Becoming Midlanders

It's been two years since I last wrote something... a lot has changed since our family pizza night!
For starters, we had our third baby girl in July of 2014. If you know us in real life, you'd know that's not all that shocking. In fact, I'm pregnant now with our 5th baby, due this June. We feel extremely blessed to be adding another sweet baby to our family! About a year after family pizza night, we decided to move across town to this cute little house in the "country". It was an old house, tucked away on a side street in Broomfield, CO...not really in the country, but it felt like it to us. We had a nice, big yard with lots of trees and a beautiful garden, a greenhouse (that I regretfully never used), and tons of storage, plus lots of room for the kids to play and run. It was wonderfully isolated. The only nuisance we had to avoid was the weekly visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses. (That may sound mean, but I have good reasons for not wanting to be bothered every week with uninvited company.) Anyway, Emerald Lane was beautiful and only two minutes away from my favorite thrift store.

Last day at Emerald Lane

Moving across town felt like quite a journey at the time. We were no longer 5 minutes from Justin's work. The kids missed their neighborhood friends they had recently started playing with. King Soopers wasn't just a left turn away anymore... we'd grown quite spoiled on 104th. None of that compares to our even bigger change though, which is having moved to good ole' Midland, Texas.



Christmas 2015, we're back in Arkansas visiting family when Justin got a call from his boss. He was being offered a management position. Great news considering the recent decline in oil and countless jobs being snatched away from many of his colleagues. The catch? The job is in Odessa.

I quickly googled the area and checked out the map and topography. "It's pretty, stinkin close to New Mexico...I don't see much green on this map...Oh geez, this is the desert part of Texas.", I thought to myself. "Oh good, they at least have a Chick-fil-a." It was a difficult decision, but Justin and I agreed it would be best for the family to accept the offer.

The company gave us an all-expenses-paid-week in order to find a house. So, a couple weeks later, we embarked on the 10 hour drive to Midland, with all four kids in tow, for our house hunting trip. Five days and about 50 houses later, we finally found the right one. It's in a quiet neighborhood, with two big oak trees and a "cepan" tree (pecan), a backyard with plenty of room for the kids to play and only 6 minutes from Chick-fil-a. The inside is large enough for our growing family, and small enough for me to keep relatively clean. We are definitely happy with our choice. As far as the town, however, we are not thrilled, but we're trying to make the best of it.

Our last Christmas in CO

After our house hunt we returned back home to Emerald Lane. Our remaining time in Colorado would be short. We made the most of it by hanging out with friends and doing as many fun things as we could. In 12 short days, the movers would be there to pack away everything we own and we'd make the long drive back to Midland.

One upside to this transfer was having the company hire movers for us; that was pretty awesome! They literally did all of our packing and loading. All we had to do was show up (and answer a lot of questions like "do you want this packed with this? Are you taking this with you or are we taking it? And what room will this go in at the new house? What label should we put on this box?") Towards the end they got a little careless though and just started shoving things in boxes...

Anyway, we arrived in Midland on January 29th and moved into our new home two days later. Starting out we wanted to look at the move as an adventure. We're still trying to see the adventure in it. Right now it's just giving us the blahs. We have found a church we like though so that's good. But every time we leave the house we "worry" about getting in a wreck BECAUSE TEXANS CAN NOT DRIVE! (I exaggerate a little, but they really can't drive.) I remember my first time leaving the house since moving here...me and the kids went to get groceries, checked out the library, and of course, had Chick-fil-a. It was the first time (but not the last) that I got honked at for driving LEGALLY. It still baffles me. UPDATE: Today we witnessed the most epic driving mistake ever. A woman drove the wrong way on a one-way, all the while thinking the car she was about to crash into was in the wrong, and then she continued down the one-way and found her way onto the interstate STILL DRIVING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION! We'll see if she made it on the 6 o'clock news.

I think moving has definitely been the hardest on my sweet Nathaniel. He was involved in the most

Last Day at HSC--I embarrassed him in front of his teachers
so that's what the face is about.

awesome homeschooling program I've ever heard of. He had one Wednesday a week where it was all about what he enjoyed doing. No helping with younger sisters, no "school", no chores. All day long, he went from class to class with his friends and learned new and exciting things. We got transferred to Texas right at the start of his second semester at HSC. It was devastating. For him and me! He was able to attend three weeks into the new semester, which probably made it that much harder on him. Not only was leaving HSC devastating, but he also left behind some really great friends. Since we've been in Midland, he and I have had many, many talks about the importance of our move and Daddy's job. We've shared lots of tears and hugs and worked through countless meltdowns and bad attitudes. It's been tough. It breaks my heart to see him struggle with this change so deeply. I know that to him and his nine year old mind, this is the worst thing ever. On the flip side though, I think the situation has helped him become more responsible and mature. We've had some of our best school days here in Texas. He's transforming into this young man who makes jokes and enjoys my company and loves listening to his favorite band (Thousand Foot Krutch) while we encounter SO MANY horrible drivers on our way to Walmart. The transition from being a Coloradan to a Texan (and no, we will never be "Texans"!) has been difficult, to say the least, but I am beginning to see the end of that dark tunnel.

We got really spoiled living somewhere as cool as Colorado for almost four years. It was an awesome blessing for Justin to have gotten a good job right after graduating and in such a beautiful place! Not gonna lie, it was a sad and painful day when Justin registered our vehicles with Texas and replaced our green mountain license plate with a boring lone star plate. Nathaniel was especially ashamed of our van's new look. :)

I decided after our house hunting trip that I should try to find the beauty in West Texas. I've found a few glimmers so far and I'll keep on looking for it.

Laughing together at AFV

Daddy's HUGE new office 

Playing "boss"

Easter 2016