Officially Back to Omaha!

Well, of this we are VERY excited. It's been a challenging almost 9 months here in west Texas and we are more than ready to return home. Neither Katy nor I had any idea we'd be here for such a short time when God asked us to move last summer. I don't think anybody ever expects to leave so quickly after a move, especially one that was 1000 miles in distance.

We now begin the process of wrapping things up here, making necessary arrangements for a moving truck, flying Dan & Stacy down so he can drive the truck (because I will not), ending utilities and cable and all that fun stuff. If there is any benefit to having moved often, especially across country, it's that the process of doing all this is not unfamiliar. We have our list and just have to accomplish those things there and will be in good shape. Probably the toughest thing is timing, as the truck will be loaded up on the 21st in the late afternoon/early evening. Then we have to shampoo the carpets lest the complex steal the $600 refundable portion of our $1100 pet deposit. You read that right. Don't get me started.

For those of you wondering how this came about, let's agree that God does indeed move in mysterious ways. How else could we explain dozens of visits to our house without a single offer with interest rates extremely low and an $8000 credit from the government for first-time buyers on the table? It makes no logical sense, but it was a means for God to show us we needed to move back to Omaha. We don't have definite income yet, so please pray with us that we will have income soon after moving back.

Wind And More Wind

One of the things we were warned about early on here in West Texas was how the winds will go weeks without stopping. I will say that, to date, we haven't run into that, however they are fairly constant and today we're having one of those gusty, windy days we've become used to. Thing is, the winds here blow around plenty of fine dust and dirt that ends up in your teeth, hair and pretty much everything. This is the reason people here get so bothered by the wind all the time. At least in many other places, where grass exists, the winds don't blow around all the extra dust. One good thing, though, is that the winter storm system that has been so busy this week dropping blizzards and tornadoes, depending on your location, isn't coming quite this far south. The snow and freezing rain stayed about 2 hours north, as expected, and then 4 hours north Amarillo got hit pretty good today. Good for them. They can have it. :)

Took these pics today of Zac with his music table. We purchased this for him for his birthday after seeing how much he loved something very similar at Christmas Nell had bought for Ryan and Mandy to enjoy. He loves this thing and plays with it every day for quite a bit of time.

Also, look for more videos today over on the right. I uploaded 4 new ones just showing Zac playing around today.

Central Texas Weekend

When Katy and I moved down here, we committed ourselves to spending at least one weekend in Copperas Cove, which is a little west of I-35, an hour or so north of Austin. Needing something positive, we chose to go this past weekend. While there, we had opportunity to visit the parents of Zac's babysitter along with some family friends Katy has known since she was very young. The two house pictures here are the ones we could find of the three she lived in while they were in Copperas Cove over two separate stays. Just for good measure, I tossed in a pic of Zac this morning trying to watch TV.

The weekend trip was good for us, as we had a chance to get away, focus our energies on positive things and it's possible we even made some good job contacts for me. But regardless, it was fun and relaxing. Aside from my very unfortunate episode Friday night in which my supper from Burger King decided it needed to come back up for a visit, we had a good visit.

Please continue to pray with us that we won't be distracted by our own desires as God moves us once again. While we are confident we are moving out of this particular area, we don't yet know for certain where we are going. Is it back to Nebraska? Is it to central or eastern Texas? We're fairly confident it's one of those options and just need to be sure we are open to His bidding.

What's That? Let Me Taste It

I've been wanting to put up a post for a bit but had been hoping to remember to take a picture to capture the moment I planned to write on. Since my memory is fading faster than West Texas can take my health, I'll just write now and share the thoughts.

We've all watched as babies learn new things about taste and texture and shapes, etc. Just watching your child learn each new thing is fascinating. For quite some time now, Zac has been in that mode where everything he sees he wants to touch and, if at all possible, put it in his mouth. It's like his brain thinks, "What's that??? Oooooh. I wonder what it tastes like!"

I'm not really sure where the psychology of all this plays out or where it comes from, and it's not at all important to me that I do know. What I can say with certain confidence is that it's one of the funnier stages babies go through, and watching your own son or daughter try to taste everything in sight lends just enough humor to help get you through the fussy times. These fussy times happen more often now that Zac's awareness of things around him is increasing, so he'll keep himself awake far too long due to his interest in other kids, or animals or whatever is happening in the room, etc. The only time we can guarantee he's sleeping at a regular time is bedtime, which varies slightly by night, but once he's down, he's down.

Ah, then...peace...and dry toys...and furniture...and shirts...and blankets...and cats.

New Pics

OK, so I apparently stink at putting updates on here ever since the move. Sorry about that! We normally grab pictures off Katy's camera via a dock that attaches to her PC for some of these things and during the move, a clip inside broke away from the motherboard and now a necessary cooling feature for her video card cannot work. There are other ways to get the data, so I've resorted to that this afternoon/evening to get some pics uploaded to you today. These are both very special, as I'm sure you can tell.

One is of the three of us just outside the front door of our palatial, top-notch townhome (or at least it SHOULD be for what we're paying). The other is to give everyone an idea of just how much Zac's hair has grown in the past several weeks. Apparently the Texas sun has helped a lot.

On to other updates. We're enjoying a long holiday weekend, as Katy begins her new job on Tuesday. Now, figuring out the logistics of getting all of us up and out the door, Zac off to his new daycare and Katy off to her new work, without knowing how long it'll all take, will be fun (despite what Katy thinks). Hopefully we'll figure it out fairly quickly.

My job is going fairly well. It's more responsibility than I had expected, but with that comes a great opportunity to stretch and improve my own management skills, and I'm enjoying that part of the process. I feel it's going well so far, but ask me in 6 months how I feel about it because by then, I hope to be much more comfortable in my understanding of our business and the practices we have in place.

This morning we visited a new church, Crestview Baptist, which was a better fit than what we tried last week, to be sure. We believe it's now down to this church and Crossroads Fellowship over in Odessa. Pray with us that God will lead us to the one He has in store. Another very exciting thing happened this morning, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes it's easier for Katy to just take Zac in the shower with her, rather than give him a bath the night before. We try not to disrupt his sleep patterns too much and it works out this way occasionally.

So this morning I handed him to her in the shower and removed his diaper, which appeared very dry and empty (key word there) and to my surprise, he was not so clean on the back side. I alerted Katy to this and very shortly after a very audible "plop" could be heard hitting the bathtub, followed soon by another "plop". After I composed myself, I managed to grab some wipes and a fresh diaper (as I had already thrown the other away) and clean up the tub area so they could continue their shower...after Zac first decided to start his own "shower". Yes, it was quite the morning, but at least we laughed quite a bit about it (albeit likely only because Katy wasn't hit directly by the, well, poop. Happy Sunday everyone!

Katy & Zac Here!

Just a quick note...Katy, Zac and Nell arrived late Thursday night, Friday morning at about 3:15 a.m. It was a long night for all, and I know most of us didn't get much more than 2 hours of sleep or so. My boss was kind enough to give me a short day Friday after I had to work a short day Thursday when the movers arrived, and we celebrated Katy's 51st birthday with dinner at On The Border. Why 51? It's a long story related to some confusion at Sears several weeks back. Why On The Border? Because of course, where else do you go for Mexican food in West Texas? (he says with tongue very much planted in cheek)

I had people lined up to embarrass Katy with a song, but she declined dessert and I couldn't find the person who'd agreed to get people together for it, so we had to skip it. That's OK, though, because she enjoyed her birthday dinner and we enjoyed the evening together.

Nell left Midland this morning at 9:40, or was supposed to, on her flight back to Omaha. What a huge help she was to Katy these past several weeks, helping her pack and then driving down with her so she'd have extra assistance when I couldn't help out. We're very, very thankful for such a good mom and mom-in-law. Pics to be added soon! We need to download a pic of us in front of the townhouse here in Midland that Nell took for us yesterday, so I'll get that in before long.

Delayed Updates

A quick note here, folks, to give an update on things. I know many are probably wondering how everything is going with the move to Midland. We've been just swamped with stuff to do and buy. Oh, the buying. If you've ever had to move someplace without all of your stuff, think of the little things you have to buy that you need. Like a broom and dustpan, trash bags, a place to sit, soaps, toilet paper, etc. I could go on for awhile. When we bought a bunch of things Friday at the Wal-Mart here, we had a FULL shopping cart. I don't mind shopping, but looking at all that money going for things we already have on hand back in Omaha was tough. :)

Trying our best to get settled in a bit. Katy had a GREAT interview this morning with West Texas Gas Co. and is in the middle of one right now with Accountemps. She has another scheduled for tomorrow with a trucking company. I think she's going to get the one with the gas company. She had a great feeling about it, as did I, and it feels like a great fit. The office is about 7 minutes from our townhouse. In fact, most everything is within a 10-minute drive. Even my job over in Odessa will take 15, maybe 20 minutes to get to in the morning.

We have to register the car today, which isn't cheap for new Texas residents, but it has to be done. We'll do my Jeep next month after we complete the move. Katy flies back to Omaha Wednesday afternoon and then we're still looking at Labor Day for the move down here. I'll try to get pics here and there posted. Sorry so many delays lately!