Ok, Lord, we will go to Hartford! Next question, School?

I know I just updated this website for the first time in a while today, but here is the next part of the story. The school part. We had been talking with the principal of the school where they are now in Bloomfield and the CFO of Bloomfield Schools about the possibility of if we moved, keeping the kids there for the remainder of the school year and then applying to magnet schools for the fall so that the kids would not have to go to Hartford Public Schools.

Today, when we visited the Kinsella Fine Arts Magnet School as part of of researching options for next year, Dave and I both immediately loved the school. There were kids getting ready for a production they put together themselves, practice rooms full of music, brightly colored welcoming classrooms, and to top it off, reports of increasingly high test scores the last three years! We knew the boys (who are always creating their own plays, singing and dancing at home) would love it, but we tried to hold back our excitement of the possibility because it is a lottery system, they might not even get in....etc. During the tour, I kind of felt like the woman was talking right to us and was really interested in our situation (moving, the grades of our kids, etc.) but figured she was just being nice.

Well, at the end of the tour, she asked us to stay behind after the other parents left. I figured it was because we were the only elementary aged parents in the group (vs. preschool), but she pulled us into the office and asked us, "Would you be interested in the kids finishing out the year here if we had the spots?" Dave and I looked at each other with huge grins on our faces and said we would definitely! They were offered spots there for the remainder of the school year and therefore, automatic admission in the fall! God knew that was our biggest stress about moving, and it is amazing how he totally removed that and in an unusual way! They do not normally offer spots once the year starts! So, we go back to sign paperwork tomorrow, Noah will visit there for the am (they do not let K kids visit) and then Friday will be the boys last day at Bloomfield!

Our life is crazy, but in a good way! We never would have expected this, but it is an amazing answer to prayer! Just wanted to share it with all of you since you have been praying for us and our transitional life! Please join us in giving God all the credit for this amazing opportunity and open door!

We ask for prayer though, for Noah and Josh as this is a quick transition and they will not have a lot of time to say good-bye to their friends. We will be telling them at dinner tonight, so please pray for that conversation. We expect them to be excited as we have talking about it as an option for next year, but a little apprehensive about the fast pace. Pray that God gives us sensitivity as they need it!

Thank for being prayer partners with us in this! Love, Danielle and Dave

Our new adventure! Are you ready for this one?

I am sorry that it has been a LONG LONG LONG LONG time since I have written, but we have been inspired to change the direction of our blog...we are starting a new adventure!

As many of you know (and sorry if this is a shock to others who are not as involved in our daily lives), God has been opening doors wide for us to move to Hartford...so much so that we feel that we have not even been totally proactive in the process and things keep dropping into our laps!

Dave has been involved over the last few years with an amazing outreach called The Hartford Project http://www.thehartfordproject.org and our heart for the city has grown each summer along with THP. We have been proactive about helping our children and Wintonbury's youth to become comfortable in various situations and locations throughout our capital city.

I (Danielle), knew that this desire and love for Hartford (both the city and it's people) was growing inside Dave, but really did not grasp the hugeness of it until we finished the week of THP last summer and he started to explain how he felt "alive" serving there with the youth. I encouraged him but also played the "wait until you get off the mountain top" card, telling him to slow down and think and pray about what that would mean for him and our family! He went to the Dominican Republic two weeks later for two weeks and came back even more sure that God was calling us to something bigger in the city! Dave went on to tell me that he felt we were to move there in this coming year!

I was really overwhelmed at first, making him promise not to make any quick changes to our life etc...but as I prayed and spent time reading and studying God's word it was revealed to me that this was indeed what God wanted our family to do. All I knew was that as long as Dave promised me that we would not be leaving Wintonbury and WE ARE NOT, I could go with this. But the biggest hold back for me was what to do with the kids schooling. I knew that we could not put them in the public schools and we were too late for the deadline for the magnet schools this year.

We just kept praying about it, talking to friends in Hartford and casually looking at the housing market. Well, we started thinking that maybe the Blue Hills neighborhood was the place for us...it was minutes away from where we live now, not really any farther from Wintonbury (our church and Dave's job) but as we drove around the neighborhoods, we did not really see anything that made us feel like this was it.

We stopped looking for a little while, then I went back on to look at some houses that our friends, John and Sarah were looking at, and I saw that a new house had popped up on the list in the Asylum Hill neighborhood. It was gorgeous, and a little out of our price range but we felt drawn to it for some reason. We knew that some new friends that we had made through the Hartford Project lived in that area for some of the same reasons that we felt drawn there and realized immediately, that this fit the call Dave felt earlier in the summer much more. This section of Hartford was more in the Heart of the city and met more of what Dave felt God had called him to specifically, to get out of our comfort zone. We knew that this neighborhood was it, so we started praying for the right house to drop in our laps.

Dave and Noah were on their way to a party in Newington for one of Noah's friends about a month back and drove by the house I mentioned above, even though we knew it was out of our price range, but the pics were so nice he wanted to see where it was in the neighborhood. There "happened" to be a open house there and he toured the new construction and was told of another (more in our price range) house that was a few houses away for sale. He did not have time to see it that day, but after some more praying we called to see it the next week. Both houses had been renovated by a non-profit business that was really trying to revitalize the neighborhood and bring life back to the city. The values and goals of the non-profit really fit with some of the major goals and hopes that Dave and the rest of The Hartford Project team have! We looked at the house, really liked it, took my parents for a look when they were here a few weekends back and waited on hearing on our pre-approval for a mortgage.

God opened another door by helping me to stumble upon website called HouseHartford, which gives down payment assistance to families wanting to move into Hartford! We are currently waiting to hear on our acceptance to that program, but we got our pre-approval even without that...and placed a offer on the house! Our offer and terms were accepted, now we just wait on the details! We hope to close at the end of the December/early Jan!

That is the beginning of our crazy ride....stay tuned for more adventures of following in faith! Next up on the updates, "Where in the world will these boys go to school?"

T.O.T (Ten on Tuesday)

I have decided that it is time that I begin to write more on this blog, mostly because everyday I pick up crumbs, wipe mouths and bums and sometimes feel any ounce of creativity running, no sprinting away! I love my life, my husband and kids and hope that you want to hear more about our crazy adventures too!

This post was inspired by Tanya:

T.O.T (Ten on Tuesday)

1) My birthday was yesterday! 29 years old. It was fun to get to spend another birthday surrounded by friends at Lakeside for the church retreat!
2) One would think that with both the boys in school (Noah full day and Josh half day a few days a week), that my house would be really clean because of all my free time...nope, basically I spend most of my time keeping up with the laundry and enjoying the random babblings of Eden.
3) The fact that Eden is almost 9 months old is crazy to me! She is such a delight and brightens the day of everyone around her. Even strangers stop me to ask if she is always that happy!
4) Joshua is finally slowly emerging from the stubborn terrible 3's! 3 was much worse than 2 for him, but I am really starting to see his sweet spirit. I just love it when he comes up to me with his face puckered up like a fish to give me a kiss...on the lips...on the nose...on the eyes...you get the picture!
5) Noah is almost 6 going on 16. He rides his emotions like a roller coaster and feels entitled to many things now as a 1st grader. We are working on his attitude and thankfulness right now. He amazes us and others everyday with the schemes, plans, and stories that he comes up with!
6) Part of my inspiration for getting started back up with this blog is Noah's dedication to the story he is writing with my Dad. Grampy and Noah are c0-writing a pirate story called "The BBQ's" and it is hilarious to type (word for word) the creative storylines that come out of his little head. I love it!
7) The last week or so has been really great for family time. Dave took some time to spend with Josh, Eden and I a few mornings last week and then we all really enjoyed being together at the retreat this past weekend (minus the abundance of sleep)!
8) Some days I really miss my parents and try to brainstorm ways to make money to go visit them sooner than planned! Today is one of those days...
9) If you have not yet, go check out thepioneerwoman.com, her recipes are amazing and a downfall to my waist!
10) Dave starts refereeing soccer games today, so our Fall schedule is off running!

Updates

Updated pics and stories to come! I promise!

Mother's Day

We had a great time on Mother's Day with the Ambrose side and Aunt Lil. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time playing in our very windy yard! A mean game of frisbee went on where Dave got tackled by his loving siblings and kids frequently, and we finished off the day by walking to Tulmeadow Farm for ice cream. The only thing that could have made the day better was if my Mom, Dad and Jenna were there with us! Here are a few pictures:

Should I dare dream...is it a glimpse of spring?

We were finally able to play outside for a little bit the other day without freezing!

Since earlier in
the week, when I took the pics, there have even been timeswhen we have gone outside without our coats! Imagine that, maybe spring is coming soon after all!

The boys are excited to get out and try to ride their bikes, I say try because I am not the most skilled at putting training wheels on and one of Noah's keeps falling off. We just need Dave to be home long enough to fix it, maybe tomorrow on his day off!

Introducing Noah on Ice!

Today was Noah's first ice skating lesson with the local Homeschool group! He did great! His teacher said that he was so anxious to go, he kept getting ahead of her! The girl in the pink hat is a friend of our friend's the Kelly's, who offered to help Noah out after the lesson. Joshua and I were very proud and cheered him on from the sidelines.

Superheroes to the Rescue!

The Blombergs passed on some dress up clothes this week, and it has definitely kept us busy! We visited Nanny and Poppy last night in costume!

New blog!

I have had this website for a little while, but have not gotten around to posting anything yet! Stay tuned!