It took at least a dozen trips to get a house full of “extras” into the storage unit to make the house look fake fabulous.
We paid by the month, and as the house was sold and the month was over, we decided to bring everything back home in one fell swoop.
Four teens, one U-Haul, and two hours and we had a house full of belongings back home.
It was kinda fun…. on this end.
Not so much in the basement…
As I uploaded the photos from my phone I realized I had a lot of screen shots from maps.
This first one shows the region of South Carolina we are moving to. Hey – I guess I need to make a moving tag.
This map also shows the “fall line” and supposedly the further north you go from the fall line the less likely it is that an alligator will be your neighbor. I am 100% serious when I say that was a major consideration while job hunting.
‘
This map shows the largish area we would consider a house within, and the smaller orange is our most preferred area. The little black squiggle is wear our friends the Hoyt’s live.
Here is another map with schools and possible job’s for the kids with stars.
This is a map of our current lot. We do not plan to look for a home with acreage in SC.
Katriel received a few Dollar Tree gift cards for her baptism and she was so happy to spend them.
She chose a snorkel and mask, some plastic toys for dolls and stuffies, and a comic book.
As if the soccer coordinators didn’t already rate as some of the coolest people we’ve ever met, they offered up their barn as a prom setting for the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams.
Tab’s friend Lauren also attended.
I’m frustrated I can’t find the rest of the photos.
It was a gorgeous night. The girls changed out of their dresses after a few hours and there was a big bonfire.
We did things out of order… that’s how Saturday birthdays roll.
She had a few gifts in the morning, so she’d have things to do as the day went on. Big kids coming and going, because — Saturday.
As sisters got prepared for the prom, mom got some enchiladas underway.
While sisters did prom-y things, we did dinner, gifts and cake.
Both Nene and Mama got her dresses with jean jackets.
She asked for lemon cake and we were happy to provide it.
It’s been a weird week.
Glad it ended on such a joy-filled note.
Going on a Staycation in our own town is a new kind of silly. But it has been extremely rest-filled.
We went to church today. John bought me this funny little sign at Hobby Lobby yesterday. He and the kids give me 4.5 stars for meals.
After church, Nan made us lunch, and we headed back to the hotel for some downtime.
We were up at 5AM and had kids up shortly after. We hit the house hard, loading garbage cans and hampers and bedroom fans and suitcases and Stewart’s computer and a few boxes into the cars.
And by 7:40AM we were out the door. Stewart headed to Nan’s for some sleep; he’d been up all night after working FedEx til 2:30AM.
Nigel went in to work early. The first showing for the house was 8:30 AM.
There was Dunkin’ and a playground. We took Marie to work at 9AM and then John, Tabitha, Johanna, Katriel and I went to visit Ba and Poppy.
We had lunch at Wendy’s and checked into our hotel by 3:30PM.
Some Property Brothers and rest.
(REST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Then we went to Rebecca and Dana’s house for a picnic. Here we thought it was a big family gathering and we were joining in. Turns out it was essentially our family and their Grandma Helena. Later Rebecca’s sister, BIL, and niece came by.
The boys got to see Jonathan for the first time in almost a year.
It was so deeply life-giving to spend time with our friends. Not only did Johanna and Katriel very much enjoy playing with Levi and Caleb, but the grown ups got to spend time catching up, and we ended the night in prayer.
We are selling our house. As I post this a few weeks later, it still feels sort of surreal.
When we first laid eyes on this house in January 2007, I was just overwhelmed with awe that God saw fit to allow me to live at this wonderful place. Five bedrooms. Five acres. Private drive. Walkout basement. Fairport Electric. And just minutes from our first house. It checked every box and then some. It was absolutely a fixer upper, and we only did some of the fixing up – after all – there is that chronic case of wanderlust to contend with.
It has never looked this clean.
Hard to believe this will be our “old house” soon.
John headed down to South Carolina today to walk through the plant and be presented with the job offer.
To Be Continued.
We were prepping the house for the realtor and the photographer to come tomorrow to take pictures for when we list the house.
We noticed a LOT of dandelions had popped up overnight.
Yes – she has scissors and a basket.
I’ve now done everything.
Dayspring Disciples 