A Long Overdue Blog Post

I should be kicked out of the blog-osphere.
It's shameful that it's taken me this long to update our blog.

But, really, I feel like I have a pretty good excuse.

We're moving our family overseas. Remember?
Oh maybe you forgot, since it's been awhile since you've heard from us!

The countdown to April 14th is on.
A countdown that includes lots of boxes going into storage.
Lots of tears. Yes, I am becoming that emotional mess I spoke about.
And pulling out the big suitcases to see which ones make the cut for a 30 hour trip.

Meanwhile in the past few un-blogged weeks:
I've turned 28.
We celebrated our 6th Anniversary.
I surpassed the halfway mark of this pregnancy.
A garage sale.
Caleb's first movements are being felt finally!
Eden and Salem have parted ways with some treasured toys, which they handled surprisingly well!


Looking forward to some special time with family before the departure day.
Looking forward to meeting new friends in our new city.
Looking forward to finding a new apartment that we'll hopefully be able to call home for the next several years!
It's a season of our lives that has lots of excitement and lots of tears. Many mixed emotions are floating around this household!

My teacher, the Three Year Old

This week Eden has been mastering the art of coloring purple butterflies, writing uppercase B's, matching uppercase letters with lowercase ones, and glue-sticking. "Glewery" as we call it around here.

And by purple butterflies, I mean, purple butterflies.
She insists on coloring things all one color lately: purple.
The purple marker will meet it's death any day now.



While working on her "homework" yesterday, I came across an interesting idea she's got in her head.

Notice her name on the paper?

Yes. Her name.

You know. The part that says "NEED"



I asked her to write her name on her "homework."  (by the way...she insists on calling it this because cousin Audrey does homework.)

So she did just that.
She wrote an E, a D, another E, and an N.

I asked her what it said, to which of course she said, "EDEN!" with a little "duh-mom" sound in her voice.

And then I went on a tangent about letters being in the right order, etc, etc, all to which I'm sure she was listening with attentive and open ears.

And then she said in her best 15 year old voice possible, "Mom, it doesn't matter. All four letters are still there. It says EDEN!"

So there you have it. Lessons from a three year old.

You can just call me RIPAL.

Boys!

Boys.
There will be multiple boys in my house.
Sons.
2 Sons.



I get to be one of those moms that says, "Yeah, my boys are out back playing in the mud."

Or... "The boys? Oh, they're playing cowboys and indians in their room."

or... "Brandon, please come home. Your boys just brought home a goat."

Because those things are what moms of boys experience and say right?



Another little brother.

Eden took the news better than expected. After being completely convinced she was having a little sister, when we broke the news to her today her response was,
"COOL! Two baby brothers! One! (pointing at Salem) Two!" (pointing at my belly.)

What a doll she is. And soon to be outnumbered.

Praising the Lord for you already, Caleb Turner Chancler!!

Pieces of Texas

At some point in every boy's life, there comes that point in time where the leap from baby boy to big boy occurs.
Sometimes it's the first hair cut.
Other times it's when their first toy gun is constructed out of sticks.
Could be the first time they smear themselves with mud from head to toe.
Maybe it's the moment they'd rather sit by themselves on the couch instead of cuddle with mommy. Thankfully, this one has yet to happen to me.

For Salem, he made a big leap into boy-hood this week.
Hand in hand, he made the big leap into becoming a true Texan.

Because very few things in this world say, "Texas!" as much as a new pair of cowboy boots.



Because you can't move to the other side of the world without taking pieces of home with you.

I'm hoping his cowboy boots remind him of Texas. And his Gramma and Granddad, who so fittingly bought him his first pair. And of riding horses and tractors in a State he won't remember much of.

As with any boy and his first pair of boots, he prefers to wear them at all times.
Last thing at night and the first thing in the morning.

Boots.
Still-a-little-bit-too-big Cowboy Boots.

Correction....this morning the first thing he asked for was a tent. Then while I was turning our dining room table into a fort, he'd gone off and found his new favorite toy. The boots.


See that proud look on his face?
He knows he's all boy. He knows he wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. And here's hoping he knows that these boots came straight from the heart of Texas!

Siblings

While enjoying the sunshine the other day, we paused, I told Eden and Salem to say, "CHEESE!" and the result was a cute picture of them together...



Of course, that picture only came about after we told Eden to hug Salem.

Because her natural reaction looks a little more like this...

Goodbyes have Begun

When I thought of saying goodbye to family and friends what I envisioned in my head was me being a snotty, slobbery, freaky-mascara, emotional mess.

We still have several goodbyes to go. So that will probably all still come true.

But we've said some goodbyes already. When Bek and Kev came to Texas at the beginning of January, we got to spend lots of time soaking up their awesomeness. Our kids soaked up time with Bekah and Kevin and still can't figure out why we can't just jump over to North Carolina to "see them real quick."


Prayers were said.


Then the kids were off to bed...and will sleep many many nights before seeing their Uncle Kevin and Aunt Bekah again.
We hugged their necks goodbye around midnight that night, no tears shed, just looking forward to the next time together.

Then last weekend we had some friends from our time at SEBTS visit us from their new home in OK! Waking up in the same home together, emptying the dishwasher together, and polishing off a dozen donuts together brings true friends even closer! right?!


Eden and Lily have been best buds since they were itty bitty. And my awesome friend is too cool for school and bought them matching outfits. They were far too enthusiastic about their time outdoors for a photo shoot...so here's a not-so-great-but-still-cute picture of the girls being all matchy-matchy.


Then on Saturday afternoon, necks were hugged, waves were waved goodbye, and off they drove. Without even a tear shed.

But the beauty of the goodbyes wasn't the missing sobs or the mascara still in place. The beauty of the goodbyes came hours before any goodbyes were said.
Being encouraged, spurred on, admonished, challenged, and above all, prayed over is what made the goodbyes so wonderful. Perhaps what made them tear free. (well, that and the promise that we'll get to see them on the other side of the ocean!) Because saying goodbye to people that are happy to see us go because they want to see us following after what Christ wants for our family, is so encouraging. It makes it easier to go. It makes us want to go.

Goodbyes are still hard. And just because I didn't cry when I hugged my sister's neck, doesn't mean that I haven't since then!

But I praise the Lord for family and friends that eagerly say goodbye to us because they know who we're following.

Mug Shot

Brandon and I usually aren't total procrastinators. Well, Brandon's usually not. He's pretty on the ball about most things.
But the other night he looked over at me and said:
                   "Oh yeah!! We need to get Salem a passport!!"

Might be helpful if we're moving overseas.

First step: Mug Shot.

Why we didn't take him out of his jammies first, I'm not sure. He'll forever be jammie-fied in his first passport. Guess that's what we get for not totally being on the ball on this one...and for doing our passport photos in our own home.

Second: Head to the local post office to turn in necessary paperwork.
It's REEEE-diculous the amount of paperwork required for that sort of thing. (not to mention the cost!)

Third:  Answer Post-Office-Lady-Stranger's questions about said passport.
I think people think we're weird applying for a passport for our 1.5 year old. When she realized Salem was the only one applying for one that day, she looked at Eden and said, "Wow, little world traveler, huh?!"  Then we told her she was born overseas. That automatically put us in the Big League of Weirdos.

Fourth: Wait patiently for passport to arrive before our moving date.
Really, I think we've got plenty of time before it gets here. They said 4-6 weeks. We're supposed to leave in 6-ish weeks. eh, I'm not worried.

Plus, just makes the anticipation that much more fun!!
oh the joys of procrastination!