Lasts...

I love looking back over the past blog posts, and I love reading old posts and looking at old pictures with the children as we remember the past. I want to share a little about our last few very crazy weeks, and I'll have to add pictures later. I'm still very unsure about how to load pictures from our new camera onto our new hard drive and then get them on Facebook or Blogger. I feel quite overwhelmed by technology, and Mat will have to patiently try to teach me (for the 3rd time). Our family had a great very special last month in Florida. Classical Conversations ended at the beginning of April. We were sad to say goodbye to so many dear friends there. I really feel so blessed to have been a part of the CC group in Winter Garden. There is a very special group of women and children there unlike I have experienced anywhere else. We loved the content of what we learned there, but more than that, we loved the special friends we made. One family who was especially dear to us there invited us over for a Norwegian pancake breakfast (where their dad is from) and to dye Easter eggs together. All 4 of us bonded with each member of their family, and we were so sad that this new relationship was blossoming as we were moving away. This same family planned a going away play date for us at DeLeon Springs. We enjoyed a day playing in a natural spring, getting a final day out in the sunshine, and just spending time in fellowship. There is a pancake house (hmmm...I'm sensing a theme with this family) there where you make your own pancakes on a grittle right there in the middle of the table. It was a perfect day, and the kids thought it was even better when they found an alligator just a few yards away from where they had been swimming all day. CC ended with an awards ceremony/coverdish event that we were able to attend right before the big move. Andrew learned so much with CC. We have already joined a new CC group in CT. We also met some other pretty awesome friends at the homeschool convention in Florida, and they also had us over to their house for a final play date.

Our Bible study group (we found just a the beginning of this year) has been so special. We made some forever friends in that group...all of which have children they homeschool too. The ladies in the group all got to go out together the last week we were in Florida. We went to Wolfgang Puck Express (my favorite) at Downtown Disney for dinner FREE from kiddos!!! It was bittersweet to say goodbye to these sweet friends...so much so that we decided to get together again the following night with the kids at our favorite park, Chapin Station. We played there while the Dad's all got together for dinner. We had so much fun that we continued our little party past dusk at Chick-fil-a. The kids had a blast, and they got to say their goodbyes until July when we plan to return for a little vacation to Disney while Mat works on a project there. It's nice to know we will be seeing these sweet friends again so soon. We took lots of pics of the 7 kids...can't wait to upload those!

Mat and I have been helping in Awana at our church, Harvest Bible Chapel. It has been such an amazing experience to see those little children absorb God's word and grow in their knowledge of Christ. There are a few that we are especially going to miss. I am so thankful for Facebook so we can keep in touch and even share pictures easily! We made some very special friends through Awana, and I was able to have get togethers with some of them. We especially enjoyed going (being treated to) T-Rex with the Mathemeier family and then we ate an Earthquake at Ghiradelli....wow...what an experience. Andrew ate so much that he made himself sick. It was an experience for sure, and we loved spending time with that sweet family!

I think my most difficult good bye (although all of them were hard on me) was with Andrew's piano teacher and her family. They are so dear to us. They have loved us, helped us in the middle of the night when we had the wreck, were instrumental in our homeschool adventure, and are just plain cool people. We got to enjoy our last Twisty Treat with them.

Much of the last week was spent organizing and purging. We had a yard sale at our house the Saturday before the movers arrived. A friend came over and helped me get ready for the sale, and while we were working, the kids were inside playing dress up. A couple of friends joined us to sell some of their things too, and it made for a very fun sale. There wasn't too much traffic, but we ended up selling many of the bulky items that we didn't want to take North as were were packing up the sale around 2pm. The forecast was 80% chance of rain for the sale, but we all prayed hard. The rain held off until we were all packed up in the garage around 4! Go God!

Elizabeth had a major asthma attack on Tuesday (her first ever). I was so thankful that we had the nebulizer out and ready to help her. One more day, and it would have been packed up! Again...Go God! Wednesday, the movers arrived with the giant 18 wheeler truck. They (3 guys) packed up nearly the entire house in one day. They were great! The whole move was relatively easy. The only drama came from some new neighbors (whom you may have read about on Facebook). They are old and crochety and didn't enjoy a big truck in front of their house. They called the police, and the police asked if the movers would move the truck until they were actively packing the truck. Mat called a buddy at church who offered to just let them put the truck in the church parking lot right up the street. That night, the crochety only 2 week long neighbors went to the neighbors and asked everyone to park in the street to prevent the moving truck from getting to our house. Our sweet neighbors didn't give the crochety old folks the time of day so the new neighbors were the only ones to park on the street. It was quite ridiculous.

Bye bye Florida house! By Thursday, the movers had packed nearly everything in the truck so Friday morning, it only took them a couple hours to finish up. We spend Friday and Saturday wrapping things up, cleaning the house and cleaning our the fridge. We stayed at a hotel Friday and Saturday, and we were able to go to Disney for a couple of hours Saturday night once everything was wrapped up. We even ran into friends at Disney randomly! We didn't get to do much, and really none of us were sad to leave Disney. It's a great place, and we've enjoyed unlimited access these past 2 years. However, we think it will be more exciting and magical to have Disney as a vacation spot again. We already have a trip planned in July!

Sunday morning came all too quickly. We had to put Sydney on a separate flight b/c the airline we flew didn't accept large dogs in the cargo. We spent an hour trying to find WHERE to drop Sydney off, and finally, after being redirected several times and starting to feel the stress, we found it. She had to make a stop on the way there so she got to enjoy 2 flights, and by the time we got to Connecticut, we still had to wait for her to arrive. We were safely in our 2 bedroom hotel suite by 8pm...home sweet hotel.

The weather is war enough that we just need a light jacket or long sleeves. We really like it here so far!