January

Well, you know, sometimes life throws unexpected blessing at you. It's true.

The packers came, and did a wonderful job boxing things up. They simply underestimated how much stuff we have. ;)

The movers came and were able to finish packing the little bit of stuff left out.

Well, when we went house shopping it was rough. We began to question if we were truly in God's Will with Stephen putting in for this new position.

God saw we needed a boost and He provided. BOOM! Stephen is getting frocked on Monday! YIPPEE!!!!!!

This morning Stephen drove to meet the movers at our house. (we are currently staying with the in-laws until our LA house is ready.) Oh loook! There's a little white business card on the door!

What the beans?!

Oh, ok, we're fine! The house isn't. It's being foreclosed.

Thanks God for the affirmation!

Our house is in a truck being shipped to temporary storage.

We are comfortably housed.

God is so good!

Kyle & Abby (the ones I know you all truly want to hear about) are loving being back at school. =) Stephen is ready and excited to be frocked! The ceremony will be on Monday (I'M SO PROUD OF HIM!!!!)

Me? I am absolutely LOVING having the time to be with my husband and kids! Most of all, I love being awake enough to study the Word. Yes, I've been terrible and not really studied or read much lately. But now?

Oh! I can wake up, read the Word. Drop the kids off at school, clean, set up things out in LA, walk the dog, read some more in my study. LOOOOOOVE IT!

Yes, I will be working part time out in LA. But it won't be anything like it was! YAY!

Ok, time to get off. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012

And so it begins.

A new year.

Lots of new adventures!

We move out of our house by Friday.

We move to the in-laws that same day.

We move to our new LA home by the 16th.

I will try to update.

I will put up Christmas pictures.

It will simply take me a little while.

I'm off to go pack up what we will need for the in-between times.

New Years' joy?

I have the MOST amazing husband,, 2 fabulous children, an adorable dog...

AND we got to see both sides of our family in the past week!

YAY!

At my HUSBAND'S request...

Clarification dear friends:

We won't be living IN a trailor park, per say. It is more like our house is at the entrance of a bunch of retiree trailor living quarters.



=)

First week of vacation

We started it off with a road trip to M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I!

Yes, that is what we did.

We took Memaw to visit her son (the amazing Uncle Jack, Aunt Kathy, and Cousin....Cousin I don't remember his name - but he is hilaaaaarious!)

A rather uneventful, chatty trip.

We made it to MS without any detours, delays (except a lot of potty breaks), or flat tires.

Monday we spent FIVE hours driving around and saw two prospective rentals.

Did I mention this was a house shopping road trip?

It was!

We very successfully discovered where we didn't want to live.

We drove to the state park and just chilled for a bit.

I had been uncomfortable all day and it was not getting better.

"Stephen, I need to go to the hotel."

Being a gentleman, he took me back and let me rest while he went to search out more information.

We had contacted four realtors with no success.

He wasn't gone 10-15 minutes and I called him back.

What happened?

A trip to the ER, some not fun moments, a CAT scan:

"Ma'am? Have you ever had a kidney stone?"

HA! Some of you thought something else, nope!

I had my first Kidney stone.

Two more days of frustrating searching and we were told about a home in a trailor park. We shuddered. There is a certain thought/feeling/what have you when you hear those words. A fabulous (absolutely LOVE this woman) realtor had scraped up several possible homes on the Natchez side of the river. She recommended that we check out the trailor park house. It sat at the entrance of the trailor park, was rumored to be a nicer house, and rumored to have a bit of room as well. The neighborhood was also said to be safe.

We drove out there again. Two elderly people happened to be outside and we stopped to talk with them. We asked about the neighborhood, crime rate, the people in the house, etc. You name it, we asked about it. I will be there without Stephen every other week.

If it isn't safe, there is no way I would stay there!

They said in 23 years there have been 2 issues and both of those happened more than 10 years ago.

We went in to the house. The lady that lives there was sweet and showed us everything.

In short, we are meeting with the landlord to work out the lease later today!

Which is wonderful because Stephen was irritable and stressed Tuesday.

I was irritable Wednesday.

We argued about absolutely NOTHING both days.

Did I mention that "Dorie" doesn't communicate well with Logical-Black&White thinkers?

I'm abstract!

Why can't he follow my abstract thinking?

Lol

We had a lot of laughs about how dumb it was. =)

I love this man SO much!

There is more, I will share it later.

PRAISE! God supplied a home in the best school district. There is a big need for substitute teachers. We have some pretty amazing people living near by!



Tis the End

This is it.

The last day.

It feels so weird.

I look forward to Christmas break, but I don't believe it will hit me until January when next semester begins.

Our search for a house begins in earnest on Sunday.

Here is a picture of my home for the past year and a half...

No offense, but it's the best.

Best building.

Best people.

Best coworkers.

Best administration.

They will be sorely missed...

Ah ha moments

I know you never have those moments, but I do. I had a big one - shockingly large, you might say. It was even rather "Dorie-like."

Christmas is only 2 weeks away!

What the beans!?! I need to finish shopping! We do have a tree put up, and SOME shopping done. Much more to do though. Five days until the kids natural mother picks them up, one week until we go house shopping in MS. We leave on the 18th and get back on the 23rd. There's a slight chance I am pressed for time. In that same amount of time, I need to finish packing up my classroom, help go through the garage, and have energy.

Today? I pooped out. Therefore, there are no pictures.

Abby had her first sleep over with three of her little friends from school They were up all hours of the night giggling and talking - a very dear friend housed the party. Kyle went to Meme's with his cousin. They had a bonfire with their Poppa and from what I understand they just straight out had a blast! Stephen & I got to go to the Christmas party for my work. I was afraid he wouldn't have any fun, but he hit it off with several guys and talked all night!

Today was FABULOUS! ... ok let me fix that statement. This morning in church was FABULOUS! The LORD's presence filled the place and it was SO refreshing! You always know God is everywhere you are, you know He knows everything, and you know there is nothing that escapes Him. However when the LORD'S presence fills His house that is already full of His people - there are not words to fully express it! We needed it! We spent the afternoon with our family and everyone just had a lot of fun...or so I'm told. Believe it or not, I went to lay down shortly after getting there and didn't get up until shortly before we left. I missed all the fun! The kids made Christmas cookies with Meme, Uncle Jake, Aunt Kelly, and Luke.  Meme was in heaven! =) Which is good, because she deserves it! Now I'm trying to figure out how to do that for the Indiana family!

Do you realize next year is only 20 days away?





December 3rd

Wow! What a long time to leave you hanging with nothing fun to read! Change is still very dominant in our lives. Stephen & I have come to the conclusion that fast change is going to be the theme. We are more the type to stop, think about the options, think about which is the best, start thinking about moving, stop and think some more...at least when it comes to big things.

God has this plan, a very intricate plan, that is very different. For example, Stephen moved to FL again in June of 2010. I moved to FL for the first time in July of 2010. I met him in September - what a shy, quiet guy he was! I couldn't get him to do anything more than chuckle or say, "Goodmorning ma'am."

What the beans?

Whatever, I loved Connie and we were friends and that was all I cared about.

Two months later Stephen & I go on our first date and became pretty much inseparable. (November 20, 2010) He proposes on March 19, 2011. We get married June 25, 2011. Early November we discover the landlords put the house we're in on the market. We apply for a position in Natchez, MS November 17, 2011.

November 21, 2011 - "MK1 Langenmayr, orders just came through that you will be transferring to Natchez, MS. You will report as the EPO by January/February."

What do you say? Yes sir? That's what we did! Uncle Sam called, we followed.

Good thing the house is on the market! Good thing I have a FABULOUS work family that is helping me get everything together to leave, get my students taken care of, and helping me laugh off the dumb little things of life!

Kyle & Abby are excited/sad/scared about the move. Excited because it is a chance for new friends. Excited because they found out I'll actually be able to be around more since I won't be working 75 hours a week. Excited because their natural mother will be 5 hours instead of 16 hours away. Sad to be leaving the friends and family here. Scare at the idea of changing schools and not knowing what life will be like.

Stephen is excited! He will be working for a WONDERFUL Master Chief! The job he will be doing is exactly what Stephen hoped for. At Natchez, he will be under way every other week.

Kaden? Oh I'm sure if he knew what was happening he'd be happy/sad. Happy because there will be plenty of new places to sniff out. Sad because he won't be going to work with Stephen anymore at the new base. This dog is SPOILED!

Me? Excited/sad/nervous/outside of my mind happy! Excited - a new place! I love going to new places, meeting new people, and exploring! Sad - My RCE family is here. They took me in when I was nobody to them. They offered to let me spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with them last year when I was alone. Stephen's family is here - they are wonderful and I (we) will miss them A LOT! Outside of my mind happy - I won't be a full time teacher so I'll actually get to be home with my kids on the weekends!!!!!!!

There are pictures GALORE on facebook. Sorry but 90ish pictures is just too much to post on here. Besides, you upload pics on here ONE AT A TIME! YIKES! Facebook you upload all 90ish and you are done! =) Go check out the fall pictures, Abby's birthday, etc.

Thanksgiving pictures should come soon! As in hopefully a couple hours if I get my lesson  plans all done. I'm typing this for a 10 minute break...ok so it's been 5 minutes, but whatever. We teachers round time and maximize what time we have!

Love to you all!