Feeling a little out of sorts, and also grateful

Yesterday was a tough day for me.  We needed to get the boys registered for school at their new school and we hadn't driven by the house yet so we decided to get that taken care of.  We got to the school at 12:30 and the staff seemed very helpful and nice but we ended up being sent on a wild goose-chase to get the records we had for the boys put on official TN documents before they could register them.  Our GPS sent us by all these run-down farms into the city where we ended up at a public health clinic.  We asked if they could transfer our information to a TN document and the secretary proceeded to tell us we needed to be patients at the clinic.  I tried to explain nicely that we didn't intend to be patients at their clinic and she just didn't understand me.  I started to get upset let Mike take over who finally got us to the right place in an equally nasty part of town.  

The people at the health department were also very nice but told us that there had been a typo on one of Isaac's immunization records and he would have to get the MMR shot a third time.  Somehow, miraculously, we got that figured out too.  We finally got back to the school and fully registered by 4:30.  All the running around got me feeling a little out of sorts.  That and when the secretary at the school asked us if we were "cotton pickers".  We were like, "Do people still do that?"  She said that she had to ask because of the immigrant families and suddenly I found myself feeling really uncertain about everything.  I'm totally admitting my small-mindedness perhaps by saying all that but suddenly I started thinking about how half of the families in the ward apparently home school and the need for the school to ask us if we are cotton pickers and my heart began to beat fast and I wondered if we had done the wrong thing in choosing the house we chose with this being our school.  My friend made me feel better by saying, "I'd be more worried if they asked if you were nose-pickers."  Good point, Bre.  Good point.  And since all three boys were with us, that would be an embarrassing question to have to answer.  

We drove to the house and the GPS took us a different way this time and the road to the subdivision was just lovely.  It also had farm houses but they were well kept and quaint.  I remembered driving down this very road to get to a house I really liked and considered putting an offer on so I began feeling much more relaxed about things.  The house is really nice from the outside and the neighborhood looks very family-friendly.  The neighborhood is very much a Maryland neighborhood, which I guess if you haven't lived there or visited there you might not know what I mean by that but the houses are mostly formal, imposing, and brick.  It is very much a Mike house.  I'm excited to see the inside in person and not just in pictures.  

I think that being at the cabin has allowed me to kind of just imagine this is a little vacation.  I have found myself about to say to Mike on multiple occasions, "We need to be sure for the ride home..." and then realize that we are not going home.  This is now our home.  Somehow, going to the school and the house really made things seem real and that was really overwhelming and scary for me.  It was all just very unfamiliar feeling to me and I had to really mentally talk myself through everything.  

I think being at this cabin in this beautiful setting has been a blessing for me.  It has kind of acted like a buffer in some ways and is allowing me to enjoy some incredible things before I have to really jump into life here and maybe by the time that happens I will be so enraptured by this beautiful place that I will feel more calm about things.  

I am just so thankful for friends that give me pep-talks and remind me that we are led by God and that He has led our family here for a reason.  I'm grateful for the memory of sitting in my house in Colorado Springs crying because of how sad I felt to be in an empty house in an unfamiliar town, surrounded by unfamiliar things.  Remembering that night and then the last night I sat in the empty house that I loved with people that I loved, helps me feel so much hope that I can have a similar experience here if I give it an honest to goodness chance.  I'm grateful also to know that even if I don't make friends quickly here that I have fantastic friends around the country.  One dear friend in Colorado texted me, "It's been rainy and dark here the last few days.  I suppose Colorado is still weeping your leaving."  It made me feel so loved.  

So that was yesterday but today I am much more settled about things.  (We are back at the cabin where my biggest worries are trying not to be eaten by bugs....)   
I read the talk by Elder Uchtdorf called Grateful in Any Circumstance and it also helped me to feel calm about this move and the new things to come.  I DO feel grateful.  The home we are moving to is nicer than any home I have ever lived in.  The fact that we are in the middle of a move and staying in this beautiful cabin in comfort and not all crowed in a hotel room is so wonderful.  We have home cooked meals each night instead of having to eat out.  We are playing games together and going for walks in the forest.  I am so grateful for the friendly people we interacted with yesterday who tried so hard to help us.  I'm grateful for friends who love me.  There is so much to be thankful for.  

And after days like today I can't help but feel happy.  We just played at the cabin while Piper napped and then we went for a peaceful walk along the river and let the boys swim for as long as they could stand being in the chilly water (it wasn't too chilly but wasn't too warm either).  They were so happy.  I really love my family and spending time with them.  



Look at that dirty bum!

dirty bum

trying to catch the tiny fish that were interested in our toes









The community pool here is located in the most gorgeous setting imaginable.  We showed up to swim and were the only people there.
Eli is only a little bit excited, no?


catching the drips from her bum





One last thing, I mentioned this on facebook but I have counted so many redheads in the last week!  This place is crawling with them.  It is so strange to me.  In one day I counted 15 and then today on our little walk, three more.  Every day I seem some one with red hair.  I kind of love it.

Comments

Papa Doc said…
Photos are gorgeous!

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