Finding Luke's 11th home!

We are moving again this month. Hopefully this will be our last move while Jason works in S. Dakota. Luke turns 5 next month and I was counting up the number of homes we've lived in since he was born and it's ELEVEN. I never moved even once until I was 18 - so go Luke! Hoping this hasn't damaged him, but instead makes him a flexible, adventurous person :)

Here are Luke's 11 homes --

1. Our beloved Vermont barn

2. First Guatemala home

3. Second Guatemala home (needed to find something more affordable)

4. We got flooded out of our second home (perhaps that's why it was cheaper?) and had to move back to our first home until we found this, our third Guatemala home

5. First Idaho home - just for a few weeks, but what a blessing it was as we transitioned into Idaho life

6. Second Idaho home - loved this cozy garage apartment in the woods!

7. Third Idaho home -- summering at Priest Lake

8. Forth Idaho home - our very first home purchase

9. Washington home -- summering in Leavenworth

10. First S. Dakota home

11. Second (& hopefully last!) S. Dakota home!

We were really fortunate to be eligible for a small grant which allowed us to purchase this little 50's bungalow. The house and neighborhood lack the charming, historic character of our current situation and there is a lot of work to be done on the house, but the neighborhood is nice and it is more affordable than our rental. We have much to be thankful for.

I am reminded once again of 2 Chronicles 29:16 "Lord our God, all of this abundance ... comes from your hand and all of it belongs to you." 

Making friends

For the first few months after we moved here, I wasn't ready to put myself out on the friend-market again. Leaving amazing friends in Moscow, to find more awesome friends in Leavenworth and then leave them as well made me want to just take a break from all that relationship building entails.

In December, I realized my break in this area was really hard for Luke. Our super-social boy who loves playing hard with other kids had been left with just me and Mabel for months. In January I started making an effort to plan playdates with folks we'd met through the library, MOPS and in our neighborhood. Luke is happier and it is good for all of us, but boy is friend-dating exhausting!

I am thankful for the women that God is placing in my life, especially the Mom's of these kiddos. We each have one 4 year old and one 2 year old ... and, they all play well together (most the time!)

Sleeping past 7

I doubt that I'm the only one who becomes obsessed with sleep after having it taken away on a repeated basis. Ever since Luke was born I have been obsessed. Even though he started sleeping through the night at a decent age, his morning wake up has generally been very early. He is an early riser no matter when we put him to bed; and often if he's put to bed late, he wakes up even earlier than usual.

All summer, he was sleeping until 6 on most days, but Mabel was getting up for the day with the sun. This meant that somewhere between 4:45 - 5:30 I would make a mad dash for their room to snatch her before she woke Luke up. It made for some mornings that felt very long.

After moving here, both kids seemed to get into a good routine of both sleeping past six ... until early November. Then they both started waking up 3+ times a night to go to the bathroom which meant I needed to be up also since Mabel still needs help getting on/off the toilet.

After weeks of that routine, I finally realized that Luke was waking Mabel up since she's a light sleeper and had the idea of having Luke sleep elsewhere. A little tricky in a 2-bedroom house, but we've been doing it for several months now and Mabel has been sleeping in until SEVEN (and even after) on many days. It's been a-mazing! Twice it's even happened on a weekend which was really lovely.

All that to say ... we're attempting to get them back in the same room again for the night. I don't know if I'm ready for it :)









Our month closed out with a larger snow storm and then some above zero degree days to play in the snow without literally freezing ourselves. A pleasant change.

We made use several times of the free snowshoe loaner service provided through the Outdoor Campus -- Luke loved learning to use snowshoes --

Got plenty of tubing in on the hill across the street --

It even got warm enough for the snow to stick together for a snowman to be built --