"I have to admit, sometimes I question God."

    Next month marks two years since we moved to Colorado. I have to admit, sometimes I question God. I question why he brought us to Colorado and why we have to be so far away from family. Sometimes it feels selfish that we are here... like somehow I caused it all, somehow I made it happen in my own strength. I have doubts and I have fears. I feel guilty that we took Tyler and I and our boys away from family. I miss the boys being able to spend birthdays with their cousins and grandparents on my husband's side. I miss Sunday afternoon lunches and pool days at my sister's house. I miss going to my other sister's boutique and seeing her every week. I miss my kids going to the school in Indiana. Malachi never got to experience "Picnic with Mom" and "Donuts with Dad." He never got to take his packed lunch to school and play kickball at recess (we moved just shortly after the start of his Kindergarten year). As much as I love homeschooling my boys, I have guilt that they aren't getting enough social interaction and are just somehow missing out. That's where my mind goes and sometimes it can really discourage me. But a couple nights ago, my husband and I reminisced about our journey out here. There is one particular part of our story that is just so undeniably God. How can I argue? Here's a snippet from Our Journey to Colorado.

    "Swiss Days … a time of eating deliciously greasy food, going on kiddy rides, listening to Polka music, and spending waaay too much money. It is also a time of seeing people you wouldn’t normally see. Tyler’s Dad reintroduced him to a couple who pastored the church he attended when he was a kid. It was a neat reunion for them to talk about old times. They also mentioned that they were looking to move back to town, but hadn’t had much luck finding a house. The wife really wanted a big, white house (check), a wrap around front porch (check), and the husband wanted a big pine tree in the front yard to decorate for Christmas (check!). Our house had it all! So that afternoon, we showed them around our house. Two days later, they made an offer. It was honestly that easy and that perfect. We hadn't even put it on the market and were still weeks from doing so. I just remember being in the kitchen, after knowing they wanted to buy our house, just sobbing because of how much love I felt from our Heavenly Father. I couldn’t have thought up a better scenario. And without going into detail, the buyers were so gracious through the whole process and it was nothing less than a miracle. The realtor that worked for them was even inspired by the whole situation. God gave us enormous confirmation. Colorado it is and He was working it all out."

I have to remind myself, daily, that God wants us out here. We could have never worked this out in our own strength. He wanted us in Colorado so much that He worked out every detail and we didn't even have to try. I can't deny it. My husband can't deny it. And I'm so thankful I can look back on God's provision. It isn't easy and maybe it's pretty hard for a lot of people to understand, but we want to always go wherever the Lord leads. Not understanding, but still trusting, is what faith is all about. We don't have to understand everything to know that God wants the very best for us and that He loves us and our families. We know there is no safer place for our family of six than in the will of God. That's the only place I ever want to be.

Today was our boys 1st day of school - 5th, 4th, 8th, and 2nd grade.

I caught the first fish of the Summer!

Malachi is proud to look like Pop the Pig.

Lenny went with Tyler and I to find some rocks. He loves car rides!

Zak is already working on his looong Christmas list.

Thaddeus and Coach Tyler have both enjoyed baseball this year!

Jake and Thaddeus were excited to receive awards for all their hard work in piano!

Yellowstone- July, 2020

Yellowstone is an enchanting place. In the park, you are surrounded by lush trees, beautiful mountains, roaming wildlife, wide open spaces, pounding waterfalls, and steaming, multicolored hot pools as far as the eye can see. I wonder what the very first explorers thought when they came upon this amazing place. I imagine it felt like they stepped onto another planet and could hardly believe their eyes. God's creation is truly a site to behold.

Tyler has talked about visiting Yellowstone ever sense we moved out West. We've spent months falling asleep to Yellowstone documentaries and we both were very eager to visit. So one night, we decided to just sit down and plan it. We were able to spend two full days exploring Yellowstone and we loved every minute of it!

The boys were excited:)

One of our first views was a herd of elk!

Thaddeus enjoyed looking at different hot pools.

Zak was always so excited to explore.

 Malachi enjoyed looking at the hot pools and said that the 

smell made him want boiled eggs. Haha!
This kid thinks about food nonstop!

Jacob and I were standing by one of the waterfalls in the park.

He is growing up so much.... slow down!!

 Yellowstone Falls.

Another awesome waterfall.

My boys <3

 The elk were so cool looking!

Two more just chilling in the shade.

We saw a black bear!! My first bear ever... so cool!

So many things to look at.

 Tyler couldn't wait to see the Grand Prismatic Pool.

How pretty is that?!!

 Old Faithful!! We waited about an hour to see it explode.

Worth it.

When Old Faithful finally erupted, everyone became so quiet.

So crazy looking!

This was called Artist Paintpots. It was basically bubbling mud.
So bizarre. It made a plopping, almost burp like sound.

 The Abyss Pool is my favorite shade of blue.

Pictures do not do it justice!

The boys with a bison in the background... Thaddeus was always

on the lookout for bison. They are huge animals!

Thaddeus bought "Buff" the bison to explore with! :)

My main squeeze <3

We saw a Mama Grizzly bear and her cub.

If you look closely, you can see a grizzly bear cub climbing

a tree!  Score!!!

 We had no idea when we moved here that God would work everything out to move my parents, too! I feel very blessed to have them just minutes from our house.

We always found a beautiful spot to have a picnic in Yellowstone!

 The Yellowstone Lake was so clear and you could see

big trout swimming around!

 Brotherly love and happy faces :)

 Tyler is always pushing the limits to get a good picture.

My favorite thing to do was look for animals. Yellowstone

has lots of vast areas to search for wildlife. 

The herds of bison were endless.

This hot pool looked like Minnie Mouse.

 Excelsior Crater was a favorite of ours. So crazy cool!

 We had so much fun exploring.

We saw the Grand Tetons on our way home!

 Pretty view over the lake.

 Lots of photo ops!

The Grand Tetons. 

We have some new stickers on our van and lots of great new memories to look back on. 

Until our next adventure...