Patersons on the Move

Internet Again

2009-09-17T23:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while sense I posted. We haven't had the internet at home for four or five months now. We have moved into a small place to be able to save money and it has been a interesting experience. It's hard to fit a family of four into a little two bedroom apartment but it is just right for our family right now. God has definitely shown us that this is where he wants us to be, so many blessings.

As I write this I can't fail to mention that I am very anxiously waiting for little Eli to be born as Rebecca is in labor right now. I am so excited to be an uncle for the third time from my big brother. I is very cool to see how God is blessing him and continuing to grow his family. It does make me very sad to be so far away, but thankfully God has provided us with internet just in time and hopefully we will be Skyping soon and seeing all of them.

One last note for tonight. On Monday there is a "strong" cold front coming. It is bring with it our first chance of snow for this year! I am very excited for snow. Shannon would tell you that I have mentioned wanting snow for several weeks now, but we haven't seen fall yet. Well the room is that the Aspens are in color at higher elevations, so I think we will go see them on Saturday (Yes! a very rare Saturday off.) and the go pick apples at a farm. Anyways I will hopefully have some nice fall pictures for you all.

2009-04-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

I think that God is teaching me a very valuable and difficult lesson through my 2 year old. Our pastor has been speaking for the last 6 weeks about how to Live Free and what exactly that means. It has been amazing and I have learned so much but haven't applied it because well, it's really hard. I think the things that I am struggling with the most are breaking genetic habits or cycles I guess you could call them. For me, that means yelling, CRAZY moodswings, (not just normal woman mood swings) and stubbornness. And it is really hard and it's easier to just not do it. However, I am also learning that that is like leaving all the doors and windows wide open and saying hey come rob me! I am making it easy for that "sin" I guess you could call it, to just live and breed in me; and I HATE the wife, mother, and woman that it makes me. Especially mother to my two year old. I yell, I don't play with him because I'm mad that he isn't listening, and throwing a tantrum and...go figure...yelling. And as I'm writing this, it is breaking my heart because he deserves so much better than that and I feel like I can't do it. I feel like I have really good days, but then days like today come when I think, ok let's go to the library and Focus on the Family and just have a really fun day. So we go to the library and he is kicking and screaming and I'm frustrated so I just drag him out by his arms as he's yelling owie!! and I don't care. And then I get home and all I do is cry because it seems like, what's the point?? Yes I know being a mother is hard, and I knew it was going to be hard. I just feel like I won't ever become that mom I dreamt I would be. I'm not trying to have a pity party or fish for compliments that tell me I can do it, I just felt like venting. I hope tomorrow goes much better than today. God's lessons for my life are hard ones and I hope I can get through them with a little grace.

If nothing else...

2009-03-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Even if you don't scrapbook, I'm telling you I have the product for you. All you need is a digital camera. Ok, So I thought I had a pretty good organizing system for my pictures on our computer. Little did I know there was something better! SOOO much better. As a lot of you know, I am a Creative Memories consultant. So I was doing a webinar to learn how to use some of our software that people buy. MAN oh MAN! It is amazing! It's called Memory Manager and you can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING with it. It seems pretty basic, I've had it for six months and didn't really use it because I figured my system was working just fine and the software didn't seem that special. Now, after learning so much about it on my webinar, I am constantly on it. I have almost all my pictures imported into it and organized. When my kids are napping or asleep for the night I am going through all the options and exploring it because it is so awesome. So, after this whole thing, all I am trying to say is : If you buy NOTHING else from me, at least buy this one thing! It will change your life. Then, after you buy it, listen to the webinar, because it is extremely helpful and will make more sense than just trying to figure it out on your own. I hope to hear from you all very soon!!! :)

90 Day Challenge

2009-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

We are committing to the 90 day Challenge that our church is doing. Here is what it is:

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Acts 4:32-35 NIV

What would it be like if the body of Christ could really live out Acts 4:32-35? What if we could literally take care of one another's needs, and the needs of the poor and needy around us? That's what the 90 day challenge is all about.

Let's set aside the first 90 days of 2009, January 1-March 31, and live out the Biblical principles of giving our first-fruits to the Lord.
There are 5 components of the 90-Day Challenge:
o Be thankful at all times.
o Set aside a percentage of our income and give it to God first.
o Make a decision to live below our means.
o Follow our budget plan for 90 days.
o Look for every opportunity to serve others.

We think that God will bless us VERY much in these next 90 days. I am really looking forward to seeing what is going to happen. The bible study that I started is also for 90 days and I didn't even know it! :) Funny how that works. I think this is a great way for us to start the New Year! Happy 2009!! :)

Snowed in..."snow" fun Pictures

2008-12-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

Snowed in..."snow" fun!

2008-12-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday we had A TON of snow! We drove to church, good thing it's around the corner. When we came out, there was A LOT of snow! Kelsey HATED it hitting her face and Nathan thought it was very funny. We went to Brad and Kim Oaster's for lunch and ended up getting snowed in there. Not a bad place to be. There was 19 1/2 inches when we measured around 8:00 at night. During the day, Nathan played outside with Eric and the dog. They would through snow balls and the dog would dive into the snow. It was really funny. We took videos and lots of pictures. On Monday when we woke up, it was beautiful outside. Very sunny and snow on everything. So we got all bundled and went outside. Eric helped them shovel the driveway (Nathan helped a little too) and then Eric took Nathan on plastic saucers. He totally loved it. But only when Eric was pulling him. He wouldn't even sit on it if I was holding the handle. Oh well! It was a fun two days and there are lots of pictures. I would post them but Eric has the camera in the car and he is at work. Go figure! I will post them when he comes home!

Mornings at the Paterson's.

2008-11-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

The past couple of mornings have each seemed to have there own event. It started on Friday when we woke up and everything was covered in frost. I had noticed fog in the middle of the night and I wondered if everything would be covered in ice.

On Saturday I woke up and was checking my Facebook when I looked up out of the window and I saw a giant balloon coming over the hill. In the picture you cant tell how closet it was. I know there’s a balloon festival in August, I didn’t expect in November when it was on 20 degrees outside.

Today, I got to feed the kids breakfast while Mom got to sleep in a little. Nathan was eating his Fruity Cheerios when one somehow got stuck to his forehead. It was very funny. Unfortunately, I can’t get the picture off the camera right now so you will have to wait for it.

2008-11-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

So we are all moved in now. Got the internet up and running yesturday. As you can see from the header picture, it snowed! That was on Friday. Snow is a very nice thing to wake up to. Kelsey probable would have rather enjoyed the snow from inside but Nathan had a blast kicking snow around. He was very sad when it was time to go in. It's going to be in the mid 70's today so what little snow is left should melt today. Shannon and I are really enjoying the weather and mountains here. We have great sunset every night. One day we will have the camera ready and get a shot of the sun setting behind Pikes Peak.

PS

2008-11-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't written much lately, but I wanted to add a little to Shannon's post. Ashlyn should know that when she comes to visit us and she comes to the Oaster's, there are serious potties here. There are only five bedrooms here at the Oaster's. They all are like hotel suites, but with walk-in closets. It is set up like that so they can have clients come and stay as they design churches. Also we will be getting up some pictures on the blog site soon. And probably on face book too. It you only read our blog in our facebooks, I believe there is a link to our blog at the bottom. If you like to look at stuff on maps like me. Our address doesn't come up on any online mapping programs, because the house is so new. Probably the easiest way to find us is to look up New Life Church on google maps. Look at the satellite image, and about 1/4 of a mile north you can see a small development being built. That's where our house is.

Home at last...

2008-11-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

Colorado is amazing! It's not only amazing, but amazingly BEAUTIFUL! I love how it's flat and then all of a sudden HUGE mountains right next to you. Our house is very cute! I love it! Granted I have only seen the outside, because Eric forgot the keys when we went to go see it. :) The only bummer which has really turned out to be a blessing is that our moving trailer didn't get picked up until yesterday (monday) instead of friday! So it will be here Thursday instead of today. The blessing of it is that we are staying with Brad and Kim Oaster until it comes and their house is seriously, indescribable. HUGE, GORGEOUS, SPACIOUS. There are three levels, and 3-4 bedrooms on each level. Each bedroom has a bathroom, including the kids room. And the really big bedroom have HUGE bathtubs. They are seriously like hot tubs. There are also fireplaces in most the bedrooms and even in the bathrooms. There is PLENTY of room for Nathan to RUN!! (inside and out) Eric and I were laughing because he said they were trying to decided to put in a playground or a helicopter landing in the yard. (that's after the pool and stables they are building as well.) So like I said to my mom this morning, it's like we are having a vacation before we have to unload everything, which is really nice. Just to finally spend time with Eric and the kids as a family. We are having a lot of fun with my parents, especially Nathan. Today we are going to the zoo and going to see what kind of fun things there are here in CO Springs. I was going to post some pictures but my parents have the camera with them. They are taking Nathan for a walk. Kelsey and Eric are still sleeping. She had a really hard night last night. She is teething and her nose is all stuffed up so she couldn't breathe. She ended up waking up about every 30 minutes. But she has definitely loved being with Eric. Both the kids missed him soooo much while he was away (me too, but I didn't throw any tantrums because of it). It's nice to finally live somewhere you know you can really call HOME :)

On our way!

2008-10-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you have heard by now, but for those of you who don't know, we got a house!! Not the one we posted about before. We are actually going to be renting a house from Jeremy Oaster and his wife Megs. It's a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 baths. 1600 sq ft. It's beautiful and they want us to make it our own, so they said any painting or decorations are fine! (which is good because they have two girls, so their room are princess rooms, not good for Nathan, but we'll make it good for him!) All the bedrooms are upstairs and there is an office as well.

We have also decided that Eric and my dad will drive the moving truck there, towing our car, and my mom and I will fly with the kids. A two hour flight is much easier than a 20 hour drive (and a heck of a lot cheaper) God has provided for us in so many ways already and it just keeps coming. I went to check my email right before writing this and I have a confirmation number for a flight for us to Colorado. My grandma paid for me and Nathan to fly there!!! I didn't even know she knew we were flying. My mom must have called her right after I talked to her about flying. I just KNOW this is where are supposed to be. We have already been blessed by this decision and I know it is only going to get better! I am just so excited to see what God has in store for us. Thank you all for your prayers and support as we are going through this huge change.

And on the day we were returning the car we've been borrowing for a month, my brother called and wanted to trade his car for the Jeep! Now we have a car that fits all of us and my brother has a fun off road vehicle. It was hard for Eric, and for me as well (which I wasn't expecting) but we WILL get another one further on down the road. (we will honey, I PROMISE!)

This could be it...

2008-09-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in contact with a realtor in Colorado Springs. He has emailed us a few places worth applying for. The one I really want is beautiful! A little higher than we were hoping in price but we may be able to get it a little lower. We are filling out the application this week.

The Jeep is officially for sale. We have had some interest in it. I'm hoping that everything with that gets worked out. God has been providing us with everything we need for this transition. So far, so good.

Here is a link to the house we are applying for... http://ppmlslistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFulPhoto.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=002087&EmailKey=23065457

The kids are doing great. Nathan is getting to the age where he wants to do everything by himself. He is learning how to be independent and it is fun (and frustrating) watching him. Kelsey is just the sweetest little girl, always has a smile on her face. She LOVES playing with Nathan now. They are constantly laughing.

I think that's about it for now...
Our kids need warm clothes for the snow, if you see any good deals, let me know! We should stock up now! :)

Spelling

2008-09-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

Shannon always laughs at me because I usually spell the word "since" as "sence." Well since I have put this blog on my Facebook a few of you will be finding it now and are finding out just how bad of a speller I am. Usually I just turn “right” into “write” (as in my last post) and stuff like that. Stephanie is very nice to point this out to me (as was my mother over the years of her proofreading my homework). Well I won’t always be able to check my own writing (I got it that time Steph) and so you will undoubtedly laugh at me a little. I’m ok (Mom is that supposed to be capitalized?) with that and I just hope you all enjoy hearing updates on us Patersons as we move to Colorado.

Update, a little habit building.

2008-09-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

So since I haven't really told anyone about this blog yet I'm more writing this to form the habit of bloging. I we know God is telling us to move but not sure exactly how it is working yet. We think REI is where God wants me to be a least at first. We are still waiting to hear back from them whether there is room for me at the Colorado Springs store. It sounds like the want me for the sales floor there. That is exciting because it is one step closer to being promoted too manager. They want you to be both customer service trained (which is what I have been doing for two and a half years there) and sales floor trained. So it looks like it is all a step in the write direction. So once I have the job we just need the money for the move. The sale of the Jeep should be the financing for the move. It is sad, but Shannon said I could get another one down the road. Well that's what we are looking at right now. I should hear from REI in the next couple of days.

The Start

2008-09-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

So I decided that since we are most likely going to move far far away. I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog. Well here it is. Shannon will be writing on it as well hopefully. We would like to be able to keep you all up to date on what will be going on in our lives as we move and live in Colorado. Please notice that I gave you all the weather in Colorado Springs (where we will be). It is very different than San Jose. I hope you all enjoy the updates.