MOVING!

Today is the day!  We are finally moving into a house that is big enough for our family!  We have had the keys for about a week and a half and we have been overseeing (and actually doing) various home improvement projects to try to rid this house of the 1970s feel before our big move today.  We have stripped wallpaper, pulled up carpet, watched a big painting crew paint almost the entire interior of the house, watched a guy remove old carpet and lay new carpet, and Michael has spent many hours on his knees installing a laminate floor in the family room.  It is all coming together and we are looking forward to seeing the finished product when we are settled.  Monday is the day I have set aside to clean the apartment and to walk down those two long flights of steps for the last time!  I have been thankful for a place to live and we made two years of memories there but we are very glad to be moving on now to a place with a backyard for the kids, a garage for getting the kids in and out of the car in bad weather, a basement for storage and protection in tornado weather AND 4 bedrooms/2.5 baths.  God has blessed us!

I wanted to mention something Dresden said yesterday...I took the stained glass tulip my grandpa made for me out of my window yesterday and seeing the hand-etched words on the back "TO TARA 7-2005 FROM GRANDPA BURTON" with a little etched heart, made me cry a little and Dresden asked me what was wrong.  I told her I was missing Grandpa and she teared up a little too and then that reminded her of her cousins who were here during the funeral and she she told me she wanted to go to Grant's house "to-now"!  So we now have "today, tomorrow, tonight, and tonow!"

I have to go get my day started, we are loading the truck in a few hours and I have lots to do!  I'll post some "before and after" pics soon!

6 Weeks

It has been six weeks since my grandpa passed away and I am really missing him.  In two days, I am taking my kids to Grandma's for lunch and we are going to eat the same meal we ate the last time we had lunch there with both of them, about 2 months ago.  It will not be easy to know that he is not going to come up the stairs from the basement and give me a hug in the kitchen and that he won't say, "You little sweetie!" to Megan this time and that he won't fall asleep in his chair after he helps Grandma clean the kitchen.  

I am doing okay most of the time but it is still never far from my thoughts and sometimes, unexpectedly, the grief overtakes me, almost in a different way now than when it was fresh.  I think that is because I am starting to realize how much life has changed and that it will never be like it was before ever again.  I am still thankful for the blessings from God in the midst of the loss but it still hurts tremendously.

This morning I was thinking about Grandpa and I was wondering if I got a good picture of him holding Megan when they came to the hospital to see her in March.  Then, just a few minutes ago I was looking through some pictures online and this one came up...a little gift from God on a day when I am missing my Grandpa.

[caption id="attachment_341" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Grandpa holding his 7th great-grandchild, Megan Hope"][/caption]

A Quick Update

I am taking a few minutes out of a very busy day-week-month- to write a quick update!  Things are on track, as of now, for closing on our new house on September 15, which is precisely why this month is so busy!  I have lots and lots of phone calls to make and boxes to pack and arrangements to make and paint colors to pick and the list goes on and on!  We also started back to school yesterday, which takes lots of my time.  I think the kids are enjoying being back in the routine even though they won't admit it !  We have a few new things we are using this year and so far, they approve!  It does prove a little more difficult to focus when there is a 5 month old baby squealing in the playpen while I am trying to teach but we're making it so far!

The plan now is to close on the 15th, have the house painted on the interior by a guy from church and his crew for about a week after that, have new carpet laid in the bedrooms, hopefully install laminate floor in the family room ourselves and move into the house by the 27th of this month.  We then have to clean the apartment and turn in the keys by the 30th.  As of now, I have not even packed one box, although I did buy packing tape yesterday!  I am also trying to keep food in the house, meals cooked and cleaned up, laundry going, school going, a baby fed and happy, as well as attending church and school activities and SLEEPING!

My short break is over so I have to get back to the kids and the books....keep us in your prayers!!!