Last Week on Elm Avenue, First Week on Balsam Drive

Our last week in our house was full! The kids took time to play out in the big snow piles left by the plow...

...and they spent a lot of time in their new fort under the stairs. Guess I should have emptied out that space a long time ago!

It was a good thing they had this little corner of the house to themselves as I was busy packing up the rest of the house! Here's what things looked like on Wednesday:

Lining up things to take, things to sell and things to save

The cupboards were bare...

This is how things looked on Friday night:

The contents of our closets-we have too many clothes!

Nearly all our possessions stacked up in the living room

It was a very emotional and tiring week. Darin and I were so blessed by the friends that reached out to us and helped us in so many different ways. On Friday, our friends Curt and Juli took our kids overnight. We owe them BIG as Tyson and Jori have never been on a sleepover before and did not really handle their new found freedom very well! On Saturday, 6 guys showed up and in just over an hour they had loaded up the contents of our house AND moved them to our new apartment! It was just crazy fast. Having a big truck (thanks Curt!) really helped speed the process up. We know that there were also many other people praying for the whole process to go smoothly and for strength and peace for our whole family. Our neighbors were also so kind and dropped off food and treats! That just really touched me, so Cindy and Beth, if you ever read this, I just want you to know how thankful I am for the 5+ years we've had to get to know you and your families!

On Saturday afternoon, Darin headed back to the house to load up a few odds and ends (which he would continue to do over the next few days!) and I started unpacking boxes. Juli dropped our kids off by Darin and then he brought them over to check out our home for the next 4 1/2 months. As we were moving things in earlier in the day, Darin and I quickly realized that there was no way the kids could share the room we had picked for them, so they ended up getting the master bedroom. Sweet Jori is actually sleeping in the walk-in closet and is quite pleased to have her own door and her own light switch! We spent a couple hours getting beds put together and rooms arranged, then we headed to Grand Rapids to pick up my mom who was in town for a conference. We had already had dinner with her in GR on Wednesday night, but were looking forward to having her stay with us for a few days. That night we were blessed again by our friends Andy and Whitney and the delicious dinner they dropped off. Seriously, it was amazing and when Whitney gets me the recipe, I WILL be sharing it!

The next few days were kind of crazy. It is much harder getting ready in one bathroom when you are used to having 4. Not that we ever used them all at once, but one bathroom is not always the most convenient! On Monday, Jori stayed home from school. She threw up a few times the night before and although she woke up feeling just fine, I couldn't very well send her. It was not very fun having a sick child in a new environment. We no longer have our own washer and dryer, so I just wadded all her sheets up and ended up taking them back to our house and washed them on Monday. One last load of free laundry! She did help my mom and me pack up all of my breakable things and glassware that we'll be storing in Edgerton. It was nice getting that done. On Tuesday morning, I drove Tyson to school so that we could make one last stop at our house for the kids to say goodbye.

Tyson showing us how he feels in front of his empty closet

Sweet Jori sitting where her bed used to be : (

This video makes me laugh. They went through the whole house and kissed it all good-bye.

Then it was time to take Tyson to school. That afternoon, us three ladies went out to lunch and then had coffee over at Rachel's. It was nice to get out of the house, especially since all we were hearing about on the news was that a huge storm was coming through. Not that the weather people are ever right or anything...
Later in the afternoon, Darin and I met in Holland at the title company to sign all the closing papers on our house. To say I was not in the best of moods would be an understatement. I think that there are some parts of this whole move to Africa that I am still struggling with, so at times I feel like I have had to give up my house against my will (not my will, but HIS be done!) and so it hurts and makes me kind of angry. So I angrily signed the papers and then we drove back to our old house to fill up the van and truck with another load of stuff. It was cold and had started snowing and I was not happy that my dear husband still wasn't finished emptying out our house when the new owner was going to be taking possession of it the next morning! She actually started moving stuff in that night (with our permission) and Darin met her. I kind of wish I had been there, but with my personality, it is probably better that I wasn't. : )

I had picked up 5 movies at the library on Tuesday, so the kids enjoyed a little Sleeping Beauty while the pumpkin goodness baked. Does anyone else think the Disney movies are a little freaky?? Then it was time to play in the snow. It was very cold, so we made sure to bundle them up! The first time they went out, Jori ended up losing a boot in the snow. I think we got over 16 inches, so her poor little self had a hard time getting through the snow. I went out and dug it up. Thankfully I had an extra pair of boots for her because the other one was soaked! After that, I told them to play in the parking lot which had already been plowed once.

Checking out the icicles

Sure wish we had our sledding hill today!

Snow piles from the plow

Jori didn't last very long in the snow, but Tyson ended up meeting a couple kids, so he stayed out for a while. Wednesday night we didn't do a whole lot. Gram helped the kids with baths and gave them lots of cuddles. Then she and Darin worked on getting all of her stuff and a bunch of our stuff into her suitcase. I am not sure how they did it, but they got it all in.

Thursday morning school was canceled again, which worked out rather nicely because Tyson was able to go along to the airport! The roads were still a little slick and there was a lot of snow, but we made it and helped Gram get all her luggage inside. After she checked in, we sat in the play area for a while, then noticed that the line at the security gate was getting really long, so it was time to start saying goodbye. There were lots of hugs and kisses for and from the kids. They were saying stuff like "We'll come see you in Lynden" and "You and Pop will come see us in Hudsonville, right?" and that just made me sad. Those things are most likely not going to be happening between now and June 11. Gram told them she'd be coming to see us all in South Africa and would be bringing all sorts of treasures for them, like mini marshmallows! The line was slowly moving closer to the spot that the kids and I couldn't go past. The kids were running around a bit, and it was time for me to say goodbye to my mom. It sucked. I thought I could make myself just not think about how long this goodbye might be for, but when it came down to it, I couldn't. The heart knows. So we are both crying and now we are at the point where Gram has to keep walking. I just stood there and we kept waving and smiling at each other. Then she was almost around the corner, so I called the kids over and we all waved and hollered our goodbyes one last time. Then when we couldn't see her anymore, we started to make our way out of the airport, me crying, the kids chattering away. Jori finally sees my tears and offers me her friend, Beary. She said "Gram gave him lots of hugs and kisses before she left, so you can have one". Sweet girl. When I talked to my mom later, she said she couldn't get her tears to stop either. It is just so hard to really think about what our leaving means, as far as our personal relationships go. We are used to seeing one or both of my parents a few times each year, so this is going to be a huge change for us all!

We left the airport, came back to our apartment and had lunch. The kids spent the rest of the afternoon either watching Pete's Dragon (mostly Jori) or playing outside (mostly Tyson). They also spent a lot of time on the computer. It has been a hard adjustment getting used to being in such a confined space, and two snow days in a row did not help things. Tyson and Jori are used to their own rooms, and while Jori does have a door to her closet hideaway, it just isn't the same. There is also no basement to run around in and our living area is filled with furniture.

Now it is Saturday night. We have been in our new home for a week. We have enjoyed a quiet weekend-pizza last night, running errands and spending time at the McDonald's play area this afternoon, potato soup and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tonight, followed by almost 45 minutes of the kids playing together! I am still tired from moving and sleeping in a new place and feeling stressed that our new neighbors must think that we have elephants living with us, but I am also starting to feel more hopeful about the future.

Catching up!

I know, it has been a while since I wrote. Packing up a house, moving to a much smaller place, spending time-then saying goodbye to my mom, dealing with lots of mixed emotions-those are just some of the things I've been keeping busy with. I also have just not really wanted to write. However, I know that the best thing to do is to JUST DO IT and then it will become much easier to get in the habit again. True of  a lot of things in life!

So first, I need to go back to early January, soon after we got back from Lynden. We finally had some snow in Michigan and the kids were excited to get out and play!

Tyson building a ramp for the sleds

Can you tell our girl is not happy?!

Here are a couple videos of the kids sledding. Darin is pointing out that the "ramp" is next to the shovel.

We had (and are still having) a lot of fun with our new Wii Fit. Darin and I are amazed at how much quickly the kids pick up on the different games. Tyson is such a good reader that he can figure out the instructions on his own, which is quite handy! He is also one of the itchiest/twitchiest kids we know as you'll see in the video of him below. He's always scratching at something. Jori loves giving Tyson helpful hints on how to play all the games. I am sure you will hear some of them below.

Let's see how many more videos I can upload on this post! On the 25th, we had Jenna and JJ over to play and sled. We wanted the kids to have one last chance to all play together in our house. It was a little crazy, as I had already started packing and Darin was having a horrid week at work and didn't get home as early as I hoped he would, but the kids had fun and I am thankful they'll have those memories together. I just wish I would have taken more pictures and videos-especially after Jon, Rachel and Reid came and Jon tried out the Wii Hula Hoop. Oh my. I know people who'd pay to see that!

Jori and Jenna sledding

JJ hanging out on the swings

This video makes me laugh. Jori and Jenna usually get along perfectly, but today they were a little out of sorts with each other. Jori made sure to keep bringing up the snowball that Jenna threw in her face the rest of the night : )

And here poor Jori takes a tumble while JJ just keeps swinging away.

We had such a fun night together with the Huisman's. I wish I had some pictures of our pizza party and Wii playing, but I don't. I guess that just means we'll have to do it again!

Falling into place

Well, after my last post, I was just having a hard time getting back on here to write. I guess I have been stuck in a rut, having an extra long pity party, freaking out, or some combo of these things, but I am back, for now!

A lot of stuff has happened for us over the past week. Yep, it was only a week ago that EVERYTHING was up in the air and I was pretty much going out of my mind. Now, just 7 days later, things have all fallen into place. Praise God. I know it had to be Him, because I was certainly not doing anything productive or helpful during that time.

First, we will be closing on our house next Friday, the 28th and moving to our new apartment on the 29th. (If anyone wants our new address, leave your email address in the comments section and I will get it to you. ) So that is huge. I am feeling ok about moving. Honestly, I am not thrilled about moving to an apartment because we have been so spoiled having our own house, with our own yard, where we don't need to worry if the kids are stomping too loudly on the floors, a garage and shed for bikes and cars and so much more. Now we will have a three bedroom apartment, second floor, no garage, no yard. After storing our bikes for the winter (thanks Jon and Rachel!) we will be keeping them in our spare bedroom, assuming it is still a spare room and one of the kids isn't sleeping in it. Oh yes, we are going to try having them sleep together so that we can have one room to store all of our "moving to Africa" stuff. It is all going to be fine. Different, but good. The apartment complex is really nice and we will still be living right by all the stuff we are familiar with, so it is all going to be ok.

The other big news is that we picked a time to head overseas AND made flight reservations, which means this is really happening! On Saturday June 11 we will be leaving Grand Rapids around 4:30, heading to Chicago where we'll sit til around 8. Then we'll fly through the night to London, land around 9, have a TEN HOUR layover (hello Big Ben!) get back on another plane that night and arrive in South Africa a little after 6 on Monday morning. Crazy, I know, but I am also trying to tell myself it is going to be really fun and that we will all sleep for at least 3/4 of each flight. Maybe you can all start praying for that right now!

So, all is well. Right now I am just trying to sort out stuff to get rid of, stuff we need for the next 4 1/2 months and stuff we need to take along with us when we move. It is overwhelming and stressful, but compared to a lot of other things that people are dealing with, it's not bad at all. I can do ALL things through HIM who gives me strength!

Tonight I am sad. I feel overwhelmed by all the choices we need to make in the next few weeks. For those who may not know, last week we sold our house. Yay! I know, it's only a tiny yay, but that's more than I was feeling this weekend. I feel like I should be so happy right now that our house has sold and our plans to head overseas can start moving forward. Instead I just feel sad and confused and like we were totally crazy when we decided this was a good idea, this of course referring to our plan to move our family to South Africa, start up a business that we have no experience in, and then support ourselves so we can get involved in some type of missions or community development. Who does that? Oh, yeah...we do that.

Right now everything is up in the air. We don't have a definite date that we are moving out of our house. We should know for sure next week. Once we know that, we can make a plan for some temporary housing, we just don't know how temporary our housing will be. We've talked about moving in April and we've talked about moving in June. We don't know where we'll be living once we sell this house and we don't know where we'll be living once we move to South Africa. It seems like so many things are dependent on other things and there are some decisions we can't make until we get information from other people, so everything just kind of stands still. In the mean time, we may have 3 weeks here or we may have a little more. In that time, we have a house that needs to be packed up, items that need to be sorted through, kids to explain things to, and normal life to live.

Tyson and Jori seem to be doing ok, but I honestly don't know what is going on in their little heads. Jori is fixated on taking one of her baby dolls along. It is an ugly baby, one that I took away several months ago and she never missed. However, I didn't actually throw it away, so it was discovered a couple days ago and now she is totally stuck on having this doll. I don't think she actually wants the doll, but I think it is just something for her to hold on to. So for now I'll give her the doll and then we'll figure it out in 2 months, or 4 months or however many months from now it happens to be when we finally move to South Africa.Because we ARE moving to South Africa. I think I need to say that more for myself than for anyone who might be reading this.

The reality is that at some point in the next 6 months (why not give myself some extra time!) we will be moving to a new country. A place where we (thankfully) have some connections and are somewhat familiar with, but a place that will be very different as a long term home than it was as a short term holiday. We will be far away from family and friends. There will be no 12 hour drives to Edgerton, no 4 hour flights to Washington. We will be thousands of miles away from the people that we hang out with on a weekly basis. We won't be able to stop in at Auntie Rachel's house for a few minutes, which often turns into a half hour or more. We won't have our church, our small group, my women's Bible study-all the things that have helped us with our spiritual footing will be gone. We will be in a totally different time zone. Making phone calls is not going to be quite so quick and easy anymore. We won't have our trusted babysitter Elisabeth right down the road, which means we probably won't be having many date nights.

Right now I am just kind of at a place where all I am seeing is the things we are giving up. The things that we will be losing. I know, deep down I really do know, that once we are on the other side, things will look brighter. I know that our family had such a great experience over the 10 weeks we lived in South Africa. I know that Darin and I grew closer to one another and closer to God as well. It is just really hard for me to push through all the chaos and confusion that I feel surrounded by right now. It is hard to think of the good stuff that's coming when I have so many goodbyes to say and tears to cry on this side of the ocean.

Our Despicable Night

On Saturday, we had a fun family night planned. It started with some "despicable" bacon pizza from Marcos. Yum! Check out our crazy girl wearing shorts and a tank top in the picture below! Seriously, it is snowing and so cold here, I just don't get it.

Then it was time to watch the movie "Despicable Me". I had wanted to see this movie since I first saw the previews. It just looked so funny. The kids loved it and Darin and I were also laughing throughout. Thanks Jenna and JJ for letting us borrow your Christmas present!

After the movie, we had a delicious dessert of "despicable" brownies and ice cream. When I went to dish out dessert for the kids, I saw that someone had already sneaked a few bites. It wasn't me, so that only leaves one dieting dad to blame : )

We had such a fun Saturday night. I love having movie nights with the kids, and pizza and brownies just made the night extra special.

Christmas in Lynden-Part 4

Now it is Tuesday and Kristi and her boys are going to be leaving later in the day and Uncle Josh will be heading out that night. Josh and Darin are still making their way back up from Seattle with a load of Josh's stuff, so the rest of us head to the beach/ocean. My mom, Kristi and I drop off my dad and the kids so they can take Pebbles for a little walk. After making sure they were all bundled up, I left my camera with my dad and the three ladies took a little drive and waited for the kids and Papa to catch up.

Papa, Gage (10), Tyson, Jori Gram and Sawyer (9)

The kiddos

Pointing at the bald eagle

Showing off a rock

Buddies

Another shot of Tyson peeking around Pebbles

The Eagle has landed

After we met up, Darin and Josh called to tell us they were back in Lynden, so we drove off to meet them at Bob's Burgers. We were all HUNGRY so the food tasted extra good.

Kristi and her boys left for home, so we had to say more good byes. Ugh! So not my favorite thing to do. Then we headed back to my parents house and hung out with Uncle Josh and Pebbles.

Loving on Uncle Josh

Snuggling with Papa

Josh left Tuesday night to finish cleaning up his house and moving his stuff to his temporary residence. It was a good thing he left when he did because we woke up to a light dusting of snow on Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon, Jori and I headed over to my friend Kelly's house so she and Addie could play together. It was nice to visit with a friend and I know Jori loved having a little girl to hang out with! We hung out that night and spent more time together on Thursday. It is pretty pathetic that it is only Sunday and I already can't remember what we did! I know we had an awesome steak dinner on Thursday. Sorry sissies, but there were only 4 steaks, so mom and dad saved them for me : )

Then it was Friday. We had to be up and ready to head to the airport by 8. Darin had left his backpack at Josh's house and our van keys were in the backpack, so we had to make a little side trip first. I made sure to take some pictures that morning, but I could tell that I was already starting to dread saying good bye again.

Gram and her grands

We love you Papa and Gram!!!

I wish I could say that the ride to the airport was uneventful, but it was not. Tyson was complaining about not feeling well and a little over half way through our trip he threw up oatmeal and blueberries. Poor kid. Then we stopped in at Uncle Josh's, changed Tyson's clothes, got the van keys and back pack, then headed to the airport. Then it was time to say good bye to my parents. I finally let myself really think about how long this goodbye could be for and when I was hugging my dad I lost it. Bleh. It's not that I don't like crying. I actually am a big fan of letting it all out, but saying good bye to loved ones is almost physically painful, and I am realizing that we have a lot more goodbyes to go. I am so thankful that my mom is coming out here at the end of January, so I didn't have to say the hard goodbye to her yet!

We had a wonderful time in Washington and I was reminded again and again of how blessed I am to be a part of my family and how much I love each person in it!

Christmas in Lynden-Part 3

On Sunday, we all got up and headed to church. Then we spent the rest of the day challenging each other on the Wii, playing cards and just hanging out. Jori loved spending time with Kelsey, the only other girl cousin on my side of the family. On Sunday, Gram and the Aunties let the girls use their makeup to get dolled up. I would have let them use mine if I had more than powder and chapstick to offer.

All dolled up

When they came down after almost an hour of getting ready, you could tell that Jori had been busy. I think Kelsey might have been hoping Jori would be her model so she could pretty her up, but Jori wanted to do a lot of her own make-up. If you click on the picture above, you can a larger image. I think she actually did a pretty good job, but her face and neck were two totally different tones and the purple (and pink!) eye shadow and dark lipstick were a bit much for a Sunday afternoon.

Did I mention how much we all love Pebbles the dog? Well we do. Even I love her, and I usually push people's pets off the couch if they try to sit by me, or kick at them if they get to close to wear I am sitting! I just love this dog. 

Hoping to find Pebbles twin in South Africa

Me and my baby

Then Monday rolled around. Laurie was going to be leaving later that day, and Darin and Josh were going to be heading to Seattle to pack up some of Josh's apartment, so they were going to be heading South as well. We (the ladies) decided to go to the mall and have Darin and Josh bring Laurie's loaded up van with her 4 kids to the mall so she could leave from there. That meant the kids had to say good-bye to their Auntie before we left for the mall.

Laurie DiAnn and Jori DiAnn

Three lovely ladies

Papa and Darin were going to take the kids to the park while we were gone, and the kids were so eager to go that they loaded themselves up and sat in the van for about 30 minutes while we finished packing Laurie's van.

Even Pebbles is buckled in

Since Laurie wouldn't be coming back with us, it was time to take a few more pictures. I knew it was going to be time to say good-bye soon and that really stunk.

Me and my "big" sisters

The 4 of us

We had a great time at the mall, and I managed to keep it together saying good bye to the Molan clan in the Kohl's parking lot. I know if I had let myself really think about how long it might be til I see them again I would have been crying, so it was just easier to stay in denial.

One more part of our Christmas vacation to go!