Moving Out

Last Saturday, we officially moved out of our duplex where we’d lived for the last 2 years.

We’d been apartment dwellers prior to moving here and we were so happy to finally have some outdoor space that our kids could play in and enjoy. It was a bonus that our neighbor’s daughter moved in with her daughter. Little Mimi was a built in play mate for our kids.

But our time is done here. The clock has struck 12.

On Saturday night, I was standing and looking at the empty rooms. All of our stuff was GONE. I sat there for a minute giving myself a chance to process that, and I realized that I actually wasn’t very sad about the “stuff” being gone. As much as I love putting a house together and all the fun that that involves I was surprised that I wasn’t sad at all.

What did make me sad, is that we are closing out a chapter of our lives. Although our house held our “stuff” it also holds so many great memories.

Being Pregnant with Number 3!!

 

Our Asher at home!

 

Starting Kindergarten.

 

Fall Fun.
Snowed in last winter.
Birthday celebrating with cousins!

Our family will move and transition two more times before we inhabit a space that is “ours” again.  Ian and I have moved a total of 9 times since we’ve been married. Eventually each place feels like ours, but there is no permanence to any of them. For some people, I would suspect that moving around so frequently is annoying and a bit bothersome. Honestly, I enjoy the change and the challenge that creating a new space brings. I feel like this is a blessing, another gift from Him that has been preparing me all along for this specific time in my life. I have this built in reminder that I’m an alien here.   “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” Phillipians 3:20.

I will miss our yard, and our sweet neighbor Mimi.  I will miss all the fun times we shared in this place. I will miss all of my thrift store and craig’s list finds and my awesome pottery barn chair.

But I’m thankful in this moment to be reminded that stuff goes away but most importantly our family remains.

There are 3 little people looking to us to provide a home for them. Although we have no idea what the physical location will look like, we are trying as hard as we can to love them well and to teach them that home is where we are and the ultimate home is a place far beyond our imagination.

We got to see the Mouse!

A few months ago when we heard that we had a training down in Orlando, we were pumped! We hoped that we’d be able to have some time to spend a day at Disney. And….

We did!!!! The day that we got to be there was on their 40th anniversary. It was truly such a magical day.

Here are the kids in the parking lot right after we told them that we were going. Honestly I think Ellison was hip to us the whole time but she played the part to make us feel like we pulled off a big surprise ;-).

Here we are outside of space mountain. I had NO idea what I was in for….Let’s just say that was the last time I saw those sunglasses.  Ian got me good and when the ride was over,  Jude immediately announced that he never wanted to do that again. There were parades all day long! We later on found out that is not usual it is because of the anniversary.  Although Asher looks a bit unsure in this picture, he loved waving at all of the characters from a distance. Ellison’s face here shows how much in awe she was. We were at the park from 9 till 9 and we were surprised at how well they did. Asher took naps in the stroller.

 

The kids waited patiently in lines.

 

We made memories that I hope last for years to come. I must now say that the magic is real and Disney did not disappoint. Not one single bit.

Big Take Away

This morning, I am incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to attend this workshop. Sometimes you walk away from a “required training” with a few tidbits that may be helpful somewhere in the distant future. I am walking away with a toolbox of things that I will need to consider when making decisions to educate our kids abroad.

One of the most important things that I heard was that we should ignore our ministry pursuits in our decision to educate her. Meaning; we shouldn’t look at her school as a window to meeting more people and we shouldn’t feel like we have to exercise our “big faith” in sending her into something that she is simply not ready for. Doing that could actually damage her own faith which would be devastating.

We are blessed with 3 good options (2 strong and 1 maybe) option for how we will school her. Some of it depends on when our visa will be obtained and some of it will depend on laws concerning how foreigners educate their kids.

My to do list has certainly grown from this week. In case you’re interested here are some items that we have added to our list.

1. Books- There are books and articles from this seminar that I want to read before we go. One of them is called “How am I Smart.” It is a book on the 7 intellegances and learning how we are hardwired. It has incredibly fascinating information and practical tips to nurturing your child’s “smarts.”

2. Ellison’s German- We have contacted 3 german language tutors to work with Ellison one on one in Atlanta. We will be meeting with them and starting lessons within in the next week.  We had always intended for Ellison to attend a national school because we love the people and culture of Austria and want her to be exposed to that. It’s also a sure way that she’ll learn German. The biggest takeaway from this week was realizing that we need to take a hard look at the negatives of this option by sending her in unprepared in terms of language.

3. Take our time- I was thinking we had to land and immediately put her in school. As things progress, this will more than likely not be the plan. We were encouraged to really look at schools, understand ALL of our options and most importantly pray. Again opts of this depends on our visa situation.

Thanks so much for praying. It was amazing how much more peace I had throughout this week and I know our family was covered by you this week.