Up to date

When I last updated this thing, I had posted about celebrating our 5th anniversary. At that time Kennedy was 3 years old and Georgia was about 7 months old. A lot has changed since then. 

As you may have noticed from the new header, this family will be becoming a family of six this summer. 

Here is a little rundown of our 2016 to catch you up to date...

In February, Kennedy turned 5 (hard to believe in 5 weeks she'll be 6!).

Kennedy {Birth-Age 5}

On March 9th at 4:04am, Daphne Lucille Burkhart joined our family at 8lbs. 12oz. and 12 inches long. 

                                Newborn                                                    Just shy of 10 months

The House Story

In May, after 2 different attempts to sell our acreage ourselves, we listed our house with a realtor. We had a house in mind that we were trying to purchase for over a year, but we had to sell our acreage to be able to purchase it. After listing our acreage, we found out that the house we had our hearts set on buying, had been sold. We were pretty bummed about it since the location was PERFECT. The house was a couple blocks from the baseball field and in a great location to several other things in town.

By this point it was now June, and we had several people look at our acreage, but none that would commit to buying it for one reason or another. During this time, we found another house, in the same town, with an even BETTER location. This house was even closer to the baseball fields. This house also had a finished basement and much more space (and was cheaper) than the other house we had wanted. We put in an offer on a Wednesday, contingent on our acreage selling. By that Saturday, we got a call saying the house had been sold to another buyer that didn't have a contingency. Again, we were crushed. We have felt God calling us to this specific town, but doors just kept shutting. We finally decided to truly give it all up to God and not worry about the whole thing. 

About a week to 2 weeks later we got a call from our realtor saying that the other buyers finances fell through and that if we still want the house, they would like to accept our offer. We were thrilled, but also knew that the house could be taken from us again if another buyer came in without a contingency. Again, I can't remember exact dates, but shortly after...probably a week or so, our realtor called saying that we had an offer on our acreage! We were caught off guard because this buyer hadn't even come to look at the place. We then find out that this buyer is our realtor's mom and she's been wanting to move to the area to be closer to family. Thank you, Lord! We were able to close and move at the end July, just 3 days before heading off to our family vacation to Montana.

Our acreage needed some attention that would have cost more than we could afford. It was great for us, but knew it was only a matter of time before the windows needed replacing. We were also just running out of space for our growing family. With me doing home daycare, we wanted another living space where the toys and daycare stuff could be kept out of the way. We kept saying that we hoped the person that would buy our house would be able to give it the updates that we just couldn't financially do. Well, that is the exact person that bought our place. 

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Below are a few pictures of the projects the new owner is working on. Since our realtor's mom bought the home, she updates us with pictures every now and then. So fun to see it getting the attention it needed. 

The new owner is adding on the following:

-Master Bedroom

-Master Bathroom

-Entryway

-1 Stall Attached Garage

-Storm Shelter
The current basement/shelter had a door located on the floor of the porch which was extremely heavy and too hard for the new owner to lift.

This is the most recent picture we've had sent to us. 

The deck you see, Ryan built before we listed the place (with the help of his parents and brother).

I know the new owner has also replaced all the carpet upstairs and on the stairs and had installed all new windows in the entire house. I know at one time she had planned on turning what used to be the older girls room (the smallest room upstairs) into a small bathroom and then the other half into a closet for one of the bedrooms. I don't know if this is still happening (or has happened), since we only see outside updates.

And here is our NEW home!

We love living in town!

Come visit! We have plenty of space for guests!

We host our small group here weekly and love providing a meal for everyone, which is usually cooked by Ryan. He has become quite the chef! 

We are loving our new church here, which is only a few blocks from our new house.

The girls love that this park is less than 2 blocks from our new home too!

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Another change that happened in May was that Kennedy decided to donate her hair. 

She was able to donate 9 inches! She has such a heart for people and wanted to be able to provide wigs for those that have lost their hair from cancer.

Kennedy played her 2nd summer of T-ball in June. 

In July, 3 days after moving into our new home, we left for a week and a half vacation to Northwestern Montana. For those of you that know me well, you know that I absolutely LOVE this place! We go every 3 years for our family reunion (on my Mom's side). This year was extra special because Ryan was able to attend for the first time ever!

The trip was wonderful and the girls did great for being in a car for 2 two days straight. We planned fun stops along the way. We were able to stay overnight with my roommate from college and her husband to break up the trip a little on the way there and back. Thanks again Amy and Chris!

 A few of our stops on the way to Montana.

The Corn Palace and Storybook Island

The bottom right picture is a place I used to go when I was Georgia's age to feed the ducks.

  My favorite place

Dickey Lake Bible Camp

On our way home we made a stop at Mount Rushmore.

In August, I surprised Ryan with a trip to Atlanta to watch the Braves play the Twins at Turner Field (this was his surprise present for his 30th birthday). This was the Braves last season playing there and Ryan had never seen his Braves play at home before. Through personal connections, I was able to get Ryan and his friend Daved (a Twins fan), tickets to both games in the series. They also were able to stay with one of my best friends from high school and her family down in Atlanta. Thanks again, Parker family!

Also in August, Kennedy started Kindergarten as an Alta-Aurelia Warrior! She loves her new school, her teacher and has made so many new friends. She probably knows more people in this town than I do. 

 First Day of School

Kennedy went to a cheerleading camp through the school and got to cheer at a home football game.
(She's right there in the middle in the front row)

In October, Georgia turned 3. 

 This kid is full of personality

Georgia {Birth-Age 3}

November was a big month. Ryan turned the big 3-0! I was able to get in contact with friends from his past and present as well as many family members, and they sent cards and letters to celebrate this big birthday. He was beyond thrilled for all the kind words that people wrote and that people took the time to actually send him something. He is such a 'words person', so this kind of gift was perfect! Thanks again to all those that sent those cards and letters to me to present to Ryan on his birthday! 

This is also the month that we found out Baby Burkhart #4 is on the way! We couldn't be happier to be adding another little blessing to our family. Yes, we do realize that Daphne and this new baby will only be 16-17 months apart. My only concern is that I don't go into labor during a baseball game! I am due July 24th.

In December, we were able to host Christmas for the Burkhart side. 

It was so fun to finally have a house big enough to host and have space for each family to have a room to sleep in. This is the first time that we haven't had to travel somewhere as soon as school let out for break. The Christmas weekend was spent with lots of games and laughter.

Grandpa & Grandma with all their grandkids.

SEVEN GRANDDAUGHTERS

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Ryan is still teaching High School Social Studies at Newell-Fonda and coaching Speech there. He also continues to be the assistant baseball coach for the Alta-Aurelia Warriors. 

As for me, I am still doing home daycare in our new town. I was blessed to be able to provide daycare for so many wonderful families in Newell. I miss seeing their little faces (and their parents too). Here in our new town, I have several new wonderful families that I am able to provide daycare for. It was so fun watching God provide for all the little things in this transition to a new town and new home. 

That wraps up 2016

Until next time...