Wishing all of you the best as you celebrate our Savior's birth today! We love you!

Just wanted to share a few moments with you (from Andrea)...

The first thing Si asked when we told him we were moving to Tennessee - "Do they speak English over there?" Fortunately we have discovered that they do - although unlike the dialect we are accustomed to. For the Coffeyville-ians who thought I had an accent - I have to tell you that in this environment people want to know where I'm from because I obviously do not have an accent like they do. I can already feel the Tennessee accent beginning to creep in, however. I simply can't help it - it's just like when I finish watching a movie like "Steel Magnolias" or get off the phone with one of my 'southern' friends or family members - the accent simply clings to me for a while the way the smell of pumpkin pie lingers in the kitchen long after baking is done. I suppose after some time I will simply succumb to it and not even know that the finality of the change has occurred... until I talk with one of you on the phone and you happily point it out to me! In the meantime, I will enjoy the novelty of having a Sooner sound.

Continue reading "Thoughts from Andrea" »

Woke up to iced roads this morning. Actually knew it was coming. They've been talking about the possibility of snow & ice all week. We didn't get any snow (at least not on the ground), but it was sleeting when we went to bed last night.

I was only supposed to work half a day today, so it's not like I missed much. That & the fact that almost everyone in my department was already gone for the holidays & will be for another week or so due to vacation days. It was a good first full (sort of) week. Had orientation last week & department orientation on Monday. Tuesday I started work on the website & have a project to work on over the holidays. I am thoroughly excited about this job & I know I'm going to wind up loving working for http://www.lifeway.com! Great company, great people to work with & great work to do that I love.

Continue reading "Iced In" »

We're officially Tennesseans now! We got into town Tuesday evening after spending a couple of days on the road (a day and a half, actually). The kids did well, Mercy did well & the cars did well - so all around the trip was a success! We spent the rest of the week in a hotel before closing on the house on Friday & moving in Saturday morning. We're exhausted and are left with a new home full of boxes and much work to do - but glad to be on the other side of the move at this point.

Continue reading "We Made It!" »

It finally happened - I got "comment spammed." Someone launched a spamming attack on this website on Saturday night. By the time I caught it this morning he had posted close to 200 spam messages using comments on our posts here. I closed commenting temporarily, purged all of our posts of his comments/messages, and then re-enabled comments - requiring them to be registered users this time.

Please continue to post comments on our site. The first time you post a comment from today on you'll need to register for a free TypeKey account (click to read more about this service). From then on you can simply login to your account & comment away! I'm sorry that it had to come to this, but I'd rather increase the security a little rather than turn comments off completely.

We're set to close on our house this coming Friday afternoon. We will meet the movers there bright & early Saturday morning & that will be the first night that we stay there. In the mean time, it will be hotel living for us with no permanent phone number to get ahold of us at (we're planning on trying to get a cell phone on Wednesday perhaps). Anyway, here is our new address beginning on December 18th. I'll post our telephone info once we get there. Our email is the same.

Chris & Andrea Ediger (& Family)
313 Hickory Drive
Old Hickory, TN 37138

Well, it's nearly 11:00pm on Saturday night. The movers are set to be here in the morning around 8:00-9:00am to begin packing up our house. We spent the half of the day getting last minute things done in preparation for the move. It's been productive, but we are very tired.

Gary was here last night & this morning and we had Christmas with him. The kids had a great time opening presents & playing with their new toys. We enjoyed our time with Gary, as well.

Andrea's mom, Nancy, arrived after lunch and is spending the night tonight with us. Did Christmas with her this afternoon and then she helped Andrea get a mental picture of where things might go in the new house.

All in all, it was a good, but tiring, day. Not sure how tomorrow is going to work trying to handle all of the moving details and keep the kids entertained at the same time. Actually, it will probably be easier tomorrow than Monday as they will still have some things out to play with tomorrow. By Monday everything will be packed away.

The plan is to leave on Monday afternoon/evening sometime & try and make up part of the distance so our Tuesday travels will be a little more bearable.

This is the last post on our blog from Oklahoma as I'll be packing up the computer either tonight or in the morning. We won't be back online until sometime Sunday of next week. Our email address is staying the same, so you can continue to email us, if you would like. No guarantee we will get the messages quickly, though, as we won't be able to check email until we have access to a computer somewhere.

It's been a good nearly eight months here. We've enjoyed living in Oklahoma and enjoyed living the life that God has lead us into here. And although the distance makes this move especially difficult (we've shed more than a few tears over the past several weeks), we're equally excited about what lies ahead. God has been so good to us - so good. Sometimes I wonder why He chooses to bless us the way He does. But we will remain thankful & depend on Him for all we are & all we do. See you on the other side (of the move, that is)!

Well, it's official - I have no job until next Thursday. Today was my last day at Multiply. It was a good day. Wasn't sure how much I would have to do, but it wound up being a pretty full day all around. It still hasn't sunk in that we're moving. I guess it will hit me when the movers start packing up our things!

Everything is still looking great on the new house. I'll try and get on here tomorrow sometime & post our new address, phone number, etc. Our email address will stay the same - although we won't have a computer to check it from this Sunday through the following Sunday.

We just got home from spending the day in Tulsa with Lisa and Kenneth and the boys, and Dad and Cheryl. This was the 'early-Christmas' celebration for the Ediger family since we will be gone at Christmas this year. It already feels weird to think that I'm going to have 4 days off at Christmas and we will be spending it alone as a family. We always spend Christmas morning at our house, but Andrea's dad is usually there as well. And then we go to my dad's house for the afternoon for our Christmas together. Just sad at the thought of losing all this.

We had a great time today. Enjoyed watching the kids play together. I really hope that the boys (& Emerie) will be able to keep good relationships with their cousins as the years go by. I know it will be harder with the added distance. They love each other so much! After eating lunch together, opening presents & hanging out for a little while, we all went to Lisa & Kenneth's church for their Kid's Choir Christmas program. It was fun watching our nephews on stage & equally fun watching our boys get excited about seeing their cousins perform!

Things came to a 'T' emotionally when we had to leave. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone knowing that it would be quite awhile before we got to see them again. We left without any public tears being shed, but it was a pretty depressing ride home & I'm finding myself overwhelmed with the emotions at the moment. I'm glad that we'll get to see Dad & Cheryl & Gary again next month for the kid's birthdays (they'll be coming to Nashville to visit & celebrate with us). We talked about meeting up with them & Lisa's family in Tennessee this summer some time for vacation. That would be nice.

We'll see what happens next year. One of the reasons we wanted to get to LifeWay before Christmas rather than after Christmas was so that we would be eligible for added vacation days come our one year anniversary. This would mean that we would have time available to make a trip back this way for Christmas next year. We'll see how things go, but it's nice knowing that possibility is coming in the future.

I think that's about it. Just had to get my thoughts out a little here. Please be in prayer for our family as we hit our final week in Oklahoma. Today was the first day that it really began to sink in, I think. This is partly due to the fact that we normally would have been packing for a few weeks by now, but aren't this time as the movers will be doing the bulk of the packing for us. That's a prayer request all on its own - having to trust total strangers with the care of our possessions. There is so much in this whole process that we are SO not in control of! It has really made us rely on Him as He has always been faithful!

We spent most of the day working hard outside & in the garage, preparing for our move next weekend. I'm about to fall over sitting here typing this, so this may be an abbreviated post.

Moving plans are looking good. The house was appraised on Friday, and we will likely find out the results on Monday or Tuesday. Pray that there are no major issues discovered in this process that would delay moving into the home or losing the deal altogether.

If plans hold we are looking to have the movers here on Sunday, the 12th to pack up and Monday, the 13th, to load & leave. We should be able to hit the road later that afternoon/evening and travel a little ways. We want to arrive in Nashville on Wednesday late afternoon, if possible. This would give us a night to rest before I report at LifeWay bright & early the next morning. The closing is currently scheduled for Friday afternoon at 3-4 pm, so I will leave early from work to take care of these details. We'd take possession that evening & meet the movers there on Saturday, the 18th, to unload & move in.

I'm sure it will be an exhausting process (if today is any indication it definitely will!). Good news is that I only have to work 4-day work weeks for the first several weeks (I get Friday, the 24th, and Monday, the 27th, off for Christmas & then Monday, Jan. 3rd, off for New Years). This should help me ease into things - that coupled with a slower work schedule probably due to the holidays. I'm sure I'll have plenty on my plate as it is!

Well, I got around to finishing the site update. I figured things would be less pressured after we got to Tennessee and it would be easier to get the last changes made while we are still here. I stayed up well into the morning last night and almost lost the entire site contents (from the past year and half - basically since Emerie was born)! Found a way to recover it, but it was very detailed & time consuming.

Anyhow, everything isn't implemented yet - most noteably the gallery (so what's new!). These will be up by the end of January as it stands now. There may be some buggy display issues. I've tested the site in every major browser on Windows (PC). Didn't check it on Mac, though. Only browser that had real issues was Opera 7, and I really doubt any of you are using this older browser. That being said - please bear with us as we move in (literally in TN & then virtually here at the new design).