Current Life~ sorry it's long~

Life is in full swing. We have lots going on but we do manage to find times to just sit in the back yard and take pictures of the girls swimming with my lame camera phone-- sorry tried to get my nice camera but the battery was dead-- so iPhone it was. Fridays are good days. I'm off work, girls are off preschool, boys are at school and Kev is at work-- so we just relax. In fact, it is 11:30am and I am still in my pajamas in the back yard online drinking coffee watching the girls swim-- awwww... relaxing. I love Fridays!! Plus last night while Kevin had the boys at ice hockey, I cleaned the heck out of the house, so it is clean and feels really good-- Awww...

So what is up in our household--lots!! First off the kids are good and in full school mode. The boys are in crazy Jr.High mode with school, hockey in the evenings on Tues and Thurs, church youth group on Wednesday evenings (which they absolutely love by the way) and now they are wanting to be on the school flag football team. We are trying to discourage that as it will leave no down time but they are insistent-- uggg!!! Life is about to get even crazier.

Girls are in AM preschool through my school district which is an amazing program. Mia is starting to read so they are working with her individually and Finley has just blossomed into a crazy social butterfly. They are in gymnastics and loving that as well! They are also starting Awana's at our church this next Wednesday which they will love for sure. It is a great program and the boys were in it when they were little.

Kev and I are actually doing really well. I have not made it very public here on our blog but I figure I will mention it now but Kevin had his hip replaced back on May 5 and consequently, 5 days after surgery, his police department started the retirement process on him. The hip replacement put him in better shape then he has been for years and is now mountain biking 3+ times a week for a couple hours a time but because the artificial hip has innate restrictions (although Kevin's DR. who performed the surgery said he would not have restrictions and would have released him to full duty), the attorneys for the city felt Kevin would have to have work restrictions. Since his city is small and they do not have any permanent light duty positions, they decided they would have to retire him since there are assumed restrictions with a hip replacement (ya-- for 80 year old little old ladies-- not for a physically fit athletic 39 year old man). So, the process started and on June 20 of this year, Kevin was retired from police work. It was bittersweet for all of us. Kevin was lucky enough that the hip was work related and therefore got an amazing retirement (really amazing and we are grateful for that) but even with the amazing retirement he still is down a lot of money each month. It is also bittersweet beuase Kevin's bachelors degree was in criminal justice and now it really will not help in his career.

On the positive side, Kevin has never been a sold out, in love with his job cop. He was an amazing cop and loved being on the motorcycle but it was never his passion. You can see how God began working on Kevin heart a few years ago. He brought onto Kevin's radar missions and he fell in love with it. He began taking short term missions trips on his time off and he soon realized God was preparing his heart for a love of missions. Throughout those years Kevin began to have medical issues with his hip through work and the hip replacement was going to be in his future. Back then we did not see God's leading other than we knew that Kevin's heart was changing and God was doing an amazing work in not only Kevin but in our whole families life. Fast forward 2 years, Kevin has now been retired and can now work any job he wants and will still pull an amazing retirement- God has firmly placed Kevin in our missions department at our church and he has now been hired by our church to take over the Short-Term Missions department (just one and a half days a week-- but it will increase with time) and God has provided him an opportunity to obtain his Wholesale Car Dealers License through the DMV and is now buying and selling cars from dealerships to auction and vice versa. He is just starting both of these projects but it is amazing to me how God has provided for us and has so obviously lead our family. God knew this was all going to happen and He had a plan for Kevin. I do believe that plan is starting to unfold in front of us and it is very exciting. Yes, money is exceptionally tight-- hence us starting Dave Ramsy's Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace University through our church- but God obviously lead us to this financial place as well. We are living on a budget for the first time in our lives and we know where every penny is going. We are paying off debt and IT FEELS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!! I have not eaten a lunch out for over a month and we are living so darn frugal that it makes me laugh how far we have come in such a short time. God is so good and He so obviously divinely arranged this whole situation. I am happy and content for honestly the first time in my life. Yes I get frustrated and the kids drive me nuts but I just know God has it all under control as long as I am willing to give it to Him. I daily give my spending to God and give our family to Him so that He can do with us what He will. It amazes me what He is doing in our lives. God has even given me a bunch of extra time card work in my school district that is bringing in extra money there as well. AMAZING!!!

So sorry for the long post but I wanted to let you all know where we are right now. Lots has been going on but I have not really wanted to share Kevin's retirement on the blog but now I feel like I can. God is so amazing and we feel so amazingly blessed to have been given these hard times to really guide us where we are supposed to be. Several months ago if you would have asked if Kevin's hip replacement and the break into our house while we were sleeping and the unexpected retirement with the significant pay DECREASE and my cancer and all the other bumps we endured would have turned out like this-- I would have thought you were crazy!!! GOD IS AMAZING!!!!

Ok, To avoid a post without pictures, here are some pictures of the girls from a little bit ago in the pool. Thanks for listening to my rant!!

They took their dolls in the pool-- lovely!

 

Poor quality I know but the nice camera was dead.

 

Doll love!!

 

Miss Mia is an amazing swimmer now. She still freaks me out when she is in the deep end (like in this picture) but she seems to manage well.

Gotta love the bangs in her eyes. We had yet to get ready for the day and her hair was still bedhead.

 

Too cute!

 

Finley laid out her towel by the back door and was making sure her baby was ok. It was really cute!!!!

Again, thanks for listening and reading the long post.