Monday, December 28, 2015

A New Chapter

As I write this I am feeling all sorts of things. Excited, anxious, fearful, hopeful, I could go on & on.  I'm sure you are wondering...What is she talking about??  Well, let me explain.  David got a call 2 weeks ago offering him a position at Barksdale AFB with his company.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that after living more than 1000 miles from home for 15 years we are moving home!  I mean, we are moving HOME!  

Let me give you some back story.  Ever since I was a young teen I knew that I wanted to get out and experience things outside of Ruston.  I wanted to experience things I couldn't at "home".  Shortly after David & I started dating he had decided that he wanted to serve in the Air Force on active duty.  Fast forward a couple years of dating, engagement then marriage we were off on our journey in the Air Force.  Leaving the only place both of you have ever known is overwhelming.  But, for both of us it was also filled with excitement.  We both knew that we would lean on each other and no matter what we had each other.  We have had such an amazing journey.  We have moved from Ruston, Louisiana
 to Lompoc, California, to Great Falls, Montana, back to Lompoc, California, then to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have seen and experienced some of the most amazing things in this country.  We have met people at each place that we consider family and have learned so much.  We have also grown tremendously.  We have allowed ourselves to grow and develop with each place that we have lived as well as grown to love the differences in the way God made us all. 

8 years ago David separated from active duty and made his way to working as a defense contractor consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton.  It was a time in our lives that taught us a lot about faith and leaning on God.  Since then our journey has brought us to Colorado and now there has been an opportunity presented to David at Barksdale. 

This is something that we have been thinking about for a long time.  I mean, I love moving to different places, meeting new people, figuring out new towns, worshiping at different congregations so why would I want to move back to a place that we have already lived?  So many things have crossed our minds.  We have tried to think of as many positive as well as challenging aspects as possible to make sure that we aren't deciding this based on a Pollyanna view of the world (or Ruston).  Ultimately we are looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends and deepening the bond of love we have.  We are looking forward to forging those opportunities for our children and we are excited about learning new things about a place so dear to us.  We are going in with an open mind and heart for the things we will learn and get to enjoy.  As well as the things that might be difficult to navigate.  One thing we have promised ourselves is to not form opinions about anything and to have an open mind about everything.  (Which is the way he have approached each new move we have taken) . 

David will be working at Barksdale, but we have decided that we would like to try to live in Ruston.  The first 6 months will be a learning curve for all of us, so we will use this time to figure out if this is the best for our family.  We are very hopeful that it will work, but again we don't want to take on too much that isn't good for our family so we will give it a trial and see if it works.  We have some dreams we would love to follow and by being in Ruston, that would help us see those possibly come to fruition (more on those later...).

So, here we are.  Sitting with 2 weeks left until we begin moving back to the place we left almost 15 years ago.  We pray that we will be able to live the dreams we have dreamed and fulfill all that God has for us with all our might.  We are looking forward to reconnecting with the old and forming the new.  This new year will bring us lots of new beginnings.  We will try to navigate them with God leading our family.  We wish you all a Happy New Year and that 2016 will be a year of blessings. 


Thursday, July 31, 2014

Back in the saddle

I cant believe it's been 2 years since I have written a blog! Why in the world did I take that hiatus?  Honestly, I don't have a good answer. Yes I am still being a stay at home mom that takes up a lot of time, but let's face it, I still have time to do other things.  I think about this blog so often and think about needing to update.  So, I am giving it another shot!  I am declaring that I am back in the blog-o-sphere.....we'll see how long it lasts :

For starters: a picture of my 3 blessings

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Traveling Louisiana style

Another reason for our trip home was to bring home lots of baby stuff that Erin & Adolfo are letting us borrow.  I am so thankful that she has kept everything!! We weren't sure how much we would be able to fit in the car, but we were actually able to fit every thing we were planning on borrowing.  It was amazing how much stuff fit in our car!
Have I mentioned these boys are amazing travelers?!?!  They rode 800 miles like this!!


Pretty sure we had our roots showing with the way we made this last trip. :) Our car had a crib, changing table, swing, bouncy seat, bottles, blankets, clothes and then anything else you can think of.  Thanks sis!! Now....to get to putting everything away....


Blessing baby Elizabeth

I mentioned in my previous post Trip to the homeland that some of my family honored me with a baby shower while we were home.  It was such a great time.  It was fun to get girl stuff, but most important it was a blessing to spend time with family and friends.  Just to be able to spend quality time with those that I love.  We were blessed with so many gifts for our baby girl, Elizabeth Ann Hollis!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those that blessed us.  We don't really know how to put into words our gratitude.  We love each of you!

Sista!!

Cute decorations by none other than Mama Rach

I love this girl!

Adorable cake

The hostesses

Sisters

Love Rach & Catherine!

Yummy food!


Cute, cute!

My daddy

Love these girls! 

My mom


Diana & Memaw..so glad they came! 

Lacey made the drive to see me!

Mawmaw - we love her

All the ladies



How blessed we are!
 I am still just overwhelmed with how blessed we are and am so thankful for all of these special people in our lives!

Trip to the homeland

After we put David on the plane to head back to Colorado Springs for a few days, the boys and I headed to Ruston.  We had a few things planned for the week.  The boys were going to be taking swimming lessons and then on Saturday some of my family was giving me a baby shower for our little girl.

 First up: swimming lessons.  The boys have always loved water, so they did great at swim lessons.  They can swim independently for a good ways.  Now, we just have to continue to work on it with them.  I was so thankful that my cousin, Stacy, was the one that was teaching them.  We got to chat and catch up all the while the boys enjoyed swimming.  It was a fun week!

First day..getting started

First day... a little nervous so he let brother go first



haha!! Coming up for a breath



Not nervous anymore!



Jackson loved being underwater!

Thanks Stac!! 
 David flew back in town so he could spend the weekend with all of us in Ruston.  It was a great time for all of us to be home!  What do we do when we all get together???? EAT, of course! haha.  The kiddos also played and then on Sunday we all went to church together.  What a great time of family.  I am blessed!

Dad doing his thang!  Cooking :)


YUMMY! 


Ruston peaches!  Yes, please!



I find this amazing....4 kids with Papa G all looking at the camera!

Beautiful Ortuzar family


All of us!!

Father's Day

These boys love this man more than anything!  Happy Father's Day to one of the best dads on this earth.