Graduation for my biggest and littlest!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my kiddos.  I'm not going to lie, I am so VERY ready for this school year to be over.  Stanton had 30 snow days this winter, so they had to go several extra weeks longer than usual to make up those days.  The only problem...we didn't live here then.  My kids were back in Kansas going to school all of those days.  So they got stuck making up snow days they never got to take.  Bummer!!  It has been a long school year! 

Last week Sam had his kindergarten graduation.  We were so worried about sending him to kindergarten last August since he was barely five years-old.  And then we walked into class and there were so many big six year-olds in the room that I started worrying even more.  But he has done great!  He can read so well - even better than his sisters did at this time.  So I'm really glad we went ahead and sent him.  And I'm also really glad that I'm done helping with kindergarten homework!  The graduation celebration was shockingly crowded. We were there 20 minutes early and could only stand along the wall to watch.  Lots of people showed up to watch these sweeties!  There was singing, dancing and lots of memorized lines!   He was pretty proud of his certificate! 

 

Then tonight we attended Sophia's fifth grade graduation.  Luckily, I already went through the emotions of having my baby leave elementary school since she started the year back in VC at the Intermediate school.  We've already gone through the drama of  entering a new school filled with so many new students, switching classes, beginning band, following a schedule, opening lockers, deodorant and discussing who is suddenly shaving and wearing make-up!!  When we moved to Stanton she had to finish out the last two months back in elementary school, but she adjusted well. 

I am so very proud of her.  She entered a new school with only two months left in the year into a class where kids had been together for six years.  And she did it seamlessly.  Then, she volunteered to say the prayer at her graduation ceremony.  So stinkin' proud!  Every time I think I'm failing as a parent, I'm going to remember her standing up in front of all of the 5th grade class and a gym full of their friends and family, and praying.  She's confident, but more importantly, she's totally comfortable praying to God in front of people.  That's awesome!  I still get nervous when I'm asked to pray in front of others.  I absolutely love seeing the person she's becoming!  Totally, uniquely her own person! 

 

With her good friend Alisha.

 Saying the prayer she co-wrote with a classmate.

 

 

From Kindergarten...

To ready for 6th grade! 

A Walk in the Clouds...and Taking Cover in a Cave!

We woke up Saturday morning looking forward to another hike.  But it was raining.  We thought about it for a while, but really, we didn't want to waste an entire Saturday sitting at home.  And the rain here in Kentucky is so darn gentle.  Kansas friends, seriously, the rain comes straight down.  There is hardly any wind.  Crazy, right? 

So we decided to head into the Gorge.  Gentle rain, and then a walk in the clouds.  The view was really beautiful. 

 

 

 

The kids are getting used to longer hikes so it didn't feel right turning around and going straight home.  So we decided to press our luck and go on another trail. About the time we had hiked down to another beautiful stone arch, it started to really rain.  Like, slip off the side of the arch - rain.  And the thunder, oh my!  We couldn't quickly find a way down so we did our best to climb/slide/fall (just kidding) down under the arch. 

 

 

And then we took cover!  Some of the kids hid in a tiny little cave.  The others perched on the rocks.  And we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  The thunder didn't really stop so we decided to head back to the car.

Sophia didn't like the thunder! 

 

The trail was flooded out, but we made it back quickly without any problems. 

 

We were pretty wet, but we had a fun time!

 

 

A few lessons learned while hiking with our kids...

Today we checked out Rock Bridge Trail with the kids and along the way, we learned a few  important lessons.

(Creation Falls)

 

First, Isabella learned when you have to potty off-trail, do not keep your hoodie tied to your waist or you will, in fact, potty all over your hoodie.  And then you will have to wear it the rest of the hike.  Nice. 

Second, when locals warn you about the snakes but say they've never really seen them - that doesn't mean you won't see them.  We had a nice little meeting with a 6 foot snake today.  YIKES!  Luckily, he was not interested in us and just slithered across the path and kept going.  We had just told the kids that they needed to stay close to us while hiking incase we came across anything like a snake or something worse like a bear.  Lesson learned, the rest of the hike they stayed pretty close by.  But, about 20 feet down the path the kids were complaining that I didn't take a picture of the snake so they could show all their friends.  Surprisingly, getting out the camera didn't come to mind at the time since I really, really, really don't like snakes and I may or may not have temporarily froze when I saw it.  Like, don't move, don't talk, and maybe it won't see you - froze. 

 

Third, oh man God is so unbelievably amazing!  The things he created, just wow!  Here are a few pictures.  And yes, I've got two kids who would climb on anything and luckily they are not as clumsy as their mother!    

 (The trees are amazing!)

 

(Creation Falls)

 

(Anna on Rock Bridge)

 

(Sophia on Rock Bridge)

 

Three weeks and counting...

We've officially been in Kentucky for three weeks now and we're really loving it!  We are completely unpacked (although we still need to hang everything on our walls).  The kids are settled into their schools and we're meeting a ton of people - though Chris is much better than me at remembering everyone's names! 

We live in a nice little 3 bedroom parsonage that is across from the church. 

 

 

And it is so awesome to just walk to church with the kids and even nicer for Chris just to walk across the street to work each day.  It's also a great place for the kids to ride their bikes!  The kids' school is only a 1/2 mile away so I walk to pick them up most afternoons which is really nice. 

The kids are adapting well to their new school. Anna is still struggling a bit with the change still, but we expected that.  The kids miss having a music class and only have PE one day a week, so that's pretty different, but otherwise there are a lot of similarities.  They miss their friends A LOT, but are starting to make new friends. 

Each Saturday we try to go hiking somewhere nearby.  So far we've checked out Sky Bridge, Natural Bridge twice, Angels' Windows, and Whistling Arch.  God made some spectacular places to visit!  Our kids won't stop posing in front of rock and tree formations.  I'm sure the novelty of that will wear off eventually. 

 

 



 

I have a huge fascination with all the horse farms I've driven by. The black fencing and matching black barns are just so cool!  I'm going to have to take a day to drive around and take some pictures for my Kansas friends.  They're gorgeous.  And someday I'll figure out why the barns are black.  So different from back in Kansas!

That's a little bit of what we've been up to in the last three weeks.  I really LOVE Facebook right now because seeing all your pictures and updates makes me not feel so far from everyone!

 

We made it!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to post an update now that we've gotten moved and are starting to get settled in.  I've got lots of pictures to share too! 

We loaded up the moving truck Friday and Saturday, said our goodbyes to all of our friends, family, friends, and church family, and were ready to leave around 2pm Sunday afternoon.  After many trips to Goodwill, a couple to the dump, and selling what seemed like half of what we owned on Craigslist, we fit all of our stuff on a 26 ft. truck.  After 13 years of marriage and 4 kids, I'd say that's pretty good! 

Chris and his best friend, Adam, decided they were going to relieve their youth as they planned an all night road trip in the moving truck.  They drove all night and got to Stanton around 6am.  They had to stop a lot to fill up the truck with gas and practically had to push the truck up hills, but they made it!!  They slept about 3 hours on the floor of the house with a couple of old moving blankets and rolls of paper towels as their pillows. Seriously, folks.  Ridiculous right?  Then they got up and started unloading the truck with lots of help from our new church family. 

I took the four kids and the dog in the suburban with me.  We made it as far as Columbia, MO before stopping for the night (in the world's crumbiest hotel -- I'm now officially boycotting Days Inn...but that's a whole other story).  I'm head over heels in love with the inventor of the DVD player with wireless headphones.  Beautiful technology!  The kids watched movies for 14 hours and I was able to listen to the radio.  Must have been a pretty good movie! 

Poor Max rode in his crate (see him in the back, right). He's a travelling rock star and did great sleeping most all of the way.  Cozy right?

We pulled into Stanton around dinner time Monday night and the truck was already unloaded and someone brought us dinner.  Good timing! 

The rest of the week we've been unpacking and eating a lot!  Members of our new church have been bringing us delicious meals and even stocked our fridge and pantry for us before we arrived.  Completely unexpected and awesome!! 

Chris' parents drove his car over for us and stayed a few days.  They were able to watch the kiddos while we did some serious unpacking.  Today we were able to show them a little of the area.  This place is gorgeous!  Here are a few pictures from Red River Gorge and Daniel Boone National Forest which is only about 15 minutes from our house.  The kids loved it, though they acted like it was their own personal photo shoot wanting their picture in front of every rock and tree.  So funny! 

Sky Bridge - a natural stone bridge

 

 

Can you believe how beautiful it is?  There are so many different trails, Chris thinks every Saturday we'll just go explore a different one. 

 

Tomorrow we'll enroll the kids in the local elementary school and they'll start classes on Monday.  They're excited and nervous, but ready to get started.  The kids here missed about a month of school due to snow so our kids are bummed they're going to be in school until June 6th.  But I think it will just give them more time to make friends before summer starts. 

 

A giant thank you to all of our Kansas friends and family for all the help moving and then all your warm goodbyes.  We will forever miss and love you!  And to our new friends here in Stanton, you've blessed and welcomed us beyond our wildest imagination!   We are so excited to be here! 



Big Annoucment!

Usually when you have a really big announcement you want to tell everyone personally.  But, I think I'm running out of time so I'm just going to throw it out there for everyone....Here goes. 

We're moving!

Chris recently accepted a job as senior pastor at Stanton Christian Church in Stanton, Kentucky.  At the end of March, we'll be packing up and moving our family 12 hours east of here to a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky.  Since Chris is the writer in the family, I'm going to let him say what we're feeling. Below is a copy of what he wrote for our church newsletter.  I would also add - to all of our extended family nearby and the friends we've met from the kids' schools, swim teams, and our neighborhood - we are really going to miss you!   Saying goodbye to the life we've led for the last 7 years and the great friendships we've made is really, really hard - even when we're excited about our new opportunity. 

From Chris: 

The past year has been an interesting one for us in the Moon household. About a year ago, we felt God kind of nudging us to look beyond our comfort zone (which is here in Valley Center, KS) as we thought about our ministry to his church. It was difficult to think about because this has been our home for so long. But there was something exciting, too, about being willing to follow God wherever he may take us. So we gave him an unqualified "yes" to whatever he had in store for us.

 

It turns out, after a lot of twists and turns along the way, that God wants us to minister in Kentucky. Chris will be starting work at the first of the month as pastor of Stanton Christian Church in Stanton, Ky. It's in a small town on the eastern side of the state. We felt such a comfort level there that it just felt right. When we visited the church, our kids met some friends immediately, and we're all excited to be living close to some awesome areas to explore outdoors.

 

But then there's the hard part. Leaving our church family here at Valley Center Christian Church is very difficult. The people here are so loving and, for the past seven years, have been an integral part of our lives. They've helped us raise our kids. They've encouraged us. And they've comforted us. We run through the faces of the people of VCCC in our minds, and we can't help but smile. The are just WONDERFUL people. And so there is excitement -- and tears -- as we move forward in following God's call on our lives. Pastor Chuck said today that it is all about the kingdom of God. That's the priority. And we know that he will take care of us wherever we go, and he will take care of all of our loved ones here at home. And we now look forward to meeting more of our church family in Stanton, Ky.!

Love, Chris & Mary Moon 

To the dry cleaners...

In all honesty, I haven't been to the dry cleaners in a while.  I really don't buy a lot of clothes that need dry cleaned.  Kind-of a policy for me.  Laundry is a bit overwhelming for a family of six, so why complicate it? 

But then Sam came along.  And this fall he fell in love with suits.  Seriously.  He pointed out men in suits on the television.  He saved a picture from the first day of school - not because it was from the first day of school, but because he was standing next to the superintendent of our school who was wearing a suit.  He begged me for one of his own.  He was relentless.  Oh. My. Gosh.  How ridiculous, right?!

Chris and I are very casual people.  But somehow, in God's sense of humor, he gave us a little boy who currently LOVES suits.  He absolutely adores the attention he gets at church from everyone who compliments him.  Such a ham!

So recently, I went to the dry cleaners.  Not for Chris or I, but because my favorite little man's suit was just getting too dirty from wearing it every chance he could get.  Sunday?  Yes you can wear your suit.  Your sister's birthday?  Sure you can wear your suit.  Driving the girls to swim practice?  What the heck, why not? 

 

Such a funny picture, but it really does reflect life at the Moon house right now!