Durango Palmers

So much to say!

First off, I'm an auntie again!  My sister Meghan had her little girl early June  (5 days late poor thing!).  Originally I had posted that I have one more baby left but my littlest niece, Emma, was born end of June so I had to correct that as well. Emma is my brother's baby.  It's raining babies :) and I love it!  Now to figure out how to get up there and love on all of them!

We went to Florida at the end of May. I had originally talked about how much laundry I was beginning to tackle but that's irrelevant now....isn't this fun? ;)

Florida was wonderful (although I am so thankful we don't live there).  Sorry to those who love Florida - it's just not my thing.  Give me my beautiful, dry Colorado sunshine.  Yes you need lotion but at least I feel clean! Lol!  We had a wonderful time at the conference, heard awesome speakers and had fabulous times of worship.  It was refreshing and the kids loved the kids stuff.  And Disneyland was super fun.  Crazy busy, hot and humid and crowded but it was a blast.  We went from ride to ride and just tried to enjoy every single minute.  Yes there were a whiny moments, tears and stress but the joy and fun and thrill of the time far outweighed the difficulty. I'm throwing in a few fun pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Some I have posted on facebook or instagram but there are a couple new ones.

This one I took the night before we left.  I asked them if they were excited to go...Apparently Mark and Kate were the most thrilled :)
Here is little man on the first plane out of Durango.  This was his first plane ride ever.  He was a bit thrilled.
 On the first night in Orlando we headed to Downtown Disney and saw the Lego store (of course!).  Buzz and Woody here are huge and made completely out of Legos.  Very impressive.
 One of the speakers at the conference was John Bevere.  He was great.  Actually all of them were.  Challenging, encouraging, convicting.  Just what we needed.  Well worth the trip to hear the speakers and be a part of our Foursquare family.
 Above is a picture of the best Disneyland tour guides - Ashley, Chris and Kim.  These wonderful friends helped us navigate the parks, the rides, the shows and everything else.  AND they took our kids to a Lilo and Stitch breakfast (below).  Something Mark and I weren't able to do.  Such a gift to have them here with us!  This was Jack's only time to hug on Mickey and he was beyond excited.  I guess he almost tackled him with his enthusiasm.
Pluto was also there getting pictures.

 On the day we went to Hollywood Studios Mark was picked for the Indiana Jones stunt show.  He was uber happy about being on stage.  His blue and red striped shirt and his jumping up and down got him picked from the top row of this huge theater place.  He played a towns person in the stunt show and loved it. :) On another note, Kale was picked in the Monsters Inc show and interviewed and he totally hammed it up.  He was also chosen for the pirate show, with Jack Sparrow, to come on stage and learn how to be a pirate.  Jack was a bit jealous that Kale kept getting picked.  Thankfully at the end of the pirate show Jack got called up and received his pirate papers too.  Kate was just happy to watch it all.
 Jack's little legs probably walked 3 times as far as ours did.  Kim finally packed him on our walk to Asia at Animal Kingdom.
 The weekend we went to Hollywood studios was Star Wars weekend (super crowded) and Kale was beyond happy.  And so was Mark.  So we saw storm troopers, clone troopers, jedis, chewbacca, jawas, Darth Vader, Anakin, and some girls.  I was looking for Hans Solo but he was a no show...We had to go on Star Tours twice of course.  Do you see the look of pure joy on that kids face? That's when a clone trooper walked by.  He looked like he would faint.
My favorite show that we saw was Finding Nemo. They all were good but this one was impressive. We also saw Beauty and the Beast and Lion King. Always nice to sit in an air conditioned theater! This is where we briefly lost Kale (the only one a really nervous about being lost). We took a right while he went straight. He found us, however, before we even realized he wasn't with us. Each of the adults thought he was with another one. Scary for him but it worked out alright.
These are a couple pictures from our hotel room. We did well all of together for a week in the same room. We laughed because our AC kept going out and our TV wouldn't work but for the amount of time we actually spent in our room it was just fine. The walk from the conference e place to our room was easily half a mile. Lots of exercise for us!
There were so many things that its hard to post it all but it really turned out to be a great trip. Not exactly restful but so much fun.

Good morning everyone (all three of you who have stuck this out with me...)

I realized May is almost over, my life has been on super sonic speed, and things are changing and moving ahead rapidly.  I will fill you in as much as I can in hopes of bringing you up to speed in the few minutes I have before I need to start doing math with my kids (you can almost hear them groan as I type that).

In the past 6 weeks we put our house on the market, had a few showings, and 3 weeks later it went under contract.  The folks who are buying it are from the Denver area and actually didn't look at it in person until last week.  It went under contract on a Monday (end of April) and that Wednesday we found a house near the church and put an offer on it.  That one went under contract on that Friday.

Our buyers would like to close on June 14th which is a super short time in realtor land. The folks we need to buy from need to close and move from their house so we can close and move into their house so we can close and move out of our house.  All in just under 3 weeks from now. Did you follow all of that?  We're half way through inspections and now have to wait for appraisals.  And can I say that negotiations aren't really all that fun?  There's good reason why Mark and I haven't moved in almost 12 years.  Who needs this stress? BUT I'm beyond excited about our new house.  I'm having trouble uploading a picture of the new place but when I can I will share.  It's about 2 miles north of the church which is going to change our lives.  After living 25 minutes from church for so long 5 minutes is going to be amazing!  So we're looking forward to it and it's the hope that keeps us pressing through negotiations and preparations.

We are also preparing to leave this Monday morning, Memorial Day, for Orlando, Florida.  Mark and I have a pastor's conference there.  Foursquare (our denomination) has set it up so it can also be a family vacation.  We decided to jump on it and take the kids.  We are so looking forward to this crazy 8 day trip.  The kids' first time on a plane and first time at Disney.  I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time which I think can be expected with 3 kids under 10.  I've been so tempted to get a leash for Jack :)

When we get back from our trip we will have 10 days (if everything moves forward as it has been planned) to pack and move.  One thing at a time!

In the midst of all of this Mark is continuing with school, the kids are still plugging away with their school (although a bit more impatient about getting their own rooms!), I'm heading up 3 Bible studies (not teaching them all but in charge), and I preached this past Sunday.  I'm posting the link  {you need to click on launch sermon player and then click the one titled Truth} if you are interested but do not feel pressured to listen.  It's a sermon!

We are doing well.  God is teaching me peace in the midst of life.  Constant, continual, beautiful peace.  His gift to me.  We lost a dear member of our church in the midst of all of this as well.  A young 19 year old woman who Mark had known since she was 2.  She's the younger sister of some very dear friends.  We've known Jerome and Adam and their families it seems like forever.  Although we didn't know Celine as well, we loved her and we love her family.  Our hearts have been broken for the loss.  And yet, unexplainably, we can find His great joy in the midst of heartache and loss.  Special time with friends and loved ones just being.  His peace in the middle of the storms of life.  

We were never promised a life without struggle, pain, challenges and hurt.  But we are promised an abundant life, joy and peace.  It seems to not make sense but somehow He makes it work in us.  So thankful for His Presence in everything!