Days With A Beautiful Family...And Puppies!

Since I have been staying here at the Purvis home I have had many opportunities to capture beautiful family moments.  Landon, Bree and Dexter are the kids of this superhero house.  Dress up bins, playtime outside and soaring imaginations fill this home and fill the days with laughter, drama and beauty.  Jason and Jenn handle the the sometimes chaotic moments and blooming personalities with tolerance, patience and excitement, as they watch their children play and grow.  It has been so exciting and sweet to be here and interact with their family, and also view them from the window of my camera lens. 
Not only are their three children, but between my two and the 70-pound lab puppy named Calvin, there are also three dogs!!  There is my small white Maltese, my blonde, medium-sized Corgi mix, and the 70-pound black lab puppy.  We have one of every shape and size in this house right now!  "Big Mama" (Sammy) doesn't really care to play with Calvin, but tolerates him as best she can.  Neena, however, has always gotten along better with bigger dogs and sees Calvin as an equal playmate (even though if he were the aggressive type he could take her out in a second flat!)   Their barking and chasing wars are so cute!  Hopefully I can grab some video of them playing together and post it soon! 
These are a few of the cutest pics I've had the pleasure of capturing. I hope you enjoy!

Landon as Captain Jack "Spearow" (Sparrow) for Pirate Princess Night at Chick-fil-A.

Bree amidst a twirling session in the living room!

Hey, even princesses get tired out!

Dex, sporting the superman t-shirt and punk hairdo.  I love this kid!

Me and Dex getting ready to head to the pool.

Landon as Wolverine.  This 6 year old is full of imagination and has the artist gene!

4-year old Bree as "Supergirl"!  She's showing me how Supergirl flies.

9-Month old Dex and his baby blues.

Now for the canine children...

Neena and Calvin in a moment of peace!

Sammy and Calvin...about as close as she'll let him come to her! LOL

This is how Neena enjoys staying cool in the Arizona sun...by bathing in it on a hot sidewalk.  I never said she was smart! Haha!

I hope you enjoyed some of the pictures from our days here so far.  I'm sure there will be many more to come!



Things I Never Tire Of

Vast blue sky
Clear night sky with a million stars
The smell of honeysuckle and jasmine in the evening
Baby smell
Children laughing
Time and talks with friends both near and far
Family
Seeing mountains every day
Laughter
Love, sweet and genuine, giving and unconditional

A Counting Of Blessings

It's so easy to get sidetracked from seeing all the good in one's life.  The day to day stuff can get so overwhelming and so seemingly repetitive at times that we miss out on realizing all that God is doing around us.  I personally believe that talking to God is something we can and should do all the time.  Not just asking him for things or thanking him for the big stuff, but actually opening up our eyes to see the little things that God allows and designs for us to go through to direct our path on a day to day basis.  Days turn into weeks, months and years, and once you start looking at all the detours and roads not taken, you start to realize that God definitely does have a plan for each of us and a special design for our lives.
I was just thinking the other day about all of the things, just in the last couple of weeks that I can thank God for, so I've decided to write them all down here.  Things that I prayed for, or didn't, provisions that have been made and little extra blessings along the way.

1. Being able to save enough money to move.  Part of this thanks should go to my ex-boyfriend who stepped up and payed for almost all of the bills for our old place for a couple of months so I could save all of my earnings for the move to Arizona.
2. A chance to say goodbye to all of my neighbor friends before I left.
3. No injuries while packing and got everything done on time.
4. My neighbor helping me pack the truck.
5. Decent weather while packing the truck, driving it to AZ and unloading it into storage.
6. Being able to tow my van instead of drive it across three states.
7. Safety while I traveled and stayed in different motels.
8. No break-in's or anything with the truck
9. No breakdown's on the road or problems with the vehicles while traveling.
10. Safety in camping out and not getting attacked by wild animals! LOL
11. No vehicle issues while camping and traveling around Phoenix.
12. Time to visit several apartments.
13. A chance to stay in the mountains and experience nature firsthand.
14. Bathrooms while camping.
15. Showers while camping.
16. Being able to stay with friends.
17. Making it to my friends house before my van started acting funny.
18. Being able to stay at my friends' house while working on my van.
19. Being fed at my friends' house.
20. A bed to sleep in.
21. Being able to reconnect with college friends.
22. Being able to spend time with Jenn, who is a fellow artsy person, natural food lover and sometimes-frustrated dog owner. :)))
23. Finding an apartment I really liked through following the breadcrumbs from other apartments.
24. Having God answer the question of whether to stay in Phoenix or Tucson by allowing my van to break down, therefore changing all of my plans to visit Tucson and opening up possibilities in Phoenix.
25. Having a million-and-a-half prayer warriors out there lifting up my needs and desires to a God that actually cares what happens to me.
26. My friends Jason and Jenn clearing out a room for me at their apartment and inviting me to stay until an apartment opened up for me.
27. Jenn driving me around here and there while my car was on hiatus.
28. Having kids to play with (even though sometimes I wish I did not have ears).  Hehehe
29. Being able to fix my car (the first time) by myself and not breaking anything in the process.
30. Being able to afford the part for my car (the first one)
31. Finding a car place that actually knew what they were doing (the second time around) and getting the RIGHT fix this time!
32. I can return the other part for the first fix that didn't need to be done!
33. Finding out that my alternator wasn't bad.
34. My dad and step mom stepping in and helping me out in my time of need, so I could get my car fixed.
35. Consequently still having enough money to cover move-in costs for a new place to live.
36. Spending a few minutes to recheck availability at a good apartment.
37. Finding something available that I can still afford.
38. Finding an even better apartment location than what I had originally expected.
39. My friend setting up a meeting with a Mary Kay consultant, and the possibility of a fun side job.
40. The apartment I applied for being able to use my HEB income on my app. and not just my social security.
41. Being able to see mountains and a vast blue sky every single day!!
42. Getting a free month of storage with my truck rental from U-Haul.
43. Having a place to store all my crap while I find a place to live.
44. Knowing that I'm only a few hours from family.
45. Having kids and a baby to play with, friends to hang with, and a puppy that likes to play with my spunky one.
46. Knowing that I made the right decision and followed what I knew was right, even when a lot of people thought I was nuts.
47. Having the courage to leave.
48. Freeing myself to live again!
49. Going outside every night and seeing hundred's of stars in a deep blue sky.
50. Knowing there's more to come, and expecting the best.

I'm sure I'm even missing some here, and these are pretty big ones, even in the grand scheme of things.  Fifty blessings in just a couple of weeks, and big blessings at that.  I have so much to be thankful for!!!  Things got rough there when I didn't know what was going to happen with my van, and didn't think I was going to be able to find an available apartment for another month and a half.  I just kept saying to myself, "God is going to work this out.  I know there's a plan here.  He's got it covered. I know this is where I need to be."
I'm quite sure I will still have times of doubt, frustration, loneliness and hurt.  After all, these are all the blessings!  It's so much easier to get swept away in the bad stuff that happens and the stress of everything that doesn't come together like it should.  It happens a LOT!!  I am not some happy, sunshine-filled, everything is always great all the time kind of person, but I have to sometimes make myself count my blessings so I can see that my bad circumstances don't have to take over.  And especially in the last couple of weeks I have seen some HUGE things happen in my life that I have had to stop and take notice of, and thank God for, because seriously there are just way too many things falling into place to think this is just coincidence.
When I get down in the dumps again, I'm going to have to remind myself to come back to this blog and read through this list.  Then I can start another one, and another and another and as time goes on maybe it will get easier for me to notice even smaller things that happen, and be that much more grateful for all the blessings that I do not deserve but have graciously been given.

New Digs And Mechanics

Some of you Facebookers know this already, but I have had the blessing of staying with college friends of mine for a week now.  They have an apartment here in Gilbert, Texas, which is south of Mesa.  I was certainly not expecting to stay this long, nor was I expecting to have the huge car problems that I have had in this past week.
On my way to Jason and Jenn's last Friday night I noticed that my car was not shifting into what I thought was 3rd gear.  Luckily I didn't have that far to go, and was able to make it to their house safely.  I started praying for a miracle, hoping to God would fix my car overnight and that the next day I would go out and it would just be fixed.  Well, that didn't happen.  For whatever reason, this is another thing I had to go through in this process of life.
After taking it in to the shop I was told that my engine computer module (ECM) needed to be replaced, and that my car had been stuck in 3rd gear.  This was taken from a diagnostic test that was run on the car.  Well I'll be darn if I didn't already know how to replace that part, because I had done it about 4 years ago.  It's actually very easy to fix.  You just need a socket wrench and to know what you're looking for.  So, I ordered the part, and a couple days later picked it up and replaced it.
I took it out for a test drive really hoping that it would work, but it didn't.  Absolutely nothing had changed.  It was still stuck in 3rd gear.
So, I was really disappointed.  My obvious next emotion was not a happy one, and was directed at the local chain store of auto repair.  I won't say their name, but their initials are AAMCO.  Haha!  Anyway, I believe that they were just more clueless than anything.  I mean, it could be that they saw this poor girl coming in in her pint t-shirt, and figured she had no idea what the difference was and that the $1200 they were asking to fix my ECM was reasonable enough.  NOT!!  Little did they know that I have the ability to take screws off, and replace a computer not once, but twice in my own car.  Little did they know.
So, I took it to another shop after the first "fix" didn't work.  This time it was to another local, but family-owned place.  They ran a diagnostic on my car (the same one that had previously been done) and found that it was the transmission computer or the TCM that was the problem.  My car runs on two computers, and in the last two days both have been replaced.  This time I let someone else do the work, mostly because I believe they had to get under the car to replace this particular computer.  This is something I don't have the equipment for.  Thankfully labor is only 1/2 hour on this part, so the charge for that was small.

This is what the old part looked like. 

If you shake it you can actually hear the water and sand rattling around inside of it.  No wonder it didn't work.

So I called back AutoZone and found out they still had my old ECM unit.  I will be picking it up tomorrow and putting it back in my car to see if everything works fine with the old one.  Ugh.  What a pain in the butt.  However, fixing my own car is very empowering.  Empowering in a good way.  It gives me a sense of gratification to know I can fix stuff like that and I'm not totally without skills. :)

So in all of this, my friends have housed and fed me, and have welcomed me into their home.  Then when things were looking so discouraging with the car...a blessing.

My friends, Jason and Jenn, offered to let me stay in their house until an apartment became available, which could be into May.  Thankful is just such an inadequate word for how I feel.  And to top it off, they moved their kids into a room together so I could have a room for me and the dogs to have some private space.  Wow!  That's about all I can say.  Thank God for friends.

I know I have blogged about this before, but going to Word of Life Bible Institute, and moving around as much as I have has branched my friends over most of the United States and several countries.  There is this special bond between Believers that cannot be broken, and surpasses any physical boundaries.  God uses us to touch each other's lives, to bless them, challenge them and encourage them.  I have been blessed beyond measure.  Even in the chaos of a car that decided not to run, these friends of mine have taken me in and blessed me more than they know!

So, now that my car is fixed my apartment search can resume, and I will shortly be on my way to a place of my own.  Who knows what's in store next, but it has been a crazy ride so far!



Time To Break Out The Toolbox!! It's Marci-The-Tool-Girl-DeHaan!!!

Well, I'm glad I kept my toolbox in my car, instead of in storage, because it looks like it's gonna need it.  The van is having computer issues, which are affecting the gear shifting in the transmission.  Apparently, the engine computer and the transmission computer talk to each other, and when one is bad, the other doesn't work right.  I guess the $100 I paid to find that out was worth it, because I believe I have already changed this part before by myself.
About 4 years ago I replaced the computer on my car.  I believe it was the same one that is now having problems.  The part I had was a refurbished one, so I'm not surprised it didn't last very long.  I suppose four years isn't bad for a junkyard part.  Bad timing, but if I fix this again myself, I can save over $1,000.  So tomorrow I will be calling places here where I am staying, and try to find this part that I need again, and then I'll be breaking out my toolbox and my big-girl-panties to work on my car again.
Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty!! :)

Facing Adversity And Rolling With The Punches

My trip had gone so well I was waiting for "the other shoe to drop".  Well, it has started to, with my van starting to act up, causing a delay in my travel plans, as well as the pain on one my teeth, which I think might be my very first cavity, and the constant rejection of apartments you really like because they don't have anything available for another two months.  I know in comparison, this is really nothing, but when money is already tight and time is not in endless supply, it really dampens the mood.
It's hard not to be discouraged.  I found an apartment I would die to get into, but there's nothing available until at least the middle of May.  Do I move to an area I don't like as much, but is still nice, or do I wait for the one I really want?  Hmmm.  Well, I haven't totally decided yet.  Honestly, I'm considering options for temporary housing until the apartment I really want opens up.  But I'm taking it in stride and trying not to panic.
My biggest concern is my van, which is not shifting into higher gears, and is running to high on RPM's at higher speeds, I think my engine might explode!  At least it sounds like it will. lol.  So I need to get that looked at and fixed before I can do any more real traveling.  My plan was to head to Tucson in a couple of days, but depending on what happens with the van, that will either be delayed or cancelled altogether.
Part of this is just life circumstances, but I can't help but realize that Satan has an agenda here too.  There is nothing worse than stealing the joy away from a Christian, or causing doubt where there once was none.  He did it in the beginning of time with Eve, and he's kept doing it to this day.  It's the oldest trick in the book because it works so well!  So, despite the setbacks, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and just roll with it.  I'll let God work it all out because He's better at it than I am. :)

This Is How I Roll...

I think the girls are excited to finally be out of the U-Haul truck.  I know I was!

Spring in the desert.

McDowell Mountain Regional Park at sunset.

Sammy thinks this is her new bed.  Nope!  It's an air mattress with a foam topper and mommy's blankets and pillows.  I also have reusable grocery bags full of some food hanging from the hooks in the back of the van, just in case I get hungry on the road.  'Cause that's how we roll when WE camp!

View of the van from the back.

The trusty van!

More of spring in the desert with the mountains behind.