This Easter with the Chandler Fam!

Karl's family came to visit us over Conference and Easter weekend. It was so fun. They came one weekend and then their parents left Luke and I to take care of all 8 kids (including my 2) for a week while they went house shopping in Houston where he will be going to Oral Surgery school for 3 years. It will be fun to visit them there some time.

I made so many oreo, chocolate, and candy suckers for the YW fundraise that I just decided to make a few extra for Easter too. They were super fun and sold really well. I will have to share that story on another post. Love Megan!

Luke is leading FHE in this pic. These kids are the best kids in the world. I want my kids to grow up to be like them. They helped make meals, clean up meals and the house and obeyed all the rules. We had tons of fun. The only incident was one with the closet door falling off and getting a hole in it when someone slammed it but it was an easy fix with some plaster and paint. We didn't get charged when we moved out so I guess we fixed it good enough.

We got to go out on our friends' ranch and tour their farm, ride horses, and have dinner. It was pretty fun.

We went to Abbeville, the town where the South finally seceded to the North to end the Civil war. It was a fun outing. It is also the home to the true person named Radio - you know the movie. He is still alive and signs autographs at his home. He still works at the school too. Didn't meet him though.

We got ice cream and the guy asked me if I was running a day care service!!!

The kids had tons of fun decorating their own baby food jar to hold their treasures. The Easter bunny filled them with candy on Easter. It was really fun to see how each one turned out and very simple with hot glue and mod podge.

Like my mom did, I make my girls dresses for Easter so we decided to make all the girls ruffle skirts. Lydea is a great sewer and she totally cut my sewing time in half.

And of course we had to make the boys ties. I would definitely make them out of thinner silkier fabric than cotton next time because it made for a really thick knot on the big boys ties. :( They picked out music note fabric which I loved though.

We had a great Easter egg hunt on the school grounds across the street. Gracie loved it.

Kate loved her little basket.

There's Haylee getting a hard to reach one. Love her face. I think they each got to find 5 plastic filled eggs with candy and money and 5 real eggs.

Here we all are looking for the final GOLDEN EGG. This was Megan's fun addition and I loved it. Even when she said adults could look and she even told us it was hidden in the fence covered by all of these bushes/vines, we still couldn't find it. No worries though, I found it just when we were going to give up! Megan couldn't even find it and she hid it. So fun. And I got 5 BUCKS to keep!

We did homemade dye which made for some pretty cool colors.

Cute cute Zac, Gracie's best bud.

No I think these girls are best buds. I love how they are each other's best friends even in their differences.

Megan is the awesome mother, who told us she was pregnant by surprise with her 7th kid. You go girl, you are amazing.

Had to cover some pretzel rods. These were a favorite!

Okay so we wore our new skirts to church and my some of my YW saw them and their mom wanted to make some. So we spent one of the days before we moved helping them sew some skirts too. So we all wore them to church the next Sunday at their request. I ended up making about 5 more skirts in a hurry before we moved because I felt bad that some of the girls would be left out of having a skirt because they weren't there. It was a fun thing to do for them. And they are pretty quick. So comfy. I would not wear mine with my ruffle shirt that I made again. Way too many ruffles!! Ha ha. No mocking the pick. Katie looked cute with a string of pearls and her black waist band up higher with her shirt tucked in like a little lady.

I had to throw these two pictures of Gracie and Katie modeling their Christmas dresses in here too. I never got a decent picture of them dressed up together this winter so I made them model them before I put them away in boxes for good. I made Gracie's sweater dress from one of my old white sweaters I didn't wear anymore. The neck was stretched out so I threaded a ribbon through it to tighten it up. I think it one of my favorite creations. And it was so easy to just cut it and sew it smaller. I hoping that Gracie can wear it again this winter if she is not too tall. She is a tall fun girl. Don't you love her faces? Katie on the other hand won't model and smile for nothing. I have taken so many pictures of her and they are all crying. I love her cute sassy one in her blue Easter skirt.
Good memories and good times! So glad I could watch your kids for you Karl and Megan. We would do it again any time. You might have to wait till we have a bigger place though :). Or we will come there. Thanks for a Happy Easter this year in Greenwood. 

Something broke inside me...

... but I know I am going to be okay and I am going to get myself back. This last 2 years has been so hard and we thought things were at an end and turning around in 2012. Moving to SC was supposed to be the end of it, but it only got worse. I am so grateful that these 7 weeks of Luke living apart from us are over. He really helps me so in so many ways and I desperately need him. I don't know how you military wives do it so often. You are amazing!

After 6 weeks of:

1. No car (we went everywhere with a bike and bike trailer, in heat, humidity, wind, and bugs)

2. No cell phone (does add more stress if you are used to having one and if you lock yourself out)

3. No husband (he came home a few weekends which was so nice - I needed that)

4. No job after this one is over (Luke didn't get called for an interview for 2 positions he applied for and our backup plan after those jobs decided they aren't hiring afterall due to budget cuts)

5. No health insurance (And I found out I was pregnant... SURPRISE!!! You are not helping, nausea and headaches and exhaustion. I really hate that I probably have to get on medicaid again too!)

All while I worked my online therapy job, Connections Academy, during nap time till the end of the school year. (Towards the end I could not even stay awake during my last sessions.) 

I am an independent person! I am goal-oriented, self-reliant and I like progression. I do not like going sideways, or going backwards. I certainly do not like being dependent. I don't like needing help in all the ways I am used to being able to help myself. I don't like asking for rides. I don't like borrowing! (Carrie Stefanie was the best to let me borrow her van a few times and watch the kids for a few IEP phone conferences I had. I love her!) And I don't like being alone with everything being up to me. I am grateful I am not a single parent. That would be a scary task for me. I am ready to move on! I am ready to do something about all of this! I am used to doing all that I can do at my very best and having good results. Not nothing! I need to do something. I need to get out of here. I need to get a job. I need to get insurance. I don't have to be rich, I just NEED PROGRESSION and I need my future to not be so unclear, empty and unknown. 

That 6th week when Luke put the nail in the coffin that the backup job, he was going to get, fell through, I just couldn't do it anymore. I seriously felt like I was back in high school with that hard of a challenge, hating life, being a depressed zombie, wanting to just be done and go to heaven already, and not knowing the purpose of any of it. Because life certainly isn't fun! And I know the purpose of life is not to have fun! But what is it? Well 3 paraphrased words of advice that are helping me right now are: 1- The purpose of life is to become like our Heavenly Father. And that is hard! So life is hard! 2- When you are going through trials you WANT to know the purpose, but most of the time you don't get it until after or very long after. So put the unknown purpose in a box, close it, and put it on a shelf and don't open it again until after the trial. 3- President Monson said to the YW in April "Life by the yard is hard, but by the inch, it's a cinch." 

I have learned a lot during these times and I am still learning. One of the major things I am learning is to have faith and really pray from hour to hour and little moment to little moment, not just by life events, monthly or weekly in chunks looking ahead. Because I can't see ahead! Just like God taught the Children of Israel in the Bible to have faith in him and trust him from day to day too because he wouldn't give them Manna to eat ahead of time, but wait and trust that they would be fed at each meal. What an awesome lesson to learn and I am sure that was HARD for a lot of them. Just like me. Some of them didn't trust Him and tried to store some for later "just in case" and it turned bad and got worms. They learned! It hurts to learn! 

So even though I am not back to my fully happy, optimistic, have fun each day self, I have faith that I will get myself back. I was able to live with Luke in his hotel last week taking care of the girls during the day, having no job, and being a zombie at night with Luke to help. And I slept a lot. And one night I stayed up till 2 and read Hunger Games - something for myself. I am sorry that I have not blogged. I learned that I don't like to write or talk to people when I don't have anything good/happy to say. I don't want to be a complainer or a downer.  But you have to document the bad times too. So there you go. And here are a few things  I "want" to remember that hopefully I can laugh about one day: 

1. Marker in the toaster - Katie dropped a sharpie in my brand new toaster and it melted to the inside - ruined!

2. Locked myself out - no car, no phone, hungry, naptime/worktime/ dishwasher guy coming in 30 minutes because it wasn't working. I had my neighbor saw the handle and beat it with a hammer until it popped open because buying a new doorknob is cheaper than calling a locksmith. Really! Now you know if you ever need to do it too. The dishwasher guy came and said, "Uh it looks like someone has been trying to get in your house." Sheepishly, I said, "Uh yeah, it was me." :) 

3. Bought a van but then it fell through - yeah, one weekend that Luke came home we drove 3 hours to AL after I negotiated a price on the phone for a Honda Odyssey that he guaranteed was ready to drive home and we would be happy. We went, drove it, it swayed horribly, he guaranteed to fix it and deliver it to me. We signed the paperwork because we were getting it for like 2 grand under book. Well it just didn't feel right when he called me to confirm delivery. He could not give me a straight answer that it was totally fixed and he was a jerk and not trustworthy. We backed out even though we didn't want to. I really wanted a car. We had spent so much time looking already. Don't force decisions though if it doesn't feel right. I think we would have been sorry for the van and for the car payment. We really shouldn't have even been approved for the loan. Ugh. It hurt to not get it. 

4. No hot water - yeah for 3 days till my friend called a plumber for me because she said that was unacceptable, I was trying to save money. Paying for the bill and two new heating elements was worth it so I could actually get the dishes clean again and shower for more than 1 minute

5. Lost my flip flop in the middle of the road - yes I crossed the 4 lane divided highway we go on to do our grocery shopping in a hurry because I was going to be late for work. Started at a run and then hopped on my bike as my flipflop came off. Too dangerous and late to stop and get it. The missionaries helped me retrieve it later when I made my second trip back over there to get them dinner because I forgot I had signed up for it.

 

6. 5 things of poo stepped and smashed all over in the carpet while I was in the shower - pretty self explanatory.  Katie did it right after I let her get out of the shower first. I still have poo stains I couldn't get out.

7. Katie won’t eat - anything! I don't know what her deal is. She will only will eat sweet stuff. Which probably explains her rash. I think one night she ate 10 beans out of the chili in between 10 trips and crying fits in her crib. Yeah that was my strategy. Then I gave up.

8. Katie has a chin rash that won’t go away - probably yeast infection, probably from sugar being out of control, probably from mom snacking from being sick from being pregnant - ugh did I mention I do not love being pregnant? No ointments are working. And I can't afford to go to the dr. yet. 

9. Throw up and wet pants in our new van!! -  We were able to get our friends', the Fishes, from when we lived here before and who is now the branch president, van. They were generous to us and hope that we can pay it forward to someone in need when the time comes. That is what being self-reliant is all about. And serving and welfare in the church, being as self-reliant as we can so that we can help take care of others better and sometimes we need it too.  We got up at 6AM to drive them to Tallahassee to get their new van. Gracie got car sick (poor girl like her mom who gets sick everywhere, especially when pregnant). She threw up and wet her pants in our new van and we pulled over at a gas station to clean it up as best we could. We smelled it all the way home. Nothing to bond you like sharing a road trip with someone and adding throwup! We love the Fishes. I made it home 15 minutes before work and starving. But it was worth it. I can't stop saying the words, "I HAVE A VAN!"

 

10. Locked out again- Yes this is the last one because Luke is home but he still got to be here for this. I am used to going in and out of the garage on my bike so I don't carry my keys around anymore. Somehow the inside door in our garage got locked so we couldn't get in today after church. And Luke did not have the key to our new doorknob yet. UGH! At least we had access to our drill in our garage for Luke to drill the knob through. And we got in. The only consolation is that the door knob was a free one that we got from our neighbor after he sawed the previous one off that was all rusty. Remember above! No more getting locked out. We swear! 

 For Better or For Worse eh? Endure to the end because it's worth it!!! For all of us! Eternity or bust!!