We're In!

Goodbye old house....


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I always cry when we move, even if I don't like the place. There are quite a few benefits of this new house, but I really did enjoy this home. I said goodbye this afternoon.

Hello new house! (please excuse the mess, not everything is in it's place yet!)

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Entry way, downstairs "loo" on the right, living room on the left, kitchen/dining room ahead on the left....


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Gotta love that cabinet space! And huge window overlooking the garden!

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Dining room at the other end of the kitchen...

Up the stairs to the bedrooms and bathroom...

Not a big fan of the red/burnt orange carpet, but we are renting and there is nothing we can do about it.

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I've never liked this hallway window, but it is the Welsh flag and our landlord is "very Welsh" as we say. :) This not so little dragon shines nice and bright when the sun comes up. Ugh.

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Cerys' room- quite a bit smaller, but she likes it.

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Bailey's room- which was Cerys' room when she came from the hospital! It's a small room.

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This is our bedroom, a bit smaller than next door. There is barely enough room at the foot of the bed to open our wardrobes. :)

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Marc's office, a VERY small room.

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Sorry, no pics of the bathroom. It has separate tub and a shower cubicle and a cool window that deserves a post of it's own. More on that later.

The view from the garage- we love this conservatory on the back. We had the doors open all day today and the girls just ran around, it was lovely. We have our tumble dryer in there (kitchens usually come with a washer, but no dryer...that's what an outside line or radiator is for) and I'm not sure what else will go in there, probably our shoes!

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And see, it is really just next door- the white house on the right is the one we just moved out of. :)

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Almost There

Well, I'm sitting here in a pretty much empty living room. We had incredible help yesterday moving most of our furniture and Marc and I did the rest today. We've also had several people come entertain the girls for several hours each day and that has helped tremendously. We will spend our last night here in the house tonight and then move over to the new house tomorrow. We are exhausted. Marc especially. We moved our bed today- a box springs and a mattress. That was horrendous. Marc had to take apart the box springs, or at least one end of it to get out of our house and up the other house's stairs. I was fighting tears the whole time- from exhaustion and just disappointment in other things. We heaved and heaved and got that thing up the stairs and we both collapsed on the ground in our new bedroom.

Anyway, just please keep praying for us. The rooms are smaller than we remembered (we just moved in with suitcases last time, we didn't have any personal things with us as far as furniture b/c it was already furnished) and it has 4 bedrooms instead of 3, which means they are a bit smaller. I was really disappointed at first, but I'm sure it will be okay and we will adjust once we get everything in it's place. We are tired, out of patience and just want it to be all done with. After we vacate tomorrow we will have to clean this place top to bottom and then we can turn in our keys. There are some other details to work out, so if you would just please pray for our situation we would be ever so grateful.

Oh, and we actually have Internet at the new house now. They were able to switch accounts easily, so I'll show some pictures hopefully soon.

Happy Heart

Sometime ago we used the phrase "Happy Heart" with Cerys- meaning that we need to have a good attitude and be obedient. I've heard her tell her baby dolls that they need to find their happy heart many times.

We've had few rough days of talking back, tantrums (Lord, have mercy!) and overall stinky attitude from her. I sent her to her room to sit on her bed yesterday till she could calm down and after I went in there to speak to her, I sat on her bed and pulled her into my lap and before I could say anything she says....

"I lost my happy heart mommy, but I said 'happy heart come back' (looking around her room as if it was in there) and it came back, now I'm happy!"

And we both fell over laughing.

Should Be Packing...

I should be packing, but I'm so nervous. Why you ask? I don't even know!!! Marc just left to sign the contract and pick up our keys and I feel a knot in the pit of my stomach. My Dad just called and we went through all the reasons we are excited about this move and he says, "So then why are you nervous?" And I say, "I don't know Dad, it's just what I do!" We both laughed and after I hung up I realized that I "do this" way too often. I should relax and trust God more. I think I'm afraid of being disappointed so I try to come up with things that could go wrong or might go wrong so then I feel more in control about the situation. Which I now realize makes no sense at all! Marc often says to me, "You're living in a what-if world!" And he's right. And I'm tired of it. And I keep trying to get him to join me in my what-if world and he won't! So maybe I should just walk out of this what-if world and start trusting my Father a lot more. Easier said than done, but I'm trying.

We're Moving!

Just next door. This week. Back to our old house- the one we lived in in 2004/5 when Cerys was born. For those of you who don't know, when we moved back here a little over a year ago we were able to move into the house next door. The sweet couple (hi y'all!) that lived here were from Australia and were moving back home right as we were moving back to Cardiff. Got that? It was strange at first living in this house because I felt like I was a guest- we had several meals here with our neighbors and she is the one who first taught me the basics of knitting. I knitted an ugly scarf right before we moved back to Dallas, because you know, it would be 120 degrees and I would have needed that scarf! Ha.

Anyway, "our" house has become vacant and since our landlord owns both properties we have asked if we could move back over and he agreed. It's not really a bigger home, just set up differently and newer. We will have one small extra room upstairs so Marc can set up an office and we will have a downstairs "loo!" Although I must admit, this outside loo has been really convenient when playing outside! We will also have a closed in conservatory in the back, so that will be nice.

I'm not sure how much I'll post this week and not sure when our internet will be turned off or when it will be turned on next door- you never know in this country...it could be days or weeks! So...I will post when I can and put some pictures of our new home on here for you to see!

And let me just real quick say that when we found this house in 2004 to move into, it was just totally the Lord. We had looked and looked and looked and most of the places that for rent or "to let" were not in good shape. I was 6 months pregnant with Cerys and a wee bit hormonal and I was just certain we would be living in a dump and I would have to welcome our first child into that! Anyway, of course God knew what he was doing right? We set up a meeting with an estate agent to view a house on this street. I won't go into the details of having to set up an appointment to view a house, it's a nightmare. Anyway, we had driven over to Cardiff to see this last house, because we thought there were no other options...blah blah blah. We arrive to the house and lady says she accidentally grabbed the wrong keys but she had keys to another house down the street but it was out of our price range (for renting) but would we like to see it anyway? Well, I guess, we are here aren't we?!?! So, reluctantly we drive down the street to "our" house and as she opened the door y'all I literally gasped! It was a 3 year old house and it was immaculate and so beautiful that I started crying. We walked through the house and all the while I was telling myself to not get too excited because it was more money than we could do and not to get my hopes up. And, we had a little dog at the time and most places we had seen would not allow dogs. Not sure why because they were dumps anyway. Anyway, we fell in love with it and it was literally right by the hospital which was nice since I would be giving birth soon. We made the lady an offer and said, "Oh, and we have a small dog and we know the internet said no dogs, but could you just ask the landlord if he would accept that?" She sort of laughed at our offer and that we had a dog and told us that she would be showing the house later that day to another family, but she would "get back to us". And we drove away saying goodbye to this little house thinking we would be laughed at. Wrong. Within the hour, within the hour y'all, she called and even sounded in shock herself, "You've got the house, the landlord is fine with you having a dog!" WHAT? I am pretty sure I cried and did a little dance, we were thrilled!

Ok, so that was not real quick, but every time I see that house next door I think about how God answered our prayer far beyond what we had imagined. And, as most of you know when Cerys was born we were in the SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit- basically the NICU) for a week and since we were so close to the hospital Marc and my Mom were able to walk home each night and sleep in their own beds. Little did we know what a true blessing that house was! So, as we move back to "our" house, we would appreciate your prayers- for a smooth move and for God's blessings on that house once again. Thank you so much!

Ok , sorry. I'm done. Goodnight.

*SIGH*

I'm sitting here trying not to bawl my eyes out. Chris Tomlin's Everlasting God is playing right now and we said goodbye to our friends this morning. There have been several things this past week that have just blessed me. First, our friends that live in France came for a visit like I mentioned before. Then Marc's Aunt Kay calls to tell me that someone in her church prays for me every morning. The wife of a couple that Marc had dinner with while he was in Atlanta in March wanted me to know that she prayed every morning for me. Ya'll. That just means so much to me and especially right now. Then we were blessed again with more visitors- our dear friends from our college days. Oh, we had a blast! Laughed, ate, teased each other, cried, the guys played golf, us girls talked and talked and took care of our babies... I didn't want them to leave this morning! Cerys said to me this morning, "Mommy, you always get sad when people come to see us!" Ha. No, I get sad when they have to leave!!! This afternoon, two really cool things happened but I will share those in our updates- which by the way we will be sending out soon! God has just blessed and encouraged me today and I can't tell you how much I needed it.

In my little daily devotional book Jesus Calling the theme lately has been about worry and anxiety, which are my constant friends it seems. Yesterday's entry said something about your worrying lead to "excessive planning" Boy, if that does not describe me I don't know what does!

Anyway, hope you have a lovely weekend.

Enjoy some pictures from the last few days...


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Love this one! hahaha

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This is my favorite picture- what a blast we had! Thanks y'all for making the time to come to see us! We love y'all dearly.

For The Friendly Friends

Us girls are having a great time....

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But apparently....

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it's not that exciting for others!

I've been threatened not to put this on here, but really...has anything changed friends? He did explain to Cerys at breakfast yesterday about the time he made me cry at Walt's while Marc was away in Ft. Worth.

Fun times.:)

Little Blessings

What a great weekend we have had with our friends from France and the conference! If you ever get the chance to hear Michael Frost speak, I think you should go. He was brilliant. And made some people a bit uncomfortable, in a good way. Well at least I think so. He's very challenging and made me want to know Jesus better and better!

I'm was so blessed by our friends from France- we have met them several times but have never had the chance to hang out with them for very long. They are so kind and genuine and it was such a blessing to be with them this weekend. We laughed together, ate together, watched TV together and just had a great time! I'm so glad they were able to stay with us all weekend!

Our next set of visitors arrives any minute now! Marc has gone to the train station to collect them (how's that for a British word thrown in there!) and we are so excited!!! I plan on laughing, eating and hanging out some more! Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon!

Busy! Busy!

This is "our" park that we go to a lot. As you can see, we've had some sunny days but it's still a bit chilly!

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We usually enjoy feeding the ducks and swans, but they are getting a bit too aggressive for me! They swim over to you casually and then suddenly they walk up out of the water and get in your face. Since I tend to over-react I try to remain calm for the girls' sake, but this day even Marc was backing up and saying it was time to move on, so I felt better.

This one got a little too close, I snapped this picture as I was trying to grab Cerys by the arm and pull her back. Is it just me or is this swan giving me the evil eye?

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I'm no photographer, but I thought this picture of the my favorite flower turned out pretty good. They almost look fluorescent. It warmed my heart to see these beautiful tulips sitting in the sun!

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Yesterday we ventured out to E-Zee-Play not far from here. The girls love it each time we go- which is not often enough in their minds! It definitely wears us all out! Cerys, who is usually quite timid, just takes off and does everything on her own. She loves this big slide, but she was so proud of herself this particular day because she went down a tube slide that is pitch black and she "WAS NOT SCARED MOMMY, I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF AND I WAS NOT SCARED NO I WASN'T!"

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Bailey said forget the under 5's play area, I'm going with the big kids! And she did, and she did great and loved it! But she's always been a bit on the wild side. :)

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We have some friends from France coming tonight. There is a 4 day conference with Michael Frost here in town and they are coming to attend that. I'll get to participate on Monday so that will nice. Our visitors leave on Tuesday morning and that same evening we have some dear college friends coming to stay with us on their way to the States. They have a 9 month old daughter that I can't wait to get my hands on!!! :) We have not seen them in almost 4 years I think, last time I saw them we told them we were expecting Cerys! It will be so fun to catch up with them and hang out like the old days...plus a few kids. They will be with us for several days, then next week is our big move! We are only moving next door so hopefully it won't be as big of a deal! I'll tell you more about our move next week! Have a great weekend!

Kids Say The Funniest Things

Let me just clear something up before you think I watch TV all day. I don't. There's no time.

Last week we got a new package of channels on our TV- does that even make sense? Anyway. It's mainly channels about cooking, gardening, home stuff, etc. They have been showing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on one of the channels. I love this show. I know it's cheesy and Ty can be annoying but I just love the emotion of it all. (Are you surprised?) I love giving things to people and have always told Marc I want to have a job like that where I can just surprise people with stuff! Anyway. I've recorded some of them and we've been watching them slowly.

Tonight -

Cerys: "I want to watch that Oh Gosh show Mommy"

Me: (looking a bit puzzled and slightly alarmed that my child just said gosh) "Excuse me, what honey, what are you talking about?"

Cerys: "You know that show where that bus drives away and people cry and say Oh Gosh!" (hands over her mouth and a surprised look in her eyes)

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo