping me make muffins 

and do laundry

 On Monday the 28th, my dad helped me pick up a bunk bed an hour north.  We plan to put the kids on the bunk bed at the new house to save space. And, this was the dream bed, stairs, drawers, and the top bunk isn't too high. 

what a dad

little girl loves to brush her teeth just like mommy.

And then it snowed! Gideon and I went out early to scrape Nathan's car. 

He had so much fun

And then we braved the cold and snow to get coffee...

because, Grabill doesn't have a coffee trailer

mums in the snow

little poof ball 

:) 

Halloween. This year the kids were...

Donuts and a donut shop worker!

:)

We did our usual- Grandma and Grandpa, Pearline, the farm, and Nathan's work.

Aurelia had it figured out by the end. 

Aurelia is progressively becoming more destructive. She's in to everything all the time. 

sigh

We went to one last meeting of Care Connect, our church's adoptive/foster parent support group. 

 Our tree dropped all of it's leaves at once and then it rained. So, instead of the wind blowing them away, they stuck. 

so many

 We spent an afternoon raking them up and then hauled them to the farm. 

Gideon got to ride in the front with me on the way to the farm with the leaves!

That evening, one of Nathan's coworkers had us over for supper and games.  Another coworker brought his son along too. Gideon and Easton both wanted to farm. 

:)

Aurelia loved the marble run

Lincoln Log train!

 They had the best toys. The kids' Christmas lists may have grown after that evening. 

#whymykidiscrying

there was milk on his spoon.

Oh sunny days watching trains from the window

I spy Gideon

We had a scheduled quiet day at home. Thankfully it was nice enough out to play in the leaves. 

:)

This girl's morning hair kills me.

Cheese!

 November 7th, we went to our potluck group one last time at Layne and Heather's. It was a nice evening. I'm glad we were able to get together with no kids. Conversation is so much easier. 

Nathan had the Sunday School boys over one last time to play games. 

We were invited to Princeville church for invite a guest by Grant and Hannah. We had a lovely day. The kids played really nice after church and gave us all a chance to actually catch up. Gideon seemed to be getting sick so we went home fairly early. 

And then, Mom and I drove out to Grabill to paint our new house. I only painted the two bedrooms to make them feel more like my home. And one wall in the living room so the couch will look a bit better hopefully. 

Mom and the kids built a little IKEA play table

I will have a fire place!!!! :)

our house

 My mom took the kid's to Rita's after a while and they stayed their and played the next day too. 

Rita has the best train set

What a view to wake up to

 Thursday the 14th, we went over to Paul and Jean's in the evening. They had asked us to share our story to a small group of people. I think it went well.

I wonder how high my blood pressure was

but they had so much fun

I have crazy kids. :) Aurelia makes up about 70% of their craziness. She gets in to things that no other kid has.  She recently has become interested in sticking things in the toilet. I caught her sticking a cup in. I've found a sock and a car in the toilet...who knows what I didn't find. 

She has figured out how to open the refrigerator on her own...

I had my last day at Gateway in Morton as an Adoption case manager a couple weeks ago. Last week, I ran in to quick sign a home study and then on the way back we picked up donuts and coffee for the farmers. 

the old farmer

Gideon was very happy about getting to take donuts and get a combine ride. 

After the combine we went to the farm to play for a while.

this boy loves trains

Aurelia loved her donut too.

We had rotating potluck one evening. It was nice, as usual. It makes me so thankful for Washington church. I'll be sad to leave, if only for a few years. 

We had our sending service on Sunday the 17th.  I am so thankful for our church family. It is such a privilege to be sent by a body of believers and to know they will support and pray for us.  We were reminded that God sees, he is present in our lives, and he will “see to it” and provide for us in amazing ways. 

“And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” Genesis 22:14

Last Friday was Nathan's last day of work. It's been nice having him home all week. Tuesday we went to CPR training.

That evening, I got to spend some time with friends. 

I have wonderful friends. 

FAQs:

So, have we been packing?  Not really. It's hard to know what to pack when we are still living here.  Things will probably start to get crazy this weekend.

Is out house sold? Nope. Still waiting, trusting, and praying.

I may do more about house parenting in another post.

In Christ

~Michelle