Farewell 2013

I have cried more in 2013 than in any year of my life. This year has been physically, emotionally and spiritually a huge journey. Now here on the Eve of the last day-we are driving to our new home, in a new state, and beginning the new adventure we have yet to figure out.

The highs of this year have been the birth of our precious number 3, dedicating all our babies together to The Lord and madysons baptism. Also, watching God break us completly to demand that we only rely on him. Seeing Him work first hand in our marriage and in our family. Taking a huge step of faith and having Him orchestrate it all.

I spent the last few days wondering what 2014 will hold. I know one thing I do not want life to be busy. I want each day to be full of purpose and intent. Each word spoken, each activity. As long as I work really hard on that-I am going to let God handle the rest of the plans. 

I  going to spend 2014 being a mom-doing my best to pour every ounce of knowledge and love into my girls to help them grow as little people. 

I am going to be a helper to Todd-supporting Him as he works hard to support us. I am going to pray daily for him and tell him I love him-all the time.

I am going to send letters and show love to my family across the states.

The girls are going to learn the art of pen pals and how to properly write a letter.

I am going to enjoy this year and stand in amazement in what God had in store. 

When one door closes another will open-here's to the first blank page of our new 365 page book. 

Happy new year 

Merry Christmas Eve eve

Hi from the Kroger parking lot! (Seriously-Todd has run in for items for tomorrow nights party and I am sitting in the truck to avoid freezing!!

Well let me first say-I am in the most bahumbugish mood. My Christmas spirit is not here and I have no energy left to find any. I am thankful for Jesus and his birth and all the rest of it-I am just out of sorts. I believe it has to do with the amount of traveling to and from towns/houses/states we have done this month. I am sure we have clocked over 6,000miles in 23 days. 

We haven't been to one Christmas party-baked one cookie-or even finished our Christmas shopping. And no-no Christmas cards yet either.....I am doing a New Years/new house card letter. It's the best for my sanity. 

And then there is family-our family is all out of sorts this year-and it makes it really hard. Plus I really miss my sister and brothers in California. It's been 2 years since we have been together and I just miss them terribly. 

so yea---bahumbugs all over the place. 

Let's look at some positives...

My car broke. I know odd to be a positive but it fell apart and te dealership or highway robbers as I like to refer to them wanted $1700 to fix it. We got it fixed for $675. Positive

We leave for the most magical place in the world via Santa Claus in just a few days! Positive

We have the house in Georgia set up and unpacked for the most part-except for the rooms we have to buy furniture for. Positive (and positive for getting new stuff!!)

I have had 3 weeks of greatness with my mom and dad since being displaced. Positive

Not to mention-my girls have been super precious through all of this crazyness we call the broadus bunch life.

Anybody else having some crazy holiday cheer? Or cheerless? 

Moving right along.

We are moving right along in this process of "life without a permant house" as I am now calling it to prevent readers from being offended by using the word homeless.

Todd is excellent. He was suppose to be back in Mississippi (he had been in Kentucky working) last Friday. He called Thursday afternoon and said-"what are you doing?" I said oh just-replacing the suitcase. He said "do you need help?" I said sure-come on. At that time through the phone I heard the car door shut. I ran outside and there he was!!! Talk about excitement!! Our airmatress was really full that night but 7 days apart was LONG and I was overjoyed!

Friday we took the girls to school-did some shopping and then picked them up and headed out to Todd's stepdads to stay for the weekend. Once we were settled in-we loaded up and took the girls to eat and to see Santa. 

This was our pre Santa shot. I was teaching the girls-no matter what Mia does-just smile.

We waited at bass pro 2 hours to see Santa. We scored some free kids meals at their restaurant so we decided to eat while we waited-instead of after. 

Aubrie asked Santa for the Disney princess castle and the princesses and bubblegum. madyson-coming off our conversation about Santa-just asked for "a magical Christmas" and Mia-well she was good with her free candy cane.

Saturday we were suppose to go to my buddy Brian's engagement party but the girls were pretty clingy to daddy so we made a deal for them to let mommy and daddy have an hour to ourselves and we would snuggle and watch movies when we got back.

Todd and I went to Anthropologie and Barnes and nobles then had an appetizer  out-then we returned home to the girls. (My parents were sitting with them)

I think the hardest part about Being seperated is trying to reconnect once we are reunited. I had been running in mom/dad mode for a week-and it was hard to shift into mom/wife mode.

Hoping it gets easier as time goes on.

Sunday was our churches choir performance and it was amazing. Simply amazing. After church-my mom picked up the girls and Todd and I went to our old house to pack up a few more boxes-we are down to 12 small boxes and my kayak left to take to Georgia.

Todd left to go back to Georgia after that and this week the girls and I have been getting ready for school to be out. Just 2 more days this week then 4.5 next week! I can not wait to be a family again!

An aubrie update

The middle baby had some mommy time today-so I spent it asking her opinion and like questions to see where she stands at 5.75 years old.

(From school powwow at thanksgiving)

Favorites:

Movie: Rapunzel and Toy Story

Color: pink...and purple

Song: wheels on the bus 

Candy: twizzlers

Food: chicken nuggets & chocolate milk

Restaurant: Chickfila

Book: Olivia Christmas

TV show: Sophia the first

Friend: madyson, Ava grace, Hastings, Mia Margaret

Animal: zebra and horse and giraffe

Holiday: Christmas and Valentines

Shoes: sparkley ones

Accessory: Crown

Opinions

Swim in a lake or an ocean: ocean

Go to the mountains or beach?: mountain

Drink coke or dr. Pepper?: dr. Pepper

Eat M&Ms or cookies?: m&m cookies

Sequins or jewels?:sequins

Daisy Duck or Minnie Mouse?: Daisy Duck

She said he wasn't real...

Well-it finally happened. Friday Madyson came home from school and said "*friend* at school said that Santa wasn't real and that her mom is Santa and the tooth fairy AND the Easter bunny!!! and that because I believe in Santa I am hurting Jesus' feelings." 

My response: "oh how sad"

madyson; "Well...what do you think?"

And I answered honest and this is what-as an adult-I truly believe.

"I think that's sad. A long time ago a man named Nicholas lived in modern day Turkey-he had inherited money from his parents who had passed away and he enjoyed using this money to give gifts to people-especially children. Sometimes he would hang socks filled with small gifts for the kids. As he got older-he became a  well known Christian man. He spent his life having a servants heart-doing good for people. He died in the month of December and his legacy lives on today. I believe in the magic that giving to others brings. You know how good you feel when you make gifts for people. That smile they get? That twinkle in their eye? You give them a token of you. And I believe-we need magic and wonder and we need to embrace our imaginations. And we use Santa as our outlet for this.

Christmas is many things to many people. To Christians-it is the birth of Jesus. That is why we focus mainly on celebrating him and we read the Chrismas story and we have our Happy birthday Jesus party and we decorate with the manager and go to live nativity scenes-because we are learning and growing more in our faith. but Jesus is NOT just a part of our life on Christmas. Jesus is real-and He is apart of our life everyday. We can not be the people God wants us to be without Jesus-every day.

So if you are asking me if I believe Santa is real-I certainly do. I know he is because every year for the last 7 years I have seen your smile on Christmas morning when you receive gifts from him. I see the twinkle in your eye when you dump out your stocking and I feel the magic when I watch you and your sisters enjoy simple gifts that brings you happy memories each time you play with them.

And I don't think you are hurting Jesus' feelings by believing in Santa-it is no different than being excited to see the princesses in Disney World or taking a picture with the Chickfila cow. Both the princesses and the cow make you excited and happy-as does seeing Santa.  

Preparing to leave part 1

I was thinking the other day about all the "things" I am going to miss about Mississippi. When you have lived in the same town for 29 years-you become a part of the town. I made my list of tops and in no particular order-I thought I would share with you my heart on the things I am preparing to leave.

Tonight-I am sharing our church. Our church means more to me than most anything else on this list (my family is just a bit above)

I have been going to our church since I was 3 years old. 26 years. I started in the preschool department-and there I learned about Noah and Moses and Jesus and the Devil-It wasn't as advanced teaching as we have now but it was a good foundation and a guarantee that I would get animal crackers when we talked about Noah.

As I grew older I became involved in the youth choir-which took me on many choir tours-and allowed me to witness to 3 kids. I still have those kids named etched in my head...Ronald on the basketball court..Elijah the little boy who called me sister...Velicia the precious girl with dimples...

In high school and college my involvement with the church dwindled as my life with sin increased. It wasn't until Todd and I were parents of 2 did I return.

When I returned it was because I was desperate. Desperate for help-for guidance-for God. I knew I needed Him and I didn't know where else to find Him.

It wasn't long after I returned did I become an employee in the Children's Ministry. It was here my growth as a Christian really began. Here I learned what it meant to live out the life God wants for us. Here I made my first adult friends and learned to study the word.

It was here I discovered my desire to teach kids the truth about being a Christian-Not to encourage them to pray a "prayer" and be saved-If they felt the calling to do that then that was awesome-I wanted to teach them how to live out a life that is anything but ordinary-how to have a desire to learn about God-how to apply the lessons we read each week to their daily life.

I began with 4 year olds-then dropped down to 2 year olds-then moved over to 1st grade-where I have been for almost 3 years with my teaching buddy Richard.

Man-am I going to miss Richard. Richard is a dad and a husband. He has 4 girls (Jr in high school-8th grade-2nd grade and 1st grade)

 He is ex military and he works countless jobs. He is dedicated to serving the youth at our church-he takes them camping, canoeing, picks them up for church if they don't have a ride, he takes a week off of work to serve as a camp counselor at our summer camp. Richard has a servants heart and he has been a great friend and mentor to myself and to Todd.
God picked out a great teaching partner when he selected Richard.

Our pastor Greg and his wife Susan have been instrumental in my life. Dr. Greg came right when Todd and I started coming back to church. He is a pastor that preaches the word. He is steady leading our church to reach out in missions and in the way we "do church". He has been a father figure to me and such a wonderful example of a Godly man for Todd,

The friend from church are a whole other day-but there is one other group that I can not leave out.
My kids. Not the Broadus 3...my church kids. I tell this story every year and I feel the need to share it with yall.

I never wanted kids. At all. When Madyson and Aubrie came-my heart began to change-and when I began teaching these kids-My life-my heart grew. I never once knew you could love someone else's children the way you love your own-but yall-I do. I absolutely adore the kids in our children's ministry and all the ones that have passed through my classroom. These kids are going BIG things in their lives. They have a desire to learn and to grow. 2 weeks ago we were learning 2 Kings 22 about King Josiah being 8 year old-we got on the topic of doing things we don't want to do but doing them because God calls us too. I shared with the kids about our move to Georgia and how I did not want to go-but I asked God that if this was His will for Him to make it easy-I told them how he sold our house and got us a house in Georgia-how He did everything for us-all we had to do was pack. One of my precious little boys-asked  "why don't you want to go?" My eyes filled up with tears as I mumbled "I don't want to leave yall"

I never thought that being a Sunday School teacher would be so much of my identity. But I love being "Mrs. Sarah" and I love getting up every Sunday to go to church and investing 1 hour of my time to 15 eager and hungry for God first graders. I love being able to know that with each hug and each lesson about controlling your sword and each story of compassion and wisdom and with every animal cracker...they are becoming one step closer to an eternity with Jesus. You just can't
get any better than that. I love being a tool of God's. and I will continue to serve in any aspect He has planned for me. But boy...I am sure going to miss these kids.

If you are not a part of a church because you don't feel like you fit in-or you don't have anything to wear-or you don't like the music....I beg you-make it your mission to find a place that you feel comfortable in. You might have to try on a few "pair of shoes" before you find the one that doesn't give you blisters-but please find a church body to worship with-to help you grow. Our church has been such a blessing to the Broadus Bunch-we would not be where we are today if it were not for the love of Jesus we have been shown by the people of our church.

Happy 9 months Mia Margaret!!

Happy 9 month birthday Mia Margaret!!

You are such a big girl! You are 28lbs and wear a size 4 diaper! You also wear an 18 month in clothes! 

You are cruising!! You crawl really fast-steps don't phase you! And that scares mommy a lot!! You pull up on everything and will walk around objects while holding on!! 

You still do not have teeth! I swear you are mentally delaying them because you don't want to give up nursing. You can see the little white buds but they haven't cut through yet. 

Food wise you love everything. We haven't found one thing you don't like. You are down to 1 nursing a day-at night before bed. You would still nurse all day but momma is done. It's been great but I'm ready to have some personal space :)

You also talk all the time-you defiantly know what you are saying-the rest of us just haven't learned Mia talk yet.

Since our last post-we have moved out of the house we brought you home too! It was bittersweet. I am excited to begin our new life in Georgia! You also had your first thanksgiving! And you loved it. All the family and food!

This upcoming month you will have your first Christmas and although it's not so traditional because of the move-you will love it! Your going to meet Santa soon and I expect you to not do so well-but...we will see. Also you will have your first plane ride this month! (More on that later :) 

We love you so much Mia!!! 

Life in the homeless lane

We are days into our homeless life and the girls and I are slowly adjusting to living out of a suitcase and sleeping on an airmatress. 

To recap: Todd lives and works in Georgia now and so does all our possessions-except 15 outfits each and a handful of toys. The girls and I have to stay in Mississippi this month so they can finish school and well-this involves living out of one suitcase and sleeping on an airmatress. As bad as it sounds we are adjusting well. I am having a hard time being a single mom. I need Todd. I need his comfort and his extra hands. My parents have been great but they aren't him. 

Tomorrow the girls go back to school so I am hoping life will be somewhat normal-as normal as it can be. 

Have you ever been displaced? Do you have any tips for me??