We moved!

The last time I posted, August 6th, Luke came home from work that day and told me we got the go ahead to move into the new house! As in, move in tomorrow if we wanted! Yes please, but cue Megan panicking! I had nothing packed!

Quick back story, the university told us the house would be available as of August 1st but our lease at our townhouse went through the 31st. Since we didn't want to pay rent in two places we were just going to stay put till the end of the month. I know I blogged about how the timing would be terrible, school would be starting, it would be getting closer to my due date, etc. I had SO much stress over it all. We told the school we couldn't start paying rent to them till September but asked if we could still move in 2 weeks early, August 17th-ish, to make the timing of everything a tiny bit better. That's when they got back to us saying, move in now! It's totally fine, and we won't charge you for August! Even as I type this I'm still so amazed at their generosity, and God looking out for us.

I turned into a packing mad woman and got everything ready to go in three days. Granted the townhouse was small and a lot of our stuff was in storage in the shed and in the attic, but I still had closets and all the stuff we live with daily to pack up. And with Hailey and Casey underfoot. Gosh, that is never fun.

We moved on Saturday, a week ago yesterday, and everything went so smoothly. We had 8 people helping us and it seriously went like clockwork. Hailey was so adorable marching her possessions up the ramp and onto the truck, she even told me, "I ride truck. I sit with Mommy, I ok, I not cry." Meaning, she wanted to ride on the truck with all her things. It took a lot of persuading why she couldn't. I will always remember her that day. She wanted to wear one of my big chunky necklaces and it made noise when she ran and she would kind of ruffle it with her hand as she ran to make the jingling noise more. She was running all over the place that day and you could always hear her coming and know where she was. She was bouncing with excitement and always wanted to be in the middle of everything. Seriously, it seemed everywhere I looked, there she was. She got so sweaty! Her face was flushed all day and wherever she went she had her Disney princess thermos with her guzzling water.  It was all so sweet and such an improvement from the last two moves where she would see the boxes and moving truck and cry!

Anyway, needless to say, we are so in love with this house. I will post pictures eventually, when it looks better :) But we have a garage for the first time, I have a laundry/mud room again, we have a fenced in yard! a big driveway for the kids to ride their bikes, and there are so many gorgeous trees on the property. It is so peaceful to sit outside and just soak in the trees, and all the green. You can partially see the mount that the school is on from our driveway.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

And exhausted. Since the move I've been having what I think is sciatic nerve pain and it is really painful. Even wearing my support tank doesn't help a ton. Doing some stretching and icing it seems to help the most. I'm trying to take it easy and not overdo it each day but I get super impatient to just get everything unpacked. I hate living among boxes and plus the kids just get into them. So it's partly necessity too.

The little things make me feel at home too. Like hanging the clock in the living room and the crucifix in our bedroom. We hung the kids special crucifixes in their room last night and they were so excited. After bedtime prayers, they always give Jesus a kiss goodnight and they were literally jumping up and down as we hung them by each of their beds. I think they slept better too. We put the rest of their special pictures on the walls as well, and they both seemed to take it as, we're staying for good. The first few nights they were restless, even waking up and crying in fear, but not anymore ;)

We are here to stay, kids. At least till next summer.

Patience is a virtue

And one I am terrible at.

I feel like I'm waiting for so many things to happen right now...

The team arrives in town on August 6th and with that means the start of the school year. Luke will work long crazy hours till probably mid October.

We are moving - at some point. It is starting to feel like it will never get here. Basically because we thought we would be moving in July, then realized our lease isn't up till August 31st. When you move every summer, details become a little hazy. We have the new place all lined up, that's not the issue, its just that we have to stay in this crowded tiny townhouse till our lease is up in order to avoid paying rent in two places. Definitely don't want to do that, so staying it is. Luckily I hadn't started packed yet before we realized all this. But still. I want to pack. I want to move to the bigger house. I've already organized and decorated all the rooms in my head!

I'm 7 and a half months pregnant. Oh I've mentioned that already? Yep, and getting that "I am now definitely in the 3rd trimester" feeling. And the baby inside me is only going to get bigger and more uncomfortable. I need to prepare for birth, I need to prepare for another little person to join our family. I'm having crazy pregnant lady mood swings. I need to rest. And eat well. And take care of the kids. And still cook dinner......

And we have to move.

I seriously feel like I am waiting for a very very big storm to hit. I am not usually an anxious person, thanks to prayer and God's grace, but with everything that is about to happen, all this waiting for what's around the corner is starting to drive me crazy. Because it's big stuff! It's going to be stressful! And I can't even really do anything to prevent or decrease the stress. The timing of it all couldn't be worse. The beginning of the school year and all that entails, is one thing, then add a move, extremely pregnant wife and new baby coming a few weeks later.

I'm praying for strength, peace, patience and the gracefulness to help carry my family through this storm as stress-free as possible. As the husband, Luke is the head of the house, but the wife is the heart. I know that so much of my mood and attitude dictate the rest of what Luke and the kids are feeling and how they respond to everything as well.

So if you could, keep us all in your prayers! Gracias!

Playing Dollhouse

We're moving again this summer. Just across town, but a move is a move. We have moved every year since we've been married (4yrs this summer), and before that, Luke and I each moved every year since 2007. That's a whole lot of moves. For those curious, it went like this:

2007: Amherst, MA. We were teammates and both lived in the same apartment complex.

2008: Pittsburgh, PA - Luke. Champaign, Il  Megan. (Dating/engagement long distance)

2009: Loveland, CO. Newly Married :)

2010: Greeley, CO.

2011: Emmitsburg, MD. (Big house)

2012: Emmitsburg, MD. (Little townhouse)

2013: Emmitsburg, MD. (this summer, moving to medium house)

We're not in the military, we are focus missionaries :) And although moving can be exhausting, it forces you to not hold on to things you don't need. You part with furniture more easily because you got it from Craigslist, didn't pay a lot for it and don't care about it. Someday maybe we'll have nice things but for now this is the way it is. And I can't say I mind all that much. Aside from the opportunity to see and live in lots of cool places and get to know some amazing people, I have a small confession to make....

I love to organize. And clean. And decorate. And set up house. I think it could be called playing dollhouse syndrome. Each home has been so different and I have thoroughly enjoyed setting them up and making each feel warm and homey. I've definitely got sewing curtains down, but that's be honest that's like the easiest thing in the world to do. Still! Luke bought me a sewing machine our first married christmas and thinking back, I have used it to mostly sew curtains!

I'm probably nuts but I don't mind putting on my rubber gloves and cleaning an entire house before moving into it. And I mean deep cleaning. (Luke says every time I clean it's like spring cleaning, haha) but I like knowing its all been cleaned before moving our belongings and selves into a new house. I want it to be sparkling, dust free. I have high cleaning standards and what can I say, I'm only going to be happy if it's done by me. Or Luke. He can be even more meticulous than me.

I love organizing bedrooms, linen closets, medicine cabinets, although doing the kitchen always overwhelms me because there is just so much. And I like to hang pictures pretty quickly because it just doesn't feel like home until I have my familiar pictures on the walls.

I'm so excited to move into the new place this summer because it is bigger than the place we are currently in. I've already been setting up all the furniture in the rooms in my head. And we are allowed to paint! I really want to do the kid rooms.

Some days I do crave more stability but for now I'm enjoying the adventure and playing dollhouse.