hello? is anyone there?

whoa.  i have been a bad, bad blogger this year.  

i'll admit to this.

but i have a good reason why i have been absent so much lately.

(prior to the past few months, i have no excuse besides laziness).

do you want to know what it is?

we're moving!

where, you ask?  

to peoria, illinois.

yep, that's right, not far from where i started out as a young lass.

after much thinking, discussing, praying, searching, interviewing (and throw in some tears, stress, and excitement, for good measure) corey has accepted a position as youth pastor at a church in peoria.  

and i got to tell you he is pretty pumped.

we are so thankful for our church family here.  we learned so much about what it means to be in the ministry.  our life together basically started here since we had only been married for about 7 months when he took the youth pastor position.  and so much happened in the past 6 1/2 years.  he stepped up to the lead pastor position, we bought another dog, we bought a house, we had jagger, we bought a minivan, we had cash and slade.  whew.  

as much as corey has loved the experience he gained from being the lead guy, he is excited to go back to youth.  it's what he went to school for and it really is his passion.  and i've got to tell you, it takes a special calling to work with kids.  those of you who know corey know that he is just a big kid.  i mean, he never really grew up.  

so we decided that now was a good time to make the move back to youth ministry, while our kids are still small and not established in school yet. 

we are excited.

for new ministries to begin.

for new friendships and connections to be made.

for new adventures to be had.

we have been busy, busy, busy.  prepping the house for sale.  packing.  trying to keep the kids from unpacking what we've just packed.  saying goodbyes.

we roll out of town on wednesday.  i can hardly believe it's here. 

so, this post is to let you know what's up.  our internet is being shut off tomorrow and it'll be a few days before we're reconnected in illinois.  so be patient.  there'll be more stories to come :)

jagger testing out the moving truck :)