Saying Goodbye

It was pretty hard for me to watch Rachel say goodbye to her friends.  Dustin and I have ways of keeping up with people, but it's so hard when I know Rachel won't really remember Roanoke except through pictures.  

We went by her babysitters house so she could say goodbye, but Shelma had a doctors appointment and there were only two of her friends there that day.  I was happy that Ashton was there though.  These two were the best of friends.  They saw each other Monday-Friday at Shelma's house, then again at church on Sunday.  Ashton would only stay in Sunday School if Rachel was there too!  

 She had to have a picture with Coco, too!

 Isabel wasn't too interested in having her picture taken, so this was as good as it was going to get with her!

 Miss Kristi- our favorite nursery worker!

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ira.  Ira gives all the kids candy when they come in on Sunday morning.  They even gave Rachel and Gavin gifts for Christmas, Valentine's Day, or just because!  They even gave them little gifts when we left, including a bag of Hershey Kisses for Rachel- her favorite Sunday morning candy!

We were able to meet up with a few couples from our small group before we left.  The kids all had a great time together, too.

Sam, Charley, Emery, Rachel and Layna

The Move!

Well, our big move has come and gone.  Mom came over on Wednesday to help with the last of the packing and cleaning.  On Friday morning, some friends, John and Lincoln came to help load the truck.  John was a master of packing and there was NO wasted space on that truck!  I am so glad they were able to come and be extra muscle... we have some heavy furniture!  We got most of it packed by dinner time, when we went out with our neighbors, Clyde and Jeanette.  After dinner, Benji and Katie made it to help with the last of the stuff from the basement and around the house.  So Saturday morning Benji and Katie took Gavin in their car and Dustin took Rachel in the moving truck, and I took the fish, and we left for Chesapeake!
I have to say it was a little emotional for me to leave the house.  After all, it's where we've spent the last five years, where we worked so hard to make it our own, and of course it's the home that we brought Rachel and Gavin to.  What made it even harder, but also so sweet, was seeing our neighbors standing on their front porch waving bye to us.
So after an uneventful trip, we made it to Chesapeake a little after lunch.  Mom watched the kids at their house while Dad and Brent came over to help unpack everything.  We managed to get it all in the condo... we may not have been able to walk anywhere, but everything was in!  The next few days were spent with Mom and Dad tag-teaming watching the kids while the other helped unpack boxes.  Kim was a huge help in the kitchen, too!  We spent a few nights at Mom and Dad's house so we wouldn't trip over everything, but by Tuesday, everyone including Zoe was in their own beds.
We are finally getting settled in and hopefully even the pictures will be up on the walls soon.

Rachel was a little confused that there was nothing left in the house.  If you asked her where her toys were, she'd say "In the big truck, I'll get them at my new house!"  She was such a trooper!

She was excited to ride in the big truck with Daddy, but I guess she wasn't too much of a moving buddy, she just read her books most of the way!

Hurry up and wait...

This seems to be our motto lately!  At first with waiting to see if we had jobs in Chesapeake.  Then with getting our house ready to sell and being able to put it on the market.  Now with actually moving!  At first we were going to stay with my parents for a few weeks while we tried to get our house sold and  school started over there, hoping that we would be able to buy a house over in Chesapeake right away. Of course our house here in Roanoke hasn't sold yet, so during our visit last week, we looked at some rental homes in Chesapeake.  If we got an apartment, we would have had to get a 2 bedroom and would have had to keep some things in storage, and we wouldn't have had a yard for Zoe to run in.  So we looked at homes... not really what we had in mind- tiny kitchen with a really weird layout, sunken floors... not what we had in mind.  So we stayed an extra day to look at a condo in a really nice neighborhood and what do ya know, it was great!  (As an added bonus, it's about 1 1/2 miles from my parents house that we can walk to and maybe even use their pool!)  Now we're set to move in on the 18th, and I'm sitting in our house in Roanoke looking at everything that has to be packed, but can't because I still want it to be presentable for all the showings in the next week and a half (you know, especially that one that's going to give the awesome offer!).  So of course I'm thinking of everything that I have to do for my room at work but obviously can't, and getting the condo set up, which will have to take a back seat when we get there to school.  I told Dustin last night that I was getting a little antsy... his response, "Yeah, you are."  I'm kind of glad he left it at that!

Rachel and Gavin are troopers though.  Gavin watches Rachel play and thankfully takes good naps.  Rachel helps with packing, she even got a box all by herself and started putting some toys and books in it.  When she can't find a toy, her automatic response is, "it's at my new house."  I think she may be confused that everything will not be set up when we get there.