Laurel Park, NC

It is very strange for me to not work especially since as a minister my work was much more than a job. The church I served was our family's church home. It is where my kids were baptized and where they have spent most of their days. And it is home for me in the friendships and people.

So to leave the church is quite strange. Knowing now that we will as a family seek to find a church together. This will be an interesting journey for us as Ben and I have never chosen a church together. And I am not quite sure if we will find a church home that compares to PPC. And we aren't even going to attempt until the fall.

Even though leaving the church has been quite hard, the upside is that our weekends are no longer driven by my church schedule. We can actually go on weekend getaways and sleep in on Sunday. As much sleeping in as one can do with three toddlers running around!

The first weekend in June, my very first weekend not working, we went to my parents mountain place in Hendersonville, NC. Here are some of the scrapbook pages from that... The park we visited is one of my favorite places.

It has been awhile

Wow! I cannot believe my last post was in APRIL!!! There has been a lot going on with our family and I just never found the time. Sorry!

Long story short...

We couldn't sell our house- sad!!! So, we are trying to rent it out. And of course, in order to do that, we had to have the whole house painted, carpets redone and cleaned, etc., etc.... too much money for a house we aren't living in!!!

We are renting an apartment in Greenville until we figure out where to go from here, but at least we are together! We moved in last week!

Greenville is going to a great place to raise our family. There is so much for the kids to do and I cannot wait to be on the adventure with him.

I am still missing my work, most especially the people, but everyday I wonder how the heck I was a fulltime minister and fulltime (single during the week) mother. I am so grateful that my husband has the ability to support our family so I can spend some of these precious years at home. Without him, it would not be possible.

Okay... I promise to post lots of pics and keep this blog updated. In the meantime, here are a few scrapbook pages of our last few months in our Matthews home.

A Day at the Park

It was a gorgeous day today! The sun was shining and it hit almost 80 degrees. After a much needed nap, we all went outside to enjoy the sunshine at the park in our neighborhood. Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos blowing bubbles, climbing, sliding, jumping and just having fun!

Sara sliding

Emily on the slide

Henry on the slide

Em carefully preparing to blow bubbles

Sara blowing bubbles on the slide

Emily practicing her jump!

Henry

Sara jumping

Em and Henry sharing their bubbles

Henry playing peek a boo

On the bridge

Blowing bubbles on the bridge

Walking on the bridge

Easter Egg Hunt

PPC had its annual Easter Egg Hunt this past Sunday. After a few days of rain, the day turned out to be sunny and the ground was dry enough to have the hunt in the cemetery. That's right, we hide the eggs in our beautiful, colonial dated cemetery. The kids of all ages have fun hunting the eggs and running through the graves. It may sound odd, but it actually is the celebration of Easter and the promise of resurrection!

Here is a picture of the cemetery filled with PPC kids and families.

Here are the kids all ready to go and find some eggs!

I was in charge of letting the kids into the cemetery.
Thankfully, I didn't get trampled by the excited kids!!

Sara and Em hunting up eggs.

Em found one!

Here is Sara hunting.

Looking for eggs with Daddy.


Emily searching.

Henry finding an egg!

Ahhh... to sleep anywhere!!!

A few weeks ago, Sara had a hard time falling asleep during naptime. She was up and down and up and down, but stayed in my room the whole time. She finally got quiet about the time Em and Henry woke up. We went searching for Sara to see where she was. We couldn't find her in my room, but we did find her sound asleep in my bathroom, curled up in a ball on the floor.

Here she is... sound asleep!

Emily tried to wake her up, but gave up without any success.

Even Henry couldn't wake her up!

Painting

Here are some cute pictures of the kids all painting together. Henry has gotten big enough to begin doing lots of activities with his sisters. He actually thinks he is as big as they are and delights in doing all the things they do. They love sitting at their little table to color or paint together.

Henry

Sara

Emily

Valentine's Day pictures

So... Valentine's Day was only a month and a half ago. Is it too late to post the pictures?

Sorry for the delay. One would think I had nothing else to do- ha, ha

Here are the girls munching on Valentines candy and still in their pajamas.


My little guy LOVED some candy hearts.


Sara was excited about all the goodies she received.


Stickers, stickers, stickers!




Here is Henry, tired from a long morning of eating candy and running around. It is nice to lounge on Daddy when he is home!