Well hello there...

These 2 precious kids sum up my heart...I am overflowing with joy, happiness and peace. I have so much to share, I don't even know where to begin...So I thought I would just say hi and share a cute pic of my babies.

God is good and I am thankful.

I hope everyone is doing well! I am sorry if I have felt distant--I have been, but it's not you, it's me. I have been totally obsessed with working on things at home--in my heart, and in this earthly structure where we rest. I have had the privilege of falling in love again--with my Savior...and in doing so it has helped me fall in love again with my husband, our kids, our family and friends.

More to come...just not sure when ;)

XOXO,

Dani :)

1 thing I love!

So I love a lot of things and I'm not the type of person to hold back any of what I love...if I love you, I will tell you...I often end my phone conversations with "love you!"...and please know, it's ok if you don't respond with "love you, too". I just want everyone special in my life to know that I love them when we hang up or part from one another...love is a special word, but I don't think it should be just saved for your husband or mother or children...at least that's my view! ;) There are different kind of loves!

Ok, on to my real point of this post!
Shell Beach, Pismo and Avilla I think are famous (at least in my heart) for beautiful skies and of course the beautiful Ocean! I love it when it's cloudy and overcast out and beaming through just 1 cloud is the Sun, shining on the Ocean in just 1 spot...it is breath taking! I think it is breath taking because that is my life. No matter what I've done or what is going on it could be very cloudy, but God is beaming through with some hope and love...I love that!

If you care enough to read my blog and care about our family...I love you!

Makenzie is hilarious!

Makenzie is usually full of questions but this one caught me off guard this AM!

"Is there a potty in my heart for Jesus to go poo poo?"

Love my girl!

Our big move!

I finally have made time to sit down and share what is going on in our life on my blog! As you all know (I hope!) we are moving to Shell Beach near Pismo Beach in a week and a half! We are so thrilled about having the opportunity to move to such a beautiful place that we have dreamed of moving to for almost a decade! We love, love, love the San Luis Obispo area and have spent a great deal of time there over the years...for business and pleasure! A few months ago or so Gary and I decided to move in another direction professionally which allows us to have Gary work from home! Which we LOVE! Although it is taking adjusting realizing that just because he is home doesn't mean he is at my beck and call to help with the kids! I'm working on it! ;) So we started thinking about where we really want to live "forever" I say "forever" because I'm not even going to begin to challenge God with my plans...He has made it abundantly clear in my life over and over again that my plans really don't matter much...His do! Which is fine by me...most of the time! ;) We prayed and prayed about this decision...We did the old Benjamin Franklin list of pros and cons and it looked a little something like this...

Pros of moving to Shell...
Living closer to the Beach
Living closer to more of our family
More conservative area (our liberal friends tease us!)
Seems like an easier place to raise Godly kids (not so much $$ around)
Less expensive place to live
Healthier lifestyle
We really want to get settled in the area we want to be in before Makenzie starts kindergarten next Fall...wow, time flies!!

Cons of leaving the Bay Area... Leaving our incredible community of friends that mean so much to us...you all have been such a HUGE part of our lives and our babies lives!

So as you can see we had basically 7 pros and 1 con...but that 1 con was a HUGE one! We feel so fortunate and blessed to have made such incredible friends here...I can not describe in words what a blessing they have been. So this move has become bitter/sweet...but as our friends (Herbolds) keep reminding us "we will spend so much more quality time together now!" We already have amazing Walker scheduled for a few days to come visit in October and the sweet Sargents (possibly Olsons too!?) are planning on early November! And we are coming back up mid-December for a few days! And we are waiting on a few more dates from some of you...you know who you are! LOL! ;)

I haven't been really emotional about the move until today...I lost it like 3 times! And I'm not usually the emotional one in our marriage! ;) The message at Church today was basically about the Israelites in Exile and what the true meaning of Shalom is. Shalom means so much more than "good health" it truly means to be complete, perfect and full. I read yesterday "No wonder the Jewish people are so blessed, because every time they say Shalom to one another, they are also allowing the full meaning of SHALOM to be pronounced over them." I'm really probably butchering a great message so bear with me, and feel free to check it out yourself at MPPC.ORG. Nonetheless it struck a cord in me, and I lost it. When we got to MPPC for the most part we were a bit like the Israelites, in Exile. And we found Shalom through our amazing friends at this amazing Church. And we will be forever grateful! After Church we went to lunch with some of our Home Group friends (a tradition I'm going to miss!) and of course someone said "this is probably our last after Church meal all together." and I lost it. again! I love these precious people whom I feel privileged to share a part of their life with and we are going to miss the weekly interactions! But we are going to make every effort for sure to stay connected! God used them tremendously to pour out His Grace and Love.

We have loved living in the Bay Area...it really is an incredible place with such character (and character's!). I know we will be back to visit often!

On to our next phase of our journey...

Yosemite!

1st of all...I'm not quite sure how anyone could go to Yosemite and not believe that there is a God out there that created this world (and He happens to LOVE us all very much!). We had a great time! The highlight of my trip came on the 2nd day we were there...we had met some great camp neighbors (who are now our friends!)...they were just really sweet, sweet people. It was a couple and their youngest daughter and her new husband! I think it is so cute that they vacation together! Gary is not going to want me to share this story but I'm going to because it warms my heart about the man whom I am honored God allows me to love...Anyway, we were chatting with them and something came up about them going to Church and Gary said "we are Christians too!" And the Father (Don) responded to Gary "we knew you were Christians by how you talked with and were patient with your kids." And I just wanted to publicly say what an amazing daddy Gary is...he is abundantly patient with our babies. Zach was "helping" him set up camp and Gary was so patient with our 22month old doing things when he totally could of gotten frustrated about a number of things he was doing. I am just so glad that Don whom we had never met before would say something so encouraging to my hubby. Our kids are so blessed! I don't think that Don could of paid Gary a better compliment...and I wanted to share it! Sorry Gary! ;)

Here are some pics of our trip...

fishing on the last day while Gary packed up camp!

Happy photogenic boy!

She actually looked at me for a pic! yeah!

Maki was not really in to me taking her pic this trip so I'm thankful for a few that she actually looked at the camera!

Makenzie took a bunch of pics and this was one of them! The rest were pretty hilarious!

my cutie!

snack on the bed! I love my boys!

Zach fell asleep on 1 of our bike rides! I love that our kids are sleepers! Sorry Mich! ;)

Nope not praying...sleeping!

Deer!

Mak loved that he fell asleep!

Somebody loves her daddy...

short update and a bit of blabbing! ;)

1 pic from our trip to Yosemite last week...more to come! ;)



I will be posting pics later this week from the last few month...sorry, I haven't made my blog a priority at all...other things have my attention right now! :) LIKE OUR BIG MOVE!! YEAH!! More details coming soon ;)



Anyway, I just have to tell you a little story of what happened this AM that has struck a cord in my spiritual soul...At the end of our street there is a River bed that the kids LOVE to go to and look at the ducks. So this AM Makenzie was riding her bike and Zach and I were walking (Zach was really running/jumping/skipping/walking) There is this 1 particular driveway that is super long and I always get a little nervous when Mak is riding her bike because it is on a blind corner. So Mak got right up that particular driveway when we hear Zach fall and scream...poor guy skint up both knees. Mak jumped off her bike and ran back to help him as I was picking him up I heard a car screech (sp?) as they peeled out of their driveway... And my heart sank and exploded for joy all at the same time! If Zach had not fallen it is very likely that one or all of us would of been hit by this car. And a rush of thankfulness came over me because I realized how many times does God do this in our life to protect us. How many "bruised knees" have I had that saved my life?!?! Needless to say, I'm thankful for Zach's skinned knees...and Makenzie was so cute when we got home being his nurse helping me clean them up and putting medicine on the band-aid on Zach's knees, that he promptly wanted off immediately...oh well, at least the medicine stayed on his knees!

Life changing...

Life never stays the same...the only constant is that life changes (a LOT!) or maybe that is just true for our life! ;) Thankfully Gary and I adjust well with change...although now that I'm getting older I feel a bit less spontaneous...but of course my hubby's game for anything the Lord has in store!
In our 10 years together our life has changed....a LOT! With every change we mourn the loss of the familiarity and consistency of routine only to find that the next phase has brought us closer together, closer to the Lord-probably because when big life changes are about to happen we are always on our knees so much more (wish we could just stay on our knees more consistently/continually), and more rewarding in some way. So with this next phase of trust and obedience...here goes!
I'm thankful that in this life of change there are a few constants that never change...my hubby by my side...unless we are running because then he is always in front of me! ;) a God who loves me and has a plan already in place for my life. A family who supports and jumps on board and who are some of my closest confidants. Friends who are there no matter what is going on and how busy life gets...to pick up the phone and feel like no time has passed (even though sadly, much time has!). And precious children that God has blessed us with...It is crazy to think that from now until eternity passes I will be Zach and Mak's Mommy...such a privilege and honor!

So stay tuned as our life changes yet again, in an amazing way...

xoxo!

*I know I owe my faithful blog readers pics from the last few months!!! I'm sorry to all 3 of you! ;)