A BIG Announcement....

It is with great joy/gratitude/terror/nervousness/anxiety that I write this post. So many emotions are running through my head and I'm finding myself in between tears of joy, overwhelming and a little sadness at any given moment.

As many of you know, He-Man has, for his entire post-grad and professional career, been working towards making chiropractors available to the service men and women of our country. It has been a passion of his for more than half of his life. In fact, when we met 17 years ago, he told me of his two career focuses. #1 Become a chiropractor. #2 Serve the military in this field. In grad-school, he had the opportunity, twice, to lobby in D.C. for this cause, making it even more important to him.

We've spent the past few years exploring the possibility of making this career move and have felt increasingly more passionate about this as the time has gone by. Both of us realize that not everyone feels a need for chiropractics and/or doesn't have a positive opinion of this particular field of medicine however, we've wished for it to be an option for as many people as possible.

So, with that, I'm pleased to announce, after much prayer and hard work, He-Man has been offered a position working as an independent contracted chiropractor for the Navy. We will be relocating to Florida in the coming weeks.

(He-Man, his brothers and father. They all really like each other!)

To describe our emotions as bittersweet doesn't quite describe what we're feeling. Our experience of living in Utah has been blessed and filled with absolute joy. Being close to our wonderful family and creating life long friendships will be treasures forever. That, and with our love of Oregon and it's beautiful people, the thought of moving so far away from these two favorite places is painful. Yet, I know friendship isn't nullified with distance...it just makes reunions a little more difficult. (Sigh)

Everyday Revelry...

Lately, as I've been preparing for our baby to be born, I've found myself experiencing moments of great peace and joy....even while in the middle of seemingly everyday situations. It's been a blessed thing because there are things I used to fear about adding another child to the mix that I'm no longer afraid of.

Our beautiful weather has definitely encouraged this feeling of well being too. The late summer nights, with open windows and chirping crickets, the girls happily skipping home from school on warm afternoons and the way the setting sunlight hits our kitchen and dining room late in the day has buoyed my spirits so much.

Don't get me wrong, I'm staring to feel the physical exhaustion of late pregnancy but instead of wishing I had the gestational period of a bunny, I've decided to be grateful I don't have the two year gestational period of an elephant. I've decided it all comes down to perspective.

So, as I wait the duration of human gestation, I'm making myself merry with my own little everyday revelries...

Behold! LUSCIOUS apples from my friend's tree. I'm attempting to create apple butter tomorrow. (We'll see how it goes.)

Better late than never! Our tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. I'm pretty sure I've been ruined for store-bought tomatoes from here on out. He-Man makes a mean Caprese!

Watermelon has proven to be a bit of a challenge to grow. Looks can be deceiving and what looks destined to be dessert can actually be pretty heinous. On the other hand, however, some of the most humiliated looking watermelons are actually the most delicious!

He-Man's second job throws these AMAZING parties. Last weekend, we drove to Park City, Utah and played at Olympic Park. Sunshine was fearless while doing the zipline and mock parachuting. It was so fun to see her exuberance. There was a moment when she and He-Man were suspended above us and Sunshine stretched out her arms as if she were flying like a bird. I could hear her laughing even from the ground!

Bunny was a little nervous and opted out of the first mock parachuting. But was ready to do it the second time around. I was so proud of her for being courageous even though she was scared. We've tried really hard to help her listen to her own internal compass and let that decide her own limits so when she didn't want to do it, we didn't pressure her. In the end though, it was great to see her decide for herself to face her fear and give it a try. She loved it! What was even better was seeing the confidence that comes from doing something like that.

Check out the one-armed strong man! I'm happy to report he nailed this one (and walked around afterwards puffing out his chest a little more than usual).

Here is a video of Button Nose at Sunday dinner. She didn't get a nap that day but didn't want to give up a slice of homemade bread to go to bed early. (UG! Forgive the open cupboard door in the background!)