A trip to the dentist

All 3 children had the privilege of going to the dentist last week. I say privilege for a few reasons:

1. There are children in other countries that do not have access to dental care

2. Healthy Montana Kids covers the kids dental care

3. They LOVED it! You get to watch a movie while the very nice dental assistant brushes and flosses your teeth. What kid won't sit still with their mouth open if a movie is playing inches from their face?

This was our first experience with a pediatric dentist. While we loved our family dentist back in Birmingham, I now understand why people take their kids to pediatric dentists, it is just so easy and fun for the kids. Why not help them like dental visits instead of dragging them there kicking and screaming? They all left with toothbrushes, toothpaste, a prize from the different "gumball" style machines AND vitamins that contain fluoride. Yes, we live in yet another city that doesn't have fluoride in the water :-) It's okay, apparently the vitamins are pretty tasty and they make sure they don't miss a day.

We will definitely be back in 6 months!

Family Visits

This past week has been so fun! We had two very special visitors. My mom ("Nana") came for a whole week. She stayed in Selah's room, which means the kiddos were all in one room again.  Selah was in a sleeping bag, then the other two were jealous because they wanted to be in sleeping bags, so before you knew it, all 3 were in sleeping bags for the week :-)

Mom and I spent the week sightseeing, reading to the kids and shopping. We found some of the local antique stores, tried out a few restaurants and then Mom took me clothes shopping :-) I hadn't shopped for clothes for probably a year, so it was super fun to get a few new items.

On top of my fun, the kids LOVED having Nana here. She read to them, helped them get ready in the mornings and evenings, watched them a few nights while Ross and I were out, played games with them, colored with them.

It was such a treat for all us to be spoiled and loved on by Nana. Taking us out to meals and generally making our life easier and more fun for a week :-)

Here are pictures from our visit to Murdoch's to see the chicks and rabbits:

I forgot to mention that we had a family bowling night with Nana:

On Friday, Nana's last night, Uncle Bret stopped in for a surprise visit. He was traveling up to Canada and stopped by to say hello on Friday night and then again on Sunday night on his way back down. We hadn't seen Uncle Bret in 3 years, so this was a wonderful surprise.  It was super fun to see Bret with his nieces and nephew - making pancakes for them and playing monopoly with them - as well as dancing with them and throwing them up in the air. No pictures from that visit. Bummer.

Prayer Requests - 5/1/13

Prayer Requests 5/1//13

1. Trip to Birmingham - We are traveling to Birmingham in June for 6 days, but it isn't long enough! I'm not sure how to see everyone that I miss. Prayers for how to spend our time and that the trip would be fun and not rushed.

2. Transition - Yet another transition is coming our way next week. Mason is going to start preschool on Monday, which means that I get to start working at 100 Fold on Monday also. Please pray that we would all transition well. Mason will probably be tired after school, but we don't have a good nap place set up - so pray for his rest. Also, I haven't had a regular work schedule in so long, so pray that momma working is good for the family :-)

3. Marriage - Ross and I love being married and we love it even more when we get to date :-) We are figuring out how to go on a date each week and really prioritize our marriage even in the midst of amazing community (sometimes we find that we don't have time alone because of so much fun time with our friends). Please pray that will we get to make this a regular rhythm in our marriage, that our friends will be able to keep our kiddos, that our kids will see the fruit of this time and that our marriage would be even stronger.

4. Mary Lou's Eye - Ross' step-mother had to have emergency eye surgery to repair a torn retina. She is in the midst of recovery right now. Pray for full vision.

Thank you to all who are praying. Please send me your prayer requests too! (lane_lackey@yahoo.com)

Prayer Requests 4/10/13

1. Balance - There are so many things I want to do and so many people I want to get to know, but then I realize that my time with God or time with my kids is suffering. I need to learn how to balance my family, my God and my interests and leave room for margin - which is where all the fun happens, right? - One way this prayer has been answered is through a friend of mine who I've started running my ideas of things to get involved with and commitments by and she is good to remind me to slow down and not overcommit. I'm so thankful for a friend who will help me say no to the good things, leaving room for the best things.

2. Mason - He is getting ready to go to preschool on May 2. He is so excited and thinks he is ready. Please be praying that he will have an easy transition into school 3.5 hours a day for 5 days a week. I don't think it will be an issue because he is so excited about it, but still, a little prayer never hurt. - This will happen on Monday, May 6. He seems super ready, thank you for your prayers.

3. God - That I would make time with God a priority. - Still working on this. This might be a lifelong pursuit - but I did find a coffee shop close to our house that opens early and stays open late, so I have a place to go and journal and have some of that time alone that I long for. Yeah for coffee shops!

Weekly Roundup - 4/13/13

Stephen (my brother) and Lane (from my surprise visit to Charlotte, NC) 

My adorable nephew, Cruz, who would rather play with trucks than hunt for Easter eggs

My beautiful niece, Mallory, who is very invested in the Easter egg goodies

Steph and Mason discussing dinosaurs

Movie time (Katie, Selah, Mason, Kiera) - Selah's first time to have a friend sleep over

Selah, Kiera and Mason showing off their shirts from Grani and Gramps

Ross' face paint flower on Kiera's cheek

Ross and his little girl

Happily painting around the table - finally, a place for the kids to do crafts

under the staircase

Mason and Peter Garrigan walking to house from treehouse

photoshoot by the lake

Spring Break in Yellowstone

Our family had the chance to drive to West Yellowstone area and meet up with my close friend, Tara Russell, and her family. Tara and Jeff have friends who blessed us with their vacation home for a long weekend and we took them up on it! There was plenty of room inside for 4 adults and 5 children and even more room outside for an Easter egg hunt, snow showing, climbing mountains, runs and an "obstacle course for the kids".

Below are a few pictures from the weekend:

Tara reading to Kiera and Selah

Jeff, Tara, Lane, Ross

Kiera striking a pose

View from the car - a hillside of hundreds of elk

The kids getting ready for the easter egg hunt

Our first egg hunt in snow

Mason finding eggs (quite a change from sun dresses in Birmingham on Easter)

Ross reading to Lucy, Kiera, Selah and Mason

The many versions of monopoly (at one point we had 3 monopoly games going at once)

mohawk boy

Little Cabin in the Big Woods

Cheesy title, right? Well, it is definitely how I feel. Granted, I do have 2 eyes of a stove to cook on and a small indoor sink, but the cabin and big woods part is the same :-)

I've been wanting to get this story and pictures up a few weeks ago, but we didn't have internet at the cabin until a few days ago. You know how we had been praying for housing for a few months, but nothing seemed to work out - either because it was too far away or too expensive or too small (I feel like I'm goldilocks :-)

Well, a week before we had to be out of the dorm, Samantha Hudson called and said, I do know of one place that might work... So, we went to look at it. It was late at night and dark and the house was locked when we came by, so we used a flashlight to look in the windows and said, "it looks great!".  I went out of town a few days later and while I was out of town, Ross spoke with the owner and arranged for us to be let into the house and then he spent the weekend moving us out of the dorm and into our cabin. And to brag on my husband a bit, he didn't just move our stuff from the dorm to the cabin, he put it all away in the cabin too! So when I got home (after being in Atlanta for a friend's wedding), he and the kids were already settled into the cabin. It was a wonderful coming home present!!!

Since then, we turned around and went to Yellowstone with friends (Tara Russell and her family) for spring break. We were so blessed by Tara and Jeff's friends that let us stay in the home right outside Yellowstone and by Tara who planned, shopped for and cooked at the meals - yes, I was VERY spoiled!. Then we spent a few days getting kitchen things out of storage and now we are moved in and loving it!!! There are a few things that aren't ideal, like being 20 minutes from the base and the small kitchen, BUT we are so thankful for God's provision. For the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (Selah has her own room and now Kiera is on the top bunk and Mason is on the bottom bunk), for a kitchen, for a home, for the way God knew we would love to live in the woods (you can't see another house from here), for the views that we have from living on the top of the mountain, for the deer that run through our yard, for the treehouse and swing that were already here, for the way it is already furnished and we didn't have to move everything from storage to here and then turn around and move again when something on base opens up. Yes, this is temporary - until a base opens up, but until then we love our "Little Cabin in the Big Woods". It suits the Lackey family well.

Here are pictures of the cabin - inside and out, in no particular order:

Kiera and Mason's room

Selah's room

Kitchen Sink and Stovetop

Kitchen pantry and toaster OVEN

Our Cabin :-)

View driving down from cabin

View from front door cabin

View from our bed in the loft

View of cabin from front. This was less than a week ago when it snowed again :-)

Our bed in the loft

Prayer Requests - 4/10/13

Prayer Requests 4/10/13
1. Balance - There are so many things I want to do and so many people I want to get to know, but then I realize that my time with God or time with my kids is suffering. I need to learn how to balance my family, my God and my interests and leave room for margin - which is where all the fun happens, right?

2. Mason - He is getting ready to go to preschool on May 2. He is so excited and thinks he is ready. Please be praying that he would have an easy transition into school 3.5 hours a day for 5 days a week. I don't think it will be an issue because he is so excited about it, but still, a little prayer never hurt.

3. God - That I would make time with God a priority.

Thank you to all who are praying. Please send me your prayer requests too! (lane_lackey@yahoo.com)

Prayer Requests 3/20/13
1. This weekend. I'm going to Atlanta for a wedding, Ross is here with the kids and he is considering moving us this weekend while I am gone. While I think that would be great for me, I think Ross will need prayers and help to do this with just him and the kids :-) The weekend went so well! Ross and the kids had a great time AND while I was gone, Ross moved us out of the dorm room and into our new cabin in the woods! He was super husband that weekend for sure!!!

2. Housing - that this place we are moving into would work out well AND that a base house would open up quickly so we can move back to the base and have a more permanent home. We've been in the cabin a few weeks now (post with pictures coming soon!) and we LOVE it! I couldn't imagine a better place for us. It is the true Montana experience - An elk farm close, deer wandering by through the yard, a few rabbits that live close and the kids see each morning, trees all around without another house in sight. More about the house in the post with pictures. Please continue to pray that base housing will open soon. It will be much more convenient, though not near as scenic :-)

3. God - that I would make time with God a priority. Still need prayer.

4. Kiddos - that I would spend more intentional time with the kids. Now that Selah is in school most of the day and Kiera goes to preschool and then sometimes a playdate, I feel like I don't see them much. Also, that I would be consistent with them, I've been slack lately and it is only hurting me :-) I can't say this is getting better, but it is constantly on my heart and we are figuring out some patterns that work - reading at night, dinner as a family and Selah is planning a family night for us this weekend!

Thank you to all who are praying. Please send me your prayer requests too! (lane_lackey@yahoo.com)