Amy Scott's Thoughts

News & More News March 21, 2017

Filed under: Bible,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 8:43 pm

Where to start? I promised you some news in my last post. Non-house related news. Here we go!

About a month ago, I agreed to be the MOPS coordinator for next year. Not only does this new role bring more responsibility in our MOPS group, but we are also shaking things up as we move forward. Our church will be opening a learning center in the fall and the classrooms we use for MOPS will soon be occupied during the day. We had to assess if MOPS was worth keeping and if it was, we had to find a new time to meet. This led to moving MOPS to the evening next year. We will meet now on the 2nd & 4th Mondays of the month. I’m excited to see the group continue and I think this new time and day opens up new opportunities. Right now we have a mens’ group that meets on Mondays so adding a moms’ group with childcare could be a good match for the whole family. If the evening hours are too late for little ones to be out, hopefully a father or grandparent could stay home to put the kiddos to bed. Right now working moms can’t attend our group because it meets in the day. We are hoping that working moms or single moms have better availability in the evenings. We also plan to move our outings to the weekends and promote them as family outings so whole families can make greater connections. We announced the change to the leadership team last week and to our group this morning. The next step is recruiting the team for next year and letting the community know about our upcoming changes for the fall. We have a bake sale booth at Easter Eggstravaganza and I hope this will give a good connection point to get the word out. I am nervous about leading the group next year, but I am blessed to the support of my friend and mentor, Pastor Jeannie. She is shouldering the weight with me so I don’t breathe into a paper bag. I’ve had many positive conversations about next year and it fills me with hope that we are moving forward in the right direction. I’m sure I’ll have many more updates on my MOPS adventures. It’s just beginning!!!

Now on to some house related news! Jeremy got word today from our real estate agent saying we are GO for closing. The buyer could sign his papers as soon as this Friday which means we could be closing next week. Praise the LORD! Our appraisal must have come in at asking price because we didn’t have to sign any papers to changed the agreed on price. This is thrilling news. My happy dance is seasoned with a bit of skepticism, but for the most part, I am hopeful this is the real deal this time. The true happy dance will happen once the papers are signed. I am ready for this next season of life. Bring on the building season and the moving season and the finally settling into our own space season. I realize that life moves slowly at times. This whole “selling” process has proven that. I’m hopeful and prayerful that the next phase of building has less hiccups and slow downs. This might be naive, but I’m a dreamer. I can’t help it… I’m just so excited.

That’s the update for now! I’ll keep you posted on the wild and crazy adventures of the Scott clan.

Brotherly love!

I’ve been keeping this verse close by me this week.

Cousin play date while the moms slip out to see a movie!

Peekaboo smiles

Free Cone Day at Dairy Queen

He kept telling me he didn’t need a nap. Yeah right, kid.

It took me a few seconds to realize that Owen let Graham out the backdoor. Oops!

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Ready for Spring March 18, 2017

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 10:52 am

The first official day of Spring is Monday and I am done with winter. I’m not usually the type of person to be “done” with winter. I like watching it rain. I like staying indoors. Personally for me, it doesn’t matter what season it is as long as I’m comfortable inside. However, the older my kids get, the more I understand the pull to warmer weather. We’ve had a few dry days over the last week and my boys have loved every chance they have had to be outside. I also want to get into the habit of walking again, so even I am ready for the weather to start changing.

I was waiting to write this post so I could share news from our appraisal, but sadly, we haven’t heard anything yet. I thought we would know by yesterday, but that didn’t happen. Oh well. Everything takes longer than expected. I know this and yet my heart is still hopeful that things will move forward quickly. Patience is hard. So hard. I keep wondering how long do I have to be patient. Haven’t I been patient enough? Apparently not. Anyway, I hope that in my next post I will have something to share. Praying it’s a positive something!

We’ve been busy, but nothing too exciting to report at the moment. I do have something big and non-house related to share next week (no, it’s not a baby announcement). I’ve been keeping something under wraps for the last month or so and after Tuesday, I’ll be able to fill you in! Gotta love suspense!

Now for pictures of my cute clan.

Owen is into the stain glass at church right now.

Happily playing with Play Doh

On to Lego Duplos

A special treat at McDonald’s

Tulips from my thoughtful and loving hubby. He is the best!

Jeremy got this picture of Owen while on a walk. Owen loves rainbows, so it was a perfect moment!

Staring contest with the neighbors

Watching Uncle Dave pour gravel. So much fun!

Jeremy watched Graham so I could be a part of a meeting at church and I got this picture of Graham passed out in Jeremy’s office. Sleepy baby!

Celebrating Pi Day (3.14) with a raspberry cream pie from the Pioneer Woman

Painting with q-tips

Puddle splashing on a sunny day

Playing quietly while Graham naps!

Adventuring with my boys at the Hands On Children’s Museum

Loving his new weather book that I won from an Usborne book party. Gotta love free stuff!

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And Just Like That It’s March March 8, 2017

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 4:13 pm

It’s been over two weeks since I’ve blogged. I don’t like getting behind because I feel like I have so much to tell you. I don’t want this go on forever, so I will be attempt to be brief. The main reason I haven’t been blogging is our household has been battling some major illness. I mentioned in my last post that both boys had colds. Owen got over his quickly and Graham made a recovery for about two days before getting slammed with a high fever that lasted for days and an ear infection. History has proven if my kids get sick, I am close to follow so I also came down with an inner ear issue. I was super dizzy for a couple of days and felt pretty rotten. I was so bummed because over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve had to cancel plans with friends and the boys and I didn’t get to go to our MOPS monthly outing to the trampoline park. Luckily for me, once we all got healthy, Jeremy and I took to the boys to the trampoline park and just like I expected, Owen had a blast. It was such a fun time together. I had also learned that my beloved Tillamook Cheese Factory was closing and going to be torn down. They will rebuild a bigger and better visitors center, so it’s not an entirely sad story. I spent a good part of my childhood vacations visiting the cheese factory. Owen loves it and remembers it. He loves the cheese bus. I have multiple Tillamook sweatshirts. Our family loves this place. For an adventure, my sister and brother-in-law joined us on Saturday to say good bye to the cheese factory. It was crazy busy and the production center where we would stand and watch the cheese being processed was already closed. There were long lines. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones saying so long. It wasn’t exactly the trip that I had hoped for, but I’m glad I went because I think I would have regretted not going one last time. I am excited to see what future brings for the Tillamook Cheese Factory. My family will happily be there once they open their doors again.

Before I go into the 90 million photos that have accumulated over 2 weeks, I did want to mention that our home appraisal happened yesterday. I am glad to have checked off the list and I am anxious to hear the results. We already know that the appraiser was concerned with the water in the storm retention pond. It’s been rainy here and the pond was doing it’s job. It will dry up when the rain stops, but I’m not sure what the opinion of the appraiser will be after a one time visit. While we know that our last appraisal went well and we can always share that number with the buyer if this appraisal comes in lower, but that doesn’t mean he has to accept the last appraisal price. Again, here we are close to being done and yet still wondering if things will come out in our favor. This has been a hard road to walk and it isn’t over yet. I know I say it often, but please pray for us. I am excited to see things moving forward. I am hopeful for positive results, but I have also seen two deals fall through on us. This could go either way. Nothing is certain.

Okay. Here are the photos from the last two weeks!

When you’re too sick to go outside and you have to watch your brother through the window.

We love our trampoline! Good thing it has a net for Graham’s sake.

Graham’s IKEA face

A snowy Friday and lunch with my sister

Saturday morning walk with my boys

Proof that I occasionally make food..

Home from church with a sick Graham. While Graham napped, Owen and I made crayons.

At the doctor with my fever baby

I asked my mom if she could pick up more Tylenol for Graham and she brought me tulips as well. So thoughtful!

I love watching him trace letters.

The valentine wall came down and up went spring! Owen requested the rainbow and the rain. Since this photo was taken, frogs have also been added by Jeremy.

So happy to see Graham smiling and feeling better after a super rough bug.

Trampoline Park

Trampoline Park

Trampoline Park

Tillamook Adventures

Linner at Mo’s

Finally back at church after a long illness induced absence!

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Some Good News February 21, 2017

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 2:00 pm

Good news is good for the soul. I thought I would share some with you!

On Sunday, we heard from our real estate agent. He told us that the buyer had spoken with the previous inspector about our original home inspection. The inspector gave our house a positive report. As a result the buyer decided to waive his inspection and accepted the previous one. We have the home inspection behind us now. I was so concerned about this VA loan and the home inspection being a challenge. It’s beyond fantastic to have that behind us. I’m grateful that we are still under contract and moving forward. VA loans are known for taking time. I can’t help but be hopeful though. My prayer is that the appraisal will also happen quickly with favorable results. The sooner we get through the appraisal, the sooner we can get to closing. I desperately want to close this chapter of our lives and move on to the next. We are praising God for positive progress and we are hopeful for more good news to come. Thank you for your prayers!

In my last post, I didn’t want to go into the details of one of my health issues. Mostly because I wasn’t sure how things were going to turn out and therefore, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole situation. Thus, I didn’t write about it. Anyway, I will explain more now. On Tuesday, I was having a routine doctor’s visit, when my doctor found a lump on my throat. She was concerned it was a nodule on my thyroid. She sent me to have blood work done and then had me schedule and ultrasound on my thyroid for that Thursday. I knew that I wasn’t having any symptoms of thyroid issues and I had never noticed a lump before, so I wasn’t too concerned, but you never know… During my ultrasound on Thursday, the technician mentioned that I had pretty thyroid and she rarely gets to look at pretty thyroids. I know that the techs can’t say anything about your situation to give you a hint if things are good or bad, but I took my “pretty” thyroid as a good sign because I doubted an unhealthy thyroid would be pretty. Yesterday, I got a phone call from the doctor’s office saying that my thyroid checked out fine. My doctor would like to do a follow-up appointment in a few months to recheck, but it would seem my pretty thyroid is okay. Praise the Lord!

Thursday night, after I finished blogging, I was a part of an online book party for Usborne Books and More. I was invited to a leave your purse party. There would three winners of free books at the end of the party. The way to win was through racking up points. You could get points by commenting on things, playing group games, posting pictures, sharing your wishlist, etc. I felt totally obnoxious but I did my best to participate to the fullest. I was happy to learn on Saturday that I got 2nd place in the party and won $25 in free books. I now have four new books coming for my boys! I love books! They make me so happy!!!

Our house been one of illness. Both boys got colds toward the end of the week. Graham has gone down harder than Owen. We had to stay home from church on Sunday and MOPS today. I’m praying these germs leave us soon so we can go back to real world. Yesterday, Jeremy and Bill replaced the flooring in Owen’s room to laminate. Owen has thrown up enough times in that room that it had a bit of a funk. This project was one that they had planned for a while but Owen gave it a push forward in the timeline. It took part of a day to complete the room and Owen was moved back in time for nap time. Not too shabby!

That’s the update for now. Thank you for your prayers over the house and our family’s health. They mean so much to me. I hope that I have more good news to report soon. I really like sharing good news. It’s way more fun to write about than the discouragements and hang ups. Let’s keep the good news coming!

The boys spent some time at Target with Jeremy while I had my thyroid ultrasound.

Red Wagon Walks

When both boys are sick and need Mom

Enjoying his valentine present. The sticker books have been a big hit.

When you can’t be a church, you have Bible time while munching on Fruit Loops.

Owen’s room was displaced for a few hours.

Graham wants to help, too.

The transformation from carpet to laminate.

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Romans 8:28 February 16, 2017

Filed under: Bible,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 8:19 pm

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

I was listening to a pastor on the radio talk about this verse. He was saying in hard times cliche statements like “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” and the like are less than helpful. But he did know a statement that could encourage in a tough spot – Romans 8:28. He causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God. Now usually I’m not super impressed with one minute clips of pastors on the radio, but I heard this as I pulling out of a doctor’s appointment that didn’t go the way I had thought it would. I needed to be reminded that God can use anything for my good, even when I don’t see how right now. This whole last week has been a rough one for me. I’ve been to medical offices three different times this week and for me that is three times too many. I don’t want to do a TMI thing on the blog, so if you’re curious about my ailments, please ask me personally, I don’t mind sharing. I would greatly appreciate any prayers you might send on my behalf. Medical stuff is way out of my comfort zone. In a way I’ve felt like body has been betraying me this week. As if I needed one more thing on my plate, let’s add some health issues. Sometimes I look up to the heavens and say, “Really??? More???” and then I remember that I can look up to the mountains and my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2). The Creator is on my side. He made this body of mine. It’s complicated and confusing, but he gets it. Nothing surprises him or catches him off guard. And so I am left to trust the one who is more capable than me. The one who holds the world together and yet sees me and knows me through and through.

I was again driving by myself this week and I was feeling stupid about something and I was beating myself up over it because I am supposed to be better, I’m supposed to be perfect. My self talk got nasty. I didn’t like me at all in that moment. And I started to think about how God knows all this about me. He sees how awful I can be and yet he chooses to love me through it all. Despite my shortcomings and failures, his greatest desire is to be in relationship with me. I didn’t even want to be in relationship with myself. And yet, God was pursuing my heart in that moment. It was mind blowing. It just doesn’t make sense to me. He is love and his love will never cease to astound and amaze me.

For those wondering, our home inspection hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t progressed in the process of selling our home since my last post. I did host a pizza night at the house last Friday. I wondered if it would be weird hanging out at my house now that its been so long since I lived there and it being empty. Truthfully, it was awesome. It felt great to invite friends into a space that I loved and that I have enjoyed for so many years. With good food and good company, the house became a home again. I enjoyed those moments so much. I don’t know how much those ladies will ever know the blessing that night was to me. It was just what I needed to turn my burden into a blessing and I wish I had done it sooner.

I’m trying to pick and choose what stories I want to share with you now. Some might wonder how my Valentine’s day went… Well, the doctor’s appointment that I mentioned at the beginning of this post happened on Valentine’s day, so that cast a bit of a shadow on the day. My blow dryer died when my hair was like 30% dry at the very beginning of the day and I should have taken it as a sign. It was all down hill from there. Actually it wasn’t… It was an up and down kind of day. I had a fun meeting with the MOPS steering team. For our evening plans, I had rented a movie I thought the boys might like. They ended up screaming and fighting through most of it and then Owen peed on the floor and made a mess of himself, so the day ended with bath time, bed time and the movie only partially watched. Jeremy and I just look at each other and said, “well, that night didn’t go as planned.” I did have fun giving the boys their Valentine gifts. Owen got some ABC and numbers sticker books. I love giving things that are fun but also will build his preschool skills. Graham got some Mickey magnets to play with on the fridge. He enjoyed standing in the box they came in more than the magnets themselves. Go figure.

I know I have done it before, but I want take a minute to say thanks the family members and friends who continue to support me in countless ways through all of life’s drama! My mom has watched the boys numerous times this week as well as accompanied me to the doctor’s office when I felt too sick to take myself. My in-laws watched the boys so I could have my mom’s night at out at the Winlock house and then they graciously changed their plans when I had to spend the following day at urgent care. I felt bad having to rely on our families so much this last week, but their love and support have been greatly appreciated. Also, thank you to all my friends who keep up with me and check in on me. I have a small group that I know I can send real, honest updates to and they love me right where I am and support me in prayer. I know that even though things are challenging, painful, disappointing, surprising, etc. I am not alone. I am loved.

I think it’s only right that I give a big shout out to my hubby! He was out of town this weekend, but kept constant tabs on how I was doing. He came home and has been Super Dad with my kids so I can focus on resting. He is my greatest strength (other than Jesus) when I find myself worried by the unknowns. He got me pizza from Chicago this week as a special Valentine’s treat. Food is my love language! Actually, my love language is quality time, but food is a very close second! He is currently running errands with our boys so I can have some moments of quiet. The silence is golden. Praise Jesus! Jeremy is amazing and I am blessed to be able to share this crazy life with him. It’s a roller-coaster, but we’re on it together and that makes all the difference in the world.

Lunch with Auntie on Friday! She helped me get the house ready for my pizza party that night.

Waiting for the pizza and friends to arrive!

Self medicating. The heart sleeve made me happy.

Jeremy and Bill assembled the trampoline the boys’ got their birthday. It was hit and enjoyed during the few sunny days we had this week.

Book model

So proud of his tracing skills

One last bounce before it gets dark

Movie night (not the same movie night mentioned in this post – this one was obviously better)

My goofy valentines!

An attempt to do something off of Pinterest. Graham did not enjoy the paint (thus the one footprint).

Gift time!

The magnet box

Introducing Owen to dry ice

Walking while holding his pant legs up! I wonder what inspired this!!!

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The zoo, the flu & House News February 9, 2017

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 7:06 pm

Every week, I think “Wow, so much has happened. How am I going to find the time and energy to blog about it all?” Right after I posted my last blog, we took off for to Portland to go to the Oregon Zoo. We were gifted a year-long membership there this Christmas. It was a beautiful day to activate our membership and enjoy our first of many free visits to the zoo. Fridays are a big family day for us since it’s Jeremy’s day off. I love Fridays. They are my favorite day of the week. I am envision many more Fridays spent as a family visiting the zoo.

The Saturday after our zoo trip, Jeremy and Owen came down with the flu. Owen threw up three times in the night and two times on Sunday morning. By Sunday night, Owen was feeling a lot better, but I was worn out after only getting about 2 hours of sleep that night. On Monday, I came down with the flu bug as well. Gotta love being a family that shares. Graham was the only one who didn’t catch it. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that he got the flu shot on the Thursday before. I also wonder if you can spread the flu by getting a flu shot. Just some interesting observations.

Our weekend and week was a quiet one thanks to the flu germs. Our Super Bowl weekend was also fairly quiet. We enjoyed an evening at home munching on a few the boys’ favorite snacks. The kids enjoyed Doritos. Jeremy fried mozzarella sticks. I took a bubble bath. Not a bad way to spend an evening. Even if the Patriots did win…

The exciting news I have to share is that our house is under contract again. We had a big snow storm Sunday into Monday dropping 9 inches of heavy snow in the area. Jeremy spent Monday morning helping to unbury the neighbor’s work truck from a fallen tree and cleared other fallen trees off the road so vehicles could get by. We also got the call that we had received an offer on the house and that our agent would come by that afternoon to give us the details. He was brave man for driving in such crazy weather. We made some small counters to the offer and we found out on Tuesday evening that the buyer accepted our counter offer. I am reserved about this offer because it’s a VA loan which are super tricky. VA loans tend to ask you to fix everything that is found wrong in the home inspection, which we aren’t in a place where we could probably do that (depending on what they find). Also the closing date is set for April 7th which seems like FOREVER away, so we put a tagline in the paperwork that said “or sooner” to that date. These two things have me feeling a bit cautious and skeptical. The home inspection has the power to blow the deal up. The nice thing is the inspection should be in the next two weeks, so at least we’ll know quickly if things aren’t going to pan out. Weeks is better than months. If things do go through, waiting until April to close is going to be a challenge for me. I’m ready to move forward. This house is stalling our ability to build on our property and after months of waiting on failed contracts, I am super motivated to get to closing. I will jump for joy and click my heels once the paperwork is officially signed. I’m praying that things work out and that this is “it”. Please be praying with us. Any prayer support we receive is greatly appreciated!

My MOPS group is doing a 28 day challenge as a part of our curriculum this year. Since February has 28 days, it seemed to fit well with this month. A part of the challenge is to do a truth or dare each day that is laid in our MOPS books. We’ve been sharing our truths and dares on our closed member Facebook page. It’s a been a neat experience to do this together. A part of the challenge is to do one big thing during the month. I had a hard time coming up with my “thing” and then it dawned on me. My house has been such a burden. I wanted to turn my burden into a blessing. Tomorrow night I will be hosting mom’s night out in my empty house. We’ll do pizza and games and use the house for a fun getaway for the moms in my group. I’m always looking for ways to stretch myself with hospitality and I’m ready for my house to be associated with something “fun” instead of associated with the biggest hold up in my life. I’m looking forward to tomorrow evening and I’m praying that it is a great night of connection. God can use anything for his glory and I’m believing my house is included in that.

That’s the update for now. Like I said before, the home inspection will be in the next two weeks, so I’m sure that I will have more news to share in the near future. Thank you for your prayers. I’ll keep you posted!

Enjoying our first free trip to the zoo with our new membership

Getting some fresh air… They might still be in their pajamas, but at least they are bundled up.

A treat from Sonic

Checking on the house before a showing. Lots of wide open space to run and play.

Super Bowl treats

Jeremy’s Monday morning was spent cleaning up fallen trees.

More Dorito love. My boys are big fans of orange, cheesy chips.

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Thoughts on activities, haircuts, the house, prayer and a doctor’s visit… January 27, 2017

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:52 am

A lot has happened in the week and a half since my last post. Owen had his first play date with a MOPS friend, Maci, a week ago Thursday. These two are buddies at church so it was nice to invite Maci and her mom over to play outside of church. This was Owen’s first play date with a “girl” friend since most of his cousins are boys. I was a little nervous that they wouldn’t find anything to do, but that wasn’t the case. They played with everything in the house for about 15 seconds before moving on to find something new. It was a whirlwind, but definitely worth it!

Last Friday, Graham got his second haircut. I am cheap and haircuts are drama with my boys. This combination leads to me being pretty lax when it comes to keeping a schedule for haircuts. Graham’s hair was almost in his eyes, so it seemed like time. I am happy to report that this haircut went better than the first one, but it did still have its fair share of unhappiness. The lady cutting his hair gave Graham her phone and let him watch Daniel Tiger so in the end it was Daniel Tiger for the win. Graham is once again looking dapper.

Saturday was a super exciting day. There was a model train show at the WA State Fairgrounds. Owen and my nephew, Nolan, love trains so we decided to take the three year olds on an adventure while the one year olds stayed home with Nana & Papa. It was nice to hang out with Nate & Beckie and catch up with them. Owen & Nolan had a blast spending the day together. The highlight for the boys was probably taking a ride around the track on a miniature Thomas train. They were fascinated with all the model trains and I was a little worried that leaving the train show would result in massive meltdowns. Luckily we grabbed some awesome catalogs that the boys took as souvenirs and they happily said good bye to the train show. They flipped through their catalogs as we took of for lunch. It was a special day getting to spend time with the older boys and make a fun memory for them. We are still talking about the epic model train show and Owen wants to go back – every single day!

Truthfully, I can’t remember if it was Sunday or Monday, but Owen got a haircut from Nana. Owen also used to be a screamer when it came to haircuts so we started just giving him buzz cuts at home. We’ve discovered that he likes to sit in the highchair and look at himself in the mirror in the hutch. He will happily let Nana cut his hair under these circumstances. It might be strange, but whatever works, right?

Tuesday was our MOPS outing to a local fire station. Owen was so excited to see an ambulance. He got to sit a fire truck twice, once in the front seat and once in the back. He got to go into two different ambulances. It was heaven for a toddler boy. Maci was also there and she and Owen ran around the fire station hand in hand. They are the sweetest things! Graham enjoyed the fire station but if you let him down at all he took off running, looking for unsafe things to get into and play with.

Tuesday was also the big haircut day for me. Jeremy is the only one of us that didn’t get a haircut this week! I’ve been growing my hair out for about 2 years. It’s been super easy having it long during these baby days. However, I reached a point where it was driving me a bit crazy. I had split ends upon split ends and it was getting knotted badly every day. I was super excited to chop it off and go back to my shoulder length style. I loved having it long and I might be tempted to grow it out again, but for now I am very happy to less hair to deal with!

Sorry for the long update! There is just so much to share! Let’s move on to the house. We’ve had four showings in the last week. Two of those showings were to the same person. It’s been exciting to see interest in the house and it makes me hopeful that we could see an offer soon. The house situation continues to be the thing that weighs on my soul. God and I spend a great deal of time talking about it. Prayer is my only answer. It’s the only thing I know to do. I was reading my devotional yesterday and the perfect quote about prayer found me. “I feel powerless, and prayer reminds me that I may be powerless, but there is power, and the one who holds the power is good.” (Shauna Niequist, Savor) I read that and thought it perfectly summed up my life right now. I feel powerless and yet I know the one who holds the power and he is good. I am trusting God through every up and down. Through every emotion. He is with me. He is for me. I will keep praying. I will keeping trusting. Our stories never turn out the way we expect, but I know that in the long run, it will be okay.

The last part of my update is about Graham. He had his 15 month well check yesterday. He is still below the charts when it comes to height. Poor shorty pants. He was over 20lbs at this visit so that felt like a victory! Because he is growing proportionately, the doctor didn’t seem too concerned about his height at this point. She did come math and said that he would most likely grow up to be 5’9 but still has the potential to reach 6ft. Graham got four shots and a finger prick. He screamed through the entire appointment. Bless his heart. He still isn’t quite himself today. Poor kid. Overall, though, he is healthy and a smart and right on track for his age. I am grateful that his next appointment only has one shot and then he doesn’t need until he is four. We are almost in the clear! Hooray!

As I reflect on the last week or so, I am grateful for the opportunities that we’ve had. Our family has enjoyed some special outings and spent time with people we love and care about. I am blessed. I took some time to journal about my blessings on Wednesday and I am grateful for the reminder that life is sweet and beautiful even in the struggle and the mess. I am thankful and hopeful. Even when I get tired and weary, I know that God is good and that is all I need.

Rice is nice!

Getting to ride Thomas! Owen is the one in blue on the last coach.

Fascinated!

Free entertainment!

Visiting the fire station with our MOPS friends

Before and After

The fun before doctor’s appointment!

Graham didn’t not enjoy himself…

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A Snow Day, a Birthday and More! January 18, 2017

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 3:07 pm

Last Wednesday turned into a lovely snow day. We got 7 inches of snow and our local area shut down for the day. School and church was cancelled. We enjoyed walks in the snow and a relaxed day at home. The snowflakes were so pretty. You could see them all individually and how unique they each were. This unexpected snow was very welcome! However, the snow did stick around for a while because of the temperatures and made the roads a mess for quite a while. The rain started yesterday and the snow is gone. I miss it on the grass, but I won’t miss it on the roads.

Thursday morning, we very carefully drove out of Lewis County on to a great Canadian adventure! I didn’t mention it in my last post because I wasn’t sure it was going to happen until Wednesday afternoon. Thursday we drove into Steveston Village. This is seriously my favorite place on Earth. It makes me so happy. The boys played in the park and we walked the boardwalk. Graham is at the pickle age where he doesn’t want to be held but he doesn’t want to walk with the family. It was a challenge on this outing, but we made it despite some drama. Also, Owen was scared that Graham would go into the river, so that was some drama too. It’s sweet to see Owen concerned for Graham, but it borders on the line of crazy. We hit a Tim Hortons (doughnuts) and Canadian Tire (an everything but the kitchen sink kind of store). Our evening was spent back at the hotel, swimming in the pool.

Friday, we got coffee in Steveston at Waves, our favorite Canadian coffee shop! We drove into Granville Island and explored the market and the shops. We got lunch at Go Fish on the water. It was the perfect morning! Our afternoon was spent doing a little shopping. Then back to the hotel for more swimming. We couldn’t decide on dinner and the boys were tired which meant a sit down restaurant could have been dramatic. We settled on McDonald’s with a play place so the boys could run around and move. The menu is different enough that it still felt like a unique experience. We ordered on touch screens which was also special. Jeremy and I both got poutine which is french fries with brown gravy and cheese curds. Poutine is a must when in Canada. We got the boys some Kinder Surprise eggs as a treat and then it was bed time.

Early Saturday morning was quite eventful. Graham was up at 12:30am, crying and then again at 3:00am. It took an hour to get him back to sleep. At 4:30 Owen realized that Lamby was in the van and that he NEEDED him. In ordered to keep Owen from having a meltdown and waking up Graham, who I had just gotten to sleep, I went down to the parking lot to get Lamby. At 4:30am, I was in the freezing hotel parking lot singing happy birthday to myself. Owen went down in time for Graham to wake up at 5:00am. I finally got Graham to sleep in bed with Owen and I (I should mention that Owen was my bed buddy the whole trip. We had to two queens so Owen and I slept in one and Jeremy slept in the other and Graham mostly slept in the Pack’N’Play). I fell back asleep around 6:00am balancing on the very edge of the bed. At 7:30am, I woke up and slid down to the end of the bed so I wouldn’t fall off and would have more covers. When Jeremy woke up at 7:45am, the boys and I were quite the sight to behold.

Needless to say, I was exhausted most of my actual birthday and just wanted to go back to bed all day long. We had done some research for breakfast since we hadn’t found a good breakfast spot in BC yet. We settled on a place called Jethro’s Fine Grub because it had been featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on Food Network. It was a small whole in the wall kind of place with huge portion sizes. I got “greeeat cakes” which were pancakes with blueberries and frosted flakes. They gave me two pancakes that were bigger than the plate and super thick. I was not able to finish my meal, if you were wondering! It was a very tasty experience and I always love discovering new things in the Vancouver area. We took off for home after another stop at Waves. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and took our dessert to go. Happy birthday to me!

Sunday I celebrated my birthday with my family. It was a classic evening of pizza, cake and ice cream. Yum! Bill & Debbie got me a deep fryer and Owen couldn’t wait to use it! On Monday, we fried some fries and coconut shrimp. Jeremy got ambitious and made doughnuts! Looks we’ll have a lot of fun experimenting with this new kitchen appliance. Monday was MLK Jr. Day so the other adults were home. Jeremy and Owen checked on the Winlock house in the morning and we all spent the afternoon playing Monopoly Deal. Jeremy and Owen built a snowman with the remaining snow. It was a nice, slow paced day with everyone home.

Now we’re back to the real world and normal schedules. I tried to think of some brilliant and deep things to say about being 31, but I can’t think of anything. The only thing that comes to mind is that Baskin Robbin has 31 flavors… and I’m 31. There you go!

PS… No news on the house situation. Prayers are still greatly appreciated for our Winlock house to sell so we can move forward with building on the property. Thank you!

Chilling out at the end of a long day

Snowflake!

Snow baby

Taking a walk with his snowball

Vancouver BC Day 1

Vancouver BC Day 2

Vancouver BC Day 3

Birthday celebration with the family

Jeremy the deer whisperer

Making doughnuts

Love that cheesy smile!

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Definitely Winter Time January 9, 2017

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 2:31 pm

The first week of 2017 has been a white one. The snow that came in last weekend stuck around thanks to freezing temperatures. One night our low got to 9 degrees and the next morning I had many Facebook friends saying their pipes froze! Yesterday we had freezing rain that kept the boys and I home from church and put a layer of ice over everything. Today we got a new fresh inch of snow. It was lovely to watch it come down in beautiful, fat flakes. Now our new inch is melting away. I’m still hopeful we’ll see more snowflakes in the near future. It’s been so snowy and icy lately. It’s definitely winter time. I’m the kind of PNWester that doesn’t mind the rain, but I especially love snowy winters. I could sit and watch it snow for hours. It makes my heart happy!

We’ve been fairly home bound the last week. I’m just now recovering from my major sinus bug and I’m starting to feel human again. Probably should have gone to the doctor and gotten meds for that one… Oh well. Hindsight. Friday was eventful when Graham had an accident and cut his mouth. I wasn’t in the kitchen when it happened so the first thing I saw when Jeremy called for me was all the blood on the floor and then all blood on Jeremy, Graham, the counter, the sink… Oh my! It was a scary sight! We took Graham to the doctor to check out the cut and we got a chance to catch up with one of our favorite doctors. Luckily the cut was in a safe place and should heal up fine. In fact, Graham is his happy normal self and you would never know the trauma we all suffered on Friday. I’m glad that God made kids resilient.

We’ve officially entered a very crafty stage of preschool life with Owen. When Graham goes down for his morning nap, we pull out the craft bin and get creative. Over the weekend Owen got his first pair of kid scissors and he can now cut a lovely fringe on any piece of paper you put in front of him. We received a shape truck craft kit from a friend so he also got to use a glue stick for the first time yesterday. And if scissors and glue sticks weren’t enough, we finally opened a water color book he got for Christmas last year. In one week he can add cutting, gluing and painting to his list of crafting skills. We also do Bible time during Graham’s nap time and I try to have intentional conversation with him while we craft. Yesterday we talked about how God loves us and how Jesus is God. Soon I’ll have to blow his mind and try to explain the Holy Spirit! Today we talked about how God takes care of us like a good shepherd takes care of sheep. We prayed together for someone in need. Bible time certainly isn’t long or college level theology, but I enjoy these conversations and these moments together. They are small foundational building blocks.

The other fun thing we’ve been doing is re-decorating Owen’s room now that Christmas is over. We changed the Christmas tree to a “winter” tree. It now has a heart on top for Valentine’s day. The lights have changed to a cool white color. We kept his blue and silver ornaments up because they fit the winter theme and we added paper snowflakes that Owen helped me make. Above his bookshelf we have a collage of Thomas & Friends valentines and hearts that we colored and cut out. Owen helped me arrange the valentines and hearts. He is very proud of his work. I love seeing his excitement for each holiday, especially as I explain them and he understands their purpose. So now the room is decorated through February. Maybe we’ll switch to a spring or Easter theme in March.

I feel like Owen gets most of the blog time because he is doing “new” uncharted things for me while Graham keeps up the very basic eat, play, sleep routine. Not always exciting to blog about, but seriously, these are my favorite days! I love the time frame from 12-18 months. He is a baby and a big kid all at the same time. He loves Daniel Tiger and Mickey Mouse. He dances to theme songs. He loves to play Play Doh with his big brother. He also likes to play trains with his brother. Once he looses interest in the train table, he goes over to the bookshelf and pulls all the books off. He certainly keeps me on my toes. The combination of Graham and Owen certainly has me busy too. Owen often takes whatever toy Graham has and that creates WW3 level drama. Also if you tell Graham “no” you can expect an end of the world reaction. Life is a mixture of happiness and tears when you are 1 & 3.

Jeremy and I are doing our best to keep up with the kiddos. Jeremy has been extra faithful to check on our Winlock house during the cold weather. Our for sale sign should go up again tomorrow and we are praying for more showings. Jeremy keeps tabs on the property too and often visits it to check his trail camera. He is hopeful to spot the abundant wildlife. Mostly we know what is around because of the tracks on the ground. He has yet to get good footage of an animal. This last time he got a video of the bulldozer working on my parent’s driveway! Jeremy continues to be the most supportive husband and father that I could ever want or need. He does bath time with the boys regularly, he gets up with them first thing in the morning so I can stay in bed for a little while longer, he watched “When Calls the Heart” with me (a Hallmark Channel TV show). The last few nights we’ve watched Sci-Fi movies after the boys went to bed and I forgot how gross and destructive they can be. It was a shock after watching such mushy TV. I was glad that Jeremy was able to catch up on his “to-see” movie list and watch something a little more manly than a prairie romance series.

Well, that about sums up life for now. My 31st birthday is this coming weekend, so I’m sure I’ll have lots to share in my next update. I’m sure it will include at least one picture of me with a chocolate cake. I’ll have to do some pondering and reflecting on 31. I truthfully haven’t given it too much thought. I’ve been a bit distracted by our lovely, crazy life!

The Winter Tree! It now has a white towel tree skirt because the Thomas sheet was needed back in bed with Owen. However, I think the white towel looks like snow so it fits the theme nicely.

Licking the beater is the best part of childhood

Play Doh time

Thanks to Owen for the Play Doh nose

Mountain climbers at the property

The valentine wall and winter tree

Home from church because of freezing rain, so we got super crafty!

We love watching it snow!

Enjoying a homemade lemon bar made with lemons from Jeremy’s very own lemon tree! Yum!

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Hello 2017 January 3, 2017

Filed under: Family Time,Getting Creative,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 9:26 pm

2016 closed with lots of days full of family gatherings! On the 29th, we had Christmas with the Scott clan. It was a fun day full of Christmas chaos and merriment. This was the first time all the cousins had been together since the arrival of Baby Colton, so it was nice to be all under the same roof. Owen greatly enjoyed playing with his cousins and Graham enjoyed being carried around by cousin Brinley. She was such a little mommy, making sure that Graham was taken care of.

The 30th was my brother-in-law’s birthday. Andrew requested breakfast at Camp 18 which is just a short bit away from the coast. We enjoyed yummy breakfasts, bird watching and exploring the logging site. Then we took off for Cannon Beach. The weather was sunny and it was the perfect day to make a quick stop at the ocean. Graham wanted to run straight into the water. This made Owen very concerned for Graham’s safety. At one point, Owen was so stressed about Graham that he couldn’t watch anymore and asked to leave the beach. He just couldn’t handle it! Graham didn’t go out to sea thanks to many watchful eyes and we were able to stop a get a few local favorite foods before heading home.

The 31st was my sister’s birthday. We drove down to their new home and met up with the family for lunch and dessert. Birthday lunch was at Red Lobster and Owen had so much fun looking at the lobster tank. Then we went to a local mall to see a model train display they have set up there. Owen also enjoyed that. You would think the day was about Owen, not Auntie! We had dessert back at the house and April introduced Owen into Mario Party. It was a laid back, casual afternoon. April loves to pass on the video game legacy to my kids. Owen got a Mario toothbrush in his stocking this year and he discovered a Mario game on Jeremy’s phone. He was elated to play Mario with his Auntie for her birthday.

Jeremy and I rang in the New Year playing a new card game with his parents. Since New Years Eve was a Saturday this year, we didn’t want to stay up too late with church the following morning. We watched a little TV and lived a little on the wild side and stayed up till 11:30. You know you’re old when staying up till midnight just doesn’t have the same appeal anymore. Maybe if it hadn’t been on a Sunday. Maybe next year….

I was thinking back on 2016 and it made me remember how hard I thought 2015 was. I remember thinking that 2015 was a year I really didn’t want to live again. I had an uncomfortable pregnancy and then Graham had acid reflex issues that involved a lot of crying, spitting up and me having to change my diet. It was rough. I’m not sure which year was harder, 2015 or 2016… but 2016 has been one for the record books. 2016 has been characterized by change around every corner. For someone that likes stability and routine, 2016 rocked my world and shook me up. I am grateful for the lessons in faith and trust that came from 2016. Change brings growth and I think that is the true benefit of 2016. I am not the same person I was at the start of the year. I can see that through every high and low, God was there, walking beside me. God is good. No matter what.

Now on to 2017… I’m starting it sick. I never fully got over my last cold and I went into round 2 the last few days with more fevers and sinus pressure. Not an ideal start to the year, but I’m hoping and praying this bug will be behind me soon. My biggest hope and prayer for 2017 is that our house will sell and we will be able to start building our new home. We did have a showing last Friday. We haven’t heard any feedback from that showing, but I was pleasantly surprised that we had one given the holiday season. It would be so delightful to be under contract and moving forward again with our house. I’m truly hoping 2017 will bring positive resolution to our living situation. I want to give a big shout out to my in-laws who have taken us in and let us make ourselves at home in their home. Their kindness and hospitality has been so appreciated. I don’t know about Graham (because he is so young), but I do think that Owen will have the best memories as he reflects on the time that he got to live with Nana and Papa. They are a blessing to our family. My prayer is that we can move forward with our house situation before we over stay our welcome.

I don’t have any resolutions for 2017. Graham is nursing less these days so that means my calorie intake needs to adjust. In traditional New Years fashion, I could say I plan to eat better in 2017 (and by better I mean “less”… don’t expect to find me munching on a kale salad for lunch). I have a list of books that I am hoping to read and of course, I plan to keep writing about my daily adventures. I love how the New Year feels like a blank slate. It’s a story waiting to be told. I have absolutely no clue what is in store for our family, but the last few years have a created a firm foundation for us. If we have survived the past then we can handle the future. God is our rock and our anchor. I choose to be hopeful and optimistic. I’m dreaming big for 2017!