Rescue of the Lost Lamb

My friend, Kim, made this color bar for me.  I love the blues and grays for paint colors in our living room...now I just need to purchase Minerva Tiechert's "Rescue of the Lost Lamb" painting. 

There's No Place Like Home

Abigail's new ruby slippers - she hijacked the iPhone to take this one herself.

Today I missed Kansas. Oh how my heart ached to be back in Topeka.   I miss my good friends there.  I miss the fall - crunchy red leaves, apple picking, visiting the pumpkin patch - you know, typical mid-western stuff.  I miss my old ward and neighborhood.
It all started once I read THIS post.  What a wonderful opportunity my dear friend has to see a temple being built, to offer service to those working on it, and to make such neat memories with her kids!

And then I forced myself to count my blessings.  I love our new home in Palmer.  LOVE. IT.  We're surrounded by mountains lightly dusted with snow at their peaks.  It's inspiring even to little Abbie, who commented at how beautiful it is here and that Jesus must live in those clouds up by the mountains (she knows he really doesn't live on a cloud).  We get to watch the sun peak over the Chugach and turn the sky pink and yellow in the mornings as we drive the very short distance to drop Madeline off at school. 
After drop-off, we swing past Jeremy's office and wave hello through the car windows.  We get to have lunch with him every day.  Everything is so close and convenient. 

We didn't know we'd really end up here.  The last few months have been quite unsettling.  Moving 3500 miles back "home" only to feel that it's not "home" anymore was the worst.  We went through the motions of establishing roots: Jeremy looked for a job, he leased an office space, we even started building on our property.  With the living situation (we were staying with my parents in their 2 bedroom/1 bath house), Madeline was enrolled in public school.  I cried a lot that day about that decision.  Feelings of guilt and inadequacy overwhelmed me as I realized that I couldn't juggle homeschool, living out of a suitcase, building a house,  and having a 4th child in just a few months.  I swallowed my pride and let reality sink in that that was the best decision for Madeline, and she has loved Kindergarten since the first day.

Jeremy and I made a trip to the temple to sort out all the chaos.  We realized we were not doing what we were supposed to.  Our old home is not where our new home should be.  We felt good about being in the Mat-Su Valley.
  It felt like home.  We felt peace.

Jeremy promptly started looking for a job in Palmer and was hired days later as a law clerk in a small firm (right across the street from the courthouse even).  We waited for two weeks to get into an apartment here - Jeremy was in Palmer, we were in North Pole.  He drove up on the weekend and rescued us and we stayed in a hotel in Wasilla (15 min from Palmer) for that last week until we finally got into our new home.

We're settling in quite nicely and are just enjoying being our little family again.   
Things worked out; they always do.  Thank goodness for prayer and for personal revelation. 

Thank goodness we get to keep writing new chapters in our life and that we get to continue to make memories with our kids!  Life keeps going on.  I've got wonderful memories to look back on and experiences I am happy to have enjoyed.

I may miss Kansas, or Hawaii, or even North Pole at times, but I am happy to be right here: our home.

Now What?

This needs to be my new mantra.  Keep calm and carry on.

We have 9-12 days left here in Kansas before we hit the road to a much cooler, scenic, dry, and oh so beautiful (no offense KS) state.  Oh how we miss Alaska on these hot and humid days!

With a few large items left to sell, the packing, the painting, the cleaning, the goodbyes (or see you soons) all need to happen quickly. 

We thought we had solid plans, then we did a 180 and thought those were solid, now we're in the midst of a new twist that could change things yet again.  I thought law school was hard, well, seeing Jeremy leave all the time to study was hard, but really, it's not as bad as post-graduation.

Now a whole new set of worries has cropped up.  Where will we live?  What about a job?  What about insurance for this baby due in December?  How will we pay for...?  Will I be able to be a functional homeschool parent and hit the ground running when we are settled?  What's "settled" anyway?

I know that we will be taken care of.  And that is all I know right now.  The Lord wanted us to go on this path, so we followed, and He will continue to guide us.  We may not know all the answers right this moment, but I know they will come.

Keep calm and carry on.  Keep calm and carry on....

Welcome... again

OK, it's official, the blog is private.  Check back soon for some thoughts on leaving Kansas...

Lock Down

We're making this blog private, so if you want to find out what the O'Neils are up to in Alaska starting this fall, leave me a comment with your email so I can send you an invite.  Or feel free to email me with that info if you prefer (dahliab79@hotmail.com). 
Some highlights to be expected in the near future are watching/reading about our adventures in construction, fun times with homeschool, and how life after law school is going...stay tuned...but I'm not promising there'll be frequent updates.  :)

This blog will be private starting July 20...you've got a week.

It's Tradition

The night before our wedding, we went with the family to a nice theater/restaurant.  We saw Lord of the Rings.  The first one.  Jeremy was driving my car and I rode with his mom.  We had a good time, came out to our vehicles, and realized that Jeremy parked in a tow away zone.  Nice. 

We got to the impound (along with quite a few other theater patrons who made the same mistake) and Jeremy's brother, Kelly, paid for our car to be released.  Thank goodness - we didn't have $120 in cash.

Fast forward 6 years. 

Jeremy has graduated with his MBA and we are celebrating at a family gathering.  We now have a new car, and apparently, something needs to happen to it. 

Jeremy locks the keys in it.  No way are we paying for a locksmith. 

So with a few trusty friends and a wire hanger, the problem is solved.  Not very quickly, but still solved.

Now fast forward two more years.  We are now at a Royals baseball game celebrating Jeremy's graduation from law school.  It's the night before commencement.  We have a new car.  It's just tradition that something must happen to our car, on or the night before some big occasion, right? 

Well, it was my fault this time.

And this time, locking the keys in the car meant locking an almost asleep Brayton in the car too.  Don't worry, it wasn't too hot or cold that night at 10:30pm.

So we scrambled to find a phone number for AAA.  Our friend, Craig, ran back to the staduim, got a police officer and had him get in touch with AAA.

It was a quick operation and by the time he arrived, Brayton was fully asleep.

Thank goodness we parked close to our friends so they could help out - and document this event in photos too.

Success.

So that's one special O'Neil tradition. 

Keeping in the same vain, here's another O'Neil tradition:

Please observe the following two photos for any resemblances...

Me in 2005 building our house.  Don't laugh, that's all that fit as far as work clothes went.

The fam in 2008, heading to Topeka.

What do either of those photos have in common?  We're in construction or moving, yes. 

 But there's also baby on the way in both. 

This August, we'll be both moving and doing construction.

So to keep up with tradition, we decided to have another baby.

Due on my birthday this time, December 10th.

Perhaps that will be our new tradition, as Abbie & Jeremy share the same birthday, as well as Brayton & his aunt Melissa do too.

We shall see...

18 Months

That's right folks, Brayton is already 18 months!  My how the time flies.  It's amazing at what he has already accomplished...

Brayton is already receiving helicopter flight instruction from his big sister (quite the accomplishment for Maddie too...remember this?)

He does his own hair.  Peanut butter is his choice of gel.

He's a great climber and always willing to work on the printers & computer. 

He may just follow his daddy's footsteps and go to law school...just so he can wear a cool graduation cap. 

And this Sunday, he's off to his new nursery class.  Halleluja!