Were home ...it is done!!

Hello everyone. I have gotten so many phone calls wondering what was going on and begging for updates...sorry...it has been nuts the last few days. So, here is the update...

The house closed with minimal hitch late Friday afternoon. David and his sister didn't even see the woman...she signed her papers and they ushered her out, then David and Beth signed their stuff and left. I think that was a smart move on the part of the lawyers as both David and Beth were ready to kill!!
:-)

Anyway, Friday night we all went out for a celebratory dinner at Zorba's in Columbia. (If you are ever in Columbia and are looking for good food...Zorba's is it!!) Then, after a long day of trying to get loose ends tied up and then driving for about 5 1/2 hours...we are finally HOME!!!

Daddy, who was coming out of his skin to see his baby girls, had a big pot of Gumbo waiting for us. I have never seen someone who was so excited to see a 4 and a 2 year old!! It was so sweet...he really really really missed them!!

We were so tired...didn't even unpack the car! We just ate, cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed about10:30 or so last night. Lili fought me tooth and nail, but she was out minutes after I put her in the crib. It is now about 10:30 AM and I am the only one awake. I decided to get a jump on the laundry and try to get as much unloaded from the car before it gets too too hot outside. Too late! :-)

Anyway, I cannot even begin to express how I feel that the weight of the world has been taken off of our shoulders!! David was visibly less stressed all the way home yesterday. I hadn't realized how much of a toll it had taken on him until I watched him yesterday in the car. Such a huge difference!! Thank you God!!!

We were talking a lot in the car and we both feel like we can now START our lives again. After we left the Children's Home, we were just beginning to get our feet under us when the rollercoaster started and we have just been hanging on for dear life ever since. This was just one of several more issues on our backs, but it was the biggy...and now it is done!!!!

So, now we get to spend some serious time together and with God and get our lives back on track!! David has a book to finish and income to generate, we have a foundation to start, I have a home to organize and two beautiful children to teach and create a life for!!!!! I feel like we have been stuck wading through all of our memories for so long that we have forgotten about making new ones for our baby girls!! I know that God has wonderful plans for our family. I know we were not meant to be stuck in this muck and mire forever...and now we are coming out of it. A time of testing followed by a time of blessing.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Thanks to everyone for all the neverending prayer support. I feel like I have been asking for prayer for so very long now. Thank you to those of you who held on and stuck with us through all of this!!!

Off to switch out the laundry... :-) Pictures to come...I won't forget!!

In HIS Mighty Grip...Shelley