Time to catch up!

This last month has been a RUSH! It began with an online course needed to officially complete my As degree. I am happy to say this course has been smooth sailing for me and already almost half complete. Then I had finals. I went into both of my finals feeling well studied but nervous. My photography class, though often seen as an easy a, was a little worrisome as the teacher had given us no tests so far and we had never received any work back or graded. It was difficult to go into the course not knowing where you stand. I am happy to say that I got that easy A. 

Calc 1b was a different animal. I knew exactly where I stood in the class, but it also has the notoriety of being the most difficult of the calc series. To add more pressure, this course was the deciding factor on my acceptance to TAMU. Math is not my strong suit as it does not come easy to me. After a difficult final and days of checking multiple times a day to see if the grade had been posted, I am so happy to say I earned a B. 

After finals was graduation. This day had made all the stress of the decade (yes it has been 10 years in the making..on and off..since high school) worth it. I was so happy that my mother, fiancee, children, and exhusband were all there to celebrate with me. I wouldst have made it through without their support or the support of my awesome college. Also as an important note to self: Do not give a DSLR set on manual focus to someone not accustomed to using it. 

After that it was repairs, inspections, and packing to finalize the sale of the house. While also securing a rental in our new hometown. This was more stressful than even finals! We were finally able to secure a seemingly great rental, which you can see images of below. I am excited to get there, unpack, and explore our new town (in air conditioning lol). 

And then Richard proposed *which has its own blog post*

And all of this while trying to make some more lasting memories with these kiddos before we leave to Tx and make new memories together! 

Saying goodbye to good friends

Plus more packing and planning! 

And finally finding out that I am officially accepted to TAMU as an undergrad in Chemistry!!!!!! 

The only thing yet to really come together is Johns job transfer, we have reason to believe it is happening, but he is just having to come a few months after us :(

All in all, we have been amazingly busy but amazingly blessed this month! I am thankful to family, friends, and God. 

I said YES!

The proposal wasn't entirely a surprise. I knew he had a ring, I knew what it looked like, but I did not know when and where it would happen. I found out when it would happen the day before. Mostly because he just wasn't any good at keeping his excitement in lol. 

The location was still a mystery. He isn't very good at keeping secrets and I am not great at surprises. So I asked a ton of questions. Really to no avail. I was told we would be walking on sidewalks (about like walking around in the mall), that it was within a 2 hour radius, it was not super dressy, and that we had been there before. Oh and that Ross was going to be there to take pictures of the event. 

So then once we headed south on the 15 fwy I realized we were headed to San Diego. My mind started turning... And finally I realized! Balboa Park, of course! The guys wouldn't tell me one way or the other. However I was really hoping he would propose in front of the botanical garden/conservatory there as I love it. I love it so much that I had even considered how beautiful it would be to get married there one day! 

San Diego is beautiful and it was a wonderful day. A slight breeze, not too hot, and not too many people. 

We arrived and went to the Natural History Museum, which was fun :)

Then we headed to my favorite place in the park! We walked through the conservatory. It was a beautiful moment. There was a man there playing violin for the public and so there was music in the background, not many people walking around, and Richard got down on one knee and asked me to Marry him!! Of course I said yes! 

As we were leaving there was a man doing Free caricatures so we went ahead and had one done. I love it! I am going to have it framed. 

After the proposal we went back to the Natural History Museum where we watched a 3D video on Sharks, then went to lunch to celebrate at a great local Thai Food restaurant! 

A little heartbroken

Unfortunately it would seem the world is not ready for our odd family. It seems that we will need to spend some time apart, which saddens me. You see we need to rent a home before we buy. We want the ability to get to know the neighborhoods and see the homes before we purchase or even build a home. Unfortunately our family is so unique and has so many cars, that we have been unable to find something that perfectly suits us. 

Well we did find two great options. One we could afford, but it would be spending twice as much as we wanted and does not have enough covered storage for the repaired vehicles. The other home, was almost half the price. It also has covered parking for 8 cars! Its large enough for our family, in a seemingly nice neighborhood, and its beautiful too (not a necessity but a bonus). 

Well we were hit a major blow yesterday when we found out that the deed restrictions only allow for related parties to rent the home together. Now we consider ourselves a family, but the law does not. John and I are divorced. Ross is a teenager we took in. My father, Richard, and I are ok. 

So with just less than 2 weeks till the move we had to make a hard call. Finally John decided to take a break from a long commute and have less stress by deciding to rent in a city an hour and a half to two hours away, where he will be working. I cried. John is one of my best friends and my kids deserve their father. Not a lot of people understand or agree with our lives. 

He promises its temporary and that he will come back on the weekends, but it still sucks. So for 6 months to a year we will be apart. I am worried about the future of our family. 

Keep us in your thoughts. 

Hitting the lake!

One last time! 

Last week the kids were sick with colds, so we skipped planned activities in hopes of getting well. So this week we took them to the lake. They enjoyed themselves, but we tried a new lakeside beach spot which was closer to our home (about two city blocks away). Unfortunately though it was very secluded, we did not enjoy it quite as much. It only had a wading area that was very shallow, my eldest was quite disappointed with that. However fun was had, so here are some pictures. 

Love is Love, the more the merrier

A post I read on the internet today got me thinking. In the end I came to the conclusion that I am very proud of my maternal extended family. As a child I never quite understood just how amazing they were at unconditional love, but as an adult their love astounds me. 

You see our family is truly a mixed bag. We have different professions, politics, interests, etc However it goes deeper than that. We are also made up of a mix of DNA sequences. Meaning that we are not all "Blood" relatives. You might be thinking that this is true of many families. Of course the people who marry are not blood relatives (well hopefully not). I mean to say that some of the children that entered this family were not "blood", but my family taught me that blood doesn't matter. Love does. 

I have seen many people discuss how families coming together in this way can be a disaster. Unfortunately I think most of the time this is true. We fail to see past the blood lines and forget that a human being is there. My family never made significant differences between the genetically linked relatives and the non genetically linked ones. This lead to what I believe to be a beautifully cohesive and loving family. Oh of course we have our disputes and our problems, but at the end of the day we love and care for one another deeply. 

A family is not just made by the combining of DNA sequences, but also by the acceptance and love towards one another. 

We are not perfect, but I am so proud to call these people my family. I wish that I had understood as a child and teenager just how magical their love is. 

Another item to check off the list

Spring Finals are over! Only another week or so until I find out my grades. I have graduation tomorrow and everything seems to be moving forward. I do have an online course during the summer that officially completes my As degree, but it is a simple course so I am not stressing it as much as I had been stressing Calc 1B

 Please keep John in your thoughts as he has the interview for his transfer this Friday. He had another job interview on Monday. It would really put me at ease to know that he has a firm job lined up for the move. I really do wish to keep the family in one piece and move as a unit. 

In a few weeks I should find out more about where I will attend college in the Fall. Also I have a tentative plan for my health insurance once we move as well. That is also taking a bit of stress off as well. 

The last BIG thing, other than Johns job or the close of escrow, is finding a rental in our new home. It has been hard finding a home large enough for our entire household. 

Also I need to plan a fun trip for the drive to our new state. If anyone has any great ideas, let me know :)

Escrow!

I have to say this process has been an exciting but stressful one. I am currently at the stage where I am saying I am never going to buy or sell a home ever again...haha... We had home inspections today and that seemingly went well. We just need the actual report to come in and then the buyers concessions on things that need fixing or deduction, etc. I have termite inspections, septic inspections, appraisals, and some other minor things to go through. 

However the moving date is set for July 3rd! I can not believe it and I am just hoping and praying that time flies for us. I started another class, this time online. Also would really love to hear about John's job transfer...it would set me at ease about our entire family moving in one piece at the same time. 

 I received a sash from the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program yesterday to wear at the graduation. 

Here I am with these awesome graduating STEM students

My sash/stole (their official name)!

Yes, this crazy woman is me... 

And last week we went to the beach with my awesome family. Afterwards we went out to dinner with John, who had to work that day. 

The next day my kiddos had Track and Field day. Johnny got a ribbon for participation and Aurora actually won second place in the standing broad jump :)

The over the weekend Aurora and I had a girl scout meeting to attend. I am co-leader and some of the girls were done with activities earlier so we had an impromptu science session! They were awed by the awesome stuff they saw under the microscope.