...and a little bit of that. Sadly, I'm falling behind on my blogging- I do apologize. We're getting buried in the busyness of the day it seems! But I felt a little obligated to poke my head in the Chronicles door to at least keep you posted on what we've been up to lately. Although it's not quite as glamorous as you might have been waiting for, I'm afraid. I think I'm feeling another list blog today, so here goes...
1) Still unpacking. I feel like this is the story of my life. I know it will come to an end one day, and we still haven't even been here a whole month (although that will be next week), but I wish the boxes would disappear. It's coming together more and more, though. Most of the problem is we started over on some of our spaces and don't have the proper containers and homes for the organizational end of it. So we still have some boxes of stuff that don't have a place to go yet. For example, merging Chris's church office stuff with our personal business stuff to make an office space we did not previously have. And merging two children's rooms together into one room, which means stuff galore!
2) Mac is coming along as well. He can still be quite the little stinker, but he's sleeping pretty good at night and starting to scratch at the door to go outside (not 100% of the time, but we're getting there). He loves to play, and he also loves to chew/bite anything he comes across. Including feet when you're walking. Annoying. We're working on that. The kids just love him to pieces. And he definitely got oooed and ahhhed over when he went to the vet cause he's just so darn cute.
Can't believe he's already grown so much if you look at the pic like this I just posted when we got him! He is unbelievably difficult to photograph. It's so rare that he is still!
3) Haven't ventured out anywhere really amazing because we've been so busy, but I did have an experience by myself at a grocery store called Central Market. Or should I say grocery extravaganza. It was incredible- I've never been in a food store quite like that. I think I mostly just wondered around gawking at everything. And I came home with things like Blueberry Peach butter, fresh chicken sausage with feta cheese and spinach (they were green links-pretty gross looking but ended up being yummy), and a frozen sorbet made from real chamomile and other wild flowers. Just to name a few. And it's in a the middle of a super swank shopping street lined with palm trees and fabulous stores. A little further than the closest grocery store, but totally worth it for the experience. I should take this opportunity to say how much I love our location, because we're not that far away from things like this.
4) The weather is crazy. Word on the street is that it's much hotter already than it usually is. Of course it is. It's because we're here! It's suck the life out of you hot. But it's also been raining a ton, which is different for us. Tropical weather is interesting, because everything's all hot and sunny and then BAM- showers pop up out of nowhere, dump a bunch of rain, and then it's gone. And then it's 100 degrees and steamy, so it doesn't do much to cool things off. And there's a possible hurricane coming- much earlier than usual, they say. Of course it is. It's a different world here- definitely perking our ears up at hurricane talk now! Bracing ourselves for torrential downpours over the next few days and praying we don't live in an area that floods!!
5) And speaking of the crazy weather, we are sure hoping the rain doesn't put a damper on our big holiday plans- literally! We are having a 4th of July party at our house and inviting anyone from the church who wants to come. A little pressure to get our house together, but it's probably a good thing so we can get it in gear! We were planning on having the pool all ready and doing a big cookout outside, but with the massive rain expected through the week and even through the weekend, we'll see I guess! Either way it's party time at the Pates and I'm excited!
6) Here's a little peek of some fun things I'm gathering for our new dining room. I think it's going to be my favorite room :) Items in this room will include a refinished (by me) mirror and hutch from my Grannie, H-town thrift store finds, that super cool frame from Target, and fab-u-lous Ikea fabric that kind of inspired the whole room, to name a few.
7) We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 Sunday night. It was such a good movie! It was good timing for perspective on my part, because the boy from the first two movies was all grown up and going to college. I just cried like a little baby because I felt like my babies got older by the end of that movie. Like I will blink and their hands will no longer fit inside of mine. Childhood is such a precious and wonderful time, and with all the craziness that's been going on the past couple of months it's been very hard to just enjoy moments with them and appreciate those sweet childhood days. So I needed that reminder.
8) Continuing to have great services on Sundays. We have hit the typical summer attendance slump that most if not all churches go through. People taking vacations and such. That's pretty tough when you are already small, but despite that there is still a lot of excitement and good things happening. We've got some plans for the summer, and we're praying like crazy and listening for strategy. It's a little overwhelming when you think about your part in reaching a city of millions of people, but there's something about being so out there (like on a limb out there) that's exciting. Refreshing. And really hard work! So keep those prayers coming! This is going to be a good story.
Well, it's about time to call it a night. Which, incidentally, does not happen until at least one these days. Chris had a good analogy describing this season: It's like a rocket taking off- it takes the most fuel, effort, and energy just to get it off the ground. It's hard work launching this big rocket, but we're believing that once it gets off the ground, the sky's the limit! And hopefully I'll be around on the blog a little more and maybe you'll get a little more about what's in our hearts right now along with the pitiful attempts to lob information your way just so you know we're alright :) If you're not family it's probably hardly worth the effort to click on the page and read! Sorry about that- this is the fruit of one very exhausted person trying to keep up!
Peace out from the Pate house.
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