It Takes a Village

I've always heard that it takes a village to raise a child. I was raised by a village of people. My whole entire family lives literally within a ten mile radius of one another, with the exception of me living in Tennessee. Grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles- all of them live in or VERY close to White County. Along with every other person who grows up in good old Cleveland, I was no exception to the "I can't wait to get out of this town" crowd. When my opportunity came five years ago, I jumped on it. Not only did I get out of town, I got out of the state and moved all the way to Nashville by myself. For a while, I resented it and wanted to come home! It gets super lonely in a little apartment by yourself.

Since moving to Tennessee, I feel like I have grown TREMENDOUSLY as a person. I have had the opportunities to experience so much, and it hardly seems like it's only been five years. I got my very first teaching job here. It was rough, but I absolutely loved it. I lived on my own for the first time, which was huge for me! After living with my parents for twenty-three years, being on my own was great, scary, lonely, and all emotions lumped into one. I have a love/hate relationship with living alone. I've owned not one, but two homes since moving here. Big step as a young adult! 

Also, in spite of many, MANY rough patches while here, I CAN thank my ex for something- moving here allowed me the opportunity to meet my now husband. If the only reason I ever came here was for that, then success is very, very sweet. Not only did I get Jack, but I was blessed with Camden too!

I feel like together, Jack and I have grown as a couple as well. We began attending church, doing Bible studies together, and reading and praying together. It has been SO NICE to have a husband who is present with me- not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. I'm a firm believer that God has someone for everyone, and he is definitely my someone. 

My big girl job has afforded me many opportunities to travel and see sights I may have never had the chance to see in my lifetime. Hawaii, Vegas, California, Arizona, Texas, the Caribbean... nothing outstanding or extraordinary, but for the small town girl, it is a BIG DEAL. I love travelling to new places and seeing new things. I can't wait to do it more with my favorite and best travel partner!  

My Favorite Trip EVER- Oahu, Hawaii

Bullhead City, Arizona

Las Vegas, NV with my sexy husband!

Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas- our first cruise together! 

Laguna Beach, California with the hottest guy

Dallas, Texas at AdvoCare Success School with my Success Partner! 

It is with such bittersweet excitement that we have decided to share that we will be moving to Georgia over the summer. We realize that majority of our village is there, and we are not too proud to say we need help with this whole baby and raising a child thing. Sure, Jack and I could do it on our own, but why would we want to when we don't have to? We are going to love getting to drop Sadiebug off at my mom's every day so that she and Jonah can have play time and can grow to be best friends! I've had anxiety about daycare since the first week of being pregnant. I even had a couple of full blown panic attacks when I thought about who would be keeping and ultimately raising my child. I could not bear the thought of dropping her off at some random daycare with a complete stranger, who I am sure would certainly be well-qualified, but still. What if she is in pain? What if she's hungry? What if she just wants to cuddle with someone? I feel much more comfortable knowing that her Nonnie will feed her homemade gravy and biscuits, will rush her straight to the doctor for me, or even will cuddle up in bed with Sadie all day if that's what she wants to do. 

We have felt at such peace with this decision, although it has not been an easy one. We have not hammered out details about visiting with Camden yet, which was ultimately the most difficult part about deciding to leave. We will miss him terribly, but since we don't get to see him much anyways, we really have to consider what is best for us as a family, and now that we have another family member to consider, we have to think about what is best for her, too. We've cried many, many tears and prayed countless prayers, even visited three different lawyers regarding the situation, but in the end, we feel like the Lord has just allowed everything to fall into place as it should regarding the whole situation. He has truly revealed his plan for us over the last two weeks, and it is nearly overwhelming! 

We will definitely miss all our friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances we have here. That is another thing that makes moving hard. We have a life here, a good life. We are SO blessed with the people in our lives, and just know that there are so many I could name who have helped me out, prayed for me, given me a place to stay, etc. I could go on all day. Just know you ALL are special to us, and will always hold a special place in our hearts. And this definitely is not goodbye, as I have no doubts we will be back for visits. We have too many friends who have turned into family! 

We are also very excited to say that we've both accepted offers of teaching positions at White County Middle School. You read that right, we will be teaching together again! This is very beneficial for us and everyone involved. We were talking the other night about how when we are at the same school, we feel as though we are better teachers. We are excited to go to work every day because we know the other person is just down the hallway. I am not one of those people who gets easily annoyed by their husband. I LOVE my husband and he is my absolute best friend. I could literally spend all day, every day with him and not get tired of him. We've done it the past two summers actually, and have made it just fine. It's like the more time we spend together, the closer we get. I love it. We feed off of one another's energy, so I have no doubts we will be rocking and rolling at WCMS, and I am SO excited to be returning to the school that I once attended, and I'm excited that my husband will get to share the experience of what it's like to be a WARRIOR! 

We truly covet your prayers over the next several weeks, as we still have many many things to work out. We have to sell our home, which we hope and pray happens QUICKLY. We currently have a good, GOOD offer on it, and we are just waiting for everything to process from the buyer so that we can be out of there by May 28. No pressure or anything. But financing, appraisal, etc. all has to go through smoothly and without a hitch, so we are still on our knees praying that all of that happens without issues. Please, pray that with us! We have also found ourselves a new (to us) house in Clarkesville, Georgia and are in the process of getting things together so that one goes through as well. It is a beautiful, older home. I can't wait to show pictures and give updates on how we are making it our own. We are going back down to Georgia this weekend to look at the house in person because....surprise....we've never actually been in the house. Typical Jack and Kayla, right? Nothing says "let's buy a house" like a FaceTime walk through with the best realtor ever (Sam Cantrell!) and my Mama. If it is good enough for them, it must be wonderful. We cannot WAIT to see it for ourselves. If it is as lovely as it is in photos, then we are surely blessed! We are simply amazed at God and how he's allowed everything to just HAPPEN!


Now we just have to make the 300+ mile move to Georgia. No big deal right? Ha. Well I am worried sick over it, because I won't be able to help Jack as much. I like things the way *I* like them. It is hard for me to sit back and let others do what I want to be doing. Pray that we can survive yet another move! This will be my sixth move in just five years and Jack's third. I DO NOT plan on going ANYWHERE else for a long time. We are DONE moving for the next decade at least. So again, we REALLY want/love/need your daily prayers over the next several weeks and couple of months. Now, anybody want to come help us paint?