

I was looking at the ADORABLE (yes I am biased) picture of Ethne in the tub & wanted to try to find a picture of Lilyanah when she was the same age. Or as close as possible. In the pictures of the girls with Grandma, Ethne is one week younger than Lilyanah when the picture was taken. Can you even believe the size difference!!!!? Lilyanah was SO itty bitty! My apologies for the excessive absence of entries lately! Life being busy is no excuse because I suppose it always is! Let's see, I threw our annual Valentine's Day Party. I had a good time & hope everyone who attended did too. I truly love party planning. . . getting into all the details. Will gave me a budget that allowed me to rent some tables & chairs so everything even matched, which I LOVE! Someday I hope to own my own round tables so I can set them up whenever it's 'party time'.

We had that party the 9th of February & the following weekend had our family 'work weekend' at our house. For Christmas instead of trying to figure out what to get each other, we did 'work weekends' where we all went to each other's home for a day to help with projects that needed to be done around the house. We started at Jeremy's house, followed by Corey & Kelsey & attacked our house on the 18th. Dad & I started demo on the second bathroom the Friday before everyone came over Saturday. It was a little more of a mess than we expected, so right now we're at the insulation & drywall stage. We made a good dent into some of our projects, so that was exciting & the best gift! Mom keeps putting off their weekend because she can't decide

what she wants us to do! Too many projects to choose from I suppose. A couple of days after our workday we left for Twin Falls, Idaho.
This subject deserves its own paragraph. When Will accepted the job to work at Waste Connections, he was promoted to an Assistant Controller & told the interviewers that he would be willing to move if they needed him to in order to fill a Controller position. We weren't sure how long that would be, 6 to 24 months we thought (expecting the latter). As it is, they are looking for an Assistant Controller to move to Twin Falls as soon as possible & move into the Controller position in 6 to 12 months.

They're hoping Will is their man. It's been a couple of months since it was first casually mentioned and it seems to be getting more & more serious as time passes by. Will went out there to help about a month ago & was pretty impressed with the office, the people & even the town. He especially has been praying very diligently for direction & discernment in making the best decision for our family. I've told him that as long as he is seeking God's will that I will go where He & he leads. We've listed out our pros & cons. The list of cons is very short but substantial.

Number 1, of course, is moving away from family & friends. VERY BIG. And 2, most likely losing money on our house. Of course the landscape is a con, it is not a pretty place. I'm an Oregon girl & green is beautiful to me, not brown! The biggest pro though is that we would get another 3 hours with Will every single day! His commute would go from close to 90 minutes to less than 10. I would love for him not to have that stressful drive as much as I would love for all of us to get to see each other more! I don't pretend leaving family & friends wouldn't be extremely hard, I just can't rationalize sacrificing time with Will to have it with everyone else. It would be a 3 to 5 year committment.

I admit I can swallow 3 years a lot better than 5! On our trip over, though, God was obviously the orchestrator! We had a great place to stay, we got to have lunch with Will almost every day, we met a wonderful lady, Tomi, a real estate agent who showed us nearly 20 homes so we could get an idea of the market & what's available. She was referred to me by the secretary of a church I found & wanted to visit. We thought so much of her & everyone else we met from the church that we hoped we would like the rest of the church as much.

Let me just say, after visiting Sunday morning, that should we move to Twin Falls we have found a church family that we look forward to serving with & worshiping our Lord with! I was even pleasantly surprised with the town. Everything you need is there, so that's nice. As it stands, for the next 2 months Will is going to be traveling there for at least 1 week a month. They want to be sure that HE is sure he wants to move there. I guess they're pretty concerned that I would actually do it too. The way I look at it, no one is praying for Idaho to work. We're praying for God's will, & all of my family is praying God works something out for us to stay in Oregon, so if doors keep opening toward Idaho, then we can be confident that God is the one opening the doors. We would appreciate your prayers also.

The picture of the girls playing is with what I would consider Lilyanah's favorite toy. Her Mema got her the village set for her birthday, it's so great! She almost always has to take one or two 'village people' with her when we go somewhere. For example, we visited Mom at work & Lilyanah sat down at her desk like it was her own. As you can see, the village characters she named Gigi & Papa are on the desk behind her. Mom can lock her computer keys, so it was great because Lilyanah could play. Hopefully this gives you a little idea of what's been going on the last month. I'll truly try to do better, but no promises! Thank you again to all of you faithful who still check up on our little family! We love you all! ~Wendy.
9 comments:
It is so hard to leave friends and family. It is amazing though, how God opens doors for us that end up to be wonderful. I would never trade my experiences from the different states that I have lived in. There is always "family" around when we search for it in God's house. I will be praying for your family that God shows you his will. I love you guys! Mary
Life is a wonderful adventure when you're living by faith, isn't it?! I will pray that God works things out for the best, wherever that may take you. Twin Falls is a lengthy drive for family, but do-able. My sister and her family are in their eight year living in Tanzania, and we miss them but are thankful for how God is using them there. I know God will use you wherever you live, and what an amazing blessing it would be for you and the girls to have more time with Will.
Thanks for the update and pictures, as always!
Love, Evelyn
I know what it feels like to have God tell you that you're going to move to Idaho.
I also just found out what it feels like for Him to tell you you're going to be in Idaho longer than you would have liked. It looks like our family is going to be here for at least a couple more years, so maybe we'll be neighbors-ish. Twin is less than 2 hours from us, so maybe we can spend some time together while we're all in exile from Oregon--if God does lead you here. I'll be praying for His will, too.
I love you and your darling girls!
I'm so glad I got to see you this weekend and finally meet Ethne!! Thanks for enlightening me on how uncoordinated I am with core strengthening!
Oh, I forgot to say that if one, some, or all of you are ever going to be driving through Boise around dinner time, or bedtime for that matter, give us a call. And I hope it goes without saying that if you ever find yourself in need of anything and you're within an hour or five of Boise, I will move heaven and earth to help in anyway I can, whether you need a tow truck or a bed to crash in or anything else that the trip may throw at you. If you don't have my cell number anymore, Kelsey does--be sure you have it with you for emergencies because we got rid of our landline so we're harder to look up these days.
I'm still praying that God finds a way for you to stay at home, but if He makes it clear that you're needed in Idaho, I won't mind having you a little closer to us! And Idaho may not be as beautiful as Oregon, but it's not as bad as it's cracked up to be. And Twin is only a few miles of good road from some of the most gorgeous ski country you'd ever hope to see. When your eyes feel like they're dried out from looking at all the brown, you can always escape to the mountains.
Your babies are so beautiful and the spitting image of you! I'm so excited to hear about what all has been going on with you! Miss you and love you tons!
I'm so glad to get to catch up on what's going on with you guys! The girls are getting so big! They are both absolutely beautiful!
I'm praying for you and the decisions ahead!
The outside curtains were up when we moved in so I didn't buy them but it is some kind of canvas. The previous owner made them.
P.S. It's time for an update!
Wendy,
It's Kelly Manning! I saw your picture on the A-Dec paper and I just had to say hello. I've been checking your blog occasionally, watching your family grow. I am in awe of the strength your family shows with all that is put in front of you. I know that wherever you go next, you will be successful and happy. Know that I have been thinking of you these last few years and I continue to wish good things for you.
Hugs to you and your family,
Kelly
Post a Comment