It's been awhile, I know.

Some months ago I wrote a blog post about our move and the previous year. Nate read it before I posted it and we agreed that it was a bit on the personal side. Since then I've felt this huge wall of what I can't say and it's impeded any other blog posts I've felt inclined to write. I thought I might as well admit that (that's a blog post in and of itself, yes?). I wrote the other post and I felt a lightening just getting some of those thoughts down in writing. It dealt with:

Love
Loss
Dependency
Utter humiliation
Provision
Faith
Togetherness
Relationships
Sorrow
Family
God
Changes

You know what I mean.

Someday, with more distance between last year and the present, I might be able to post what I wrote. I just wanted so much to share how clearly I've seen God over the last year and then some. Through very specific situations, He made Himself loud and clear. I'm so grateful to Him, and humbled by His presence in our lives.

I look forward to the day I can share some stories from the last year. They make me cry and they bring me joy to share. It's all still sort of surreal to me.

Moving on.

Hazel is 27 months now and has grown in incredible ways! For some reason, I really mark her development from Piper's birth and on. She has changed so much. She's talking up a storm now, and making sense 95% of the time. She is such a joy to be around. Enough gushing.

But wait, I have one more kid.

Where have the last 6.5 months gone? Seriously, I'm befuddled! Piper is sitting up assisted; she started eating solids last night (acorn squash) and lovedlovedloved it; she is thrilled to spend time in her Johnny-Jump-Up; she's so petite she can still fit into her 3-month clothing; her eyes are still blue but her hair and eyelashes are finally darkening; she has the same funky nail beds as Hazel does (toes, not fingers). She is so opinionated and she came with her whine-meter primed. I'm in love.

Nate is keeping busy, which is such a gift. He's taken a couple cold weather/snow days over the last week since he's working primarily outdoors right now.

The property we're moving to needs an update:

The "big house" (as I can't seem to resist calling it) is almost finished. They had a final inspection on Wednesday. I'm not sure of the results of that inspection, though - I saw the house on Monday and it's gorgeous. It has some wonderful details in it that make it so fun!

Now that the big house is almost done, the next step is to finish the 800-square-foot apartment so that the family who lives on the property in the mobile home can move in (and the mobile home can be removed, per the instructions on the building permits). They have 90 days to finish building that apartment. Nate will be working on it, at least painting. He talked with Uncle Richard and I think he's (Nate, that is) will work as much as he can on our apartment at the same time. They won't be finished simultaneously (too much money out of pocket at once, I think), but Nate's hoping to do as much as he can in the quickest possible way. He's such a handyman that it's likely he'll carry the apartment through to completion. Richard will have to get other contractors in to do certain things (like the electrical work, cabinetry, plumbing, etc.) but whatever Nate does will count against our rent for some time. He'll be a continued presence on the property while the 800-sq-ft apartment is being finished and I hope that that means that Richard will feel inclined to work on both apartments at the same time, just to get them done, rather than finishing one at a time. What worries me most is that there's really no reason for him to hurry on our apartment. He's not under any obligation to get it done in any specific time frame. So now all we can really do is pray! I still think it'll be next Christmas by the time we get to move in. I'm hoping it won't be next year (I won't even let myself think that way), but I don't think it will be sooner than December. I'm praying half-heartedly that it gets done by summer time, before Piper's first birthday...Maybe the "half-heartedly" bit is the problem. I should work on that.

Okay, two kiddos are looking at me with hunger in their eyes.