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

We are finally home...

Well, just after I posted that last post, David's laptop crashed!!! Gotta love it. Anyway, sorry for no news. I didn't have much time to post after that anyway.
Here is a picture of David's Mom and then one of she and Aly.



Some of you already know, but for those of you who don't, David's Mom passed on to be with our Lord last Thursday morning. He spent the day with her on Wednesday and the girls and I came to pick him up around 9:30 that night. He said that he told her that if the Angels come a knocking that it was okay to go with them. Well, they came knocking and on to Paradise she went!! Praise God...no more pain or suffering!!!!



The funeral was beautiful and she would have been so pleased. All of the pall bearers and even the pastor wore Hawaiian shirts!! David did too and everyone who attended was asked to wear bright festive colors to celebrate her life and that fact that she was in Paradise with her Savior!!! What a wonderful send off it was.



Now we learn to live without her. It is not easy, as those of you who have buried parents well know. But, we will get through it and move on and tell our beautiful babies about their grandmother...Igma...as Aly called her. Please remember to pray for David as he makes this tough adjustment to life without his mom. They were very close and it is going to take a lot of getting used to!!!



~Shelley

Happy Thursday Well, it is another crazy day around here. We are trying to get everything together to get out of town either late tonight or early tomorrow morning to get down to South Carolina. David's Mom is very very sick and we don't know how much longer she will be with us, but not much is going right to expidite our leaving. The AC died on our car last week as David was coming back home from SC. We thought it was something minor, but now we have had the whole system evacuated, and some switch replaced and it still won't work. ARGH!!!!! So, David is running around all over trying to find someone who can find out what it wrong and fix it today. It is so hot out and the thought of driving 8 hours with two little ones and a dog without AC just does NOT make me one bit excited!!!Please pray for us and that this will all be resolved quickly and CHEAPLY!!!!The girls are, of course, oblivious to anything that is going on. They are so funny!! All Aly wants to do is go play in the front yard and Lili is sleeping in the pack n play (read: screaming and throwing things out of the pack n play while yelling "MAMMA" at the top of her lungs)She is so very different at 18 months than was Aly. She is still very very much a baby, where as Aly was already a 30 yr old when we got her at 12 months!! I have enjoyed having a baby this time for the most part. I didn't get to experience it the first time.Lili has started this thing...we do it about 500 x per day!!! She says, 'Mama?" I say "Yes, Lili" she says, "I did it!" I say, "You did?"she says, "Yeeeessssss"I say, "I'm so very proud of you!!"she just smiles and laughs with delight. We have no idea what she actually did, but she is awefully proud of whatever it is!!!! :-)

added later...
Well the AC is fixed!!!!!!!!!!! Don't know what it was...don't care...it works...it's COLD!!!!!!!! WHOOO HOOOO. Anyway...don't know when we are heading to SC, but I'll post when we get back.