So I've added another feature to my blog. In the top right corner, it now says "subscribe via email". Under this, there is a box where you can enter your email address, then click on the word "subscribe" below the box. Then, another box should pop up where you enter a word verification. Then you will be prompted to go to your email to check for an email with a subscription verification. You may need to check your junk/spam mail if you don't receive this email in a reasonable amount of time. I tried it out, and I hopped right over to my email account and the verification email was there. Then I just clicked on the link in the email and Voila! I had successfully signed up to receive an email notification when a new post was added to my blog! So try it out, and let me know what you think!
**I am waiting to receive an email that shows my blog has been updated since I wrote this post, but it hasn't come through yet. I am not giving up! I'll see if it comes later today or tomorrow (I don't know if updates are sent out once a day or each time I add a new post) and if I still haven't seen anything by tomorrow, I'll try, try again!
*** Hooray! It worked. This morning I had an email from "Fee Fey Foe Fum" and the whole blog post was right in the email. You can also click on the title of the post, which was in blue and it will take you right to the actual blog, which is great because I don't want people to stop commenting!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Feeling tech savvy!
I had been contemplating switching my blog from blogspot to Wordpress recently. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this was because in Wordpress, if you leave a comment you can subscribe to receive follow up comments by email. I often leave comments on other blogspot blogs and have to go back to check if anyone has responded to my comments. Sometimes I would forget to go back and check.
Anyways, with us getting ready to head to South Africa in a few months I wanted to make our blog a place where I could more easily communicate with family and friends. Tonight I think I actually figured out how to do that and still keep using our current blogspot blog! Go me!! I am usually computer illiterate, so I am pretty pumped.
Now you can click where it says "Subscribe by email" and any comments made after your comment will be emailed to you. If you leave a comment, I can reply directly to your comment, which you'll then receive if you've subscribed by email, and then (if I read everything correctly) you can reply to my reply by email and keep the conversation going!
So if you read this post or any others, please leave a comment so I can see if it works : ) Otherwise I might still be switching my blog!
**I thought I should add that you will need to register with disqus to leave a comment, but I am pretty sure that the first time you try to comment, you'll be able to get an account all set up. If you can't figure it out (mom) let me know!
Anyways, with us getting ready to head to South Africa in a few months I wanted to make our blog a place where I could more easily communicate with family and friends. Tonight I think I actually figured out how to do that and still keep using our current blogspot blog! Go me!! I am usually computer illiterate, so I am pretty pumped.
Now you can click where it says "Subscribe by email" and any comments made after your comment will be emailed to you. If you leave a comment, I can reply directly to your comment, which you'll then receive if you've subscribed by email, and then (if I read everything correctly) you can reply to my reply by email and keep the conversation going!
So if you read this post or any others, please leave a comment so I can see if it works : ) Otherwise I might still be switching my blog!
**I thought I should add that you will need to register with disqus to leave a comment, but I am pretty sure that the first time you try to comment, you'll be able to get an account all set up. If you can't figure it out (mom) let me know!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Fighting Fear...again.
So last night I am laying in bed and my jaw starts hurting. Then my head starts hurting. Why all this pain? I just want to sleep! Then I realize I am starting to clench my jaw and grind my teeth and upon stopping the swirling in my mind, I realize that I am slowly starting to drown in thoughts about the kids school situation when we get to South Africa. Now folks, I have 4 months until we move, and I've already decided to give the kids a summer break til September AND we've decided to "home school" (aka-keep them from falling behind) until the new school year starts in January 2012, so WHY AM I ALREADY LOSING SLEEP OVER THIS???
It's fear. Plain and simple. Fear that I will not be able to teach my kids anything. Fear that they will not respect me as a "teacher", fear that we will all simply hate homeschooling and cry every day about it (ok, that might just be something I will end up doing). Then I have all these fears about the differences in the South African school system compared to the schools my kids are currently at. I know there will be differences, but I've already totally built them up in my head to be insurmountable and horrible and that I'll be damaging Tyson and Jori's childhoods beyond repair by taking them to an unknown country them dumping them into a school system that I have never experienced.
There are so many unknowns and so many different things that could happen between now and January 2012. We could all love homeschooling and decide to do it permanently. Darin could decide to home school and totally remove the burden from me : ) There are quite a few different schools in the area we'll be moving to and we could stop to visit one and fall in love with it. At this point, we don't know if our kids will go to the public school or one of the many private schools in the area.
This morning as I was driving the kids to school I realized that all these fears I started having last night were stealing my joy! I went to bed worrying about the kids schooling and woke up with fears that I am ruining their childhood by taking them from all that is familiar. One fear leads to another, and another and another and instead of feeling myself move in the direction of peace, my heart grows anxious. I have just recently started feeling more positive about our upcoming move, and Satan, the joy stealer, seems to be finding ways to take these happy feelings and crush them to the ground.
Well NO MORE. He's not stealing my joy. I threw my mouth guard away when we moved to this apartment, and I am NOT going to shell out the money for another one, so the teeth grinding has got to stop! No more fear induced jaw clenching for me. "The JOY of the LORD is my strength!" (Neh 8:10)
It's fear. Plain and simple. Fear that I will not be able to teach my kids anything. Fear that they will not respect me as a "teacher", fear that we will all simply hate homeschooling and cry every day about it (ok, that might just be something I will end up doing). Then I have all these fears about the differences in the South African school system compared to the schools my kids are currently at. I know there will be differences, but I've already totally built them up in my head to be insurmountable and horrible and that I'll be damaging Tyson and Jori's childhoods beyond repair by taking them to an unknown country them dumping them into a school system that I have never experienced.
There are so many unknowns and so many different things that could happen between now and January 2012. We could all love homeschooling and decide to do it permanently. Darin could decide to home school and totally remove the burden from me : ) There are quite a few different schools in the area we'll be moving to and we could stop to visit one and fall in love with it. At this point, we don't know if our kids will go to the public school or one of the many private schools in the area.
This morning as I was driving the kids to school I realized that all these fears I started having last night were stealing my joy! I went to bed worrying about the kids schooling and woke up with fears that I am ruining their childhood by taking them from all that is familiar. One fear leads to another, and another and another and instead of feeling myself move in the direction of peace, my heart grows anxious. I have just recently started feeling more positive about our upcoming move, and Satan, the joy stealer, seems to be finding ways to take these happy feelings and crush them to the ground.
Well NO MORE. He's not stealing my joy. I threw my mouth guard away when we moved to this apartment, and I am NOT going to shell out the money for another one, so the teeth grinding has got to stop! No more fear induced jaw clenching for me. "The JOY of the LORD is my strength!" (Neh 8:10)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Pictures of our new home
As promised, I cleaned up (a bit) and took some pictures so you can all see where we are currently living. It did not take me very long : )
Here is the view when you open our door:
The room at the end of the hall is our bedroom, the kids bathroom is to the left of ours, the bathroom is right before the hall carpet stops, just past the open door, and the rest of the apartment is across from the bathroom.
Speaking of the bathroom, here it is:
Next stop, our room:
Tyson and Jori lucked out with the master bedroom:
Now the living area.
Finally, the spare room, which is right off of the living room. This is where we are storing all of the things we are planning to leave in Edgerton, take with us to South Africa or sell.
It's a mess in there and I really don't feel like tackling it today, or any day for that matter, but I'll have to get started at some point. I am currently missing 2 out of 3 pairs of Tyson's school pants and 2 harmonicas. I am not really that eager to find the harmonicas, but not knowing where they are is driving me nuts.
So that is it, our temporary home until we move into our temporary South African home. Sorry about the blurry pictures and the wonky spacing.
Here is the view when you open our door:
The room at the end of the hall is our bedroom, the kids bathroom is to the left of ours, the bathroom is right before the hall carpet stops, just past the open door, and the rest of the apartment is across from the bathroom.
Speaking of the bathroom, here it is:
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| Nice and big! |
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| Storage closet tucked behind the door |
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| Missing the 6 drawers plus cupboard space in my old bathroom |
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| This is all of it! |
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| We can't have our foot board on our bed or our drawers wouldn't open! |
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| Looking through the doorway |
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| Tyson's "room". The |
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| Play room, and a peek into Jori's "room" |
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| Master bedroom closet or perfect bedroom for a 4 year old? |
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| Jori's special things |
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| This is the view from the hallway |
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| The kitchen |
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| The dining room |
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| The living room |
Finally, the spare room, which is right off of the living room. This is where we are storing all of the things we are planning to leave in Edgerton, take with us to South Africa or sell.
So that is it, our temporary home until we move into our temporary South African home. Sorry about the blurry pictures and the wonky spacing.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Apartment Living
Ok, so my goal for tomorrow is to clean up our new home a bit so I can take some pictures to show you all. For now I will just give a little insight into apartment living. First of all, it has been over 10 years since I last lived in an apartment, and that was technically college housing so it was a little different than an actual apartment. Darin lived in an apartment for a little over a year after college, so it has been just under 10 years for him. Our first home was a 100+ year old two-family home in Zeeland, not an apartment like many newlyweds live in. Our second home was the one we just moved from-a brand new single family home in Hudsonville. All that to say apartment living is something new to our whole family : )
Overall, I really like it here. It is cozy and our whole family can usually see one another. The computer is in the same room as the TV instead of being upstairs like it was in our old house, and I kind of like that too. The kitchen is small, but I am not a huge cook or baker, so it is ok. The bathroom is huge, which makes its single status a lot easier to handle. Our bedroom is dark and pretty quiet. No more bowling alley pins being knocked down or headlights shining through the window like we had at our old house.
There are some things that are a little annoying. It is HOT in here, and for me to say that really means something because I am usually freezing my hind end off during the winter! At our last house, I would wear two pairs of socks (one wool), long sleeves and a large sweatshirt and I would still be cold. Sometimes I'd have all that on and be huddled under a blanket and I'd find myself wishing I could turn the heat up past the 68 degrees it was set at. Now I am usually sock less and wearing short sleeves. Darin and Jori are both sweating hot. Right now, our heat is set at 60, but it is 72 in our apartment. That is WITH the slider and a window open, so believe me when I say it is hot!
We also have very hot water. We have no control over setting the water temperature, and I am sure if it was set any lower there wouldn't be enough hot water for the 8 apartments that share this building, but I am just praying the kids don't accidentally turn on the hot water faucet! They would get burned. I am also not sure that either of them will be taking showers while we live here. I have already experienced the burning hot water raining down on me and it was not fun. Our complex must also use water softener, which means our water is kind of cloudy and if you are in the shower or bath for too long (which is not long enough for me!) your fingers get all pruny. Yesterday Jori was like "look at my fingers" and sure enough, prune city.
We have a washer and dryer in our building for the 8 units to share. I have done 2 loads of laundry. The washer is super fast. I think it took 15 minutes to do a load. The dryer has three settings to choose from. I have tried 2 of the 3 and my clothes were still a little damp after the dryer shut off. Sadly the 3rd setting is for delicates, so I doubt it will solve my problem! Thankfully everything dried up after laying it on the back of the sofa for a couple hours. I may as well get used to hanging my clothes out to dry before we go to SA!
I miss having a yard. Right now our kids are out, and they actually found some other kids to play with, but I don't actually know where they are right now. Our windows only look out 2 sides of the building, so if they are up front or on the South side of the building, I can't see them at all. We are also surrounded by strangers now, but I try not to think about that too much! Hudsonville is full of good people, right?
I am not a fan of "communal" living, but maybe God will use this to make me more hospitable and aware of others. I like to have the freedom to sing as loud as I want and for the kids to have dance parties and run and jump in the house, but now we have people on 2 sides of us and below us, so we need to be considerate of our new neighbors. My one consolation is that I haven't heard any noise from our neighbors unless both of our kids are in bed and the TV is off. The only really loud thing is the buzzer/doorbell. You can hear it ring even if it isn't in your apartment.
If we had our own yard, control of the water heater and water softener and control over our indoor heating, I think I could easily live in a space this size. I thought it would be horrible, but our little family is doing just fine.
Overall, I really like it here. It is cozy and our whole family can usually see one another. The computer is in the same room as the TV instead of being upstairs like it was in our old house, and I kind of like that too. The kitchen is small, but I am not a huge cook or baker, so it is ok. The bathroom is huge, which makes its single status a lot easier to handle. Our bedroom is dark and pretty quiet. No more bowling alley pins being knocked down or headlights shining through the window like we had at our old house.
There are some things that are a little annoying. It is HOT in here, and for me to say that really means something because I am usually freezing my hind end off during the winter! At our last house, I would wear two pairs of socks (one wool), long sleeves and a large sweatshirt and I would still be cold. Sometimes I'd have all that on and be huddled under a blanket and I'd find myself wishing I could turn the heat up past the 68 degrees it was set at. Now I am usually sock less and wearing short sleeves. Darin and Jori are both sweating hot. Right now, our heat is set at 60, but it is 72 in our apartment. That is WITH the slider and a window open, so believe me when I say it is hot!
We also have very hot water. We have no control over setting the water temperature, and I am sure if it was set any lower there wouldn't be enough hot water for the 8 apartments that share this building, but I am just praying the kids don't accidentally turn on the hot water faucet! They would get burned. I am also not sure that either of them will be taking showers while we live here. I have already experienced the burning hot water raining down on me and it was not fun. Our complex must also use water softener, which means our water is kind of cloudy and if you are in the shower or bath for too long (which is not long enough for me!) your fingers get all pruny. Yesterday Jori was like "look at my fingers" and sure enough, prune city.
We have a washer and dryer in our building for the 8 units to share. I have done 2 loads of laundry. The washer is super fast. I think it took 15 minutes to do a load. The dryer has three settings to choose from. I have tried 2 of the 3 and my clothes were still a little damp after the dryer shut off. Sadly the 3rd setting is for delicates, so I doubt it will solve my problem! Thankfully everything dried up after laying it on the back of the sofa for a couple hours. I may as well get used to hanging my clothes out to dry before we go to SA!
I miss having a yard. Right now our kids are out, and they actually found some other kids to play with, but I don't actually know where they are right now. Our windows only look out 2 sides of the building, so if they are up front or on the South side of the building, I can't see them at all. We are also surrounded by strangers now, but I try not to think about that too much! Hudsonville is full of good people, right?
I am not a fan of "communal" living, but maybe God will use this to make me more hospitable and aware of others. I like to have the freedom to sing as loud as I want and for the kids to have dance parties and run and jump in the house, but now we have people on 2 sides of us and below us, so we need to be considerate of our new neighbors. My one consolation is that I haven't heard any noise from our neighbors unless both of our kids are in bed and the TV is off. The only really loud thing is the buzzer/doorbell. You can hear it ring even if it isn't in your apartment.
If we had our own yard, control of the water heater and water softener and control over our indoor heating, I think I could easily live in a space this size. I thought it would be horrible, but our little family is doing just fine.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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:
This is how things looked on Friday night:
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.
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.
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.
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| Lining up things to take, things to sell and things to save |
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| The cupboards were bare... |
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| The contents of our closets-we have too many clothes! |
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| Nearly all our possessions stacked up in the living room |
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.
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| Tyson showing us how he feels in front of his empty closet |
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| Sweet Jori sitting where her bed used to be : ( |
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. : )
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| Checking out the icicles |
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| Sure wish we had our sledding hill today! |
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| Snow piles from the plow |
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!
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!
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!
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!
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| Tyson building a ramp for the sleds |
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| Can you tell our girl is not happy?! |
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!
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| Jori and Jenna sledding |
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| JJ hanging out on the swings |
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!
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