Little Ms. M as a gymnast

Marcail started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago! What a cute little girl she is in her little leotard and slender little muscles. She is really loving the activity, and being able to see her Aunt April : ) I am so excited for her; she seems like a natural, with how she already points her toes, and loves to tumble at home. Donovan just stands in the entrance and seems captivated and content to watch. Its pretty cute to watch him watch his sister with such fascination : ) We'll see if his interest peaks enough to warrant his own participation in the future!

Home

I am continually amazed at how natural it feels to be back in Franklin. When we knew we were going to be moving home, I wasn't sure what to expect; honestly, I purposely left it that way since any transition has some level of adjustment. Having a baby is that way. Changing jobs is that way. Moving is most certainly that way.

I know that moving back to where you already know people is MUCH different than moving to where you know no-one, so I feel that we have a good bit of advantage in our transition curve. At times it seems strange to be back in such a small town, where you will undoubtably always run into someone you know (or used to know) in the grocery store. And then again, that is the quaintness of it that also gives it its charm.

But most of the time, its when we are driving through the curvy, country roads into the green mountains here, in the quietness of the pastures, creeks, and thick leafy forests, and breathing in the thick fragrance of soil and humid vegetation... that is when my heart feels rested, and like I have returned to the place I know and love. The peace in my soul assures me that we are in the right place at the right time.

There's no place like home.

The Ol' Stomping Grounds

Here we are at Andrew's parents' house in Seneca... what a great time! True to fashion, we stayed up much later than we should and played Settlers. That's just what we do when we come to Seneca : ) And we are spending the night. Just like I used to do back when Andrew and I were dating; now here we are, with 3 children, and packing for an overnight is MUCH more work than it was when it was just me! Marcail and Donovan had a fantastic time playing with their cousins, Alyssa and Josiah. And they had way too much fun at bedtime tonight - it's 12:30 a.m. and I am not sure they are even asleep yet....

Franklin, North Carolina

We have moved from Colorado Springs, Colorado, all the way to Franklin, North Carolina. I wanted to do this post after I redid the look of my blog, to commemorate our new adventure, but seriously.... when do I have time to redecorate and update everything all in one go??? It'll have to come in stages!

We have been here for about two weeks now, and boy, has it been busy. The whole past month has been ridiculously busy, actually : ) Once we knew we were moving home, time sped by. We had so many details to get on top of and nail down. It seemed like there was no way we would accomplish it all in time. Saying goodbye to everyone was much more bittersweet than I had anticipated, especially since by the time we could tell everyone, there was only about 3-4 wks left... everyone was taken by surprise. And of course we had to get together with everyone one last time before we left, too. So our days were busy, and flying by!

The move itself was insanity. I worked the night the movers came. Everyone said, "You're working, and you're leaving in the morning?!?" But think about it. There was no way I was going to have 3 children underfoot in a house that was being emptied by movers. That would qualify as chaos. I got to go to church one last time, hug all my amazing friends there, say goodbye, and my kids had a fantastic time playing there one last time.

When I came home, the whole house still needed to be cleaned. We started cleaning around 11pm, finished at 2 pm, and got up at 5pm. That's right. 3 hours of sleep with a very full day ahead of us. We thought that we were being generous in allotting 4 hours of "stop-time" in our 12 hr journey. Hmmmmm. It ended up being 7 hrs of stops. We were supposed to pull into Bentonville, Arkansas by 8 pm. It was more like 2 am! Once we figured out that the kids did much better at night, we decided that we would drive through the night the next night (yes, that means skipping sleep). We rested up in Bentonville with our great friends there, and left that night around 9 pm. Around 4 a.m. I insisted we stop for a nap somewhere, and we pulled off at a rest area. I promptly fell asleep. We were on the road about 2 hrs later, and continued driving until we came to Franklin, around 7 p.m. As if that schedule was not harrowing enough, we also had other "adventures" which included: me actually driving the 26ft moving truck (pulling the SUV) because I was so desperate for some air conditioning; driving said truck with the left hand, and pumping breast milk with the right.... and then feeding the baby from the bottle with the right hand; and last, but not least, making a scene in a small town in Tennessee when I came up to a bridge that was too low for me to clear through in the moving truck. Yeah...... Not the best of days!

When we arrived in Franklin, Andrew suggested that we start unpacking the truck and find our bedding stuff and sleep in the house for the first night. Here, I put my foot down. Okay..... I explained to him through my tears of frustration that I had enough toll for a few days and did not want to unpack ANYTHING. I just wanted to sleeeeeeeppppppp. He is such a good husband. We got a hotel room for all 5 of us to crash in, that night.

Friends and family arrived in the morning to help us unpack. It was so exciting to see everyone again!!! I love happy reunions and the joy in them. Its so good for my heart. And it was also exciting to move everything into this gorgeous house. This house truly makes me feel spoiled. If it was just a little better than the one we had in the Springs, I would have felt blessed. But this..... this is over-the-top amazing, and makes me feel like the Lord reached down and gave me a HUGE hug and kiss!!! I'd post some pictures, but have yet to find my camera.

Andrew started his new job, and is really enjoying it. I have pretty much got us all settled in and things in place, besides my camera : ) Sometimes I have an ache in my heart for the life we had in Colorado. I suppose that is normal. We truly did love it there, and had a supportive network of friends, and went to, and worked for, a fantastic church. We loved the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. But mostly I miss the relationships. Not just with friends, but also even with my doctor (she would actually pray with me when I was pregnant with Aero). I guess its just missing the groove I knew and was so familiar with.

But the main pull for us to come back was to be with family again. And that pretty much overrode everything and everyone in Colorado that we knew we would miss like crazy. We have already loved having them in our lives and I love being in theirs. They are some of the best people I know. Seeing my children play with their cousins, and knowing they will have the opportunity to grow up with them, makes my heart wondrously happy. I did not grow up with any extended family and had always wanted that for my children. And here we are!