Refined by Fire taken from Zechariah 13:9: September 2010

Our house on the Bayou!! The porch is why I agreed to buy the house

God has such a sense of humor. Have you ever thought about that? I am this adult, now, who was brought up as an only child. My parents had several divorces between the two of them ; and lots of little moves in the same hometown.

I can remember always being attracted to the idea of "home". I mean I wanted to travel and see the world; but I always wanted things to be stable; and I craved structure, even though I was terrible at it.

But God deciding to have a little giggle at my expense "married me off" to a soldier. And after 15 years of following him to different locations and posts; he brings me back HOME! Of course this HOME had to be renovated.

We of course moved here in May; I had health complications and had Zach a month early in July. Soon after I got home and tried to starting living my "new norm" with a new medical condition, new baby, new place, and in the midst of several renovations going on at once, my poor husband's back gave out; and we had several months of trading off "who" was to be laid up on the couch that day.

We dove in soon after we both started feeling better, trying to get back to normal with our homeschooling, and remodeling; and we had the holidays on the horizon.

We had all kinds of little things going on during that time. Katie broke her ankle; I had recurring kidney issues, we had family visit for Christmas (both with campers parked in our yard), it was definitely a Merry Christmas, straight from Chevy Chase and his holiday movies!

We started settling in again; and had a few relatively calm months.....as calm as it can be when you are renovating one bathroom and a kitchen..with 7 people in a house!

Than the warmth of Spring came and we moved to the outside; planting flowers, putting a pool up; and my husband decided it was time to try to start earning some money........that military retirement doesn't go as far, when you have renovations, health issues, and lots of kiddos to dress and feed. So, he started a lawn business and we put some renovations on hold.

So this summer we spent lots of time adjusting to another new normal, swimming in our pool, taking a few trips, and watching Zach crawl around our halls; sometimes with money and nails in his mouth (eeeekkk)! We prayerfully (and tearfully (for Mom) decided our oldest would be going to a private Christian School. I had to do that horrible thing called "school shopping". We had uniforms and supplies to buy; at the same time I was ordering homeschooling curriculum; and trying not to show regret that I would not be teaching a highschooler (yet), afterall.

August came and weeennnntttt.....way too fast! Robert decided he would play football (talking about unexpected) Zach started walking, we painted the girls room (three different colors)! And last but not least the biggest change I forsee for the year (although, I could be wrong) is that Lou has decided to run for mayor of our little town. So, it looks like that "slow" homeschool year I was planning is only a dream away, AGAIN!! And I thought that after army life would be BORING!!!!

Oh and not to mention that we are also coaching two soccer teams between us. Another "never thought we would" for our family!! I have learned to keep my mouth shut on "oh I would never's" and "oh we wouldn't do that" God has a way of reminding you who is in charge!!

So, we will adjust, reorganize, connect-when we can, and stand on our firm foundation, and our rock Jesus!! as we once again see changes in the Lancon household!!