Cannon's Baptism

 

 

Cannon was baptized on September 1, 2012.

This was a good day! He was so excited to be baptized. He was happy that Grandpa and Grandma Madsen made the trip out here to  join us. He was the only child in the stake being baptized so we got to plan the entire program. I think it turned out just right. Sullivan gave the talk on baptism and Madsen gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. He did cheat a little because he procrastinated and I finally gave in and found a talk I had given at Declan's baptism and let him change it just a little. Declan gave the closing prayer.  We sang I Lived in Heaven , which is Cannon's favorite Primary song.  Matt baptized and confirmed him. Because Madsen is now a Priest, he got to be a witness,  along with my dad. I thought that was pretty neat. Oh how I wish I could have taken a picture of Cannon as he entered the font. His face was beaming. He came down the steps and looked out at us with the biggest smile on his face. It melted my heart. Waverly went right up by the font to watch and as she came back she exclaimed, "that was awesome!" She was right.

Things I am Looking Forward To

Let me start by saying I am very grateful that we get to live in this house while ours is being built. It solved many problems for us and is much more comfortable than an apartment would have been. We are very grateful! However, it is small. We are so squished. There is stuff everywhere and no where to put it. I am so ready for the new house! I have a running list of things I am looking forward to about the new house. Everyday it seems like something happens that makes me think of something I am anxiously waiting for. 1. SPACE! 2. Waverly to have her own room again, she is not doing so well with roommates! 3. SPACE! 4. My screened porch: reading books, naps, relaxing with my husband... 5. Pulls on the cabinets 6. Soft, new carpet and nice hardwood floors. 7. SPACE! 8. Kitchen island 9. 3rd floor for the boys to hang out in 10. Having my books back. I miss my books. 11. A yard to work in and play in 12. A quiet neighborhood 13. A place for everything so everything can be in its place 14. SPACE! 15. 3 garages, at least 2 cars will be parked in them! 16. Most of all, SPACE! There are many things that I am looking forward to. Mostly just having enough space for my family. I think we will like each other a little better. It is hard being in this little house. The house is coming along. They should be painting the exterior any day now. All the electric, plumbing, heating and a/c lines are in. We are waiting on inspections so they can do the insulation and dry wall. Oh, how we hope it will happen soon and they can get to work on all that inside stuff.

Then and Now

July, 2004
This is our family when we  moved to NC.

 

June, 2012, This is us moving out of the house. A lot has changed in 8 years. Good bye, little house.Thank you for the memories.  

How Many Miracles?

There have been many prayers answered in the form of miracles for our family this spring. The builder starting the house before ours sold, the house selling on time anyway, Declan getting into Apex Middle... There is one more mini miracle on my mind right now. But I kind of feel guilty to even ask, kind of like I am pushing my luck or not being grateful for the blessings we received because I keep asking for more. So I have been thinking, is there a finite number of miracles or answered prayers or special blessings for a person or a family? Is that number over a life time or just a little bit of time? I often hear statements like if I can just have such and such happen, I will never ask for anything again. I have decided that that is an impossibility. No matter how many blessings, answered prayers, miracles I receive, there will always be something else I need divine help with. I will never run out of things to ask for. So I hope He will never run out of blessing or miracles for me. Throughout the adventures of the spring, I focused my prayers on the house and Declan getting into the right school. I wanted Cannon to get into a different school too, but figured I could deal with his same old school for one more year, I just really NEEDED the other things to happen. And they did. And we witnessed miracles. And we are so very grateful for the way things have turned out. We are now down to the final days of the school wait list. Final assignments will be posted on Friday. Cannon is #2 to get into Baucom Elementary which is just a couple of miles away from the house, lots of church kids go there, he could just ride a bus home! I want him to get into this school. I also just discovered that the bell schedule for Farmington Woods, where he currently attends, is changing to a start time of 9:15, end time of 3:45. That will make for 3 rounds of getting kids up and out and he won't get home until around 4:30 which will start to be pick up time for high school practices and cross country race time. This new information makes me really really hope he gets in. I just need 2 more open spots. Is that too much to ask?

Things I Wish I Had

Right now we have the majority of our belongings in storage while we live in our little rental house waiting for our house to be built.I brought mostly just necessities with us. One of my friends who is in a similar situation told me that she guesses we will go to storage 20 times looking for things we need. So far we have been here 2 weeks and have not gone at all. I have discovered a few things I wish I had... Bread pans, spare towels, spare pillows, blankets, more board games. I will not go to storage for any of these. When I decide I really need them, I will just go buy new ones. Except maybe the blankets, but I am hoping we will be in the house before it is blanket weather.

Tears Today

I am feeling a bit emotional today while packing up the house. We will move out on Wednesday. I will clean on Thursday. We close on Friday. Very soon I will walk out of this house, lock the door and never go in it again. Weird. I do wish we were moving straight into the new house. That would be exciting. This temporary move is not much fun. Delayed gratification. I keep finding myself on the verge of tears as I see empty cabinets and shelves and rooms. We have been very happy here in this little house. Many good memories of good things happening to our family. I guess that is what I am thinking about. Not about how we have way outgrown the space. Not the no grass in the backyard. Not the tiny kitchen with counters that need replaced. Not the walls that need repainting. Not how it makes me crazy that there is no where to go to escape the noise of 5 kids in less than 2,000 square feet. I am sure glad we are not moving away from my town, my ward, my friends. Then the tears would be legitimate.

We All Have Work...

We are down to just a few more days in this house. It is kind of bitter sweet. I have been wanting out of this house for several years. Praying desperately for this to happen. We were so excited to have the house sell. I kept thinking the excitement over it would erase the hard work. I was wrong. It is hard work packing up a house for a family of seven. We spent all day Saturday cleaning out and packing up the garage. We are storing stuff in the basement of a friends house so we made several trips with the van and their truck loaded up. The garage is all away. Today the boys helped move all the stuff from the attic to the garage and then we made 2 van loaded up trips to the basement. It is pretty impressive how much I can get in the van. My goal for the week is to have everything we plan to store in the basement IN the basement and all the other stuff we will take to the rental boxed up. We can start moving to the rental on the 26 so the 27th will be big moving day and then we will clean the empty house on the 28th with the closing to happen on the 29th. And that is it. Eight years in this house. Way longer than we thought it would be. We have been very happy here. I am so glad we are not moving far away. We brought two babies home to this house. My boys have gone from little boys (Madsen turned 8 here, Sully was 6, Declan 3) to fine young men. We have had a lot of fun in the cul-de-sac and big back yard. We have really great neighbors. There are a lot of memories wrapped up in this little house. We were so excited to buy it. It seemed so big and nice and new. Now it seems so small and old. I hope the new people are as excited as we were. Now we will live in the house of some friends for a few months while the real house is being built. We are so grateful for their kindness. I so look forward to my new house. It is a nice house, more than I ever really thought I would get to have but everything I have hoped for. It will be nice to have a little breathing room. We will get used to no cul-de-sac and neighbors all around. We will have new adventures and new memories in the new house. But NO new babies! We will watch the kids grow up and leave home. I hope it is the last house I ever buy. The boys are being such good helpers. It is not fun. The boxes are heavy. It is hot outside. They do not like to wash walls and baseboards and windows. I like having my own personal cleaning and moving crew. It will take all of us to make this happen. I will be glad when it is finished and we can rest for a little while. Then we get to do it all over again! kind of sorry for the long post. I guess I was just writing all the things in my head down. You did not have to read it all!