Idlewood Drive

As excited as we were to move to Greenville, there are some things we really miss about Atlanta.  Mostly we miss our wonderful, amazing, godly friends here.  And we really miss our church, which was such a blessing to us.  I miss teaching some precious little violinists, though I wouldn't trade anything for staying home with Susanna!

For posterity's sake, I wanted to document our first house, which we bought after we had been married for six months.  It's crazy how many life experiences you can have in a house in three years.  After the first six months of our marriage with Mark job searching and then moving to Atlanta, I think our marriage was really forged and solidified while we lived here.  We had so much fun hosting friends and family in our house in Marietta.  I taught violin here.  I will always remember the amazed disbelief of finding out I was pregnant here, then lovingly decorating Susanna's nursery, and bringing her home from the hospital.  Her first little smiles.  Late nights rocking her in the living room, walking her to sleep, singing to her in her nursery.  Taking her on walks in the neighborhood.  Coos and squeals in the bathtub.  Her sweet delighted grin picking her up from her naps.  Her first six months...all in this house.

*Sniffle*

I really want to remember all this--so while these pictures are not very interesting I'll  be glad for them someday, and I can also show Susanna her first home!

Kitchen

Dining Room

Den

Master Bedroom

Master/Upper Level Bathroom

Susanna's Nursery (sniffle, sniffle...yes we tried to just transplant this room to Greenville)

Guest Room

Guest Room/Sewing Room

Main Level Bathroom

Lower Level Bathroom

Back Deck

Back of House (we will NOT miss this yard...)

Swinging

To say that I am way behind in blogging would be an understatement, since I've been "way behind' ever since Susanna was born!  When I get way behind, it seems such a monumental task to catch up that I don't even try.  It's a vicious cycle.  So now I'm just going to acknowledge that I can't ever catch up--my baby is growing up too fast for that!--and keep on going.

Speaking of growing up too fast, I can't believe Susanna is 9 months old today!  Seriously, where has time gone?!  Mark and I watched some videos of her as a newborn last night and it made me all sappy.  I love watching my baby girl grow, but goodness I wish like crazy she would slow down a little!  More on S at 9 months later...

For now, I'll just jump right into the source of great excitement in our lives right now--Susanna's new swing!  That's right, folks, when you have a 9 month old, nothing is more thrilling than a new swing and swingset!  The swingset is Emily and Jon's--err, Lydda Grace and Wade's--but the renters of their house wanted it taken down.  Dad and two of Jon and Em's friends dismantled it this past weekend and then Dad and Mark rebuilt it in our yard.  It's very sad for it to be gone from Em's house, but Susanna certainly loves it.  Thank you, Lydda Grace and Wade, for sharing your swingset with your cousin!  

It didn't have a baby swing because Wade had outgrown it and passed it along to Isaac.  When S's red swing came in the mail yesterday I ran outside asap to install it during her nap, and when she woke up we did this...

...for over half an hour!!!

There's not much (anything?!) that will occupy Susanna for half an hour.  The girl LOVES to swing.  She would probably do it for hours.  I'm not exaggerating.  

  

I loved capturing some of her signature expressions in these photos.  These little looks are so Susanna!

Serious thumb-sucking.

Happy thumb-sucking.

Carefully considering the strap

 Must taste pretty good?

Wide flat smile--she gets this look from her daddy!

Sadly it's raining and is supposed to rain all weekend...so no swinging.  (If it was warmer, we would go swing in the rain...S would love that...but it's too chilly for that today!)

Daddy's Girl

Moving!

I haven't posted in a very long time.  But we have had a lot going on for the past two months.  A whole lot.  All of which is summed up by:

We are moving to Greenville!

We are extremely sad to be leaving our dear friends in Atlanta.  But we are SO stinkin' excited too to be moving back to South Carolina!!  We had always hoped to one day live in Greenville and that day came a lot sooner than we expected.  Our program at Clemson from undergrad also covers a full-time master's program for two years.  The offer doesn't expire, so it will always be available for us...and Mark has always wanted to someday return to Clemson to get an MBA.  After Susanna was born we realized how difficult it would be for our family if we waited much longer on this.  It made sense to complete the MBA sooner rather than later, so that Susanna would be young when Mark finished it.  Earlier this year Mark began casually job searching in Greenville, not expecting to find anything.

Completely unexpectedly in March, Mark came across the perfect job for his background/education/experience with Resurgent Capital Services in Greenville.  It's a great company with great values and a great work/life balance, and also a company with whom a friend of ours has some connections.  We were pumped.  Our life has been a crazy rollercoaster ever since then.  In the two months since Mark first applied for the job, he has interviewed, received an offer, and accepted the offer; we put our house on the market and have been under contract three times (looks like this last one will work out after all); been house hunting in Greenville three times, made two offers, and have a contract on a house in Greenville (which I completely love).  In the midst of all of this craziness we are so grateful to have a God who cares for us, who goes before us and guides our steps.  If He knows when sparrows fall, won't He be guiding who buys our house in Marietta and where we live in Greenville?

If all goes well, we will move to a temporary apartment in Greenville on May 18, close on our house in Marietta on May 20, and Mark will finish work at CarMax on May 21.  We will drive up to Virginia for Wyn's (Mark's little brother's) graduation over Memorial Day weekend, and Mark will start his new job on May 28.  We will close on our house in Greenville on May 30.  Beginning in August, Mark will be returning to Clemson to pursue an MBA.  He will be taking three classes per semester and will finish the program in two years.

We are so blessed by these new opportunities--a wonderful new job, a scholarship for an MBA, and a great house in Greenville--praise the Lord for His goodness!!  We are thrilled that we will be living only about an hour and a half away from my parents.

We would really appreciate your prayers that the Lord's plan for us would continue to be made clear, and that Susanna would do well with all of the transitions.  She's been a trooper--my car has pretty much been a traveling nursery and she's been fed/changed/napped all over creation for the past two months.  However with all of the hubbub and packing, we can tell she knows her little world is changing and there's not much you can do to explain things to an almost-6-month-old (!!!).

Finding Her Voice and Her Hands

Bathtime Cuddles

Susanna loves to be cuddled in her big pink fluffy towel after her bath.

Little Tiger

Mark and I met for the first time at Clemson National Scholars weekend, seven years ago this weekend.  (Though, hilariously, he doesn't even remember meeting me--I was one of forty or so finalists there--we did in fact meet then!)  NSP brought us both to Clemson, so in honor of "the weekend" this is what Susanna wore today: