Tonight she said...

I want to remember some of the silly things my kids say. Tonight, while riding in the backseat of the car, Emma Grace said:

Whew, it's going to be a long day tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do. I have to babysit and go to work. I have to plan and plant my garden. And I have to stay up really late and cook a big meal because all my friends from work are coming over. I'm making spaghetti. Chick Chick will have to babysit because I have a lot of work to do. It's going to be a long day.

I promptly said, well, looks like you better be getting to bed really soon, because you're gonna need some rest with your big day coming up! I'll let you know how her long day goes!

School's out for summer!

Jack and Emma Grace just finished up their last day of preschool this week. It's been really neat to see how much they have learned and how much they both enjoy their friends.We are thankful for this little school. Jack's teacher, Mrs Davis has been incredibly kind to us and works so hard to make the class environment fun and educational! Emma Grace learned lots this year-she's mastered the scissors and can write her name. And I think she did LOTS of playing on the playground. We seemed to have a steady supply of mulch chips from the playground in their shoes!

Helping Dad

Emma Grace and Jack are enjoying helping out around our new house. They have some of their own tools, though they are a little confused about which tool to use when... Emma Grace is using her garden shovel to help Andy remove carpet tacks from the floor! At least she's helping! Way to go Team Huffman!

2 1/2 Jack

I love so many things about Jack at 2 and a half. I love how happy he is, truly happy about life. I love how tenderhearted he is and how he tells me he loves me about 20 times a day. Sometimes it's because he just wants me to know it, sometimes it's because he wants me to tell him I love him too, and sometimes it's because he wants some candy. (And I give it to him!) I love that he tells me to kiss him and that he sings Farmer and the Shell in his bed for our hour before falling asleep. I'm even amused that his favorite word is poop and that he said, "it smells like poop in here" to our guest at dinner tonight. Jack has a rugged adventurous boyishness to him that's coupled with his tender little heart. I've been telling my children lately that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. What he makes is so good and our little Jack, with his black bottom feet, sticky hands and soft heart is a reminder to me of that each day.

Settling in one spot, for a while

In the past 8 years since we graduated college, Andy and I have lived in 10 different locations-we've lived in apartments with other friends in China, 3 apartments together in China, with our families when we came back to the US, a house in the US, a hotel in Thailand for a month, and now an apartment in the US. There's been a lot of packing and unpacking for us. So the thought of settling in one spot for a while is really appealing to me. Each place we've lived holds special memories but moving definitely takes a toll on me! It's been almost a year since we sold everything we owned in China and headed back to the US. It will be almost a year to the day from the day we left our apartment there to the day we move in our home here. We've loved our set up this year in an apartment, but we also knew it would be temporary.

The next month of our lives will be full of work on our new home. Andy has been busy ripping out carpet, patching holes, and painting. Our neighbor has been removing the popcorn from the ceilings (goodbye 1970) and we've started to trim some of the trees that were way overgrown in the yard. Tonight Andy is over there with a friend who we met in China, Aubrey. He and his wife met there and they moved to our city here and attend our church. It's been neat to have a China connection so close by! Andy and Aubrey are taking out the tile in the kitchen and entryway. We decided that the carpeting in the first floor needed to go since we are really hard on carpet, especially in the dining area! So we are taking up the tile as well and putting in hardwood flooring all through the first floor.

The picture above is taken from the back doors that lead out to a patio area. The kitchen is off to the right. The living room area is where the red padding is. The dining area is in the front part of house to the left of Andy. There's a bedroom and bathroom off of the living room area and 3 bedrooms and a bath upstairs. It's really open and simple, which I like.

As my Rossi always says, "If I can just see where you sleep, I feel better." So this post is for those of you who like to visualize where people are living! I'll get a picture of our bedroom up for my Rossi eventually.

Home Sweet Home

Well, it's official. We are now very in debt. For a sizable fee and the commitment to pay a lot of money over the next 30 years, we also get to do fun things like....




paint our kids' bathroom this awesome "embellished blue!"

We are really thankful for the house God has provided for our family. We have seen God lead through the whole buying process. We knew we wanted to live between where Andy is in school and where he going to be working next year. This house is right in the middle of the two so he can bike both places! It's in a cozy neighborhood. The first time we saw the house, really liked it and we LOVED the big back yard-kind of a rarity in the area were looking to buy. Within a week of seeing the house, we made an offer and that began the waiting process. At first we didn't get the house, because someone else put in an offer 30 minutes before ours. As sad as I was (and I was really bummed), I was also really thankful that God is wise. I kept thinking, "well God, you know and I'm so glad you're in charge here, not me!" It was so good to go through that process as it helped me to see I would be fine without that house. (easy for our flesh to start telling us we have to have this certain thing in order be happy!!!) But just a few days later, the bank called and wanted to consider our offer. We're still not sure what happened with the offer that went in before ours, but it was so nice to know that what was out of our hands, was totally in God's control. They eventually accepted our offer and we even ended up getting the house for $5,000 less than we offered for it!


I've been reminded this week how kind God is to me. The house is just really fun-mainly because of the big backyard, which I imagine we'll spend lots of time in. Family members have given generously to help us out and our neighbors have warmly welcomed us (our next door neighbor is from NC! YAY!) and have offered to help us on the somewhat major projects we are working on before we move in. Just today I got a message from a new friend here offering us a new mattress and box springs. It's neat to see God's provision for our family.

I am praying our house will be a place of refreshment and deep connection with the Lord and each other. We have a great big view of the sky so I am looking forward to many days of watching the sky, sipping my coffee and drinking deeply of his love for me. We are praying it would be a place where many others would taste of his love as well.

Many more DIY pictures to come. Hopefully not too many DIY disasters, though we've already come close a couple times.

Mother's Day!

We love you Mom and Kacki! We hope you had a great day and know that you are so loved and appreciated. Now more than ever we understand your love and sacrifice for us over the years. Hope you'll enjoy a few pictures of your grand babies!

My mom is 7 years old and has pink eyes and blonde and red hair. Her favorite food is bread and her favorite restaurant is Chick Fila. Her favorite TV show is a Boz video. I love my mommy because she kisses me. Emma Grace ( on a mom survey at school)

Thank you God for mommy for making Emma Grace's grits (Jack in his Mother's Day prayer)

I want to remember these days and these faces. I want to remember their little voices and their little hands. What a precious stage of life we are in with these two. I am grateful to be the one to nurture and love and train these little hearts. I want to remember the blessing and honor of being their mother.

We had a really great day. Jack and Emma Grace presented me with homemade cards this morning and Andy wrote a really kind card with a gift card to Starbucks (coffee and time to myself are the two love languages I speak most fluently these days!!!) We enjoyed a picnic with friends from church and had a delightful dinner with a new friend from our complex. It was a sweet day for me.