Kansas City for Spring Break

Ah, Spring Break! We decided to keep things low key this year, and I'm so very thankful. With two kids homeschooling, two kids in public school, co-op, apologetics class, and track & field season, we were in need of some down time and calm days. We had just that for the first half of the week! 

On Wednesday of Spring Break, Chris had to drive up to KC for work. As much as we love having time at home, we're always up for a trip, too :-). We drove to Overland Park, Kansas on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 15 and got settled in our hotel. Chris had contacted the Halls about getting together for dinner while we were in town, and they graciously invited us to their house for the meal. We were thrilled to learn that the Thrashers would also be there visiting (they moved to Texas in December), and they would be joining us for dinner, as well. We let it be a surprise for the kids!

The weather was amazing, so all the kiddos ate outside. 

Brenson, Brecklyn, Vaneza, and Brianna

Brooke and Lehya

Scarlett, Kylie, and Lydia

Brianna and Scarlett

I love watching all the kids play!

Ms. Julia and Gia also joined us for dinner, and it was great to visit with everyone. After we finished eating, we all went to Bible study together.

Julia, Leah, Chelley, Gia, and Sarah

Flexing our muscles, lol

Kylie, Vaneza, Lydia, Brianna, and Scarlett

It is so wonderful to have friends to spend time with and a good place to attend Bible study when we're in town! 

The next morning, Chris went off to work bright and early while the kids and I all lazed around the hotel room. Those types of morning are much needed sometimes! Around lunchtime, we loaded the van with all our stuff and went to find food. Then, we did some shopping as I was on the hunt for a Kansas City Christmas ornament for my travel tree. We shopped for several hours with no luck. We had to park several blocks away from one store we stopped at, and while we were in the store the skies opened up and poured rain. We waited for a while, but the rain kept coming so we decided to just brave it. By the time we picked Chris up from work, we were all soaked and tired. AND, we never did find an ornament!

Chris only had to be in the office that one day, so as soon as he was finished we headed home. It was a short trip, for sure, but it's always good to get away for a day or two!

Back to KC (yes, AGAIN!)

We've spent quite a bit of time driving back and forth to Kansas City (in the past month, especially), but when Chris found out he needed to go into his physical office in Overland Park once again, we jumped at the opportunity to tag along with him. My plan was for us to start our homeschool year on August 1st, but one of the benefits of homeschool is that we can change those plans when we want or need to!

We drove up to Olathe on Sunday afternoon to get there in time to join the Park Street congregation for Sunday evening services. We had just returned from Dallas the day before, so part of us were pretty exhausted. However, when our friends in the area asked us if we wanted to meet up at a park the next morning for a playdate, of course we said yes!

Sar-ko-par Trails Park was the perfect place to meet up with our friends!

Lydia, Sam, Brooke, and Lehya observing something in the water.

If you look at the photo above and wonder if anyone was close to falling in, I'll say here that I had the same thought. Not too long after this photo was taken, a group of our kids were in a different spot and Brecklyn did slip right into the water. It's very shallow, so it wasn't dangerous, but she was sure upset about the whole thing. It took her a while to calm down, but I hope someday she'll be able to laugh about it! 

Brecklyn and Kylie

Brianna and Scarlett

Lehya, Brooke, Vaneza, Brecklyn, Brianna, Scarlett, Kylie, and Brenson

Vaneza and Brianna . . . special friendship!

All these kids love the outdoors and couldn't resist a little tree climbing!

Kylie, Lydia, Scarlett, Brianna, and Vaneza

All the girls!

Brecklyn

This tree was so unique and interesting! Even Penny the dog couldn't resist climbing it, lol!

The whole group . . . so thankful for these ladies and their children. It was an encouraging and wonderful playdate!

After our playdate ended, we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel for some rest. I'm still recovering from having Covid, especially when it comes to my energy levels. The heat and humidity were high this day . . . even Brecklyn had some sweet curls in her hair!

The big kids decided to bring some of their school work along, so they spent part of the afternoon with their studies. They were cute with their book lights. I was grateful they were trying to be courteous and let me rest.

That evening, after Chris got back from work, we all headed to eat at a fun local hibachi place. I was still drained from our morning out, so we just went back to hotel to relax after dinner. 

Chris had to work a half day the next day (Tuesday, August 2nd), so we slept in a little bit and took our time getting out of the hotel. I always love the view of my littles and their suitcases 💖.

We grabbed lunch out, then settled in at a local park to play until Chris was ready for us to pick him up from work. The twins really enjoyed the jungle gym!

Brenson and Brianna played for a bit, then decided to tackle more school work. They were able to get a lot done!

At about 2:00pm, Chris was ready for us to pick him up so we could head home. It was a short trip, but it was well worth it to get to see and spend time with some of our local friends!

New Beginnings

I have an announcement!

*Drum Roll Please*

Chris started a new job! Hooray!!! 👏👏👏

After Chris resigned from his job back in December, we took a few weeks to just breathe. He needed some time to decide how to move forward and what direction he wanted to go in. We knew that the vast majority of places he was interested in would not be interviewing or hiring during December, and I thought that enjoying the holidays without the stress of job hunting would be best for everyone. 

The thing was - as stressful as not having a job or primary income should have been, it just wasn't. My mom even said to Chris one afternoon, "You don't seem stressed like I thought you might." And he wasn't. When not having a job is far less stressful than the job he had, I think that speaks volumes about how it was truly time for a change. While there were certainly moments of stress or worry, we felt overwhelmingly peaceful. We were able to soak up time as a family, and the kids loved having Daddy home. We did our best to make the most of the situation, and it ended up being exactly what we needed.  

However, once January came, we knew Chris needed to get serious about job hunting. While we were okay financially for a while, we couldn't sustain having no income for too long. On Monday, January 3rd, Chris hit the ground running with submitting applications, making connections, reaching out to people he knows, and taking an online training for a specialized certification. We knew this could potentially be a long process, and we didn't want to waste any time. That first week he was able to have several promising conversations, a "virtual" coffee, and set up two interviews. I'd call that a success!

As a *sort of* side-note, I want to say that I was very grateful he was able to take an online training during this time. It was a time intensive training, and we treated it like it was his job until he completed it. He worked on it during business hours, and it was super helpful for everyone that he had something to occupy his time, attention, and focus. I think things would have been much harder with too much extra time on his hands. He also helped me run the kid taxi with school drop-off, pick-up, basketball practice, co-op, etc. That was a really nice break for me, too!

All the interviews Chris had during this time were "virtual" interviews, conducted through Google Meets or something similar. That was certainly different than what we had experienced before, and presented a bit of a challenge when interview times fell at a time that we were all home. His first virtual interview was scheduled for 4:00-5:00pm one afternoon. I made sure we all had things to quietly occupy our time while he interviewed, and it ended up lasting until almost 6:00pm! However, that interview did lead to the job he started earlier this week, so it was worth it!

In addition to virtual interviews, several of the good leads Chris had for jobs were ones that would require him to work from home at least part of the time. We both feel like this is the new world we live in, so we determined that we would do our best to embrace it. It was good that we had several weeks to wrap our minds around him working from home because the job he ultimately took is one where he works from home full time.

About the third week of January - and after several virtual interviews with different companies - he was called for a follow-up interview with the company that he was most excited and hopeful about. That phone call lasted well over an hour, and at the end of the call the interviewer told Chris they would try to put an offer together for him within about a week. That felt very promising, and we were cautiously excited.

Chris received a text about a week later stating that they were still working on an offer and to please be patient with them. A few days later, an offer came through. Chris negotiated a few points of the offer and signed a revised offer letter the next day. We were so very grateful and relieved!

From the time Chris signed the offer letter, it took about two weeks to get all the paperwork and equipment ready for him to begin working. The company shipped him a computer, monitors, and docking station to set up his home office. We ordered a desk and purchased an office chair. We had several discussions about the best place for his home office to be, and we ultimately decided that the corner of our master bedroom would be best for now.   

We feel like we have several good options for a more permanent office solution, but we need to make sure this is going to be a long-term situation before we move on creating him a better office space. For now, we are going to make this work!

At the beginning of this process, we recognized there was a solid possibility that our situation might take months to resolve. We didn't know if Chris would find a job easily or quickly, and that certainly felt scary at times. We tried to keep our focus on God and faith in His true hope and security, but it wasn't always easy.  

We are SO very grateful that things moved quickly for us, and that Chris is working again. We are hopeful and excited about his new job, and pray that this will be a place where Chris can thrive and grow as a person and professional. We thank God daily that things turned out the way they did for now. I truly believe that sometimes the hardest things and the right things are the same!

Just Breathe

Yesterday, Chris took a big step that means an even bigger change for our family. He resigned from his job.

This has really been a long time coming, but somehow it still feels completely unexpected. When he was promoted to supervisor of his own team back in the summer of 2018, we knew he'd be stretched and uncomfortable in many ways. However, we also recognize that growth doesn't come from being comfortable, and he felt ready to take on the challenge. Things were tough, though. He spent months and months cleaning up inherited messes, short-staffed the entire time. He tried to hire and fill positions, but he was severely discouraged with a couple bad hires in a row. 

Then, 2020 and all the pandemic craziness hit. Hiring was completely frozen. He and his entire staff were suddenly sent home to work (with very few resources and practically no procedures set in place), and spent 9 weeks working exclusively from home and an additional four months only being in the office part time. It was during this time - when he was trying to manage people remotely who were unprepared to be working remotely - that he came to me and said he wanted to resign and look for a different opportunity. We discussed it, and I felt it was very unfair to resign during a time that wasn't representative of what the job really should be. I asked him to set a reminder in his phone for three months from that day so that we could revisit the conversation. 

For nearly 18 months now, we have been revisiting the conversation every three months about him finding a new job. He has felt unsupported and unheard. He has been short-staffed this entire time, with unfulfilled promises of being able to hire and get some help. He had reached the end of his rope.

I'm cautious by nature and tend to move too slow on big life changes. I pretty much have to have the rug pulled out from under me to get on board with things, and that is kind of where we are right now. He does not have another job lined up. This feels really scary and really stressful, yet simultaneously neither of those things. There is such a weight lifted and the relief is obvious. We are sad, yet not sad. There is most certainly a peace in our home that can only be from the Lord.

The future is uncertain right now, but it is a much needed reminder of where true security lies. It's not in jobs or income or man, but in God. We are praying and trusting, and dare I say even a little excited about where this situation will lead. 

Off to St. Louis!

A few weeks ago, Chris scheduled a work trip to St. Louis that happened to be at the same time as the twins' fall break from school. I was kind of lamenting the fact that the kids were out of school at the time he would be gone when he said, "Well, why don't you all just come with me?" I thought about it for approximately two seconds before deciding that it was a great idea. He knows it doesn't take much to convince me to go on a trip!

Chris had set aside Thursday, October 14 as a driving day. It's a six hour drive, so we knew if we left early we could make it to the city in time to have some fun. Our goal was to leave the house by 5:30am . . . we were pulling out of the driveway at 5:40am, so we didn't miss it by much!

Road trip time!

The drive went smoothly for the most part. I drove a lot of the way so Chris could get some work done. We stopped for lunch in a small town about an hour from St. Louis, and it ended up being a scuzzy restaurant. There was still a smoking section IN the restaurant! We didn't know such a thing even existed anymore. 

After lunch, the girls conked out for a while, which was great. We didn't want them to be too tired to enjoy our sight-seeing that afternoon. 

Brooke and all her loot, haha

Brecklyn

We decided our first stop in the city should be the Gateway Arch. The last time we were at the Arch was when I was pregnant with the twins, so we thought another visit was in order. We ended up parking quite a distance away, and the weather was cloudy but nice. We were all excited to be there!

Yay for being at the Arch!

Chelley and Chris . . . photo courtesy of Brianna :-)

The Old Courthouse building

Brecklyn, Brooke, and Daddy

Brecklyn and Brooke

Brianna

Brenson and Daddy

Brecklyn, Brianna, Momma, Brooke, and Brenson

I thought this pic was really neat!

The kids were very excited and nervous to ride to the top of the arch. Of course, there were still mask mandates in place inside the building :-(.

Each pod that goes to the top only holds five people, so we had to split up into two pods. 

Brecklyn, Chris, and Brianna

Brenson, Momma, and Brooke

As you can see by the look on Brecklyn's face, she was pretty anxious about riding in the pod. Me too, kiddo, me too!

Daddy, Brecklyn, and Brianna riding to the top

Momma, Brooke, and Brenson riding to the top

I don't love heights, so being at the top of the arch isn't really my idea of a good time. I put on a brave face for my kiddos, though, and certainly enjoyed watching them take it all in.

Me and my guy

On the way down, we decided to switch it up a bit. Daddy rode with Brooke and Brenson this time, 

while Momma rode with Brecklyn and Brianna.

One thing that is new since we've visited the arch is the museum. The kids all got junior ranger books and had a great time going through the museum to fill them out. We also discovered the National Park passport books in the gift shop. We decided we needed them for each of the kiddos since we are planning to visit several more National Parks later this year (soon!). 

After being inside for several hours, we were surprised to walk back outside and find it was raining. It had been cloudy all morning, but the weather forecast we looked at didn't show rain. Despite the rain, I wanted to be sure and get a family pic with the National Park sign. It wasn't raining too hard at this point, but we were starting to get pretty wet. No regrets . . . I'm happy to have the picture!

Like I mentioned above, we had to park a ways away, so that meant we had quite a walk in the rain to get back to our van. Some of the kids were happier about the circumstances than others, haha. They didn't mind taking a break in a dry spot to take this photo.

As we were walking back, the rain really started to pick up. We all got soaked! Whatcha gonna do?!? Lol. 

If I had my preference, we wouldn't have gotten back out after we checked into our hotel, but we didn't have any food. No one was in the mood to order pizza, so we ventured back out into the rain to eat at a Cracker Barrel close to our hotel. Thankfully, this time we had our rain jackets!

The next day (Friday, October 15), Chris had to work all day. He left around 7:00am, so the kids and I slept in and took our time getting around for the day. 

We spent the day watching TV, playing games, napping, and reading. 

We ordered in pizza for lunch, and just had a really nice, relaxing day. I needed it! 

Once Daddy got home that evening, we went to the pool for an hour or so.

Brecklyn and Brianna

Daddy, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brianna

Brenson

Since it was a Friday night, things at the pool were LOUD and wild. We weren't even sad to leave the pool, grab dinner, and turn in early for the night. 

Saturday morning, we decided to make a few more touristy stops before heading home. The first thing on our agenda was the "World's Largest Ketchup Bottle" in Collinsville, Illinois. Not only was this a good excuse to take the kids to Illinois, but it was a fun sight to see. 

Brooke was especially impressed by it because it says "Brook's" on the bottle.

Brooke

Yay!

Of course, the kids loved seeing the arch again as we crossed back over the river from Illinois.

Our second stop was the "World's Largest Chess Piece", located right outside the World Chess Hall of Fame in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis. 

The architecture of this neighborhood was beautiful!

We parked several blocks away, and enjoyed our Saturday morning walk!

We hit the road for home around noon, but soon stopped for lunch at White Castle. There's something about White Castle that screams "St. Louis" to me, but I don't think I've ever actually eaten there. While we were all thankful for lunch, we weren't too impressed with the food.

Right next to a gas station where we stopped to fill up was this place called Dickey Bub. I don't know why it made me laugh so hard, but it did! I thought the girls needed their photo in front of it since they were both dressed in overalls that day, haha.

Another stop on the way home (and one that we regret) . . . Uranus in Missouri on Route 66. We were less than impressed with the gift shop and didn't spend much time there. We didn't realize it was so adult themed. Sigh.

However, just down the road was a much better attraction . . . the World's Largest Gift Store. We enjoyed buying candy and a few souvenirs before hitting the road hard for home. 

This was such a fun, spontaneous trip, and I'm so thankful we got to take it!