August Update

August was a bit of a whirlwind.  The first part was filled with waiting, the middle with planning/anticipation of the end, and the end with moving/goodbyes.  August was the last month we spent in SC and the beginning of a new chapter of our lives in KY.

Snuggles with Daddy

Last Sunday at Grace....bittersweet

God continued to show His awesomeness and reveal Himself throughout the month of August.  All along we knew God wanted us to go to Louisville and we never had any indication that we should go elsewhere.  However we were getting down to Ben’s last month in the military and still had no job.  After lots of prayer, we made the choice to go ahead to Louisville on faith despite Ben not having a job.  We made that choice on Monday August 12^th, so we booked the moving van and began making arrangements.  Then on Thursday August 15^th Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) called to offer Ben a job as a mechanical engineer working with boilers and he accepted! 

God is good and I am even more convinced that His timing is perfect.  Our ideal was to have a job early and leave 2 weeks or so after Declan was born, but thankfully God knew we needed something different and needed to learn to trust Him better.  He knew that having 2.5 months with Declan in SC without all the moving and simply adjusting to being a family of 4 was needed.  He knew we needed more time to say goodbye to great friends.  He knew we needed to worship again with our Grace family.  He knew that transitioning out of the Navy would be an involved process.  He knew all this and so much more that we didn’t until after experiencing it.  We are so thankful for a God who knows us better than we know ourselves!

One last fun trip to the mall

Relaxing on the couch one of the last times for a few months

Enjoying one of his few SC storms. ;-)

After lots of bittersweet goodbyes we packed up and moved to Louisville August 29^th, exactly 2 weeks after Ben accepted his job.  We moved into our temporary places living at my parent’s lake house in Rough River and grandparents’ house in Louisville.  Limbo will be our life until our dream home is completed in November.  Most weeks, I will live in Louisville Monday through Wednesday and then in Rough River Thursday through Sunday.  It might seem silly to float, but the kiddos need a chance to be in a minimum stimuli environment and with 6 adults and 2 kids all at my grandparents’ house that just isn’t possible.  It’s a 1.5hr drive with the kiddos twice a week, but we see it as worth it considering the sanity and the money we will save in the meantime.  Plus Ben joins us Friday night through Sunday afternoon so we are actually able to have some family time just the four of us.  It will be an adventure, but we will definitely be glad to be under one roof come November!

Fun part of packing :-)

First and last trip to Hymans Seafood

It was thrilling, lol

Picnic with Mamaw while they packed up the house

Watching PBS on the computer while they box up everything we own

Last family pic in SC

Alethea's first campfire at the lake

Our view at the lake. :-)

In other news beyond the move (even though it feels like that is all we did this month was prepare to move) Ben and I have been having fun focusing on fitness.  Since Ben was transitioning out of the Navy, his responsibilities were very limited which made for more time at home.  As a result we were able to do a lot of workout swapping and he even came up with some strength training exercises for me to do.  It has been fun to enjoy that similar hobby together.  Ben has been taking it to an even greater level than me and he has really started seeing some great results in his strength as well as how toned his figure is.  He has really revolutionized his muscle to body fat ratio!

Both kiddos have been troopers through all of the preparations.  They have pretty much just gone with the flow.  I will talk more about Declan in his monthly update, but as far as Alethea is concerned, she was just excited that moving meant Mamaw and Papaw came to town.  We have seen some normal 2yr old behavior, but nothing too crazy to deal with and I bet some of it will even slow down once our lives get a bit more back to normal.

She loves her magnadoodle

Ice cream date with Mommy

Moving can be exhausting

In the last part of the month we really focused on spending as much time as we could with good friends before we left and that meant as many play dates as I could fit in for Alethea too.  We had a ton of fun especially getting to go over and spend time with our good friends the Smiths.  Molly and Alethea are best buddies and it has been very sad to have to see them be separated by such distance.  Not to mention the fact that we will miss the whole family!  We are so thankful that God blessed us with the opportunity to get to know such good friends.  In fact we are going to miss all of our wonderful friends that we made in our four years in Charleston.

Alethea has blossomed into quite the song-bird.  Her favorite song to sing lately is the ABCs and she loves to sing it over and over at the top of her lungs.  I have been impressed with how well she does remembering all the letters.  She is speaking in full sentences, sometimes with content that seems way advanced for her, lol.  She is most definitely a sponge and is taking in everything around her.  I am amazed at the memory she has for concepts and the generalizations she makes about concepts.  We are thoroughly enjoying her vigor to learn, even if it means we wish we had ear plugs in the car. ;-)

Her motor skills, especially fine motor are still at an impressive level.  She seems to be so agile and able to conquer playground equipment beyond her years.  She has also gotten very good at puzzles.  She still often has to try pieces in a few places before finding the right location, but I have been impressed nonetheless. 

There is probably more to note about Alethea, but at this point I think it has emptied out of my brain in all the busy-ness, lol!  Guess I will have to catch up next month!