Moved in

We have been in our rental for 18 days. It still feels weird being here and I'm not sure it will ever feel "normal." I guess that's okay because it's temporary. The actual day we moved was very, very hard on me. I worked so hard on that house, making it spotless, and ready for the new family. We painted, cleaned windows, got the carpets cleaned, scrubbed the place down, and it never looked better. Since we flip-flopped houses with the family buying ours, it was a crazy day of trying to move at the exact same time. Surprisingly, it went pretty smoothly but I ended up staying behind and vacuuming as our movers emptied out the bedrooms. My goal was to NOT have to see or talk to the family moving in. I knew I would break down and weep if I saw them moving into "my" home. To make matters worse, I had been an emotional basket case all morning. Well, sure enough, as my luck would have it, I ended up face to face with the family. She was super excited! She was barking out orders to her movers on exactly where she wanted things. She came over to me, smiling and full of energy. She gave me a big hug and told me how she was super excited!! I hugged her back and that's when the tears came flowing out. The more I tried holding it in, the worse it got. She told me they would take care of our beautiful home and that it was going to be okay. I felt like such a tool. I dried my eyes, said a silent prayer over our home, and left one last time. Hardest thing ever.

 

We are slowly getting settled over here. I hate to be rude, but this house was filthy. They had a cat who apparently loved Lily's room and decided to pee all over it. I cannot for the life of me get the stench out and from what I have researched--I never will. I can hardly go in there without gagging. They didn't really clean anything so I have been walking around with gloves and a bucket of bleach scrubbing the place. I won't go into gory details but I had to clean the master bathroom and lets just say---I don't think I will ever be the same.

 

BUT God is good and we have been blessed by unexpected things while living here for a few weeks. The first night we were here, our sweet next door neighbors came over with a delicious dinner. My emotional, basket case self cried when they came to the door with arms full of food for us.

 

Another big blessing has been all the other neighbors on this street. We have had visits, desserts, and warm welcomes from all the neighbors. They have been so kind to us. And another big blessing has been the kids. I have never seen so many kids. I guess it's just so weird because at our other home, the girls had no one to play with. The neighbors were all older and some had kids but they were in college. So, it's crazy to see that every time we go outside, there is someone to play with. Our doorbell rings 50 times a day asking for London and Lily. London knows all of them because they all go to school with her. The weekends are the busiest. I can hardly keep up with my girls now. Our front door has turned into a revolving door. The girls are loving it and I think moving from this house to OK will be the hardest on them!

The second weekend we were here, our street had a block party. They have these frequently and most of the time they have the police come and rope off the road. They had music, tables of food, and homemade root beer. The parents sat in their chairs in the middle of the street while all the kids played around us. They played football, rode bikes, played with chalk, and had the best time.

It's a little hard to tell, but there were lots of us out there. It was nice and we enjoyed ourselves.

 

Other things that have been going on....

 

 Lily had her last soccer game! She scored again and made us so proud of her first season!

I hit some golf balls with J for the first time ever. It was actually pretty fun.

Taking a trip to the library! (Such posers they are!)

Halloween was crazy this year. I feel like we didn't really get to have to time to do anything fun but we did have time to carve!

Lily's face says it all.

She is so patient and did a really good job!

 

We went trick-or-treating with about 20 kids from our street. They ran from house to house. I have never been more exhausted from trick-or-treating. Spider fairy and Bat girl both said it was the best Halloween ever!

 

 

We are going to OK this weekend to hopefully make a decision on our future home. We are considering building but want to check out all our options. In this time of change and uncertainty, I am making myself take time out to truly be thankful for what I have. I have eaten a big piece of humble pie. It doesn't taste very good but it's teaching me more than I could have ever imagined. There are blessings all around me--I just have to stop. And open my eyes.