Update {Part 1}

Okay, I have to get this blog updated before any more time passes....I'm already so far behind!  We moved and that is what has been taking all of my time!  It all happened so fast and unexpectedly right after the first of the year.  I knew the year was gonna get off to a crazy start, but had no idea how crazy!  We got Grammy moved back to Boston, she was happy and we all felt great about her decision.  After almost three years of her living with us, it was weird not having her around and we were adjusting to the new normal.  She had a great first month or so and then her health started declining.  She made the decision to have surgery, which for her will be quite risky and she was told her chances are not very good at all.  That is coming up this Thursday and of course we are all praying that she pulls through.  We spent time with her last week up in Boston and had a "life celebration" party for her ~ many of her lifelong friends were there, girls she's known since she was 5 years old, sharing stories and laughing with her.

It really was a celebration and was a wonderful time for all of us!

{Celebrating New Years with Grammy at PF Changs}

       By the second week of January we were ready for some routine

and after a long Winter break had started back to homeschooling.
 {For Classics we started White Fang, we continued our study of the
US states and also started our study on the Animal Kingdom.}

That's also the week that our realtor called to say that a family was interested in buying our house ~ but having been through several almost sold experiences before, we didn't give it much thought.  After the first week of February, he called back to tell us that not only are they still interested and moving forward, they want to close by the beginning of March!  Of course we panicked....we had nothing packed and we had nowhere to go!  So that weekend we headed out on a house hunting journey.  But first we had to celebrate a very special birthday ~ Elliot's 9th!!

We cancelled the little party we had planned and instead had a family breakfast celebration that was wonderful and he claimed was the best birthday ever!:)

 {Making a wish}

  Happy 9th Birthday Elliot!!!

 For years we had dreamed about where we wanted to be and now we could finally make that happen, so we headed out that weekend very excited, in search of our new home!

 Instead we came home defeated and afraid (me), not only did we not find a house,
it became clear that it wasn't the place for us after all, eek!  Long story short, we finally found a new place to call home and absolutely love it!  We're surprised at where we ended up and how we got here ~ it's a story of faith really.

 "Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment
and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next ~
delicious ambiguity."
~ Gilda Radner

 

  The next few weeks were complete chaos.  With hubby gone for work most of February and March, I had to pretty much do everything myself.  Of course he worked like crazy on the weekends and did what he could, but it was many nights of working until 4am and stress like I've never experienced before.

 And here's the kicker, we downsized in a major way, so we had to get rid of soooo much.  And fast.  We sold what we could, donated a ton and at the end just gave whatever anyone would take.  I might have even begged some people. :)

 Somehow we managed to get it all done and were finally ready to leave ~
but it certainly was bittersweet.

The boys were able to get a lot of great time with all of their best buds before leaving.
A few of them came to hang out up until just minutes before we pulled away. :)

We sure do miss our friends!!!

We ended up not closing until the second week of April, but were still out of the house by mid-March.  I don't think we'll ever forget pulling into our new place ~ it was about 1am in the morning, two days later than we'd planned, more exhausted than we could've imagined, having overcome more hurdles than we thought we could stand and certainly more than we could list here ~ getting out of the car, looking up and being in awe of the completely star-filled sky ~ we all immediately noticed it, you just couldn't miss it and it somehow felt like a reward for all that we had just been through.  It was one of those amazing moments where you just had to be there.  We all went right to sleep, the four of us (and the dogs:) collapsed onto the mattresses in the middle of the floor of our new home, having no idea what lie ahead, but excited for the new start!  Although we're completely surrounded by boxes and some days it feels like we're drowning in them, we are happy and doing well, getting settled into our new home.  

I will finish Part 2 tomorrow, which is much shorter and mostly pictures ~
then I should be up to date, yippee!!