Arrr, Arrr, Arrr!!

Hooray! Okay, in reality it has been a couple weeks, but we have a new washer and dryer! In the span of one month our dryer quit, our brand new LCD t.v. quit, and the a/c in our car quit! So, when these beauties showed up at our front door you can imagine my excitement! I would like to give a quick thank you to all of our close family members who let us launder in their homes!
This is also the point in the story that I tell you they did not deliver our washer and dryer correctly! The nice people at whirlpool were supposed to deliver them unpackaged and ready to be installed (this conversation is clearly remembered by myself held with an elderly woman named Polly who spoke with a deep southern drawl). They were delivered, instead, totally boxed up with very short, uninformative directions, and the boxes were too big to fit through the laundry room door! So, they were placed in the very hot garage to await assembly. Anyhoo, it was clearly going to be up to me to get these bad boys ready to crank out some laundry! So armed with my screwdriver, wrench, socket wrench, and of course a steak knife, I got down to business. I even took the liberty to change the direction at which the dryer door opened! And just as I was thinking that I had totally missed my calling as "Heather- the Tool Woman-Diaz, I was confronted with...duhn, duhn, duhn... the electrical hook up!

Now, if you will notice the sweet little note - " Warning Fire"- which was conveniently located right beside the hooky up place where all the wires were supposed to go... I wisely decided to call in reinforcements. Ben (my brother-in-law and warranty manager for Southern Homes) would be the perfect person to help me out, especially if there really was a fire, I would have someone else to blame! (love you Ben)!Well, he finished the job within a few minutes of arriving and we got the dryer installed. I had already gotten the washer in and installed all by my haus- cat self and had it ready to go. Or so I thought. It turns out you need high efficiency detergent to use a high efficiency washer! So, Zach picked some up at the store on his way home from work. It was an adventure for sure! Our new high-efficiency washer and dryer clean fabulously! It's good to have family you can depend on in time of crisis, whether it's to get your laundry done, or to prevent a fire from burning down your house!

Nest Egg Update

So, our baby ducks have hatched!
Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could get of our new little ones. The mommy duck was very defensive, so I couldn't get as close to the nest as she had allowed before. After they were born, we only saw them once around our house. There were 14 baby ducks that I could count that morning! She is a busy mom! We saw them again while we were leaving our neighborhood the other day, and there were only 8 baby ducks left... Zach tried to calm not only our 4 year old, and 2 year old, but also myself, and half-heartedly assured us that the 8 that were left would probably be okay.
As for our family and the eggs that have hatched... Adrienne has had her surgery rescheduled for October 4th. We were very hopeful on Labor Day weekend when her eye began to clear up all on its own. However, after she developed a sinus infection and recovered from that, it seems to be back to the way it was before- goopy. We are praying that it will once again clear up on its own and we have to cancel the surgery. Jeremiah and Kaelyn are full swing at preschool and having a good time, though recently Kaelyn has voiced that she likes it "a little bit, but not a lot" and that she would rather be at home...who doesn't!? My job as a consultant is taking off and so far has not detracted from my family time. Zach has been meeting with his boss, Greg, and feels like he is prepared and ready for his quarter!
We know that God is with us and is continuing to guide us the way He wants us to go. I will leave you with the verse that has been on my heart the most throughout these last weeks. Proverbs 16:1 says, "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue."








Some of you might be wondering what kind of bird is that? I don't know the scientific name or even their normal name, so I call them Lake Ducks (since I've only ever seen them near our lake and on other lakes in our area). They look kind of like a vulture mated with a really ugly mallard and this is what they produced. Anyway, this mommy duck has decided to make her nest egg right by our front door! We noticed her about a week ago one afternoon after answering the door and observed that she was actually laying her eggs.





So, the next morning I (Heather) went out to check on her and since she was off to find some food I was able to take some pictures and count eleven eggs! It's hard to see because the mommy duck has made sure that her eggs stay warm and protected beneath the feathers and mulch. The kids love the fact that we are going to have baby chicks very soon! We love to go out and check on them periodically.
This whole event has really got me thinking... seems like their have been more "eggs" that God has "laid" in our lives that we are waiting on to hatch.




The following is a list of "eggs" we are waiting to hatch for our family: Tuesday was the first day back to preschool for Jeremiah and the first day for Kaelyn. I am eager to see how they both blossom this school year! Adrienne is going to have eye surgery to have her tear duct cleared, and any parent waits anxiously for the those kind of results to be positive. I will be starting a business at home with Southern Living at Home. This is a big "egg" for all of us, since I haven't had a job since we have had children (four plus years)! Zach will be taking on the position of Director of Construction the last 3 months of this year, and we are praying for that egg to "hatch" however God desires.
We desire to treat all of these "eggs" that the Lord has given us with the same kind of nurturing love that our mommy duck has bestowed on her eggs. We will nurture each decision or "egg" with lots of prayer and love. The future of our "eggs" is all in God's Hands, and we trust Him to know that all outcomes will be just as He planned.
Thank you Lord for all that You have entrusted to us! Your Word says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48b
Stayed tuned to see how all our eggs hatch!

It's 12 o'clock Somewhere

So.... we just got back from our very first cruise!! It was 5 days and 4 nights of complete relaxation, rejuvenation and recoils of laughter. Our friends Scott and Jennifer Sjoblom joined us on the high seas. We seem to stay in stitches around them! Laughter has a way of releasing stress, and I think we successfully released it all! This picture shows us "parked" in the port of Key West.

This was the dining hall where we ate every night... and this particular evening was the "Captain's Dinner" when everyone dressed in formal attire. It was kind of glamorous for this mother of three to get to dress up every night for dinner. Of course, Zach was longing for his khaki shorts and tennis shoes!

This picture was our attempt to catch a romantic sunset picture on the deck, but we missed it. However, still a good pic of us!?

Here was a cool pic of the famous "Sloppy Joe's Bar" in Key West. We only had three hours in Key West, so we didn't have time to taste a sloppy sandwich. Maybe the next time we swing in to Key West we'll have time to stop.


We then headed to beautiful Cozumel, Mexico! This picture was taken after our adventure excursion... see below... but sitting on a wooden teak chair, in the warm breeze overlooking the ocean with my cold Sangria after a hot, sweaty excursion...doesn't get more "vacation" than that!!!
Cool huh!? This was our choice for an excursion... rock climbing (2- 30 ft. towers, 1-60 ft. tower), repelling, zip lining and walking across suspended bridges dangling 25 ft. in the air!! It was awesome!

What up?

I felt fa' real ya'll!

Zach looked fa' real, too!

And last but not least, Zach and I loved just being away, and being together. We always have fun, but trips like this remind us just how much we mean to each other. Thank you, Lord for this amazing adventure!
If you would like more extensive pictures just let us know and we'll email them to you. We've got some more great shots!
Please, please, please post your comments! Love ya!