Thanksgiving

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This thanksgiving I have so very much to be thankful for.  I am writing this a few days early because for the next few weeks my life will be pretty much insane. At this moment I am surrounded on every side by walls of boxes and there is still so much more to pack.
On Monday I will not only be packing the final boxes but packing our suitcases as well in preparation for our trip to Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents and my sister's family.  It will be a much needed rest. We will be forced to get away from the new house and the thousands of responsibilities we feel while we are at home. 
I still have so much more to do but this past week I made myself stop and use a cookie press I haven't touched since it was given to me.  I was trying to decide whether it went in the "giveaway pile" (something I do every time we move and it still seems like we have way too many things!). The boys and I plopped out cookie sheets full of sugar cookies and that was a moment I won't forget, unlike so many other moments which so often take priority.
This evening I watched my son ride his bike with no training wheels for the first time.  I stood on the road in front of our new house surrounded by the last fallen leaves of the season in the cool twilight and cheered him on. It was overwhelming. Everything I have imagined in having a house of our own, being snuggly tucked into a neighborhood.
These are the blessings I will be reflecting on as I gather with my family around turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cherry pie.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moving on

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Our waiting has seemed to come to an end. At least in this particular area. There are many other things we are waiting, hoping, praying for but not this one. Not any more.  So many answers, so much blessing.
It might seem slightly insane, especially for those out there who are in the bomb shelter phase as far as the economy is concerned. While other were preparing for a long cold winter of economical woes we were out looking earnestly for a house.  We have been looking for over a year now.  It's been a roller-coaster to say the least. 
During the summer we found one that delighted us. It was small and it would have demanded a lot of adjustments but we were eager to squeeze ourselves in and make it work. We could only do so much and no more and that was just not enough so we said goodbye to that hope and moved on. After that we found the exact house we wanted.  I mentioned it before. It was in the neighborhood we longed for, a 1940s dream and priced right for us. We made an offer. The offer was accepted verbally but never signed. The owner was nervous, not sure if she could find another place to live, not sure where to move, so many things whirling around in her mind and we whirled with them. Up and down. Thinking it was it, then definitely not, then maybe. After riding those waves for a few weeks we finally let go. We came to terms with the fact that instead of being able to run ahead we were being told to stop. To wait. Keep praying and rest.

 Well, our waiting has finally come to an end. We found a house last week that was exactly like the house I just mentioned only in a better part of that exact neighborhood and with even more to offer than the other one did.  It truly has proved to be the answer we have been hoping and waiting for for so long.

Now comes new coats of paint, cleaning, spiffing up the upstairs floor, hanging curtains, and settling in.  We move the Monday after Thanksgiving and until then there is much work to be done. Nevertheless the work is energizing. I am painting MY house, we are fixing OUR house and visions of the future are exhilarating.  This house has a history that reaches all the way back to WWII and I am very excited to add to its future with the markings of my children as they grow. We embrace the blessings we are continually given and we are finally able to dance (even if it's a slightly exhausted dance).