Life right now

Life is still at full speed for us! I am still in my busy season, I don't see an end in sight! (maybe by Christmas?!) I can just hope for a break, what does a break look like to me? Staying at home for a full day! That's all I'm asking for!

We have news! What's next for the Groggs....

I wanted to catch everyone up to date with what is going on at the Grogg's house.

No baby is coming, if that was your first thought! So if that was all you were hoping I would say you can stop reading now and leave the blog :p

But for those of you who would still like to know about the other things that have happened the last few months, stay and I'll tell you!

In November (2015) Cain drove to Shelbyville, IN to try out for a Flight Medic position at C Co. 2-238th GSAB unit that is in Shelbyville. He had to do a written test, hands-on test and go to "boards" to be interview for the position.

There were a lot of other great Soldiers who tried out that day with him so we left Shelbyville knowing that whatever happened, it would all work out.

We got through the holidays and then in early February Cain got the call. He was accepted into the Flight Medic position! Cain was ecstatic.... and I was too!

If you remember back in October I wrote a post about Cain having to change units from Fort Wayne to Marion. And how I was a little disappointed in the move. Well, even though Shelbyville is farther away and that's more time apart... Cain is going to be happy there, and that makes me happy.

So this past month Cain had his first drill with the 2-238th and loved every minute of it! He thinks he is going to fit in nicely there. He feels like he will be able to use his Medic training for good things and continue to grow as a Medic.

But that's where the next news comes in. Cain is going to leave and be gone from May-Aug to get his Paramedic license. Which is awesome! This accelerated schooling will give Cain the chance to come home in August and hopefully find a better job and he will be doing what he has wanted to do from day 1.

The only down fall is that I can't go with him. It was a toss up at first what was going to happen for me. We love, love (love) the home we are at, and the location. But with Cain being gone for those months it made him, and our families a little nervous for me to stay here by myself (minus Nova, of course)

I don't fear it here, where I live. I actually feel very comfortable! I have a wonderful neighbor too! But, I also have always had Cain at home almost every night. So the decision has been made for me to move "Home" to Bluffton and live with my parents for the summer.

This is a GOOD move. I have to remind myself of this, not because I don't want to move back home... that is the easiest part of this all. I am happy with my parents and love the chance to be closer (really close!) to my mom. The hard part is... leaving the home we have come to really love.

 It was a safe haven when we moved in. We felt like God had led us here and that he was taking care of us. The place before this was not good, it was not a happy and peaceful place. When we came into this home we were able to feel closer together because this was "our" place, "our" home-sweet-home.

Also, I have made a life here! I found a nanny job, that I love! I have found clients here that I photograph, that I love! I love my neighbor!  I love my Earth Fare and Fresh Thyme. I love walking over to the Rose Garden with Nova... I love my enclosed porch in the mornings when the sun was rising..... All those things have made this place "Home"

So trusting in God, and leaning on him again and asking "Where do you want us?" this was hard.

After some tears and panic attacks ... and going back and forth , back and forth (more tears!) We found peace knowing that God is in control, he will take care of us and that no matter where we go, he can still use us. And that's what I want, to be used by God. Fort Wayne, Bluffton, out of the country ...  wherever!  He will look out for us and will always have our backs.

What happens after August? We don't know!

I've decided to make that the fun part of this all. (I have to find some humor in this!) We aren't sure yet what will happen. Cain will be applying for the IPFW nursing program this summer, so there is a chance Cain will be in Nursing School this fall. There is also a chance that his Unit will send him to more medical training. Which would mean I would stay in Bluffton until after that training was done.

Once Cain is home, to stay (who knows for how long!) .... We aren't sure where "Home" will be.

The sweet thing about marriage. "Home" is when I'm with Cain. Call me cheesy, call it lame.

I will never forget Cain telling me when we were just dating "Lanette, I could live in a cardboard box and as long as you were with me, it would be home"

I'm with you, babe.

How can you pray for us? Pray for us to really lean on God, and to keep the faith that everything will work out.

Please, please keep Cain in your prayers this summer as he will be going through a very intense schooling. It's long hour days with test almost every week.

We love our support system. I'm pretty sure we have the best family in the world, who would do just about anything for us. THIS is BIG to us. It's what can really bring me to tears. I'm not alone in this struggle, I have this family (and friends!) who care about our needs ... and who pray for us.

 Things will change, guaranteed. We are an Army family and, therefore, nothing is guaranteed and anything could happen.

I was given some really good advice last week a close friend of ours who is retired from the Army ... he said "Stick to your plans" Meaning, don't plan things around the Army. Because things will change. We can't plan life around it.

We need to live life, enjoy life and keep going. And in the end, it will work out!

I can't wait to do that again...

Phew, weekends wear me out.....

In the best way possible.

I love getting to spend the weekends with my parents. I load up my car almost every weekend that I can with clothes, food that I don't want to go bad, tupperware that I borrowed from the week before, my bike and computer and of course Nova. (bike and computer don't come with me every time) ha

Cain joins me any weekend that he can but with working weekends and the Army he doesn't always get to come with me. We miss him so stinking much when he is away.

I enjoy every minute at my parents home. It's so familiar to me like the back of my hand. I love my home in Fort Wayne so very much, but nothing is quite like the house that built you.

This weekend we spent time with my pawpaw and had Graci over to spend the night. We played with kitties, we jumped, baked with chocolate and stayed up way to late gigging. Graci brings so much joy to my heart and I know how much my parents adore having her around.

By the end of every weekend I load up everything I brought and then double that with what my parents give us. I drive home (This time alone) and just think of how wonderful life is and how blessed I am.

After unloading the car, bringing everything in, putting every last thing into place where it belongs... I say with a joyful heart .... "I can't wait to do that again"

A short video of my Saturday.

Up to date on things

We have some things we want to bring everyone up to date on!

First to be updated is my blog! Woo hoo. What do you think? Different right! Good or bad? I love the fresh look and am happy to have things updated. A BIG thanks to my mother in law Ruthie for helping me out with it! 

Next thing we need to bring up to date ... our home address! Yup. We MOVED! 

God worked in great ways this past weeks to get us to where we are today. I did not plan this nor did Cain. It was honestly all in God's hands how we came to call this home, our home. 

Our lease was coming to a end and we had been on a hunt for a new place. Something with a bedroom was the big goal. After sleeping in our living/office/dinningroom it was time for a change. And some more space! I have been changing my clothes in our kitchen for the past 6 months, that's how bad we needed a bedroom! 

The only problem was anywhere with a bedroom was going to be more expensive and we couldn't afford much more then what we were paying already. 

So we found a townhouse right around the corner from the apartment we already had. Same landlord too. It had a bedroom, but the price was do-able! It seemed perfect and we were going to be signing a new lease there but there was one window that had to be fixed before we could move in. He said it should be done within the next week... Well almost two weeks had past and we hadn't heard back. 

I was getting really impatient about the whole thing. It was last Monday I had the week off, I wanted to move RIGHT THEN. I was sick and tired of our neighbors smoke in the hallway and all the other junk that was around. I asked Cain to go please talk to our landlord and see if the window is done yet so we can move out and move into the townhouse.

Cain did just that on Monday morning and he came back with bad news, it wouldn't be done for another couple of days, maybe a week. I pouted around the rest of the morning. 

Then, I got I message on Facebook from someone I had taken pictures for. (Ashlee) She knew Jodi Heller (Graci's mom) and she had a house for rent in Fort Wayne and wanted to know if I was interested. 

I looked at Cain and said "Haha I think God is trying to tell me something!" (To be patient) 

After talking with Ashlee everything seemed just to perfect. We ended up meeting the very next day to check the house out. I had my parents come along to see what they thought too. 

We all fell in love with the house. 

That night we all prayed about the whole thing. I told my dad that while I was being impatient trying to rush into this townhouse (The one with the window that needed fix) , God had other plans in mind for our family and keep that window waiting to be fixed. I know it!

That morning before Cain left for work we both agreed that even though this would be more money a month for rent, that we were going to trust God to provide for our needs. 

I made a quick call to Betsy and asked for her advice and to pray for me. I was having a hard time letting go of my control and giving it to God. 

This past weekend was not the greatest time to move seeing how Cain had a three day Drill. But we made it work! I packed everything up (on my own, yes I feel like I deserve some kind of reward) and even though I had two sessions Saturday morning I still was able to finish packing everything up and with the BIG help from my parents, we moved in!

It sounds like no big deal writing that out. But it was a lot of trips down stairs, up stairs, down stairs and back up! Driving to old apt, new house, old apt and back to new house.

By Sunday night I had all but one box unpacked. 

So Monday morning Cain left for work and about two hours later he sent me a text. 

(You know how I said at the beginning this move was all in God's hands? Well here's why I said that)

Cain got a raise! And a bonus with it. 

I felt this overwhelming peace come over me when I read his text! The weekend we move into a house, that's going to cost us more then we had planned... Cain get's a raise. We trusted God to provide and He did. 

God always provides for us, he never leaves us out to fend for ourselves but at times we don't always see the plans He has for us. This time we did though. We could have missed it, I'm sure we have many of other times. 

We could have said "How lucky you got a raise" But I don't think it was luck. It was the grace of God. 

Our new landlords are amazing people that I also feel like God had a purpose for us meeting. We have already connected in a great way and I know that we are in good hands if we ever needed anything. 

Cain and I haven't been able to really enjoy this house together yet. Cain's worked everyday, ALL day since we have been in and I work this week too so I'm praying here soon we will be able to sit down and just enjoy this place we now call home :)

Welcome to the Grogg's

I could not be any happier about how our weekend went! It was so fun! Friday was the first move in day! As you could see in the last post we were loving the whole "setting up" part. We still had lots to add though to the little apartment, I was so excited I didn't sleep Friday night lol Saturday morning came and we left my parents home early to deliver the second big load, which included our first couch! Thanks Jodi!! We were getting company that day so we made sure everything that could be set up, was set up!

While I went dress shopping with Cat and her fan club, Cain went with his dad to get his uniform fitted. Which I can't wait to see how it looks at Derrek and Cat's wedding! I love my man in uniform ;) Cat ended up finding her dress so after that I headed back to the apartment where Cain was with his Dad, Derrek and Isiah. Following me there was Toni, Christine, Ruthie and Alexis.

It was fun giving the small tour of the place! Hopefully by the next time they all see it again I will have been able to dress it up a little bit more and add some more art work! Aka pictures of us :p

Sunday we relaxed at my parents house until Cain had to go to work. While he was gone I packed up the last big load to go over to the apartment. This included some of his clothes, bathroom things, my TV, his PS3 and any household items my mom wasn't using! I also got together Cain's menu for the week! He won't go hungry that's for sure! He won't have to go get any "fast food" items. I will ALWAYS make sure he has fresh, healthy homemade meals there. Thanks to the Plan to Eat app I got from my Mom it makes it so much easier for me to plan things out! It makes up the grocery list for me! Side Note: Did that sound like a sells pitch? Did it work? Haha

Yet AGAIN I did not sleep Monday night. I was just SO EXCITED! I love the apartment and couldn't wait to go grocery shopping for MY kitchen for the first time! I was up at like 3:00am. We didn't need to leave until 8:00am. I'm a crazy person.


Monday was so amazing. Nova got to come with us this time. This was her first trip. I will slowly start bringing her more the closer I get to moving in come May. We want her to feel like she has two homes, one with Lorri (grandma) and us ... Her actual parents! We know she rather be with Lorri over us any day. This is no surprise to us or anyone who is around Nova with my mom.

We set up the TV and went shopping for food! Which was fun, but why is every Kroger set up different?! It took some time to find out where all the good stuff was!

Once we were back it was cooking time! Here is a list of food I prepared for Cain.

Breakfast:
Organic Bacon/Eggs
Homemade Cinnamon Nut Cereal > LINK

Lunch:
Vegetable Beef Soup
Cream Cheese Burritos using Ezekiel Tortilla and Organic cream cheese ( I will post recipe soon!)
P+J Sandwich using Ezekiel Bread and my homemade Peanut Butter > LINK

Dinner:
Grilled Chicken/Sweet Potato/Peas
Vegetable Beef Soup
Fruit Salad
Slopping Joe's (That my mom brought over)

Snacks:
Green Grapes
Peanut Butter
Strawberries
Carrots
Celery
Chips
Pecans

We will see how this goes and if he needs more/less of something then I can change it for the next week. And of course add new items! Might do a taco soup next week!

That reminds me. We have no bowls yet. It's funny the things I'm so used to having when in the kitchen that I didn't realize I would forget about when packing up things from my moms. Like a can opener. I go to open the can of tomatoes for the soup and stop and think "Oh crap" and say "Caaaaiiinnnn" hahaha laughing I go to him saying "I need help" He gladly got out his leatherman knife and started at the can. Rolling my eyes the whole time. It worked, for now. And knives, that's something else we need. We don't have kitchen knives we have plenty of leatherman knives that Cain carries with him. But slicing up Strawberries with a leatherman is a hideous site. Cain loved it. LOL

So while I was cooking Cain was doing some school work. He is the best! We were REALLY excited about Graci coming to the place so should could give it the "thumps up" Which she did! She liked all the closet space to play hide and go seek with Nova I think :)

Next my parents came over and brought us dinner! Healthy sloppy joes! Yay! I eat mine with a rice cake.... so good!

My dad and Cain hung a shelf and then we said our good nights to Cain, making sure he knew if he got lonely he would come back "Home" haha I'm happy that I have such amazing parents who are my best friends. It would be much harder leaving Cain and my little apartment if it weren't for the fact I am happy to still be at home with them. All in good time (Like once we are married) I will be more then happy to say the goodbyes to my parents and not Cain. And when that happens, I'll probably write about it and say how wonderful married life is :)

Until then, I'm going to get ready to go babysit! Hopefully I don't get stuck in the snow, I hear it's bad at there!!!

Lanette

Set of keys and a candle

Wow! What an exciting day! It was a early one like always when it comes to Cain being in school now. He had class at 9:00am in Fort-Wayne so we were up early to eat and pack some things into my Dad's van... what we were packing is the exciting part. Well part of the exciting part. The exciting part (Wow I just said exciting a few to many times) was .... We were moving in to our first APARTMENT!

So after his class we headed over to Waynedale to the Village apartments to sign the lease and get our first set of keys! He love our landlord Kasey. He is all around a good person. It's comforting to know if we need anything or had a question that we feel that he would help and care about those things. And he said I could paint if I wanted too, so I was happy.

So, in we went!

First set of keys in our hands. We loved the feeling of calling a place our little home. And when I say little, I mean it. And here's what I love, it's small enough that we will never be apart when in the apartment together lol

First thing was cleaning! Not that it wasn't clean when we got in but just to make sure everything was freshly clean before putting anything away!

 We love our "Grogg" sign. Thanks Scott and Ruthie for that!

 Not much, but we will add more items soon enough!

Before the table (Kitchen)

And After! Check out our piece of carpet that goes oh so well with the blue tile lol

Lit the first candle and the house! I grew up with my mom drilling fear into our minds that the candles we lit would burn down the house, so this lighting the candle thing is big for me! I'm always watching it afraid it's going to set the place on fire!!! Haha (Thanks mom!)

Our boots :)

 The odd things that we have to put into the place.

Our keys, and that deadly candle!

We are just so excited about this place. It's the ideal place for us. AND it's on Ideal ave. Hmmm. It's meant to be! Come visit us soon!

Oh and just in.... our day got TEN TIMES BETTER! Bobbi and Mike posted our engagement pictures!!! GO CHECK THEM OUT RIGHT NOW!!!

http://www.bobbiandmike.com/blog/


Lanette