Christmas and more snow

I didn't get one single picture at Christmas. We took all video. Thats what I get for handing the camera to Darrell. We had a nice quiet Christmas. We got a Wii from Darrell's parents. Needless to say that my arms have been very sore lately.
We did get a lot of snow on Christmas day and many days after. Liberty and a neighbor girl made a snowman. Darrell spray painted on the eyes and mouth. It looks very scary.

2011 looks like it could be another year full of changes. Hopefully nothing too drastic. I think we are still recovering from all the 2010 changes. This time last year I never would have thought God was about to turn our lives upside down. I can't even imagine what He is capable of this coming year.

We could always use prayer up here. We are so happy here but there are still some very hard things. One specific thing is safety. With each new snow there is more of a chance of an accident. We are still very wary of driving on snow and ice. They do a good job of keeping the main roads clear but there are a lot of roads that are still very slippery.

Hopefully by the end of January I can post pictures of a place we are trying to buy. It will need some work, but I think its a great place.

Here are a few pictures taken in the last few weeks.
Warning: Scary snowman ahead...

Snow!

Praise the Lord we made it to church in this stuff! There was one time I cried out to Jesus and we didn't end up in the ditch.

It was so beautiful coming down. But it just keeps coming down!
Back to church tonight. More sliding sideways down the mountain!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to a great Husband, Daddy and Man of God

Have I ever said how much I love living in the mountains? Of course these pictures are at least a week old. I've learned that the leaves change every single day. It had been a few days since I left the house this last time and driving down the main street I was blown away by the golds, oranges and reds.
I've heard that the leave change isn't as brilliant this year. Something to do with the very hot summer and dry weather we've had.

We've been pretty busy these past few weeks. Darrell's hours have cut back a little. He still works pretty much 7 days a week, but only 8 hours now instead of 12.

Our living situation is going ok. Obviously we are ready to get out of here. The blessing is that this house is a very good size. We have the whole upstairs and we have a lot of space. Also, we believe that the Lord worked this out for a purpose. We can see small details come together to bring us where we are right now. Does that mean we like running out to the store every other day for this guy? No. We are a little tired of it. A lot tired of it.

But then things happen and we know we are here for good reason whether we like it or not. He fell yesterday on the hard tile kitchen floor. He has no feeling in one of his feet. Its hard for him to get around. Thankfully Darrell was here to help him. Last time he fell off the front porch and I was the one helping him up. Not fun. So, he needs someone.

He is also very lost, I believe. He will tell you that he is a Christian. But a lot of people believe they are Christians. Of course we can't know for sure because we don't know his heart. But he has some weird beliefs about science, the Trinity, creation and lots of other topics.

So, our season of living in this house has its purpose. But our human hearts have had enough.

But while I am here I will enjoy this view from my bedroom window.



The princess will be starting ballet on Monday. This is a huge answer to pray in so many ways. I am so thankful she will get to experience this. It is something we've been talking about for a few months and finally I just made the call last week. She is beyond thrilled as I'm sure you can imagine. I will be snapping pictures the whole hour.
I will not, however, be like the lady I read about who actually went in the studio with her daughter and did all the moves with her to make her feel more at ease. She must have gotten some special momma gene because NO WAY!

We have also been looking at houses. (If you don't know about this, scroll down to the previous post.) Well, we've only really looked at one house. We are hoping to put in an offer tomorrow! Then if that offer gets accepted we will be putting in months and months and months of blood (hopefully not), sweat and tears. Next time I post we will know if we got the house. Then I will tell you all about it. I don't know if I want to post pictures or not. Its not pretty, but it will be by the time we are ready to move in. Maybe I will just wait and post before and after pictures.

Autumn

I thought it might be time for an update. Who ever put me in charge of this blog anyway? I'm terrible at it!!
Its Fall here, yall. I have no words to describe the beauty of this season here. I tried to take some pictures on my way to church last week. They didn't turn out very good and I had to put it away since I was trying to drive at the same time.



Darrell's grandmother passed away last week, so we made the 3 hour trip over. It is some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. We are headed in that direction later today so I will be sure to bring the camera.
I'm not kidding when I say I wake up everyday feeling so blessed to be here. The crisp weather and the crunchy leaves make me so happy. I'll let you know how I really feel when the snow comes!

Now this little, big girl...



She's quite the little student. After only a few short weeks of school, she has begun to read. She's not sure of herself yet, and I don't think its clicked in her brain, but she's reading. I am so proud of her. Her first day of school was spent in a real school. Our church's school needed a sub for the Kindergarten class and I was able to bring Liberty along for the ride. She loved it. Am I allowed to say that she was above and beyond the other students in that class?


Here is a side by side from last year. No tan this year! That is what happens when Margaret Vanaman's pool is no longer 5 minutes away!








Darrell's job is going extremely well. I can't remember if I mentioned that he did get hired on in a permanent, full time position. That makes things a little less stressful for him. He loves his job and says its very easy. But boy is he working. There were a few weeks that he got in 84 hours. He was told there would be a lot of overtime, and they were not joking. Its a blessing though. He will turn 42 at the end of this month and he's not very happy about it. Apparently it has hit him that he is indeed growing older. Wanna hear something funny? He's getting some of his hair color back. I don't know how, but the top is the same shade as the year we were married. I thought I had done my job in making him completely gray, but I guess I slacked off a little.

It seems that sometimes God's ways are not our ways. After much prayer and more prayer and a little more prayer it seems that we are taking a detour in our plans.

We have decided to buy a house in this area. We are holding onto the property because it will take a lot of prompting from the Lord to sell it.

Our property is over an hour away from our church and Darrell's job. We really didn't want to have to drive that far. Our hearts are still in Hillsville, but we have a peace that we are doing the right thing.

God is really growing us and working in our hearts and we believe that He led us here for a reason. We don't know if this was His plan from the beginning. We do know that we were so closed minded for so long that it took a lot for God to open our eyes. Our hearts are very open these days as we long to hear God's voice directing us.

It is a scary thing to move to a town where you don't know a soul. It is terrifying when you lose not one, but two jobs in the same year. And it is hard when so many little detailed things go wrong and you don't have anywhere to turn. Well, it should have been scary, terrifying and hard.
We don't know where we will end up. But we look back and we can see God's hand in even the smallest details. And He has brought us exactly where we need to be.

That is not all...

We have some even bigger plans in the works. Ok, God has some even bigger plans in the works. I hate to leave you hanging, but trust me when I say that won't wait a second longer than we have to.

But please, please pray for us. God has to move mountains to make this happen.

Love to everyone!
~Cindy

JOBS!

Well, we have a praise! Darrell got a job after only a few weeks. It was totally a God thing because he didn't even apply for this job. Its a manufacturing job that will only last for 3 months. There is a good possibility that there will be a permanent job opportunity after these 3 months.

We are still getting used to the whole job situation here in Virginia. There are quite a few lay offs. Apparently you are just supposed to get used to it. Usually people (especially those who work outside) get laid off and ride out unemployment until spring comes. Must be some way to live, but no thanks! Another thing we will need to get used to is the shift work. There is no shift work in landscaping! He will start out on the first shift and after training, he will move to either 2nd or 3rd. We are trying to figure out how to live life this way. We are blessed to home school. If need be, we can do school anytime so that we can have daddy time during the day.

Darrell starts his job this coming Wednesday. It is a very good, competitive company that pays decent. They also offer lots of overtime which he plans on taking advantage of. There is one more opportunity with a sheriff's department that he can test for before he starts work.

Currently we are in West Virginia for the weekend. It feels good to get out of town. Apparently even when you live around such beauty, you still yearn to "get out of town". The blessing? The drive to WV was around 3 hours instead of the usual 12. Our first stop? Stewart's Hotdogs! I have only recently started eating hotdogs and this was only my 2nd time at Stewart's. We were loving life!

So we will return home on Sunday to relax and get ready for the week. Darrell to start his job and me to have our first day of school. Interestingly enough, Liberty's first day of school will take place in a real classroom. I have a substitute teaching job in the Kindergarten class at our church's school. I will be there Tuesday and Wednesday and I can bring Liberty with me. Talk about flexibility! We are both very excited! This class only has 5 students!! 4 of them are boys, though so we will see how it goes. Although I got a peek at those little boys in their ties and I'm sure they were little saints!

Liberty is growing like a weed! The child went through some kind of growth spurt that I wasn't expecting. When she is on the playground, I wonder who that cute girl with the long legs is. Oh yeah, that big girl is mine!

And just to let you know, she misses CP like crazy. She misses our little trailer, she misses her teachers and friends. She was having a rough time for awhile. We thought she would handle it well considering how friendly she is. There have been many shed tears over missed friends.

All of you have had an impact on my daughter. Thank you for always loving her so much. She felt it and she misses it.
We hope you all are doing good. Keep in touch!

Update

I wish I had some good news regarding a job. We are still looking though. We've had some good leads. One in particular from Sears, but we are still waiting on the phone call. We are tired of waiting on a phone call. Its exhausting just sitting around and waiting.
We are encouraged though. God has been good to us. I'm thankful that church services are only days apart. We leave feeling so encouraged and "filled up" and since tonight is Wednesday we are looking forward to it.
The people have been taking care of us. They are giving us job leads left and right. The men prayed over Darrell Sunday night for God to work big in our lives. They still hardly know us, but they are truly taking care of us. Someone we don't even know handed us a check last Sunday. Who does that? We were offered free tuition to the church's school for Liberty. We've been praying about it, but we still feel that God wants us to home school. We just feel so loved on. They have truly been a blessing. God knew what He was doing when He lead us here. And even when things don't look good and it feels hard and we wonder if we made the right choice moving to Virginia, God reminds us through this church that He is still in control.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. Please know that we DO feel those prayers. And we are so thankful for them.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Proud Mar*ne, P*rate & Property

This will be mostly all pictures. Darrell is out hunting jobs right now. Hopefully we will have good news to share soon.
So, lots of pictures for you:




It was a happy day for this Mar*ne when I fished his jacket out of a box. He was giddy putting it on and even more impressed with himself when it actually fit. He specifically wanted this to go on the blog so than anyone that hasn't seen him lately can see how well he's done.


Moving right along...
Here is Liberty in her Patch the P*rate uniform. This is a Wednesday night church activity similar to Awana. Some kind family surprised us with a complete uniform for Liberty.
Here is our little future Mar*ne at the property. We drove around Hillsville for an hour looking for kid gloves. The last stop and the store closest to the property had one pair left. This store was neat too. It was an old fashioned general store that carried the old and new version of items. It was neat to see an old crank ice cream maker next to a cuisinart model.
This cute little barn sits behind our house down the hill.
This will be the view from our back deck. I was able to get a better picture this time because I braved the high grass and the high bricks of our foundation to get a glimpse through the trees.We will clear most of the brush and trees away. Below this is the flat part of our property. Standing here I could hear the creek running. This will be a perfect place for a deck. Darrell knew what he was doing when he put the house on the very edge of our hill. It was a headache getting the well and septic in the right place, but it is the best spot on the property.
Darrell with his weed-eater. I am facing the road and to the left is the view from the previous picture.
This is facing the other side of the hill. Our neighbors are nice enough. They are family with our neighbors across the street. The last time we were at the property we had about 10 cows poking their heads over the fence wanting a nice treat. Darrell said he has fed them apples before. I guess they have a good memory.
We put Liberty to work raking. Well, actually she picked up the rake and wanted to get some work done. She worked hard too. Notice the gloves are nowhere in sight. When she actually did something, she didn't want the gloves.
Apples! This is right at the beginning of our driveway by the road. This tree is huge and the apples are way up high. There are deer tracks in the dirt where I stood to take this picture.
Here I am standing at the bottom of our driveway looking across our street.
Again, standing at the bottom of our driveway looking up.

This is part of our flat land. The house will be up to the left. The creek is just to the right of me. We played in the snow last year at this spot.
Cows across the street. Probably the sames ones from a few weeks ago.
Darrell and Liberty walking down the road.

That's it for now. I feel like I show the same pictures every time. Soon enough the leaves will start to change and I will have plenty of pictures of that. Also, when the leaves fall the views will be better.
Be back soon with an update.

Jobs

This post won't have any pictures, but I just need to let everyone know that Darrell lost his job today. He was fired, actually. To say that he was working for a bunch of morons is putting it nicely. There is a sense of worry, but we are trying to crowd that out with prayer. A few days ago we sensed that God was about to do something big and I hope He's not done yet. Surely He wouldn't do something this big and then just leave us hanging. We know He has a plan for us. Please join us in prayer for God to do some big things.
Pictures coming later this week.

Virginia

We are in Virginia! We've been here for over 3 weeks now and we love it. It is such a beautiful part of the country.
The house we are renting is very nice. It has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs where we stay. The man we are living with, Meno, stays in the master bedroom downstairs. Things have been pretty smooth so far although I smell trouble brewing. Its really hard living with someone you don't know. It makes it a lot harder when you have to do a lot for him. He cannot drive and I have to shuttle him around to dr. appointments and things like that. He sends us out to the store at least 3-4 times a week. He is very high maintenance and its starting to wear on all of us. The reason I said trouble is brewing is because we are about to have a house meeting. Meno has gone back on some of the things that were discussed before we moved in, so we are having to counter that with some changes of our own. We'll see how it goes.

We have found a wonderful church up here. Darrell attended this church before we moved over here and the people have welcomed us with open arms. Liberty leaves every church service with a handful of candy from various people. In the three weeks that we've been here we've been treated out to ice cream and been invited to dinner at 2 families houses. Saturday we went to a couple's house. They live in the national forest and their house is on top of the hill with panoramic mountain views. They have horses, goats, a pig, llamas, dogs and cats. We swam in their pool that overlooked the most incredible views I've ever seen. I CANNOT believe I forgot my camera. I've learned my lesson to just take my camera with me wherever I go.

Darrell is still looking for another job. This job ends in October and he is trying very hard to look for a new one. He is really wanting something that is more like a career. He is applying for police positions among other things he thinks will be long lasting. He is such a hard worker and I just know that God has something amazing in store for him. Please pray with us that God is going to do big things for us. Darrell is considering taking a second job so we can make ends meet. Please pray that this won't be necessary.

And since I've had to answer this question on more than one occasion, I'll just go ahead and address it again. Darrell feels firmly about working 2 jobs so that I may be home with Liberty. Nothing is ever permanent so we know it wouldn't be forever, but we believe my job is to raise (and teach) Liberty. Unless things got desperate I will not be looking for work outside of our home.

Our house is still on hold so there is no new news there. We are heading there Saturday to work around the property and spend some time there. Its about an hour drive from here to our property.

Sometimes we sit and talk about the craziness of just up and moving. We had no friends, connections or family but we just felt drawn here. We know that God will have to provide a miracle for us to finish our house this year. Financially and timewise. We are growing so much in our faith through this whole ordeal. Again we just feel that God has big plans for us in the coming years. We have no idea what that means but it is just building our trust and faith.

We hope you all are doing well. I wish we had room in the house to invite up company. But we can't at the moment. We'd love to see yall, so if you can find some lodging come on up.

For the time being enjoy these pictures of the area. These are really bad because I took them from the car. This is what we see on our drive to church.


Here is our church

And these are from our property about 3 weeks ago when Liberty and I drove down to see it.


This is the beginning of our driveway
When we clear out those trees we will have a great view of some rolling hillsides
This is looking down the driveway to the road
Liberty standing in front of the foundation. Again, we will clear those trees to see the view and have a big deck off that far side of the house.
If you look really close you can see our small creek running. This Saturday we will spend a lot of time cutting back some of that growth.


Here is the view I saw on the move up here. This was right at the beginning of the trip I think. By the time we made it I was so sick of looking at that truck. Liberty rode with Darrell the whole way up because my car was packed out. They did get a blowout on the interstate. Thankfully they were able to pull right over without a mishap. Extra points to anyone who can guess what in the world is shoved up in there with the ramp. Any guesses? Its Darrell's tree stand. But right before we pulled out he thought he was going to have to leave it behind. but he got this great idea of sliding it up in there and it worked. He was happy. I was nervous thinking that thing was going to fly into my windshield at any moment. I told him he needed to write "I love you" on that wood. At least it would have made the trip more enjoyable.

Its been awhile

i

Not much has been going on with the house. Partly due to financing, partly due to the fact that we aren't in a very big hurry. Our next step will be framing and that will be very exciting.

Things have been pretty much the same. Darrell is still in Virginia working. Things seem to be going much better with his job. And we give God all the glory for this. There is nothing worse than working a job you dislike and be treated badly too.
Me and Liberty are (still!!!) in Tennessee. Its been sort of like a vacation for us. Liberty has saddled up her horse this week for Vacation Bible School. We have found a great church and have been attending since we got here. God is so good to lead us to this church. Darrell has also found a great church close to him in Virginia. I am very excited about getting over there and attending church as a family again.

We get "Daddy visits" every other weekend. Darrell gets in late on those Friday nights and the 3 of us stay up way too late catching up. We try to relax and have a little fun while he's here. Its becoming a tradition to eat at Moe's every time Darrell is here. We've gone to a picnic with my parents, driven through Cade's Cove and walked through Gatlinburg together.
We'd love to visit Virginia, but I am without my car and there is no place for us to sleep when we get there.

I never get tired of the mountain views here. Just about around every corner there is an amazing view. Even just taking a walk through my parent's neighborhood is breathtaking. We are very blessed to be surrounded by all of this beauty.

We will be moving to Virginia July 1st, for sure. We've got a lease on a house for a year. We will be sharing a house with this older gentleman that I've mentioned before. In return for a reduced rent, we will help him with cleaning, meals and other things. My prayer is that we will help his soul as well.

Events that have taken place:
Yes, Liberty is growing. I can't make her stop.
She has lost a third tooth.
I turned 30 and havn't looked back
Yes, I buzzed Darrell's hair. The clippers were missing quite a few pieces. Instead of going to the barber shop, he decided he wanted it short. I laughed the whole time.
Yes, Darrell has lost more weight. He is on strict orders to now try to maintain. I try to fatten him up whenever he is here.
I seem to have found his weight. Don't you hate that??

We pray for Crown Point a lot and hope you all are doing well.
Love,
Cindy