Saying goodby

July 10, 2017

Saying goodby

We have one more week here. I have competing feelings of sadness and gratitude. A few days ago I happened to say, "Ya'll" and it just rolled off the tongue so naturally. I couldn't help but smile. I finally talk like a southerner and I have to leave! Just kidding, I still don't sound like a southerner.

When Mike was applying for schools we had pretty much decided that Texas A&M was where we were going. When Mike got accepted to MIT of course we thought we were probably crazy for turning that opportunity down and we thought Texas was the next best choice for our family but Tennessee kept popping up in our minds. I felt so much peace about moving to Tennessee. We had looked for houses on the other side of town where everyone told us to live and none of those houses felt good to me. I looked at a few on this side of town and each time I felt so much peace but we thought Mike was going to have to work at Oakridge and he did not want to drive an hour to work. We put an offer on a house on the other side of town and when the house had termites we pulled out of that offer. Then this house popped up and without even seeing the house we put an offer on it and hoped for the best. Mike decided that if he had to drive an hour half of the week he would just deal with it. (He ended up only having to go to Oakridge ocassionally). When we moved into the house we discovered that it was in the exact area that I had felt good about when I had come to look at houses. In fact, it was in the subdivision across the street from my favorite house on our house search. At the time I thought, "I guess this is where Heavenly Father wants our family." Three years later, I don't have any guesses, I know! I feel like we were in the ward He wanted us to be in and we have made such incredible friends here.

I feel so sad to say goodbye but I feel like Heavenly Father has placed the best of the best in our path everywhere we have lived. I feel so grateful for the experiences he is giving us. While I do not like to move and I'd be perfectly happy staying right where I am, I recognize that if I stayed in my comfortable little life, I'd never meet these people! I've worried that maybe we won't make friendships in Florida like we have here. Maybe they won't like us. Maybe they will think we are weird. Or, maybe they will think they already have friends and they don't need more. Last night at the open house they had for us one of my friends came up to me. He shook my hand and said, "Adrianne, if you stay as the person you are, you will have no problems making friends." I had never told him my worry about not making friends in Florida so he couldn't have known how I was feeling and his comment made me feel so thankful. I hope he was prompted to tell me that because it meant the world to me. I hope we leave Florida with as many good memories and friends as we've made here.

Best friends! Mike and Conan served together in the bishopric. If Mike could hang out with anyone, it would be Conan

The Copeland's. They have another cutie red-head not in the picture. We love this family and have learned so much from their example and friendship.

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Mandy and Dani are niece and Aunt. I love these two beautiful ladies.

Camryn, Cally, Paul. I can't wait to see what happens with Camrynn in the future. I hope my little girls grow up to be like the Young Women in this ward. I loved Cally from the minute I met her. Will told me yesterday that when he met her he thought, "Mom is going to want to be her friend." He was right!

Dani Cruze. Dani is quite possibly the coolest girl in the world. I love her.

Isaac with his class of boys (one boy missing). Brother Hughes is Isaac's teacher and Isaac loves him. These boys have become Isaac's best friends

The Finstad's. Emily F. and Cally C were the first people I met when we moved here. They showed up at the house and welcomed us. Bishop Finstad served with Mike and Conan and then Mike was his counselor when Nathan got called as the bishop.