The Status of things

Here is a little update of our lives here in Flagstaff.

Devin and I spend our days here in our apartment taking care of Sam and Mollie. Devin is still searching for a job. A carpet cleaning business may be in the works here soon (possibly), but in the meantime we are broke. Now please understand that when I say we are broke I am not trying to get sympathy or handouts. Seriously. I am documenting this time in our lives and being completely honest about it. We just payed December's rent, and as for January's? Who knows where that will come from! We are nervous about money but we also know that we are in God's hands. Really and truly we believe and trust in that. Now with that said, we are not expecting to just sit around and wait for God to provide. We know we have to take matters into our own hands and do all that we can do. So, I am feeling the strong need to contribute.

I have had the thought lately that maybe I should try and watch children during the day at our apartment to help supplement our income. Plus, I know Sam would love a playmate (assuming the kids would be playing age). After talking with my dear friend Leigh Ann on Friday, I am feeling even more strongly that maybe I should do this. Leigh Ann watches kids during the day (along with her own 2), and is taking 12 credit hours online! That girl amazes me. If she can do it, I can do it. Of course the thought of this hurts my heart a little bit. Sam and Mollie are my little sweetlings, and just the thought of having my attention divided from them gives me crying feelings. So, I am still a little bit divided as to what to do. All I know is that I want to help out my little family in any way that I can.

Does anyone have ways they make extra income from home? What do you do now or what did you do when your kids were younger?


Leigh Ann and me. I'm not sure why I look like an 80-year-old-woman in this picture. I'm going to blame it on sleep deprivation thanks to Mollie.

Jealous Christmas

I entered a video into the "Guaranteed White Christmas" video contest. I was going to wait and upload this until Dec. 5, which is the contest deadline, but I decided to just go ahead and show it.

Special thanks to my mom, Brenda, Brooklynn and John for being in the video! And as always, thanks to my sweet Debbie who almost always is willing to be goofy in videos with me, even if it makes him grumpy :)

-3

That's what the low was in Flagstaff this morning.

When Sam woke up, his lips were blue. Seriously. We put him in 2 layers of footed pajamas and socks because he just won't stay under a blanket during the night. Poor little guy.

I put Mollie in the sun so she would stay warm.


This afternoon we got Sam some winter clothes (thank you Grandma Barry!) so he could actually enjoy the cold. I think I enjoyed putting him in all the snow clothes much more than he enjoyed wearing them. Sam even fell down a few times out in the snow and couldn't get up on his own because of the puffiness of his outfit.

Our Sunday Morning

Sam's New Hair

Mindy cut Sam's hair off today. Now he really looks like a little boy!

Mollie is 2 months old

Sweet Mollie turned 2 months old on Saturday. She is such a darling little baby. She never cries unless she needs something (which, let's face it, is a lot...she's a baby) or unless she's being pummeled by Sam (which is also a lot). She also is still waking up in the night about every 1.5 hours. It's tough but she's worth it. I love her!

Saying Goodbye to Dixie

3 weeks ago we had to say goodbye to Dixie.

I am not a dog person. But, in the spring of 2007 I started shopping around for dogs. At the time, Devin and I were engaged, and I knew the minute we got married he wanted to get a dog. So, I figured that if I was going to have to live with a dog, it might as well be one I picked out. So, I headed to the Flagstaff mall (I was attending NAU), and found Dixie at the pet store. Yes, the pet store. I saw Dixie there through one of the little windows, then went home. The next few days, I couldn't stop thinking about that dog. I was perplexed as to why I couldn't get her off of my mind since dogs aren't my favorite things. That next weekend Devin came up from Phoenix for a visit, and I took him to meet the little puppy I couldn't stop thinking about. We asked the salesgirl to let us play with her, and we did so in one of the rooms for well over an hour. We were in love.

Remember how I said we got Dixie at a pet store? Dogs are very very overpriced there, but I didn't care. I honestly felt some tugging from deep inside my spirit telling me that I had to get this dog. So, I took out a loan and took her home a few days later.



Dixie was our child. In our first married months, Devin and I took her to the dog park nightly (nerdy, I know). I took her on 4-mile walks every morning. Devin and I used to compete over who Dixie would choose to sit with when we would watch movies.

Then when we had Sam, Dixie became his best bud. She would let him do anything to her while she just layed there patiently.

When we decided that we would move up here for Devin to attend school, and we found an apartment to live in, we were devastated when we found out they don't allow dogs. So began the search to find Dixie a new home. For weeks we tried to figure out some way that one of our family members could take her so we could take her back at the end of our 4 years in college. Unfortunately this plan didn't work out, so we had to search elsewhere. A sweet family from church ended up taking her, and from what we hear she his loving life, even sleeping in the bed with one of the daughters. How rude of Dixie. I wanted her to mope around for at least a few days.

Devin and Dixie's last picture before taking her to her new owners

I still don't know why I had the spiritual prompting to get Dixie. I was convinced that one day she would save us from drowning in a river or something, but nothing miraculous like that ever happened. Maybe Dixie's whole purpose was to show me that some dogs are worth loving. Just not cocker spaniels.

We're Here, and We're Freezing!

The Barrys are now residents of Flagstaff! We finally set up our computer today. I have so much to blog, including Sam's 2nd year video (I guess I should make it first), Mollie's 2 month video (Happy Birthday TODAY Mollie!), and so much more. In the meantime let it suffice that we are cold and we are expecting our first snow TONIGHT!!!

My Mom's 52nd

Happy Halloween

Yesterday Mollie celebrated her first Halloween. She had a ball. Actually she could have cared less (obviously).
I tried to get pictures of Sam and Mollie in their Halloween shirts...yeah didn't quite work out that great.




I wasn't sure if I was going to let Sam go trick-or-treating since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, but after praying about it I felt ok about letting him go. He had a blast and loved saying "trick or treat!" and always said "thank-you" after being handed candy. Thank goodness John and Brenda keep costumes in their playroom, because this Tigger costume looked perfect on Sam.