This is the house!

Our last Sunday in the house where our family has done the most growing would have to be Mother’s Day! Cue crocodile tears…now.

This is the house where Jackson was fully introduced to big brotherhood and all the annoyance, frustration, sacrifice and instant best friend that comes along with it! It’s the house where he learned to fully appreciate dancing in the rain (since it seldom does that here in Vegas). It's where he chose to become Jack instead of Jackson. This is where he learned about making best friends and saying goodbye to them, where he fell in awe of super heroes, where he mastered his first video game! This is the house where he grew from a toddler bed to a big boy bed and eventually grew share a room with his brother. In this house Jack learned to read, learned to say please and thank you, learned make his own sandwich. This is the house that Santa has always been real and eaten pickles and cookies left for him without complaint. This is the house where water hoses became playthings and not tools for keeping a yard. This is the house where Jack met Jesus!

This is very first house my sweet Calvin ever lived in! The only one! Here he was diapered, potty trained (by the grace of God), learned to eat solids (not meat so much…but give that kid some fruit and he’ll be your best friend), started walking and running and jumping and climbing! In this house, Calvin fell in love with Max and playdoh and Justin Time. Here is the house where once the “Z” (pacifier) ruled. This is the house where we danced to Wagon Wheel. It’s the house that Calvin first heard, after two long years of living ‘underwater’ and the house where he learned to finally talk (and hasn't stopped yet!). This is the house Calvin learned to be a little brother and to annoy and frustrate and sacrifice and love and desire to be like his big brother. This is the house that Calvin found rocks and moved rocks and stacked rocks and threw rocks. It’s where he learned to hit a ball with a bat. It’s the house he gave the best hugs ever in!

Here our family made friends we’ll have forever. We learned to conquer fears of dinosaurs and deaths and solitude. In this house we had Easter egg hunts and amazing parties, and family game nights of Candy Land and Uno and Connect Four. This is where we hauled around double strollers and hunted for lost stuffed animals. It's where Halloween was the best and most fun night of the year. This is the house we discovered that staying home and having cookouts with friends and movie nights and family meals became more enjoyable than eating out at fancy restaurants. Here we learned what Deployment means and learned that we are bigger than it! This is the house where we learned to yell “Daddy’s Home!” This is the house our family talked about God and prayed together and where we heard our children say some of their first prayers out loud.

This is the house where God allowed our family to become a family!

And in it all, our Jesus is and was the same yesterday, today, and forever!