We're moving

(Above is one of the pictures from our annual family photos. But it seemed appropriate for the title of the blog.)

We are officially moving December 11th to the Fresno area (Central California). My parents have moved to the mountains above Fresno (Auberry) for about 4 years now, living there permanently for about 2. They offered to help us get into owning our own house up there. There the cost of a house is significantly cheaper then anything we could find in the south bay. After lots of prayer and people praying for us we decided to move forward and just see if something works out eventually. We debated waiting a year, waiting till spring, waiting till next summer. And in the end we decided to just put it out there, apply for some jobs and see what happens. It took me 2 months to find a job after being on maternity leave from Austyn and about 4 months to get a full-time position so Russ could go to school. But with this it was all a matter of a month. It all happened very quickly. But fairly early on it become apparent to us and several people around us that this WAS God. And I am not about to argue with God and His timing. So off we go.

Overall, this is so much more than I thought we would be able to do at this time in our lives. I didn't even imagine that we could buy a house right now. I know God is blessing us so abundantly. It's so much more then we could ever ask for ourselves. God is so good! We, of course, have always prayed down the road for God to let us buy a house and stuff of that sort. But it was far from do-able in the stage we were, in our minds at that time. When this came about. I was almost scared that my hopes would get ripped out from under me and I had to hold onto anything I could. As time has gone on I know that God is so providing this. I need to just stand and have faith. On our current trip up to the Fresno area we were trying to find an apartment (that we could stay in for 6 months to get our bearings on the city). Finally I was able to say on our trip up there that I KNEW God was going to provide our housing like He has provided in everything else. And sure enough within the first day of looking by early afternoon we were filling out the application of the apartment that we are going to move into in 2 1/2 weeks.

In the end I KNOW God has wonderful plans for us! Plans to prosper us, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). It is so wonderful to know and be faced with God's perfect present to us. To say that, "Yes! Our God is so GOOD." All of this at times feels so surreal. The pure idea of this happening to us blows my mind. I'm just so thankful that God cares so much about me, about my family, and about anyone who truly seeks Him.

Austyn turns 1!

Austyn is 1! Already! Can you believe it? Time surely does go by fast. We had his birthday party the saturday after his birthday at Eastview Park in San Pedro. It turned out to be a wonderful day, despite my concern of having an outdoor party in the middle of November.

Halloween

For Halloween Penelope and Austyn dressed up like Minnie and Micky Mouse. : ) I'm going to try to dress them alike as long as possible. I think it is just too adorable! And Penelope wanted to be Minnie Mouse so that made it easy enough for Austyn. Here is a picture of them together. Afterwards we went to the Riviera with Travis, Sonya, and their son Evan. Then went door to door trick-or-treating in Redondo. It was Penelope's first time Trick-or-Treating or being exposed to any of that stuff. But it went quite well. I think it is tamer in some areas then in others.

Corn Maze

(Here is my reckless attempt to get my blog up to date with the pictures in my camera)

Our family plus Russ' parents and our nephews and niece made our way to the Big Horse Feed Corn Maze. It's an annual tradition in our family. It's a fairly large maze. I believe it is the biggest one in southern California. You are trucking your way through corn fields with corn up to the top of your head. Trying to make it through the course. This is the first year we didn't finish, which is disappointing. But at least the crew gave it a try.

The kids had a lot of fun. Afterward we headed over to a restaurant and had a nice lunch before we took the 2 hour drive home.




There are a lot of fun activities there for kids. As you could see. : )







And of course the Stade clan goofing around.




the girls went on pony rides








Here are some pictures of the corn maze. I think we gave up looking for station 6 out of 10. The group made a quick decision and found the biggest break in the corn for an emergency exit. And then to take a break from walking the kids went in the jumper and then got their face painted. : )







The cousins minus Austyn who wouldn't sit down for his picture.