A day in the city...and some changes

It has been a crazy week in our house and there are some big changes coming...

First I learned Monday morning that my Office will be closing come December 31st, which means that on January 1 I will no longer be an employee of Boy Scouts. It is a very bittersweet transition for me.

I love this job, and while they offered me a position in Texas, both Donnie and I feel that is not where our family needs to be, so with many tears, and the loss of a job I love we have decided to stay. Although it is a hard decsion I know it is the right one for us and Family has to come first in these situations.

So I am on the job hunt and hating every minute of it thus far, because I don't want to be looking for a job, I have a job I love, and while I am sure that there is one out there that I may love just as much I am not ready to look for it, I want this job, the one that took 5 years and alot of frustration to find, the one I look forward to going to every morning because my co workers have become good friends, and we respect each other.

Along with this job transition comes the need to possibly move, now this all depends on where I get a job of course, and we knew we were eventually going to have to move, but again I feel like the decision has been forced and rather than come to it in our own time we may have to make some rather quick decisions. Our Condo is where we brought Abby home after a long week in the NICU that felt like a lifetime, where we spent alot of sleepless nights with her, and where we have a bunch of memories of her first year.

I know that we will make memories elsewhere, and that to everything there is a season, and this will most likely be a wonderful thing for us, but again right now I am still in the denial, I don't want to go stage, and once I get past that I will see the light I know.

A friend I work with shared an email with me and I will put part of it here since it came at a time that was coincidental yet very fitting:

as autumn begins and the temperature cools, the most noticeable change is a colorful display of leaves, but there is also a shift within me--a sense of fresh energy and excitement.

Visible changes remind me that all is evolving. Seeing God's transformational handiwork in nature triggers in me a deep awareness of my potential for positive change. I find opportunities to grow closer to God and deeper in spritual understanding.

Whether the changes I face are minor or monumental, I have the spiritual tools I need to meet them with confidence and faith. With trust in God, I am guided through the changes life brings.

I am hoping this brings positive changes for our family, and only time will tell, but in the meantime I am leaving it to God to know what is best for us and I know that he has a plan and a purpose for each one of us, sometimes we just don't know it.

Ok...
On to more fun things :), we took Abby to the Shedd Aquarium on Tuesday, shhhh! after the news we recieved on Monday I needed a day away from it all to process and try and wrap my head around it, so what better than to spend it with your baby and Husband taking in Chicago.

Abby took her first train ride, spent her first day in the city and had a blast at the Shedd aquarium. She was captivated by the fish and really seemed to enjoy herself, so much so that on the walk back from the Shedd to the Train station ( yes, all 2 miles of it) she slept, completely oblivious to the cars, people, and even firetrucks.

It was a wonderful day and I loved that I got that time with them.

Abby also turned 8 months on Monday, and she celebrated it by showing Mommy and Daddy that she can now pull herself up to a stand if she tries really hard, she also enjoys not sleeping in her crib during naptime but rather playing with her toys and newly discovered Fisher Price fish tank, and throwing her pacifiers out of the crib so that we come in and see her :).

Below are some pictures of the day...enjoy, and please keep us in your thoughts as we make this change.

Love,
Christie, Donnie and Abby

Abby's First train Ride

All ready For the Fishes

                                                                             

Taking in the Aquarium

In Remembrance

I will never forget where I was on 9-11...I was in my Dorm Room getting ready for Class and My roommates Boyfriend called and said to turn on the news, I turned on CNN and saw that the first tower had been hit about 5 minutes later the plane hit the 2nd tower, it felt like being punched in the stomach, that day and the days following are forever burned in my memory.

It was the first time that I didn't feel safe in America, the first time I realized that we are not immune to the danger out there and the first time I questioned what this world was coming too.

My 19 year old brain was racked with all these questions, most never got answers other than because they hate Americans, but that was never good enough for me.

I remember being glued to my TV with my Dorm floor in the following days and somehow that tragedy brought us all together, as a dorm floor, as a university, and as a country.

There were Ceremonies and prayer circles all over campus, and people who never really prayed started to, young men who never showed sadness or fear outwardly did.

We hugged each other, we cried together and people who were not friends suddenly put that aside to be there for one another.

Arguments about who kept who awake, who hogged the phone too much, who had too many Friends over, no longer seemed important. People were in general nicer to each other, they held doors for each other and were more patient in traffic.

In the following years things have gone back to normal, people have moved on and the niceness has faded in some respects. I often look around and wonder why? why does it take a horrible tragedy to bring people together, to help people realize things they should be doing on a daily basis. I, myself, am also guilty of this and as of late I am trying to over come a lot of these "character flaws".

But I Often think to myself, what is it going to take for people to slow down and realize that life is something to be lived, not something to be gotten through with some OK memories along the way.

9-11 makes it all to abundantly clear that you never know when your time is up, when you are going to be called home.

All too often people make the mistake of realizing this too late and end up having regrets, Personally I am trying to do as much as I can when possible and enjoy life to the fullest.

I guess this is a commitment to myself of sorts, a commitment to let the little things go, to Love deeper, to speak more sweetly and patiently, and to live every day with honor and grace.

I am not perfect, and I know that I will forget this from time to time but I feel as though everything that Donnie and I have gone through in the last year has been a wake up call, it is time for us to start "living", to take control of our destiny and make changes, not only for our lives but for Abby, and any future children we have.

So with all that being said...we will never forget, and even though this tragedy changed the shape of our Country forever, something good can come of it, if we all are willing to try.

In memory of all the lives lost... We remember

Army Crawling and Cheerios

We got a few videos of Abby over the last few days and I thought I would share them, there are also 2 new pictures at the bottom that are pretty adorable :)...Enjoy!
Love,
Christie, Donnie, and Abby

P.S. None of the videos have any real interesting Sound to them, unless you want to hear Donnie Saying weee! over and over again in the last one :)

Apparently the Cell Phone has magical Powers that make Babies want to army crawl all of a sudden, Dudley also has this power as does the Directv remote

Abby has Discovered her love for Cheerios, along with the ability to stuff as many as humanly possible into her mouth at one time

Grandma and Grandpa Harris put a Swing up in the tree for Abby (and any Future Grandkids)...Abby had a blast!

Abby Enjoying her time on the Swing

All ready for winter...