And the Phelps Saga takes an unexpected turn…

Back in April when I last updated you all, the Phelps family was enjoying life in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
April 23rd & 24th I was blessed to spend the weekend with some amazing ladies on Martha’s Vineyard. It was so refreshing and exactly the kind of renewing experience I needed.
Jeremy and I were then able to attend Mt. Hope’s Couple’s Retreat on the 14th & 15th of May. This was a very good retreat and it really renewed our commitment to each other and our marriage.
May 20th Jeremy’s mom came in for David’s first birthday. (I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I am still trying wrap my head around being pregnant.)
We left on May 21st, David’s birthday, for Martha’s Vineyard. What a great way to celebrate my precious little boy’s first year. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the laid back “island life”.
On Monday, the 24th we came home and celebrated David’s birthday with all of David’s friends (and ours too). It was simple, but great. We had cake and punch at the church. David had his own little cake (his first taste of chocolate cake). I set it in front of him, and in about a second and a half, both hands were in it and he was shoveling it in. It was adorable. Everyone kept saying things to him like, “Are you eating cake?” and “ Do you have cake?” So the next thing we knew David started saying, “CAKE! CAKE!” “CAKE!” It was so cute. He loved it. He wasn’t really interested in opening his presents because he found a ball and that was all he wanted. It was ok, because his friends were very eager to help. So they took turns sitting in Jeremy’s lap, opening David’s presents while he chased a ball around the room. (Gotta love those toddler birthday parties. That’s why I kept it simple.)
Mom left on the 25th and we thought it would just be life as normal for a while…
Boy, were we WRONG!

Over Memorial Day weekend Jeremy and I decided to accept our fate and face
reality.
“What does that mean?”, you ask.
It means, that for months we had been struggling financially and fighting very
hard to make it in New England and praying for guidance and or assistance. It was not pretty. As the month of May was winding down and I was facing another month of
juggling and shifting and scraping to make the bills, only to come up short again, I
realized that we WEREN’T making it in New England. So Jeremy and I sat down to talk
about our finances, AGAIN. We could not find any solution to our situation. We had cut
things out, and turned things off, and looked for jobs for more income, and nothing was
working. So Jeremy said the words that would change our lives forever…

“I think it’s time to leave!”

No! That can’t be the answer. But it was. So after praying all weekend and
begging God for an “11th hour miracle”, we started finding out what this decision would
mean for us. Our rent was paid through the 15th, but we wanted to be able to be a part of VBS one more time. Problem was, VBS wasn’t until the week of the 27th. Where would we stay until July 1st? Questions, questions, questions, but no answers. We couldn’t find out anything until after the holiday weekend…Talk about your “long weekend”.
So on Tuesday we called the land lord, because we had a lease and it wasn’t
up until October. And we called the military moving people to see when they would be
able complete our move. Because it was the beginning of the busiest moving time for the
military, we needed to know how long it would be before they could move us.
To our surprise, God started slamming some doors and throwing others wide
open. He really seemed to be leading us back to Texas. Our landlord released us from the lease. And when we called the moving people they told us they could pick up our stuff in 7-10 days. “Wow! This could actually happen really quick”…

And it did. By Tuesday evening we had a moving date and a rough plan.
God blessed us with incredible friends who were willing to open their homes to us and allow us to have our last VBS. It was overwhelming and they made us feel so welcome, at home, and loved. (Which in turn, made it all the more difficult to leave them. But by this point I had really realized it was God’s will for us to go, no matter how difficult it was.)
On June 14th the movers came and started packing up our stuff and on the 15th at about 6:30pm they took it all away to storage. We were now with out beds and had a day and a half until we had to turn in the keys.
After an incredibly crazy week of packing & moving, loading & unloading and utter chaos, we finally landed at our first temporary “home”. Bev and Jim really made us feel like we belonged with them and were just another extension of their family. (Maybe we were “Adopted Outlaws” or something. LOL) We stayed with them until the 26th and then we moved to our second temporary “home” with Melissa and Kevin. They really went above and beyond to make us comfortable. We stayed with them until the morning we left for Texas. (We were so comfortable and at home there, we almost didn’t leave. Haha)
But alas, VBS was over and it was time to begin our journey. So we loaded up the van (oh yeah, the van. We traded both cars in right after we decided to leave New England and got ourselves a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan…Love It!), got the kids, and went to breakfast with a few of our friends to say our last good byes. It was very hard to say good bye to these friends who were our “family” for the last several years, but the hardest good bye was to Austin.
Yes, Austin is still in New England. No, we are not leaving him there and we didn’t forget him. Austin was really looking forward to Jr. High Youth Camp this summer. He had been working to earn money for it and everything. We felt that we were already taking so much from him by moving him to Texas, that we didn’t want to take that away too. Again by the grace of God and the blessing of great friends we were able to see that wish granted.
Austin has been with multiple different friends and is being taken care of VERY well. (maybe too good…QUIT BUYING HIM STUFF! Lol) He will rejoin us in Texas on July 25th and he will be bringing the last member of our family along with him, Bubbles. Bubbles has been staying with our good friend Donna, while we moved and got settled.
Just to back track a little…Jeremy, David and I drove from Burlington, Mass on Friday, July 2nd to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. On July 3rd we visited my Dad, Dee, Aunt Kay, Aunt Barb, & Uncle Bo. We left Rochester, PA around 5pm and drove to just over the Kentucky border to Erlanger. On Sunday the 4th we got up and drove to Malvern, Arkansas. (Yes, we got to see lots of fireworks along the way. We just didn’t get to see ALL of any one show.) On Monday, the 5th we drove to San Antonio. We surprised everyone by getting in an hour earlier than anyone expected. It was great to be home with my family.
Jeremy had an interview at Sea World on Tuesday, the 6th and got hired as a security officer. Unfortunately he didn’t get to start right away. His first orientation was today, the 16th and he will have two more on the 20th & 21st, before he can actually start. So we are settling in at my mom’s house for a while. Hopefully once he starts getting paid we can get the money saved to get our own place. While Mom has gone above and beyond at making us feel welcome, adding 3 people (one of which is a very nosy baby. Who is walking and climbing and getting into everything.) to any household, no matter how welcoming you are, is a huge challenge. I can’t imagine what it is going to be like when Austin and Bubbles get here…

…But that will be a topic for the next update. This one is plenty long enough already.
I will post a picture blog after we get settled in our own place.
Until next time,
Love and blessings from the Phelps Family to all our friends and family.
New England family, we miss you all very, very much.