The Florida Gatchel Daily: Staying Put

I've noticed that the last few days I've done quite a lot of babbling about all the projects we're taking on around here. Not only are we moving around rooms, reorganizing and redecorating, but pretty soon we're going to be doing some outside renovations, too. I think, though we don't necessarily want to admit it yet, it's because we've finally decided this is home for the time being.

In light of a lot of things, including this, we're pretty set on staying where we are for some time. While we've both kind of had our hearts set on moving back to the mid-west, when we really stopped to think about it other than being far away from our families, we're very content here. It's had some rough moments, but I don't things would have been any different if we were anywhere else. We may have had a few more hands to help out, but we still have to go through all the struggles and joys God puts in front of us.

And we do have good hands down here! While they might not be our blood relations, thank goodness for our Florida Family! Sometimes I don't tell you guys enough, but you are each a blessing to our lives and we are so thankful for you! I am so glad that we have such great friends and Noah has so many Aunts and Uncles looking out for him ;-)

I guess what I'm babbling about is consider this our unofficial announcement that we're not going anywhere in the near future. But if anyone wants to move down here... (hehehe)

Noah and I went and checked out a park not too far from the house today. Not quite as kid friendly as I would have hoped, so we're going to have to keep looking. I did manage to take a few pictures for anyone interested. And before I hear any lectures, he does not have socks on. He did in the car, but he managed to pull them off and slobber all over them in the 7 minute car ride to the park to the point they were so soaked I couldn't get them back on his feet. Therefore it was a quick 2 minutes in the swing.

We were working on crawling again tonight. Part of me really wants him to, for him. The other part of me is dreading it because then it means he'll be even more of a handful ;-) Right now he and Daddy are playing with his truck, and he's trying to pull himself up into a standing position from there! The kid is breaking my heart, I'm tellin' ya...

Alright, I'm off for the evening to spend some more time with my family. Enjoy the pictures!