Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: We're moving! & Fun Family Vacation at Lake Powell

*I am enjoying catching up on blogging. Since I have several months still to do, please take note of the date (month) in the blog post title rather than the date I posted. Also, you'll notice I tried to write like I would have at the present time of the post rather than writing like it was many months ago.

Giving God Glory
God's Perfect Plans - "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2 We encountered the (from what we hear) typical drama the past couple months that comes with home buying and selling. We are thankful that we saw the Lord at work throughout the entire process, and the Lord grew our confidence in trusting that His plans cannot be thwarted! One testimony of God fulfilling His plan for us to sell our home and move is that our appraisal came in "at value." Every realtor that looked at comps while our home was on the market told us, there is no way that your home is going to sell (due to our price being far above comps in our area) unless you get that one buyer that falls in love with your home (we knew it would sell if the Lord wanted it to). Even our realtor told us that she had run every comp she could find at the time of our appraisal, and nothing came close to the price of our home. We were at least $30,000 above what comparable homes to ours were selling for (which was a huge margin for our size of home), and we were in a rough selling market, especially out in Falcon due to an excessive amount of foreclosures and short sales. Our realtor had been praying for a miracle, and we knew the Lord would make the appraisal come in "at value" if that was His plan. He did! :)

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts
Grateful for closure & God's perfect peace - The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah 26:4 After much prayers and seeking wise counsel, I ended up having a D & C. We experienced the Lord's kindness before, during, and after the surgery, and thank Him for everything going so well. I had little to no pain and a very quick recovery - though I was pretty swollen 2 days later on Mother's Day :( -probably because I (gently) worked out on the eliptical the day after surgery. After the surgery, the Lord gave us great peace through having closure, and He has enabled us to move on in the plans He has for our family of 3 presently. We are grateful for the perfect peace the Lord has blessed us with as we have sought to trust in Him. He is our everlasting Rock that we can cling to and stand on no matter what circumstances we face.
Next steps - In a month, I will undergo testing to see if there is a possible medical cause for my miscarriages that can be treated. One lead we have is that apparently there is a blood disorder on my grandma's side that can cause miscarriages due to the baby not getting enough oxygen. We'll see how the Lord leads since we know that He is sovereign and rules over all medicine, but sometimes He chooses to fulfill His plans through means of medicine.

Praises & Prayers
Friend in CO Springs - Praise for God making it clear that their family is to stay in CO Springs. Please continue to pray for the Lord to provide the income they need and to guide my friend in His will for her as she desires to work elsewhere.
Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done.
Our Family - Praise for God working out all the details according to His perfect plan and helping us to depend on Him during the closing on our homes on both sides of buying and selling. Praise for God answering our prayers for grace and strength far above and beyond what we had hoped during our road tripping and Lake Powell vacation. Prayer for the Lord to guide us to the doctor He has for us to pursue if there is a possible medical cause for my miscarriages.
Wes - Praise for the Lord giving Wes wisdom in working with various people throughout all the drama with closing on both homes, especially our new home on Cool Spring Way.
Christina - Praise for God's wisdom in guiding us with the D & C and for Him blessing me with a quick recovery.
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise for the God's grace for Noah during our road tripping and Lake Powell vacation and for blessing all of us with Noah sleeping well on the boat. Prayer for the Lord to grow Noah in making new friends with our neighborhood kids (and especially the dogs!!!) and to replace his fear of other dogs with God's peace.

Marriage Memories
Peaceful & precious memories in the midst of a packed month - This month we had a lot going on, and we are grateful for God's grace and strength carrying us through it all... my D & C surgery; preparations/process in selling our home; preparations/process with buying our new home; packing and moving; and (2 days after we moved) road tripping to Lake Powell, Utah for a week long vacation with extended family on a houseboat. The Lord grew Wes and I closer to Him and each other through it all as we really needed Him and each other during this time!
Though we prepared for "worse case scenarios" of Noah crying and throwing a fit the whole road trip and all 3 of us being beyond exhaustion due to Noah not sleeping on the boat, the Lord graciously and kindly answered our prayers by Noah doing fabulous throughout the traveling and sleeping soundly on the boat. Praise God!
We thank the Lord and my parents for the week long vacation at Lake Powell. We enjoyed the peace the Lord brought to the depths of our hearts as we were able to slow down and rest in Him and be reminded of His powerful character through the beauty of His creation in the canyons. We also enjoyed many precious memories with family - more pics in "Memorable Moment of the Month."

Tubing together & having fun in the sun!

Family Fun

Our Fam Celebrating Mother's Day

Our Last Night of AWANAs for 2010-2011 Year

Wes served in T&T (3rd-6th grade boys)

I served in Cubbies (3-4 year-olds)

Noah entertained the nursery workers ;)

Noah snuggling with Sierra

Trying out "the gym" - With moving (and no longer having access to a gym and pool at a rec center), we got in on a special with a new gym that was opening in CO Springs and that was near our home. Incorporating working out at the gym in our lifestyle has turned out to be a good fit and worth the monthly cost - Wes and I get time together to talk - uninterrupted :) - after he gets off of work; Noah has opportunities to play and interact with other children each day and get to continue to learn about being under other adults' authority in addition to dad & mom (beyond nursery at church); and we have the blessing of consistently working out together and having a healthy lifestyle.

Noah News

Age - 2 years old
1sts - double digit road trip, houseboat, tubing, getting noticeable hair on his legs, moving
Number of Teeth - 16
Cute Communication - Noah's been enjoying names of family this month: No-no (Noah), See-see (Sierra), Papa (for Grandpa Rush, Papa, & Uncle Papa), Nana (for Grandma Rush), Ah-ah (Uncle Adam), Weh-weh (Auntie Wendy), Tah-tah (Tache), So-so (Sawyer), Gi-gi (Gigi & G-pa), Cole (Colten), Ty (Tyler), Ka (Uncle Kale), Ky (Uncle Kyle), Kihten (Auntie Kristen), Sah (Auntie Sharin), Mare-mare (Maren), Tay (Auntie Kate), Bet (Uncle Brett), Bo-bo (Oscar)

Latest Loves
Reading
Coloring
"The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Puzzles
His "froggie" pillow pet
Ice Cream
Chocolate
Tickling Daddy & Mommy
Jumping off our couches
Laughing, giggling, squealing (especially at Sierra when she's wet & shakes)
Messing with Sierra and chasing her around
Playing at the gym
Tackling Daddy
Cranking & cruising his 2 wind-up monster trucks
Playing with "packing bubbles"
Drinking out of a cup without a lid - he surprises himself when it comes ;)
Screaming - we're trying to nip this one in the bud :)

Enjoying his ice cream & chocolate! :)

Playing with the packing bubbles & his favorite trucks * Coloring

Noah tackling "Froggie" & saying "hi"

Memorable Moment of the Month
Lake Powell - We enjoyed making many wonderful memories with family during our week vacation on our rented houseboat and speedboat.
We also had one of those memories that will go down in the parenting 101 books... To help with the long road trip, I packed a lot of special snacks (aka. junk food) that Noah only gets on special occasions - juice boxes, trail mix with chocolate, fruit snacks, etc. Well, after him enjoying many of these treats throughout the trip, we were almost to Lake Powell when Noah started getting fussy. We couldn't figure out what was bothering him since we already made it past the point where our ears popped. Then all of the sudden our poor little guy upchucked everything...violently...all over himself and his car seat. :( Fortunately we quickly came upon the last gas station before our destination, and we were able to get him cleaned up. Note to self - even on long road trips, it's not worth letting your child have all the special snacks he wants. We made sure to limit his treats on our way home. :)