First Days in Vermont

After our incredible greeting Sunday night, things only got better. Each day Brett and I wake up and gaze out over our beautiful backyard in amazement that we actually live in Vermont and marvel at all the blessings we’ve received since we’ve been here. The church here knows how to take care of its pastor and we have been spoiled. I don’t think we realized how unhappy we really were back in Newton Grove—we really weren’t unhappy there, we’re just much happier here, if that makes sense. It’s as if we’re getting a break from all the trials we faced in the past few years. Brett no longer has to work two jobs just to make ends meet and only see us 2 or 3 hours a day with little time off. We no longer have to struggle with finances with no help from our church family.

We have an amazing home here, which has had a lot of love and time put into it over the past couple weeks since the previous pastor moved out. They cleaned the place from head to toe, tore out the carpets and put in brand new laminate flooring (and new carpet in the bedrooms). They replaced the kitchen appliances, even leaving the old refrigerator in our storage room so we have extra space. They are replacing the countertops with brand new granite ones. They painted all the walls with the colors we chose. We simply have to ask for something and miraculously it appears—like ceiling fans or blinds. The first day we continually found surprises in our cabinets, like food, paper products and cleaning supplies. The people are genuinely nice and it seems to please them to be able to help us. They took care of every detail for us so all we had to do was unpack the boxes. In fact, it seems like everyone we’ve met in Vermont has been especially nice, throwing the concept of “Southern hospitality” out the window!

In the midst of unpacking, we still have to live life and it’s been challenging to keep the kids busy. Of course, these kids have always been pretty good at playing independently, but right now half their toys are still in boxes because our downstairs (where the playroom will be set up) is currently in the process of being renovated and has no carpet. So I try to bring out new things each day to entertain them and we try to spend a little time outside each day (even the weather has been beautiful for us since we’ve been here—cold in the mornings but up to the 70’s by mid-afternoon). Abigail has been getting into even more and refuses to play with any toys—only getting into cabinets and things she shouldn’t. It takes twice as long to do things when she’s awake.

But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and as of now there are no boxes left in the upstairs portion of our house. There are no pictures on the wall, but everything else is done, straight down to the curtains. Downstairs is a whole other story, but we can’t do anything until they finish replacing the carpet. I’m anxious to get back to a routine and normal schedule, to explore the area and find new friends, but I know things like that take time, especially in the summer when school’s out. We did already get our Vermont drivers’ licenses, making us official Vermonters! I haven’t had to cook many meals yet, as our freezer was stocked, but Brett will start having office hours Monday and we’ll at least return to some sort of normalcy. The carpets and countertops will all be installed this week so before we know it, we will be unpacking downstairs and won’t remember calling any other place “home.”

  

  

The kids have adjusted amazingly well and things we were worried would be issues, like Andrew having his own room and the girls sharing, were not even issues. They have all fallen straight to sleep every night and slept straight through. Granted, the sun comes up much earlier here, around 5:30, so they’ve been up early, but that’s starting to get better, especially now that they have curtains. (Abigail has been napping on our bed most days because Leah wants to be able to play in their room during that time, but eventually they’ll have a playroom and be able to play downstairs while Abigail naps in her own crib.) They haven’t whined or complained hardly any and at church they’re excited about meeting new people and warming up to everyone very quickly! Brett & I even got to have date night last Friday and left the kids with a couple from church. They were completely comfortable and we felt totally comfortable leaving them. They are loving having their Daddy around more often and that’s probably part of the reason they’re behaving so much better.

And who could complain about this view we get to see every day from our living room window. Now I know 5 months of the year it will be covered in snow and we will long for warmer weather, but right now, we can’t get enough of the beauty of God’s creation and we can’t believe it’s actually real. We praise God for all we had to go through to bring us here!

Moving Day

 

May 10th was a beautiful, sunny day as the giant Penske truck pulled up in our driveway. We’d been packing up boxes for more than a week and we were excited about getting everything on the truck and getting on the road to Vermont. Aaron & Travis, from our new church, came to help us load, and it was a grand feat! It took them from about 10am until about 6:30 that evening to get it all loaded up. We barely fit everything into the truck & Brett’s car, which was being towed behind the truck. In fact, at the end of the day, I was throwing out food & cleaning products & anything that was not vital, just so we had room to fit everything!

 

It took quite a bit longer than we’d expected and the guys were exhausted, but after all the cleaning and loading was done, we got out on the road. We put Abigail forward facing for the trip, because we thought she’d be able to interact better and I could see her to keep her occupied. The kids were excited to get on the road.

 

We only drove about 3 hours the first day, stopping around 11 that night in Richmond, VA at a hotel to rest. We had originally wanted to get further, but it worked out just fine and the next day we started out early, around 8:30 or 9. It really did take a full day of driving. The kids did amazing. I had bought plenty of new coloring books and small toys for the car ride and pulled them out one at a time to keep them entertained. Abigail was a little trickier and whined off and on, but she did pretty good at cat-napping throughout the day. We also just bought a portable DVD player and more often than not, that kept them all busy. We took a long stop for lunch at Cracker Barrel (my Mother’s Day treat) and after that Abigail got really fussy. Finally she got sick and threw up all over her seat. Thankfully, we’d brought along her rear-facing car seat, so we switched them out and after that she fussed a lot less. It seems she’s still too little and was much more comfortable not all scrunched up in that new seat! That was really our only snag, besides a little traffic around DC and a whole lot more toll roads than we’d planned, but finally we pulled into Vermont around 9. Abigail was the only one sleeping but we didn’t want to get them all out for a picture by the state sign so this is all we got:

 

When we got to our house, there were at least 15-20 church people waiting for us. The moving truck had arrived only about 3 hours before us, but they’d already unloaded the entire truck, made our beds (including putting Abigail’s crib together), put our living room furniture in a really great arrangement, stocked our refrigerator & cupboards and even started putting together the kids’ swingset! They were so excited to greet us. So many of them have been working hard over the past few weeks to clean out the parsonage where we’re living and make it look amazing for us. I was overwhelmed with their warm welcome and all they’d done. We slept so well that night and the kids didn’t even make a peep!

Abigail @ 18 months

This little girl gives us a run for our money. She is by far the most mischievous kid we’ve had and gets into everything! She is silly and loves to explore and test her limits, yet she’s cuddly and super sweet when it’s time for bed and very much Mommy’s girl. She will grab on to my legs so I can’t walk unless I pick her up. She cries for a few seconds when I drop her off anywhere or leave her with someone, but then usually she’s fine. She still continues to be the best sleeper and goes to bed without any fuss. She will only let me cuddle her when we get in her rocker in her room at bedtime but its those times I cherish!

 

She often sleeps in well past her siblings and then is ready to sleep again by 11. Usually I push her to stay awake until after lunch, then she takes a good 2-3 hour nap. She still loves her bottle when she wakes up, although I really hope to get her off that. She does know how to drink milk from a cup, she just loves the security of that bottle. She’ll even go into the cabinet, pull out a bottle, hand it to me and grunt, apparently meaning I’m supposed to get her more milk in it.

 

Her favorite thing is probably climbing up on chairs. Also remote controls and phones. She’s starting to get interested in dolls and feeding them, but mostly she loves to throw them out of her crib. She LOVES to scribble, but mostly she just loves to take the tops on and off of markers and then color on her skin or clothes. She loves books and being read to, but only if they’re short. She loves to be sung to and is starting to “sing along” some by making sounds when we do. She knows how to give kisses, complete with a kissing sound. School with Leah and Andrew has been challenging lately because I’m constantly having to stop her from pulling things out of the closets or books off the shelf. When she’s awake, she’s awake and not easily entertained by playing on her own.

 

At her most recent doctor’s visit, she weighed 19 lbs., 6 oz. (the 10th%) and was 32 inches long (54th%). She eats really well but is getting pickier about vegetables and certain meats. And if she doesn’t like something, she will spit it out—you can’t make her eat anything. She still doesn’t say many words, and though the doctor wasn’t too concerned, Leah and Andrew were talking a lot more by her age. I know she definately understands everything I say and understands when I ask her to do things like, “put your clothes in the basket,” or “go throw this away,” or “It’s time to go take a bath…” (She even starts pulling at her shirt and taking her pants off when I tell her that!) She does finally say Mommy and Daddy and also has words that sound like Leah and Andrew. She has words that sound like milk and doggy but mostly she just points and grunts. I know she is taking everything in and will probably start speaking in complete sentences but right now I guess she gets what she wants without words. She can point to all her major body parts and can usually recognize several different animals in a book if I name them.

Moving Northward

 

Big changes are coming very soon for our little family. After much prayer and many sleepless nights, Brett and I have accepted a position as senior pastor at a small rural church in Vermont. VERMONT! It is somewhere we never imagined ourselves going. We love the south and for a long time we were considering churches in Texas near Brett’s parents, or else here in NC. I am not really a cold weather person and never really like snow. But for awhile now Brett has been considering the idea of church planting. He has a heart to reach out to those who are unchurched—though he enjoys discipleship and ministering to those already in church, he (well both of us, really) really wants to lead more people to know a relationship with Christ.

(Our new church—I’m looking forward to New England in the fall!)

Vermont is one of the most unchurched states in the country. There are many church buildings in the state, but few are well-attended. The church we are going to is probably one of the larger churches in the state and there is only about 80 regular attendees. The church has only been established around 5 years, and back then they started with only 15 members. So, it is almost like a church plant, and there is a lot of room for growth and reaching out to unchurched. The current pastor there is moving out of the country to do international mission work. They are therefore a very mission-minded church and eager to grow.

So we are very excited about the upcoming adventure, the challenges it will bring, and seeing what God will do in our new church. We are also sad about leaving behind our church family here, in spite of all the problems we’ve faced. The kids have a few friends here they’ve made at church and school, but they’ve never gotten so close to any of them that they are going to be devastated to leave them behind. Right now they are mostly excited about the move but they have a lot of questions and I don’t think it will all really make sense to them until we’re there and settling in. I think even then they’ll wonder when we’re going back “home”. I personally haven’t really made many close friends here, either, although I’ve found a comfortable place in our MOPS group, our Classical Conversations group and church. I will miss being so close to my family, of course. It will be a 12-hour trip. However, there are so many great ladies at the new church that have already reached out to me and our family and I’m excited about opportunities to build new relationships.

This is our new house and the view from the front yard looking toward the church. Thankfully, this is the church’s parsonage, so it will save us the hassle of having to look for a home there, and in fact, everything becomes so much more convenient for us because the utilities and most other bills are paid for us there. It is actually two stories and probably slightly larger than what we have now—there are two living areas, plus 3 bedrooms & 3 bathrooms. Several guys from the church are coming down to help us load up the moving truck which they will then drive up to Vermont for us so we can take the trip on our own time in our own car. Everyone there has been so accommodating and helpful in our move. So now we have already begun the process of packing up everything we own. We will take a few days of vacation to visit family & friends before our official move date of May 10th.

What an adventure we have ahead of us!

Easter Egg Hunting

 

Last Saturday was our annual church Easter egg hunt. This year all 3 kids were old enough to “get it”. We had to have it inside because it was rainy but it actually ended up being more fun & challenging that way!

First we loaded them up with sugar!

Then we made a little craft and heard the Resurrection Eggs story.

 

We managed to get everyone together for a photo.

Then we were ready to go! Little kids were downstairs. Leah’s age & up were upstairs. At first I thought Abigail knew just what to do. She saw an egg, grabbed it & put it in her basket. Then she took it back out, opened it, and demanded I open the chocolate. Once she’d gotten that all.over.her.hands.and.clothes, she didn’t really seem interested in finding anymore eggs. We helped her a little.

 

 

Leah and Andrew had been excited for days, so they knew exactly what to do. And they got quite a haul of candy!

 

I managed to get some shots of Leah with a few of her closest friends. I plan on working on a secret project for her involving photos of everyone she loves!

 

What a fun way to celebrate the holiday!

Easter Traditions

 

This weekend we had some great family fun with our annual Easter traditions. First, we decorated Easter cupcakes. We did this after Abigail went to bed, so it was a little easier. We baked them together before bath and then after bathtime, we decorated them. By “decorated,” I mean that Andrew & Leah ate enormous amounts of frosting and put small amounts on the cupcakes.

 

 

 

The finished product!

 

Then Sunday we dyed our Easter eggs. We only did a few this year and we didn’t do anything fancy, but it was still fun. Leah asked about this activity for days before we got to do it!

 

Abigail + breakable eggs and colored dye was a little too scary for me, so I gave her a bowl of water and some plastic eggs. She had the water dumped out within a minute or two. But she was satisfied with her level of participation!  

 

 

 

After they dried we put stickers on them. The finished product: