It's Moving Day!

Home. Home is where my family is. We have called so many places home in our 20+ years of marriage, I have lost count. Actually I haven't but it seems like an abundance. We have moved a total of 13 times (counting this last time). Crazy, huh?  But this time, Lord willing, is our last.  We became homeowners last month and it is one of the most thrilling moments of our lives!  We have been doing an incredible amount of cleaning and slowing moving things to our new home, and today we complete our last and final load. Today is moving day.  Tonight we spend the first night in OUR home.  Words cannot express the feelings I have right now.  I'm a little nervous too... I keep expecting a big meteor to fall from the sky and crush my ecstatic emotions. This has been a long journey for our family, and one filled with some crazy outlandish tales.  But I wouldn't trade the ride for anything in all the world.  God has and always will be our rock and our fortress, and has and always will be there for us thru ever mountain and valley.  He has met our every need.  He has never failed us. Glory be to the LORD most high, for He alone is worthy of all praise! 

"I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." ~Psalm 116:1-2

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Before you say anything...I KNOW it's been forever and a day since I last posted on my blog. Whether or not I can claim the excuse that we moved our family of 10 nearly 600 miles from Georgia to Indiana in July, or that our oldest daughter got married in October, or that we have had so much going on in our lives that I can't even put it into words....I'm going to claim all of them as my excuse anyway!  It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.  It has definitely been a time of many testings and trials, but God is faithful.  Life is not simple.  At least not all the time. But we know that God works all things out for our good, and it is ultimately for His glory.  Anyway...

It's December and December is my favorite month of the whole year!   I absolutely LOVE Christmas time!  "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!"  Yes, we got our yearly dose of Elf last week!   It is a family tradition of ours to kick off the Christmas season with Elf.  And every week until Christmas we watch a different Christmas movie and on Christmas day we watch It's a Wonderful Life.  We usually throw in The Nativity Story, The Bishops Wife, A Christmas Carol...and maybe a couple others.  I also like to make a lot of Christmas gifts.  This year I'm not making as many as I have before, but I'm still making my fair share. We also like to put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, but this year it didn't go as planned.  Somehow in our move, it got lost.  I say "lost" because no one knows what happened to it.  That has happened to many things during our moves...things just get "lost".  But, we got another one and everything is good.  All the kids enjoy decorating the tree, but I especially love watching the little ones.  Which happened to be Miss Liberty this year.  She was in awe of the lights and decorations.  She would spout off, "I am SO happy!"  I love to see the pure excitement on their faces. 

Christmas time also makes me ponder sweet memories of Christmas' past.  Time is such a vapor.  This will be our first Christmas without our oldest daughter (in a manner of speaking).  That thought brings sadness to my heart, but at the same time, joy in seeing her and her husband enjoy their first Christmas together as man and wife. Even though we just had Thanksgiving, Christmas is more of a time of pondering, remembrance, and thankfulness to me than even Thanksgiving is. It is such a wonderful, exciting time to me.  I would love to be able to give a gift to everyone who has ever crossed my path, but sadly that is not possible.  But a girl can try, can't she? Don't get me wrong, I do love to receive gifts, but I LOVE to give them even more.  I love the excitement and joy I can bring to someones face by giving them a gift.  It is something that makes me very happy.  :-)

What are some of your family's Christmas traditions?  I would love to hear about them!  Just leave me a comment, and we can shoot the breeze about Christmas for a while.

Oh, and hopefully I can get this blog kicked back into gear.  :-)

Back Home in Indiana...Literally!

It's been a long time.  A lot has transpired over the last couple months.  We have left our sweet land of Georgia and joined the ranks as Hoosiers once again.  We have left behind a lot of good memories, memories we will never forget.  We are so happy that God gave us the opportunity to live in the South, even if for but a short span of our lives.  Nearly 6 years, yet in that 6 years, we became true Southerners. It truly felt like home.  Georgia will always have a special place in our hearts.  It is also the birth place of our sweet Liberty, so we will most definitely have to visit someday to show her the land of her birth.  Georgia...we will never forget you!

But, we are back home in Indiana!  What a joy to be able to serve the Lord wherever He leads!  (although, I feel as if I've lost my right arm...my little sis is still in Georgia with her family, waiting on God's appointed time to move up here as well...please keep them in your prayers)  Please pray for us all as we seek to reform our families to God's word each and every day.  May all that we do bring Him glory, for that is our chief end.  We look forward to following where Christ leads as we serve Him in the good ole' Hoosier state! 

New Beginnings!

Things are going to drastically change for our family in the next several months...but it's a good change!  

We are moving BACK to Indiana!  God has called us back to our old home state to labor for His Kingdom.  We are so excited about this new adventure and can't wait to see what He has in store for us.  Don't get me wrong...Georgia will always be dear to our hearts; we have so many fond memories to hold dear.  5 years of our lives have been lived in this great state, and we are thankful for the opportunities God has granted to us during this time of our lives.  But there is a nostalgia about moving back home...the place we know and hold so dear to our hearts.  I am so grateful God is allowing us this opportunity...

this chance to go ...back home.

So, I've decided to start a new blog... sorta like a new beginning, or a new chapter in our lives.  All the old posts will still be here from the old blog, but I'm giving it a face-lift and a new name. You'll still be able to access Away Down South for a little while longer. 

  The new blog is Back Home in Indiana. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  If you would like to follow my new blog, please click on the link to the right {where it says, "follow"}{just make sure you do it on the new one, not the old one}...I would greatly appreciate it!  I will try to keep y'all posted about our progress as it takes place...Thank y'all for your dear friendship and kindness to us...

{you know who you are} it means so much to us!   

Until next time...Come go with us!