I was going to wait for pictures...

but it's taking too long for Laurel to send them. We spent several days in Texas last week. The original purpose of the visit was to attend my grandma's surprise birthday party. (And can my family party!) But the timing was almost miraculous because about two days before we flew out there we decided to attend Texas A&M in the Fall. It was down to that or Notre Dame. And I'll tell you, we really couldn't decide for a while. Texas offered us this wonderful scholarship package. But, we kept saying to ourselves, "but... it's Notre Dame!!" (ND also offered us a scholarship, but because tuition is $40,000 a year, it takes a lot more scholarship to make it affordable.) Because we got our acceptance letter from ND before we even applied at A&M we were pretty much set on going. So it took us a while to mourn the loss of becoming Fighting Irish, and living amongst Catholics. (Bring on the Baptists, baby.) We kept going back and forth, until finally we did a spreadsheet. (It was my idea, not Paul's, ironically enough. But he did insist on color-coding it. Oh, Paul.) And I know that many of you will be surprised to hear this, but it was me who was concerned about the budget, not my legendarily thrifty husband. (It's hard not to be enamored with Notre Dame.)

So, A&M's MBA program begins earlier than I ever would have imagined, and we are now moving in four weeks. AHH! And I will be at Girl's Camp for one of those weeks. And Paul will be in New Hampshire one of those weeks. (He decided he needed a turn to traipse around the country while being a stay-at-home dad. I did go to Texas, like, four times in the ten months I was home with Ella. It's only fair.) So, off we go.

In other news, Ella is now a full year old. (Pictures of the happy event when Laurel emails them to me.) We have green raspberries on our bushes, so we will definitely have raspberries before we move. And we have a buyer who is seriously interested in the house, and two back-ups. So, even though many people thought we were crazy, it turns out Heavenly Father had this worked out all along.

It is just mind-boggling to reflect on the last three months of our life. It has just been a whirlwind of highs (the Spirit, quietly guiding our lives) and lows (anxiety, stress, insecurity, depression, uncertainty). It's easy to say now that it's all working out, but I truly feel blessed to have experienced this. Heavenly Father's hand has rarely been more apparent in my life. I have watched Him take care of my family and maneuver us so so far from where we expected to be. This whole experience has been a miracle.