So much to blog so little time......

I realized it is October and it seems like our lives have been in constant craziness since July. We are all in Richardson now in our new house and it is great! We are on a schedule, eating home cooked meals together, and trying to learn how to be Texans? It really is a different culture and I realized today how strange it was that I was excited it was going to be in the 80's tomorrow. We all survived the travels here and all the details it took to move across the country. Mike is doing great and really enjoys working with a team. It is so different than having all the pressure of being the only youth guy. There are of course other stressful things with a large ministry. It seems like he is really finding his role and is being challenged to be all that God wants him to be as a youth pastor.
Ellie is definetly a Two year old little girl. We are loving this stage, but seeing the importance of discipline in a new way. She loves playing in her new backyard and peeking in at the "doggies" next door. She is really into any kind of ball right now and any kid she can find to entertain her. She asks to wake up Anna all the time and they are now sharing a room. They seems to sleep better which is kind of strange, but we are not doing it for naptime. I am not willing to risk those 3 precious hours.
Anna is 8 months old and is coming into her own little personality. She's such a risk taker and loves attention. She is crawling everywhere and has been for two months. She's enjoying lots of new baby food and chasing her sister. They are such precious little girls who we are so blessed by each day.
I am staying busy it seems like from 7 A.M. till 9 P.M. each night. I don't think I've been this tired in a long time. I forgot how hard it is to organize a house and take care of my family. I love living in a one story house and am dreaming of all the colors I want to paint certain rooms. There is nothing else really that we have to do to this house which is great considering it was built in 1958. I have enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and seeing how different a Texas neighborhood is from a Carolina neighborhood. There are no neighborhood pools and tiny yards. We actually have old trees and each house looks different. We are 5 minutes from I-635 which is the loop around Dallas and about 20 minutes from downtown. We are definetly the closest area to Dallas so it is kind of nice to be so accessible to so many places. I don't really want to drive on these interstates, but I'll enjoy going with Mike.
We are looking forward to our first Texas culture shock when next week we go to the State Fair. I've heard it is crazy and very large like everything here. Watermark lets the entire staff off next Wednesday afternoon to go to the fair and they buy us tickets for our family. I think Ellie is going to love it. Anyways, I'm posting some random pictures from the past month. I miss you all and think of you often. A verse that we've been thinking about since July is "With God all things are possible." Whatever comes your way may you think about this and realized He is more than powerful to give you the strength you need.