THE BUSIEST WEEK OF MY LIFE–day three…

July 14, 2021 | Stacy

The day started with me realizing my Bible was not on that little brown table there in the first picture where it normally greets me in the morning.

Thankfully, there were only a few boxes in that room and one had the word, “Bible’” scrawled on it.

I opened that box carefully, as there was no chance I was going to go without my Bible for who knows how long…

In the box I found the following:
A wodge of paper, that when unwrapped revealed a small photo album from the China cabinet.
A second wodge of paper with a second photo album.
A wodge of paper with my Bible, a reading text of Katriel’s, a small journal, and a plastic toy utensil.
Two large pillows from the couch.
A box of mittens and a box of scarves from the family room closet.

Oh… unpacking is going to be a riot!!

My dear friend Christine picked up Katriel. I ran errands and packed up our clothes and such.

Johanna, Tab, Marie and I went to the mall and then grabbed Taco Bell…. a first for sure.

Johanna, Tabitha and Marie all went to the last night of youth group they will be here for. Libby’s mom took this lovely photo.

Here are a few my friend’s DL and TIffany took of Johanna on the slide.

One of the things I am most sad about in leaving is that Johanna will not be part of the PCC Impact youth group.

Marie’s birthday…. in the midst of a VERY BUSY WEEK.

July 13, 2021 | Stacy

Nothing says, “Happy birthday,” like a giant truck backing into the driveway.

We met Mike, Anthony, and . These three men would spent the next 3-4 days with us packing up all of our belongings.

It got a little weird, to be honest.
Marie asked for a yummy treat of pineapple cherry upside down cake and lemon bars for her birthday.

As the men started working in the house we quickly realized that the kitchen would not be a reasonable place for me to be doing much work. We also realized we had NO IDEA just what we were in for.

Thankfully, we have the kind of friends who love Jesus. I was supposed to take Johanna to Alli’s, but Alli’s mom graciously offered to come for Johanna. She also offered to make the lemon bars.

Christine picked up Katriel.

Before dinner time, our house looked like this:

Once they left, we had birthday dinner and a quiet celebration.

We gave Marie some gift monies for Box Lunch to pick up some Loki gear.

And they were the best tasting lemon squares I have ever had.

Happy birthday, Marie.

THE BUSIEST WEEK OF THE DECADE–Day one

July 12, 2021 | Stacy

The calendar says our days are growing short here in NY. With lots of packing and planning in the days to come, what is a mom to do?
Set up play dates.
Lots of them.
At 10AM I met my dear friend Nadine at Perinton Park so Katriel and her buddy Asher could have some fun play time together.

It got even more fun when Nadine told them she could take them to the museum for the day.

Drop off got a little tense when they realized it could be a LONG time til they saw one another again. We tried to keep the conversation chipper.

It’s going to be a hard week.

We love Asher to the moon and back.

our not last day at PCC

July 11, 2021 | Stacy

John flew home yesterday. The packers come Tuesday and life shifts a lot in the weeks to come.

Tonight church was scheduled for an outdoor service, but rain made us move indoors. An ice cream truck had been scheduled, and wise leaders didn’t cancel said truck.

It made for a long period of fellowship after the service, and time for photos.

D.L. is the youth pastor at PCC and has been a friend to the four oldest Butlers (and me as well). Hanny had just attended her first youth group last week.

I get teary each time I see this photo, even weeks later. My kids are who they are in part because of DL’s teaching and mentoring.

Only one of these kids was born when we first attended 20 years ago in the summer of 2001.

This part isn’t easy.

Noelle came to visit for the weekend. We love her. I hate to think how much time will pass before we see her again.

I wish to the core of my being we didn’t feel the need to flee NY as strongly as we do.

Trusting God. Easy to say… now we are doing it with our feet, too.

OUTINGS–movie theater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 10, 2021 | Stacy

I went to a movie theater! A real, live, in person event.

It was remarkable.

And the movie was great, too.

LET US NEVER TAKE NORMAL FOR GRANTED!

OUTINGS–breakfast with Tiffany

July 9, 2021 | Stacy

(I couldn’t resist…)

Though I’ve known Tiffany since spring 2008 (I think that is when we officially met), it’s been the last 4-5 years that I’ve gotten to know her better. And I love her.

I must confess a huge part of me would like to pretend I wasn’t moving and straight out avoid these goodbye gatherings. But how would that be better, really? Instead, I picked her up and we went to BXCR Donuts for some amazing donuts and coffee. She’s brilliant, by the way. She spoke wisdom as we picked a few to try and cut them into quarters. Genius.

I think we both decided the Raspberry Crunch was the best.

But friends are much better.

Fourth of July at Busch Gardens

July 5, 2021 | Stacy

We enjoyed an amazing breakfast (grits) before we headed to the park.

we arrived as it was opening with no real touring plan

Sometimes we were a large group, sometimes we were smaller groups.
I found coffee. We bought all day dining (a real treat – every 90 minutes we could queue for an entree, drink and either a side or dessert).

Trying lots of food was almost as much fun as trying lots of rides.

It was very hot and a very good day.

It almost felt like 2019 again.

Photos are out of order as kids have shared some from their devices and I am going for speed here, not accuracy.

It was a wonderful weekend, though the drive home on 7/5 was again miserable.

At least we had another massive breakfast at the same place.
If it ain’t broke…

Busch Gardens or Bust

July 4, 2021 | Stacy

John left for SC June 20 for his first day of work June 21. The kids and I have been working towards the movers coming (soon?).

With the holiday weekend between John’s start date and the movers coming, we knew we’d need to be creative to make the holiday feel holiday-ish. Our pool is closed bc there was no way I was going to deal with that in John’s absence. It would be extremely hard on John to come all the way back to NY.

Our decision was to meet John in Williamsburg, VA for a very quick long weekend. Once we found the location, we decided to do a day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The kids have never been there and John and I were last there on our honeymoon in 1997.

The tickets were $79 per person for one day or $86 per person for two day. It only took a minute to decide it was well worth the $7 per person to add the partial day we were going to be there.

The kids and I were up long before the sun and on the road before 6AM. I’d like to say we made great time, but that would be a lie. There were way too many bathroom stops, a turn around or two (looking for bathrooms) and the DC traffic.

But we did get to our (dumpy) hotel by 4PM and dropped off our stuff and hurried to the park.

We rode the tram in and it actually felt like VACATION. A glorious feeling after being locked down so long.

We rode what we could, and grabbed a great dinner.
Staffing was a major issue (like it is everywhere these days).
But everyone was friendly and there were no mask requirements.

Stewart, Katriel and I skipped one of the roller coasters and found spots for fireworks, which while they weren’t Disney quality, sure were a lot of fun.