Living On Vicarious Grace: An Update on the Many Happenings in Our Simple Slice of Life

As I sit at my kitchen table, typing this blog post, my 15-day-old son is sleeping in his Boppy pillow on the couch, and my daughter is at the babysitter's house. My husband is 3 1/2 hours away awarding high school seniors with scholarships at an assembly.

I am alone. All is quiet.

So I figured I couldn't waste the opportunity to sit down and update my readers (whoever you are - I see how many people read this blog and where those views come from, but I'm not quite sure WHO you are) on what is going on with the Murrays.

HAHAHA! I wrote those first 3 paragraphs 16 days ago, because as soon as I typed it, the baby started screaming. Such is my life now, right?!

And I am loving it... I mean, sometimes I'm really NOT loving it. But I love my babies, and I love being able to be home with them...

Except for the 10 minutes a day... usually only 10 minutes, but sometimes longer, but definitely at least once a day... where life breaks out into mass chaos!

For example, my first day home with both kiddos, Keegan got hungry earlier than normal, right in the middle of me trying to get Emersyn her lunch made. So, I am nursing Keegan, which means one of my arms is completely full, when the microwave beeps. I realized that I needed to somehow take the macaroni out of the microwave, drain it, and pour milk in it with only one hand! I contemplated it for like 2 seconds and realized how dangerous it was! So I had to put the baby down, which means he started to scream, and then Emersyn started repeating "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom..." And even though I answered her each time, she never told me what she was going to say.

And then 10 minutes later, Emersyn was eating macaroni and cheese, Keegan was nursing, and I was enjoying the recliner. See, it was just for a little while. And the rest of the day was pretty fine.

So life has not only been crazy, but also crazy BUSY!!!

We closed on our new house - yes, the one we wanted so much!!! It needed a new roof, the ceiling in the master bedroom needed fixed, the carpet needed to be replaced in that room too, Keegan's room needed to be painted because it was the most blinding blue, and I hated the yellow in the kitchen. And then of course as we started on those projects, we discovered more fun projects, like a bathtub leak into the bottom floor, weird wiring in certain places, a leak that still hasn't been looked at by a plumber, a garage door that stopped working, and kids' writing on the walls in a room I hadn't planned on painting.

And then there is the normal packing up our current home...

And then since my school district is sending all the 5th grade classes to the elementary schools, we had to pack up everything in our classes... and then my husband and I decided that I am going to stay home with our kids for a while, so I had to bring all of my personal items home from my classroom. It filled his truck and a few things went in my car... so we are going to have to have a garage sale! There is no way I am storing all of that for however many years I stay home with our kids!

We also made a decision on what part-time job I am going to take. It is funny how life comes full-circle many times! I met my best friend, Jessica, in 2003, while we were in college. And then we were roommates for 5 years after I graduated in the house I currently live in. Then we married really good friends that went to high school together. Then we were neighbors for 2 years. And now, I am going to be babysitting her daughter 3 days a week at our new house! How awesome is that?! We always said we wanted our kids to play together and be friends before either of us were even dating anyone, and now we are married to close friends and our kids are going to be playing together on a weekly basis!

Today I am going to officially check out with my principal and turn in all my paperwork! We are finishing all our little projects, like painting and cleaning and packing. Then we are moving this weekend!

Life has been super crazy busy, almost overwhelming lately. But when it is all over, and we are finally settled, I know we'll remember just how simple good life really is. Faith, family, friends, and just taking care of each other in big and small ways. Loving and living day to day. I guess some might say it is boring, but believe me, it isn't! We love our busy, yet simple life! We are blessed to be the stewards of these two children, this new home, these jobs, and each other!

We truly are blessed beyond measure, and I thank God from whom all blessings flow!

just chilling at home

reading to little brother

so excited to go skating for the first time!

The "SOLD" sign went up at the new house first, and I was nervous because it hadn't gone up at our current house yet. And then about a week later, a big yellow "SOLD" was in our front lawn! I ran out to the street to take a picture immediately!