Family News

This has been an eventful winter for us. Thankfully, none of those events have included being in the hospital lately! We have been free of the flu and other winter illnesses so far. We try very, very hard to keep them safe - its something as simple as RSV or the flu that could be devastating for their little bodies. I have been meaning to write a post about all the exciting things happening around here, but was waiting on everything to become 'official'!

Are you ready?

We are moving! Next Friday, we will close on our first home together! This is a dream we thought would never come true since the girls got sick. We really enjoyed the house we are renting, and especially the wonderful family who owns it. (If you are new to our story, we moved into this house on Thanksgiving 2011 with less than 2 weeks notice after an insurance battle that prevented us from going out-of-state for their care. Adam and I were both born and raised in Monroe County, MI - we moved just 6 miles down the road into Toledo, and things improved drastically financially because of better in-state coverage.) At the same time, we realized how much money we are forced to throw away renting. We were so blessed to find this family and this house and I am happy to say we met them to consider renting their house and ended up with some great friends. :) So thank you Nancy & Justin if you are reading this, your kindness to us over the past year has been beyond anything we would have imagined. God truly blessed us by putting us in your path at just the right time. Lots of memories were made here, but it is time for us to make a new start.

The girls and I have moved 4 times in the past 5 years and its been so frustrating to feel like we never have that stability to offer them. When we started looking, I knew I wanted to be patient until we could find our 'forever house' - you know, the one you can still see yourselves living in 10 years from now? I wanted an amazing school, a neighborhood that was safe and filled with kids so the girls have that to escape some of the things happening with their sisters. I spent my childhood running around everyday til dark with my friends and I want her to have that too. We wanted a great special education program for Addison and Audrina. And we wanted SPACE. When you have a sick child, the medical equipment, the tube supplies, etc. seem to take over your house. It starts to feel a lot like a hospital and less like a home. We wanted to feel like everyone had some space to breathe. We wanted a backyard we could make into our own little slice of heaven. This house has all of the above, and more.

Our offer was accepted Christmas Eve, (we got an amazing deal compared to what has been paid for other houses near it, too) and we both could hardly sleep that entire week, dreaming of our fresh start. The current owner got it in a foreclosure less than a year ago, so there is still some work to be done, but its perfect for us and has lots of potential we will put to good use one day down the road when things are more stable financially. We are so grateful to my parents for making this happen for us - we truly wouldn't have been able to do it without their help.

When you have to spend the vast majority of your time at home, your home is your sanctuary and for us it was one of the most important things we could do for our children. I am so excited to tell them we don't have to keep moving anymore. They are going to be having their own rooms, each of them will have a special space just for them and I cant tell you how much we are all looking forward to it. We have to do some work on it before we move in because its not safe for the girls to be in the house with all the dust, paint fumes, etc. so we plan on moving in the weekend Audrina turns one, February 23! Stay tuned for pictures and more fun moving news!

On to the next exciting announcement, one that deserves its own post...