Here's a little piece of my Heart!

Isla counting

Isla usually does a great job of counting but in this video, she gets very distracted as you will see and I have to redirect. Of course, she won't perform on demand but what can you expect from a 21 month year old? This was the best I could get!

After waiting all year, Isla finally learned to say my name!

Isla first called me "Mine" when I asked her what my name was. From there, she called me "shockee," "Shee, Shee" and finally "Shannon." It's too cute and I love to hear her call my name!

So long, farewell!

I have one week left in Illinois and although I'm ecstatic about moving back to South Carolina, I'm dreading living apart fron my husband for the next 4 1/2 months. We have had lots of adventures while here in Chicago and this move brought Josh and I closer together. We were forced to depend on one another and to stand on our own two feet as a family. I've missed my family and friends more than you can imagine and I can't wait to be close to them all again. But I will miss my husband more. So, I'm going to need lots of embroidery orders over the summer as well as beach buddies and visitors in Charleston!

Part of ms wishes I was staying here B/c I'm leaving a piece of my heart. I've become more than attached to a charismatic little girl named Isla. She has stolen my heart and I'm afraid I'll feel a little empty inside after the move. I've watched Isla grow from an infant learning to walk to a toddler who now runs all over the place. The sweetest word I've ever heard come out if her mouth is my name...."Shannon." I've taught her to count to 10 and recognize the letters in the alphabet and she's learning to "read" her books all by herself. She has forever touched my heart but I know that I won't even be a memory to her. This is why leaving here is somewhat bittersweet.

We had all of our possessions picked up in the POD last Friday. Josh's boss let us borrow his blow up mattress so we've been living the simple life over the past week. Josh says it looks like a crack house b/c we have paper plates, cups and silverware, an air mattress and our clothes. We have no tv, no microwave, and no pots or pans. Luckily we still have Internet and have been able to watch old tv episodes on Hulu. If it weren't for that, I don't know what we would have done. Life has definitely been interesting over the past week and As much as I dislike our bed, I never thought I'd be so happy to have it back again. The blow up mattress is getting OLD and I'm so looking forward to sleeping on my bed again!

See y'all (I use this word as much as possible up here just to point out that I'm not from around here) in SC. This Carolina girl is going home and will hopefully be experiencing life near the beach from now on istead of life in the burbs! :o)

God is Good!

I felt a huge wave of relief come over me this morning as I got good news! I spoke with the principal of the first school I ever worked for and I've been unofficially offered a kindergarten position for the upcoming school year. It is the answer to a huge prayer and I have no doubt that God has his hand in this plan. I've been stressed about planning a move without a secured job but, as always, God has taken care of our needs. I'm thrilled to be "going home." I'll be working with people I know and will be a part of a wonderful team again!

Josh and I have also recently rented a three bedroom townhouse in North Charleston beginning in June. The plan is for me to move back to SC on June 10th so I can get settled in our new home as well as my new classroom and Josh will move back to Charleston in October. It will be incredibly difficult to be apart from him again but I have lots of friends in and around Charleston to hang out with and my sister is planning to live with me until Josh is able to return!

We have a big task ahead of us now... time to start packing and I never thought I'd be soooooo excited about that! SC, I'll be home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;o)

Josh after Wisdom Teeth Surgery

Phyllis and I took Josh to have all four of his wisdom teeth removed today. One was a partial bony removal and the other three were complete bony removals, meaning three were very impacted and one was slightly impacted. I tried to video him in the post op room but I got reprimanded by the assistant so I had to stop. This is the funniest video we got of him so far. He's finally asleep and in less pain for now since the pain medicine seems to have finally kicked in.

He looks pretty pathetic but has been a trooper so far. Phyllis has been in charge of doing the dirty work. I can't stand to look at blood so she's changed out all of the gauze. He has tea bags hanging out of his mouth now... a pretty humorous sight!

Enjoy the video!

And the Fun Just Doesn't End!

We thought we were home free last night when we finally saw the plow truck pull up but he got stuck soon after he started trying to clear the parking lot where our cars were and once he was unstuck, he stopped. We think he's simply a resident here and was helping out of the kindness of his heart so for that we thank him! When we woke this morning, our lot still hadn't been cleared and there was no way either of our cars were going anywhere unless we dug our way out.

So, Josh and I bundled up and headed outside to begin this daunting task. We don't have a shovel by the way so we cleared all the snow with a dustpan and a cleaning bucket and I kicked a lot of snow with my shoes today!

We began on his car first because we didn't have much snow to move out of the way before he was home free and he needed to go to work worse than I. I don't have to be at work until 3:15 and that's only so the mother can go to the gym. Luckily her school was closed again today so hopefully I'll only be over there for a couple of hours this afternoon.

I couldn't stand the cold so I came inside shortly before we were done with clearing Josh's car. I watched him drive it out of the cleared spot and move it on the other side where they have actually plowed. We are beginning to think the plow people that are contracted here quit on our apartment complex b/c there hasn't been a single plow truck in sight today!

After I warmed up, I put on some more layers and went back out to help Josh with my car. This was a little harder of a task. My car had 2 feet of snow stacked in front of it so we kicked, dug and pushed the snow away. Luckily, a resident with a plow on the front of his truck saw us struggling and he offered to help push some of the snow away. He didn't get it all and it still took a long time but he helped tremendously. When we finally got my car out of the spot, we realized that the plow truck had deposited snow right in the middle of the drive so now we had to clear that as well. Whew! What a day! Finally my car is moved to a safe spot and I'll hopefully be able to make it to work safely. Josh and I drove on the main road earlier this morning just to see how it was and it still has snow on it and no salt has been laid down so I'm going to give myself plenty of time and pray that I don't have a heart attack on the way there and back. I'll be glad when this winter is over and done with!