Updates

Ok its been a couple of months since my last post and be prepared, this may be a long post because a ton of things happened since my last post. First off, Landon and I took a last minute trip to Reno to attend my Grandpa's funeral. It was a stressful trip, it seems like flying is never as simple as going to the airport hopping on a plane and arriving at your destination. Long story short, I made it on the plane, after a long wait and tears. I was so glad I went to his funeral. It was wonderful and moving and made me realize just how blessed I am to have had such an amazing Grandpa. It was fun to see the whole Gonda family as well. Here is Landon with his Gonda Grandparents:

A few days after I got back from Reno I went to a Stake Auxillary Training meeting, which was encouraging and uplifting. While there I learned of some decisions that had been made concerning twin 10 year old boys in our ward. After talking with the Relief Society President, I offered our home as a place to stay. Ethan had been the home teacher for last 2 years and we were their cub scout leader so they had spent lots of time with us and in our home before. The next day the boys came to live with us.

Darius and Devin

I could go on and on about how much I learned and grew while they lived with us. We gained legal guardianship at the time. Darius has type 1 diabetes and can not eat anything without a shot of insulin. It was way more work then I had imagined but it was great experience. They came from a broken home, at a time when the mother had decided she did not want them. As you can tell from the picture they are sweet warm boys with very big hearts. They learned a lot in the short time they were with us. A couple of weeks after they came to stay with us Ethan and I went to YW high adventure as leaders. Luckily my mom had already planned to come stay with us and watch Landon while we were gone so she was able to take care of the older boys as well.

They of course loved Grandma Gonda!

The day we got back from High Adventure we got to have another new experience. We went out to get dinner and when we came back there were policemen surrounding our house. A motorcyclist ran off the road, drove into our chainlink fence and landed in our front yard. His un-helmeted head hit the curb and the young man driving the motorcycle died instantly. Needless to say we came home to a deceased man in our front yard. What a bizarre heart wrenching experience. He lived in our neighborhood and so there were tons of people around. His family and friends put up a cross in our front yard and would visit nonstop.

Landon being his cute self!

Less than a week after that we decided to accept a job offer in Wichita, KS. It was a really tough decision! We actually received the job offer here that we have been waiting for since December the same week! Originally when Ethan starting interviewing with Cox Communications in Wichita he had no intentions of taking the job. But thought of it more as a good experience, still thinking here is where we needed to be. But after he visited Cox and Wichita his mind changed. Their offer was great and the Lord let us know it is where our family needs to be. We are excited for this move, but it will be hard to leave such wonderful family and friends behind. We quickly put our house on the market and to our amazement we received an offer in less than 24 hours! We worked it out so that Ethan had 2 weeks off before starting his new job. Which we took full advantage of. We got all of the needed fixes down and were able to go on several fun dates!

One of which was to the Louisville Bat Museum.

 

We also went to Holiday World one day! :) I feel so blessed to be married to my best friend! We have so much fun together!

Ethan even found time to help one of our neighbors clean up his yard (with the missionaries help). While cleaning his side yard he found a nest of bunnies. So he brought home a few to play with. After doing our research we put them back in hopes that the mommy will continue to feed them. Which to our joy, she did! So I can safely say they are safe and sound where they belong. It was fun to have pets for a few hours though!

Our goofy little boy! He kept asking for us to put his shirt up on his head. ha!

So it's starting to hit me that we are really moving. Ethan left yesterday so I am a single mom till closing. I already miss him like crazy and hate being apart! We have been so blessed to have had an offer on our house so quickly that I really should not complain. But being apart is hard no matter how short or long. I guess that's what comes with being in love though. It wouldn't be love if it were any other way. Lucky for me though because I have the most amazing parents in the world! My Dad bought my Mom a ticket to come be with me for a whole week!!!! :)

Life is going so great for us right now! Everything we have been praying for over the last 7 months has come to pass! We feel so overwhelmingly blessed!!!!