Not Moving!

Well, I guess my gut was wrong this time. I usually have good intuition about how things will go. For example, I just knew that L was going to be a girl and H was going to be a boy. I had mixed feelings about K until the last two weeks of my pregnancy and knew, without a doubt, that she was a girl. I also had a feeling, the entire pregnancy, that H was going to be early. I figured I would go into labor around Memorial day, about 3 weeks early. I was a little off (4 weeks!) but he was early. Again with the digressing.

My husband has taken a new job that will not require us to move. While I'm grateful that I don't have to go to the middle of nowhere, I was looking forward to the newness that moving brings. It's fun to have a new house, a new car (which we need as we are bursting at the seams in our current family vehicle), a new (much larger) city that would bring new shopping options (has anyone heard of that Old Navy store?) and, more importantly, new restaurants. We do like to eat in this family.

The new job will, however, require S to do a lot of traveling. I'm not so happy about that but it's obviously what God has for us at this time. Every other door closed with an overwhelming slam so stay put it is! This is good for us because we have roots here, friends here, memories here. It won't be easy for S to be gone a lot but I have an incredible support system here. My family, while not here, can get here easily and visit often. S's family is here now and they are a wonderful support for us. And I have some incredible friends, ones that I would have hated to leave had I been moving.

You're not getting rid of us yet!

How Great Thou Art

May 2, 2007 is one of those dates that I will always remember. Yes, it was the night H was born but it was also one of the scariest nights in my life. Again, I don't want to go into details now; that's another post for another day. As we were waiting for the ambulance to come take me to the hospital so H could be rescued, S heard the sirens and ran out front to flag them down. That left me in the bathroom by myself, in a very dire situation. When I'm nervous or scared or even happy, I sing. It's just who I am. Well, I was scared beyond belief that night and the one song that came to mind was the hymn, "How Great Thou Art." After I finished singing the first verse, the paramedics arrived and then I lost consciousness so I don't remember everything. But I do remember the great sense of peace I had as that hymn ran through my mind.

Today at church, we sang "How Great Thou Art." I stood there, holding H, looking at the words on the screen through tears in my eyes. I made it through most of the song but stumbled on verse three:

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died to take away my sin

God sent His son to die so that I might live, so that my son was spared and is bringing me joy on a daily basis. God truly worked a miracle that night and I will never, ever, forget those words that the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

The One In Which I Have Nothing To Talk About

Now that I'm done with my "series" of blogs on places I've lived, I have little to write about. The summer is winding down and I can't wait to get the kids back into school and into a routine. The only routine we've had this summer is that there isn't one. And now it's so oppresively hot outside that I can't send the girls out there unless it's for water fun which, frankly, I don't enjoy because I have to be out there and I'm hot. Honestly, the heat is somewhere between ghastly and completely unbearable. These are the days I wish we had a pool.

As a side note, I just saw a commercial for a credit card showing lots and lots of fabulous snow. If only!

I would love to post some pictures but I haven't taken any with our digital camera. I have taken some with my cell phone but I still have no idea how to get them from my phone to my computer. I was told that emailing them to myself was an option but I tried it and it didn't work. Bummer.

So, if you need something to read or find my babbling totally unbearable, I suggest you check out my friend, BooMama. It's a quite often hilarious and touching look at motherhood and life in general for a good Southern girl. It's one of my daily reads. Plus, she often has giveaways and who doesn't like free stuff? If you want a guaranteed laugh, read this post. Every time I think about it I laugh out loud, or LOL as you kids call it. I'm to old to have to learn that. I've just now gotten me one of these fancy blogs. I can't be expected to learn it all in one day!

Where We've Lived: Philadelphia

After New Orleans, we made our way up north to Philadelphia. While New Orleans was the furthest west I've ever lived, Philly was, by far, the furthest north I've ever lived. I've joked with my husband many times that every time we move, it seems to be in the wrong season. We moved to Charleston in winter, to New Orleans just as summer was getting really hot, and to Philly as the weather was turning cold. We have impeccable timing. So we packed up and set of just in front of Hurricane Isidore. We slowly made our way up north, stopping to see both sets of parents and show off our new baby.

S found us an apartment in Doylestown, about an hour north of Philadelphia's center city. I loved the area but it prevented me from really exploring the downtown area. Plus, I had a small baby and it was winter. Not a good combo. We did find some wonderful restaurants, though. Are you seeing a pattern here? We like to eat good food. Our favorite treat, by far, was going to Los Sarapes. It's an authentic Mexican restaurant with the best food you can imagine. Their mole sauce is unbelievable and is quite unexpected in that area of Pennsylvania. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised because another favorite was Cafe America in downtown Doylestown. It's a great Mexican/American cafe.

When I set out to write about Philadelphia and all its fabulousness, I realized I couldn't talk much about the city itself because I don't have very much personal experience with it. There is a ton of American history in Philly and lots of wonderful places to visit. It just didn't happen while we were there. What did happen is that we made some wonderful friends. Obviously, I made friends in Charleston and New Orleans although we weren't in either place very long. But in Philly, even though we only lived there for a few months, I made friends to last a lifetime.

Our first Sunday in church in Willow Grove, we met a young couple with a new baby, about the same age as K. I got to know Lisa and her daughter, Ginny, very well. We had play dates and joined a women's bible study together. She was my first real "mom" friend and Ginny was K's first little friend. We were able to laugh together, cry together, encourage one another and vent about all the little mommy things in life. That was something I really needed! S and I were also able to join a bible study in our church that enabled us to get to know other couples in the church. Again, what we needed!

We moved from Philly in April 2003 to the city where we currently live. I'll talk about that lovely city when we eventually move on. We were only supposed to live here for 6 months and we have lived here for over 4 years.

When we left Philly, I cried. I hadn't done that for the previous cities. Sure, I was sad to be leaving them but I didn't have the relationship investment that I did in Philadelphia. I'm thankful for that investment even though I don't get to see my friend every day, or even talk to her every day, though we do stay in touch. God knew what I needed at that time, as He always does.

Where We've Lived: New Orleans

The next stop for us was New Orleans. We had to move there for my husband's job a mere 4 months after moving to Charleston. Neither of us really wanted to go but knew that it would only be for a short time. Remember that I'm now about 18 weeks pregnant with our first child so moving around a lot isn't exactly my cup of tea. I told S that I wasn't moving again until we had the baby!


We found a corporate apartment in the Warehouse District in downtown New Orleans. It was one of several old warehouses that had been made into apartments. They were really cool. I wish I could explain it better but we didn't have any outside windows. All of our windows opened up to an indoor atrium. Again, it's one of those things you just have to see. I'm not a very eloquent writer.

Most of what we loved about New Orleans was the food. Our apartment was literally one block from Emeril's restaurant. There were several other places we loved to go including Elizabeth's, Cafe Rani, Warehouse District Pizza, Teddy's (for the best po-boys you can eat), and Dick & Jenny's. One place we always wanted to try, but never got the chance, was The Chicken Box. It boasted that its chicken was "slap yo' mama good." Again, never got to eat there but I'm sure it's tasty. If you ever find yourself going to New Orleans, let me know because I'll be happy to supply a list of fabulous restaurants.

With S working and me at home by myself, I learned to wander around without getting too lost. Magazine Street is the best place for this. One of my favorite shops, Pippen Lane, is a children's shop. They have adorable clothes and a fabulous sale at the end of each season.

When my mom came for a visit, we took the trolley down St. Charles to look at all the old homes. It was absolutely gorgeous. Very much the old southern town I had heard about so often. We also explored the French Quarter but not for the reasons that most visitors do. We went in search of Blue Dog. I'm not much of an art person but if I were independently wealthy, I would own an original Blue Dog painting. They are fun, whimsical, down-right cute.

On July 7, we welcomed K into our family after a mere 20 hours of labor and only 11 minutes of pushing. We were so blessed to have her as a part of our family. And what a surprise to find that we had a little girl! Everyone had told me they thought it was a boy.

We left just a couple of months later for our next destination. As we drove out, we were just ahead of Hurricane Isidore. We left in pouring rain and high winds with a trailer attached to our truck and a brand new baby in the back seat. You should ask S about the white-knuckle driving he did on the Mississippi interstate. It was a tense 4 hours.

Our time in New Orleans was short, a mere 7 months but had experiences to last a lifetime. One of our last stops was Commander's Palace, a New Orleans landmark restaurant. They are famous for their Turtle Soup and their Bread Pudding Souffle with Bourbon Cream Sauce. OH MY WORD it is tasty stuff. They had, at the time, 25-cent martinis at lunch. And the ladies at the table next to us were taking full advantage of that!

New Orleans will always hold a special place in my heart because it's where my first child was born, even if I have no desire to live there again. We had a great time while we were there and have lots of fun memories to share!

Next Stop: Philadelphia

H is 3 months old!

Some day I'll get around to posting about the night H was born. For now, we'll settle for celebrating his 3-month birthday. He's doing great, looking more like a baby and less like a newborn every day. He has started smiling which brings great joy to my heart. He's also trying to talk, making the wonderful cooing sounds that all babies do. There's even the beginnings of a laugh. He's also started rolling over but I really think that's much more of an accident than on purpose. We have so much to look forward to!

Where We've Lived: Charleston

Our second home as a couple was in Charleston, South Carolina. I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that we were moving to Charleston. I had never been there but knew that it was a beautiful city and I couldn't wait to get to explore it.

Due to the nature of my husband's job, we ended up living in a Residence Inn for the first month we were in Charleston. That was not exactly how I pictured living in an old southern town but that's what we had. So the month of October was spent at the Residence Inn in North Charleston. The one good thing about that is that it's close to the mall and lots of other shopping so I found plenty to do during the day.

We moved to an apartment on Daniel Island on November 1. Two days later, I found out I was pregnant with our first child. I told my husband by buying him a baby name book, giving it to him when he came home from work that night. He didn't get it. He said, "Sure, we might need this at some point in the future." I told him that I thought we might need it soon. He said, "Yeah, you know if in four or five months we find out we need then that's great." I replied, "I think we're going to need it in the next nine months. I took a pregnancy test this morning and I'm pregnant." He was giddy with excitement and if you know my husband, you know he doesn't get giddy.

We did our fair share of exploring the Charleston area as well as downtown. Of course, we found some fabulous places to eat. One of our favorites is Hank's. They have wonderful seafood, of course, and my favorite was a low country staple, shrimp and grits. It truly is the best and if you've never tried shrimp and grits, you're in for a real treat.

Downtown Charleston is absolutely beautiful with all the old homes and architecture. I could have wandered around for hours just looking at old houses and the waterfront. It's truly a beautiful city.

Another treat was the South Carolina Aquarium. I remember standing in line with a bunch of children and seeing the aquarium through their eyes, thinking about bringing my own child there someday. There are a lot of animals to see there. My favorite, of course, was the North American River Otter. So cute, lots of fun to watch. I knew we were at the otter exhibit because there were lots of kids crowded around it. They are just fun animals to watch; very playful.

For our anniversary, we spent the weekend in Myrtle Beach which isn't too far from Charleston. It was a lovely weekend although we didn't spend too much time on the beach because it was too cold. It was February, after all!

Right after we got back from our anniversary weekend, we found out we were being sent to New Orleans. This was a mere four months after we had moved to Charleston. Needless to say, I didn't want to go but knew that it was what God had planned for us. We had to pack our things very quickly and be out of the apartment within the week. I was quite sad to leave Charleston as I felt I was just getting to know the city. I would love to go back!

Next Stop: New Orleans