Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

Remember this picture? Back in April 2019, we took this pic.

It’s been a long road. Yes, it has been a windy, bumpy, often-detoured road to move into our home.

You see, although you have a plan, the plan often gets thwarted. Nothing you have done has made this happen, yet it always happens. Why? God’s plan. He has a much bigger plan, and at the moment, it seems like it’s just not fair or right. Then, you have perspective. You see God’s hand in the mess, and you rejoice. To watch Doug be 100% involved in this project for over 1 1/2 years is amazing. He has been extremely focused while perhaps others have not. HOA issues, permit issues, contractor issues, contracted help issues….and the list goes on. Doug? He has never let us see him sweat. He’s been like that turtle that just keeps going slow and steady, having faith all along the way.

It was to be a maybe 6-month project. It turned out that the WHOLE house was gutted and redone. Termites we can thank for some of that. Doug’s dream we can thank for some of that too.

It’s now so close. Doug’s commitment shows, yet he is exhausted. He goes to the house EVERY SINGLE DAY before work. Then he gives his all to Honeywell and to our family. 100% to each area is a lot of percents. Not really humanly possible, so I dream for him to slow down. Take in some hobbies. Take in His walk with Jesus. Take in us…family time. It’s all around the corner. Literally.

Ok, you gotta see where we are now. Look at the front. Painted…windows. WOW

That door! That 9 foot bazillion dollar door. He was right! It’s magnificent.

And the foyer!

The atom light I picked out. Yay me! (I didn’t give a lot of advice, so I’ll take it)

Our bathroom is glorious. (Doug is working on building our closet. More to come).

Her closet that he built WOW!

Our bedroom.

Kitchen. You’ll see it soon.

Oh, this is the laundry mud room. More later.

My office, the living room, her bedroom, you’ll see soon.
Here’s the hall bathroom.

Oh, we are so close. Maybe after Thanksgiving.

Honey, you have no idea how grateful we are. It’s a dream I’ll never take for granted.

God had us wait so we could be closer as a family in our condo. Also, so you could be home during this time from Honeywell. So many blessings have come from this length of time. We made some valuable friends at the condo which wouldn’t have happened!

We look forward to maybe Christmas in our new home. Until then, we are just grateful for the JOURNEY. May we always embrace to process and not the destination.

XXOO. Love you so much, Tot and HHH.

We are on the 14th week. Yes, after dinner every Wednesday, we have a lovely discussion. Here is the book we use.

It’s a fun book that engages all ages and has stories to support the memory verse of the week.

Now, Tatum and I have memorized about 100 verses which we still do weekly, but this book has a verse a week for the family to memorize. So, we now just finished week 14. Go Daddy!

Tatum leads us in our recitation. Also, this week, the verse was Phil 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The activity was to draw something we’d like to accomplish. Tatum drew this:

Oh, be still my heart. She’ll be an amazing teacher.

We have some rich discussions each week (well, most weeks), and if anything, we are loving more (each other and Jesus), learning more (about each other and Jesus), and communing more (with each other and Jesus). That is never a waste of time.

I love you family.

This is one of those should I celebrate this or not blogs. You see, we try not to celebrate those perfect scores too much because we don’t want that ever to trump her Godly character growth. BUT, she has really been trying in two areas:

Handwriting and Math.

Her attitude is what I want to celebrate here. In the past, Tatum would wince a bit about her writing and would not apply herself. But, I’ve seen a change. THIS is what I want to stress. Not giving up and truly applying her heart, she has worked hard at not allowing the enemy to tell her she cannot do it. SHE CAN. Same with Math. Take this assessment she just completed:

Just last week, her homework included these problems. She missed them on her homeward, and then we worked on them at home. She applied herself and did it!

Anyway, I’m proud of your efforts, Little Tot.

They were asked to dress up like a princess. Well, that is not hard for my little cherub. She picked out her dress (from her LOVE day July 9th). And, oh…what a sight to see.

She didn’t have a tiara, but was told when she got there, they’d give her one.

Selah was there early, so they posed.

Then, the princess of the day came: CARLEY!

Carley and Tot have known each other since Ms. V’s class at Paradise For Tots (they were both 4 and in Kinder). They go way back, and we just adore her.

The girls arrived, and they started out at the pink table all princessed out.

Teagan, Sophia, Isabel and Maddy all came too. Tatum looked so darn cute!

I noticed how mature Tatum acted the whole party. She has this way about her..it’s an inner beauty and a kindness that I got to watch behind the scenes. (she didn’t know I was watching her).

Later, they retired to the outdoors for games. A little freeze dance.

And kiss the frog. Tot kissed the grass. (better than a green frog!)

Each game (there were about seven) Tatum would get at the end of the line. I love that about her. Never trying to be first, allowing others to be ahead of her.

How beautiful are these girls? They will be friends for life. I love each of their hearts.

They went in for cake and posed again.

Happy Birthday Carley!

On the way home, Tot played with her braids . Definitely ready for long hair.

Cooper too.

Tot, you are truly a princess inside and out. You don’t need a tiara because you are already HIS girl. That is what makes you so beautiful. Your heart: kind, meek, loving, and strong. All of these fruits will continue to grow and become even more juicy. You just keep being YOU and remember HOW deeply you are loved and adored by HIM and by us.

Thank you, Carley, for lovely memories at your party. Your friendship is a lifetime one.

Veteran’s Day. A day of to remember our heroes. Thank you, Veteran’s, for protecting and defending our country.

I wanted to surprise Tot and Daddy with some fun for the day off and for a pre-birthday surprise. Great Wolf Lodge moved in to Scottsdale last year, and we have been dying to go! The indoor water park sold us! I had an opportunity to buy a deal for an overnight, so I jumped on it.

The morning started with Tatum doing her homework which isn’t due until next week, but she wanted to get it done.

Happy FALL! (finally it’s getting cold here)

At 12:45,

we left for the lodge. (she had no idea where we were going). When we arrived, Tatum was overjoyed!!! (I had all the bags packed and her school clothes for the next day).

We got our ears and waited in the line to check in. Look at these two.

They had our room ready early so we could change into our suits! This is great!

Oh, how cute the room is! Like a real lodge. And the little soaps? Sheesh. CCUUTTEE.

We finally got down to the waterpark, and we finally entered the NO MASK zone. Hooray!! it was like a sub-society of rebels. Nobody really minded any sign of 6-feet or social distancing.

See that big bucket at the top of the water contraption? It DUMPS on you when you least expect it. Speaking from experience here.

Ok, so we found the HUGE water slide that even goes outside because it’s so monstrous. We climbed the five floors to get there, entered our family raft, and KABOOM! Down down down around around around we went. It was tremendously fun.

Then, Tatum discovered the waves. Oh, just like CA but without the sand…well, and the sun and the sharks. You know..

A few other climby, ropey, obstacley things for Tot.

Whoops! See the foot?

Ok, back up again for more. And more it was. Three more hours. Doug and I played a bit with her, and we really just snuggled on the side and watched. Tot was in water heaven.
Later, we headed to our room, had dinner, played a game, read and collapsed. Truly a fun day and night.

School in the morning.

Thank you, Veterans for your service. Thank you GW Lodge for your fun.

Hmmmm. I think I like President Tatum Hay’s ideas.

And from my ballot to God. May He bless this election.