What's next for the Gafford family?

Some of you may be wondering just that. Some of you may not even realize there was a need to wonder what was next. It's a question we've been wondering for several months now, and we finally know the answer... or at least part of the answer.


For those of you in the second category, who didn't know there was any reason to wonder, let me quickly catch you up to speed. David finished his time serving at Five Oaks Church at the end of December. So he has been without work for a couple of months now. As we knew this time was coming, we've really taken this opportunity to do some self-searching. What is it that David likes to do? What is David good at? Work in a church? Work a secular job not in a church? What do we value as a family? Are we willing to move? If so, where are we willing to move to? You know, a few of those not-so-easy questions to ask without it hurting a little along the way.

In time we finally discovered answers to all the questions we'd been asking ourselves. Once we had those answers, it was time for some action and time to pursue the future we'd finally figured out we wanted for our family.

Fortunately, all the while there was a church out there that was doing a little search of their own. We are thankful that the answer to the questions they had been asking themselves was: David.

So here it is; here is what's next for the Gafford family. We will be moving to Fishers, Indiana in the later half of March where David will serve as Worship Architect for Bridgeway Community Church. We're blown away by what a great fit this job appears to be for David. We're thrilled that this move will put us within an hour of David's family and a now drivable distance to my family in New York. We're excited to see how God moves mountains in order to make this all work out.

The reality is that we own a house here in Minnesota. The reality is that the housing market has tanked in the last several years. The reality is, as much as we love this house, it does not fit in a U-Haul truck and we cannot take it with us. We must sell it; in spite of the housing market being what it is right now. We are choosing to trust that God will take care of this little matter in the time that He sees fit for the price that He sees fit and will meet our needs in the meantime. He's done it before (in a way I never would have even thought to ask for), and He will do it again.

**Shameless plug: if you or anyone you know might be interested in buying a beautiful home in Cottage Grove, great for entertaining, please let us know!!

Jingle Bells

I'm not real sure where she picked it up (daycare maybe?) but Addison recently fell in love with the song "Jingle Bells". The last few nights, she has requested this video to be played before bed.

After bath time tonight, we let her pick out her own jammies and she selected her "jingle bell jammies", which are in fact her "Tinkerbell jammies", but we don't have the heart to correct her.

And lastly, before bed we were saying prayers and it went like this...

Mommy: Dear Jesus, bless
Addison: Mommy
Mommy: and...
Addison: Daddy
Mommy: and ...
Addison: Jingle Bells!

Happy Halloween!

We just got back from taking our little bumblebee trick-or-treating at the Mall of America. It's hard to reason with a not-yet-two-year-old that she can't eat all of that candy right now. So after letting her eat 2 suckers and a Twix bar we figured we'd better call it quits or we'd never get her to sleep tonight. Unfortunately she still had a remnant of a sucker in her mouth when I put her in the car seat and upon choking on it for a few seconds, she ended up throwing up. The good news was that she got the chunk of sucker out of her throat. The bad news is that the wad of napkins in the glove compartment and the 6 wipes we had in the car didn't do a whole lot of good in fighting the mess. We were able to "stabilize" and make our way home.

Then it was time to pull the liner out of the car seat for laundering. (Somehow, this is the first time that it has required a wash). Oh. my. goodness. It will truly be a miracle if I ever get that thing put back together. I know I must have done it once before when the seat was new, but for goodness sake! I skinned my knuckles trying to unhook the carseat from those little safety latches.

In spite of it all, I'd do it again to see her have that much fun (though I'd check her mouth better before putting her in the car seat). This year Addison's "trick or treat" sounds more like "trick or meat", but we think that's cuter anyway!

So, happy Halloween everyone, and trick or meat!

Addison and Minnie

I love watching Addy play; especially when it shows her imagination at work. Tonight after dinner she loaded her giant Minnie Mouse into her high chair and proceeded to feed Minnie some supper. It was just so sweet and cute, I couldn't resist sharing a clip of the video I took.

Addison counts

We finally got a video of Addison counting tonight, and once again, it takes place in the bathtub. You'll hear her say her numbers 1-10, but what you may or may not hear is the 11-13 that she whispers after 10. She amazes me every day how intelligent she's becoming. Such a little sponge soaking in every morsel she can get. Hip-hip-hooray for puzzles. They've helped Addison learn her shapes and her numbers.

Addison's Greatest Hits

There will come a day when Addison will surely groan and roll her eyes into the back of her head when David and I break out into harmony singing silly songs for her. But for right now she loves it. "Wheels on the Bus," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The ABC song," "Jesus Loves Me," and "Jesus Loves the Little Children" are frequently requested at all times of the day. And as you'll see in this video, she'll often request a "mash-up," demanding the song be changed half way through. Here's Addison singing one of her current favorites, the alphabet song, appropriately mashed up with Twinkle Twinkle. Enjoy! Oh, and she also threw in a little bonus in the second half.

(Sorry about the technical difficulties at the beginning of the video...)

After bath time the other night we were snuggling in the rocking chair singing "Jesus Loves Me". Without prompting, this was how it went:
Me: Jesus loves
A: me
Me: this I know. For the Bible tells
A: me
Me: so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves
A: me
Me: Yes, Jesus loves
A: me
Me: Yes, Jesus loves
A: me
Me: The Bible tells
A: Addy
Me: so.

:-)

I've had a stack of puzzles on the shelf in Addison's closet for over a year now. When I first put them up there I thought it would be forever before she would be ready for them. Last week I decided to pull a couple of them down to give it a shot. To my surprise, Addison really seemed interested in them and didn't do too bad. This afternoon she pulled out her shapes puzzle and put all the pieces in the right spaces right away. Then she dumped the pieces out and did it all over again, and again, and again. I was pretty impressed and I know her grandparents will be as well, so I'm posting the video here!