A new chapter

Today has been a bitter sweet day for Chris and I. Everything about the day was great...played with a dear friend in Avila, Addie took a long nap, did some shopping for Baby XXXX (still no name yet) and a good dinner with the family. However, both Chris and I feel a bit heavy hearted today. Today officially wraps up our time as the Area Director (me the wife) of San Luis Obispo County. A world wind of emotions come along with this change since it was 11 months in coming: relief, peace, guilt, regrets...the list goes on for both pros and cons. When Chris and I married and moved to Paso Robles, we honestly could have told anyone that we were going to be the staff family in the area until we were 80. No joke, those were our words. It's funny how God has such different plans for us...plans we would not even image or sometimes understand.

With saving you too many details since our close friends and family know the story, Chris is moving jobs to be the associate regional director of our region with his amazing boss, Scott Lisea. Luckily for us, we do not have to move since my job is set here (and we own a house that I can guarantee will not sell anytime soon). The new job is PERFECT for him and matches all his strengths and talents more than we can image. He will basically help teach, train and lead the other area directors in our region. It's just weird to step away from the "front lines" of the ministry. We are both taking a break from leading since I have been a leader for 10 years and Chris 12 years. So, as I write, the first Young Life club for Paso High started tonight and we are not there. It's odd. It's definitely not normal and my heart is honestly a bit saddened by the reality. As I write, Chris will officially be finished as the area director of SLO in less than 4 hours and a new area director is already being considered. As I write, we embark on a new chapter and adventure with this new job tomorrow...and Chris will head out to the Valley to already get a jump start on training leaders in club speaking.

The change is good. The change is hard. I have said many of times to God that "this is not what I wanted" but I honestly couldn't tell you what I am wanting now...I'm 8 months pregnant too so the emotions are high. :) I feel all Chris and I can do and say is "we TRUST you Lord. We trust." The future in additional fundraising is draining for the new role, salaries changed, comfortability left...but trust is what we have left. My prayer is for the best, most fruitful year for all our clubs in the SLO county. May God surpass all our understanding and expectations by bringing more kids than even to his feet. I pray too that our family will still have our eyes set on serving and not become complacent is just worrying about us. May we reach out to those around us and be open to new ministry opportunities we might have been blinded by before. My prayers go on and on so maybe this is a good thing for us to go through since it's bringing me to my knees. Please join with me in seeking the Lord in all of this.

Thanks for listening as we await that God has in store for us in this new chapter of the Blake family.

New floors, 7 months, and the masterpiece

We have dreamed of changing up our floors since we moved in. This month it finally hit us that it was time after looking at millions of carpet stains everywhere. Chris (with the help of some great friends) tackled the floors himself and they turned out great! Addie calls them her "new floor." She is not used to playing on the wood yet but it will come. I am thrilled beyond words to not have the carpet and I love the way it all looks. Yipee!





The ghetto, myspace self portrait: 7 months and counting.


Addie's latest drawing masterpiece: The Happy Spider. She will draw them anywhere...too cute.

End of the summer water slide trip

We have enjoyed having our season pass to the local water park in town. Addie started out the summer as a water sliding machine but eventually didn't want to go down anymore...she preferred to crawl around in the water as a "baby turtle." :) Nonetheless, we enjoyed being in the sun for a few hours and playing with some of our favorite friends (or as Addie calls them, "her buddies").

Note to self...

Laying hardwood floors while being almost 7 months pregnant = not good
Having a 2 1/2 year old sick while laying hardwood floors = pretty good (lots of movies to entertain Miss Addie)
Running out of hardwood boards when your kitchen is 80% finish = horrible
Loving a 2 1/2 year old when all she does is throw temper tantrums = I need a glass of wine

:) Not the most relaxing weekend but productive to say the least...

More bracelets please

Miss Addie is definitely a girl. Her latest love is to gather as many of my bracelets as she can and put them on one arm (not both...just one). She will walk around the house with her wrist flipped out with a little attitude. She has also been carrying a purse around with little toys in it...we had to carry one to the mailbox the other day but Dad had to carry it home since Addie was tired of "lugging" it around. Love it.

Changing up the house

So yes, I am 25 weeks pregnant now and my decorating bug is hitting in full blast. Our amazing Modesto folks gifted us some fun "Baby Doug" room money (that IS NOT his name) so I got to do some shopping in preparing for his arrival in a few months. It's a bitter sweet thing for me since I LOVED my office and the feel it provided but when you live in a 3 bedroom house with 2 kids, the office has to go. In the meantime we are doing a half office half nursery for Baby Brycen (his potential name at the time). I know myself, this half and half thing will not last long since I will want his room to look perfect and "cute." Ug. :) So, here is a before picture of the room where the A. Blake Photography magic happened....

...And here is the combo room attempt thus far. We are definitely not finished since we will need to take some stuff off the walls, hang new stuff and get a bed skirt and such but at least it is a start. I have to admit, it's made it a little more real for us. Addie now calls everything "baby brother's room." She will also tell us that "baby brother is going to cry alot." :)




As for Addie's room, it is practically finished. I laugh because Chris is the one who has honestly come up with the majority of the stuff in her room....he is so an HGTV fan. Living with small bedrooms and no playroom, we have gotten creative on how to make a bedroom/play area for her. She is loving her new room. She will literally sit at her little table and have a tea party or play with her magnetic dolls for 45 minutes by herself. Love it! It's fun to see her pretend play with her toys and chat it up with them. She is getting so big.

Nina and Pots' Visit

We had a great time with Nina and Pots coming out from Tennessee for a few days. We had a fun adventure every day to keep us all entertained as well as to make sure they had a bit of a vacation. One day we headed to Avila Beach for some play and dinner. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and Addie had a blast. We had to take off her pants because they got so wet but them her diaper was literally sagging down to her knees. We had a good laugh. Another day we went to Morro Bay for a boat ride of the bay. It was a little silly but then again it's aways fun to be on a boat since we don't do it much. Nina was amazing with how she would play with Addie and chit chat about all the things Addie talked to her about. How we wish they lived closer.