Well that went by fast

I had no idea it had been almost 3 months since I updated.  I guess time flies when you're having fun...or moving!  Here's what's been happening...

Julia did her first season of high school football cheer.  It had its ups and downs and is inferior to basketball cheer in her opinion.  It has been a really hard semester of school for her, mostly due to being placed in a fast-paced honors math class that has required me to reteach concepts to her multiple times a week.  It's not nearly as emotional as 7th grade math with her was, but we've definitely had some low moments.  She decided not to do basketball cheer in order to try to focus on her schoolwork for the rest of these classes.  She plans to do track in the spring with some friends and is excited about that.  And not having math.  :)

I don't remember why, but Joshua came home briefly- maybe to grab some stuff he didn't take?- and we broke out an old family classic- Boochie Ball.  

Not pictured- Julia went through her first break-up, which was hard and disappointing for her, but she’s moving on.

We celebrated another year with our church, HCC.  We have a party every year and each year it is a sweeter time for me, as I feel so at home with everyone that we've grown to know and love.  Matt and I won the cornhole tournament last year, but this year were runner-ups against a two adult male team, which Matt felt was cheating, as most every team had a kid or female. ;) But we had fun!

We spent a few days in limbo between the Durham house and new house, trying to get settled enough to spend the night there.  It was right around my birthday and was stressful and a blur, with little sleep, but I managed to squeeze in a birthday breakfast with my friends, which was so nice.  It's been a big change for me not being in the same neighborhood with these ladies and seeing them every week for Bible Study at my house.  

Life went on for Gray, as he spent lots of time practicing with his team (I think he told us 9 practices of some sort every week, including many early mornings), plus study hall, classes, and duties to help their partner team- the Mars Hill soccer team.  In his free time, he hung out with his teammates, many of which live in his dorm.  What he did not do was talk to us very much and it was harrrrddd for me and sad to feel like he was just done with us, now that he's a big college student.  In reality, I think it's more of an out of sight, out of mind situation, but a tough adjustment for me.

Joshua sent me these flowers for my birthday, which was so sweet.

Mimi and GrandGene graciously came for a week or so to help me with moving, particularly since our moving date ended up being the week that Matt would either be at work or on a trip with friends for most of two weeks.  GrandGene and Joshua squeezed in a (disappointing) State-Duke game.

Somewhere in the midst of moving, Matt got a car delivered for Julia to drive.  It's very nice and is electric, which Matt wanted to try out and was in a rush to get the tax rebate (credit? I don't know what it is) that was expiring.  She is sooo excited to be getting her license in December.

Joshua had several in-house scrimmages and we went to see him play.  It was a gloomy, rainy day, but fun to see him play (and score!) and then we went to lunch and took a long walk while we charged the electric vehicle.

Meanwhile Gray played in his first scrimmage versus another team and enjoyed it.  He says he's not the best player on the team and probably won't play too much this year, but he seems good with that.

We went to see one of Gray's scrimmages on homecoming weekend.  This picture was taken when we first met up with him to go on a hike.  He looked so different already, with his mustache, glasses, and mullet (which he received in the dorm from a kid with a "business" and real barber chair).  It was great to walk and talk (though I would end up with really annoying patches of poison ivy...I think I was struggling to keep up on the challenging parts of the hike and not paying attention!) and hear more about how college life is going for Gray.  We took him to dinner that night and then breakfast the next morning.  There wasn't much to do and he was tired and not really into doing any of the homecoming activities.  We bought some cards and tried to play a little outside, but ultimately, after a failed attempt to see the cloggers (we found them right as they finished, as Gray thought he knew how to get there and took us on a really long route) he decided to go back to the dorm and Matt and I went and hung out in Black Mountain.  That evening, we watched his scrimmage there and took him out for dinner one last time.

When we got back home Sunday, Joshua was there and we quickly put together a birthday dinner and trifle for him and celebrated.

Nanny and Pa had stayed at our house to watch the girls and they joined in the festivities.

Joshua had to leave the next morning to get back to practice on his fall break, and the rest of us headed to work and school too, me teary all the way from the whirlwind of seeing both boys so briefly and saying bye again.  

We're "back" as far as hospitality goes, now that we are in the new house.  We host our community group weekly and have had some social gatherings as well.  Pictured here is a "reunion dinner" we did for our first community group, who are so dear to us.  It was nice to be together, particularly with Janet and Gideon, who are Kenyan and could share in our happiness over our trip, and Bob and Pat, who have gone through a lot of hard times this year with Bob's health.

Julia has loved her girls' group at church and they added two sisters this fall, one of which was my preschool student back at the Bible Church.  The leaders took the girls to the State Fair, which was so fun for Julia.

Allie got to go on her 10 year old trip to Disney with Nanny and Pa!

They did EVERYTHING (or at least packed in as much as they could) and she had a great time.  She said her favorite thing was swimming with the dolphins.  She also clearly enjoyed having reign over Nanny's phone- taking lots of pictures, texting us often, even calling the older kids while they were sleeping or in class.  I think she missed us, as she's a girl who feels most comfortable with us at home, but what an adventure to get to do this trip!!

I enjoyed celebrating a new baby coming for the other kindergarten teacher.  This is our "K-team", which cracks me up with Nina dressed in her Halloween costume for a fall festival she had to run to later.

We traveled to Wilson, NC to watch Joshua play two scrimmages against other teams.  They were good D2 teams and Methodist lost badly in both, but it is always good to watch Joshua play.

There was a tailgate afterwards and we got to talk with him a little, then had to head back home.

After a Halloween plan that Allie thought she had with a school friend fell through, Jeannie decided (the afternoon before Halloween!) that she and I should be the other members of Allie's kpop band.  And Matt wanted in too, as the bad guy in the movie!  So we scrambled and put together these costumes.  

While Addie and Julia handed out candy (and Sawyer was with friends), the rest of us went out in costume to do the classic trick or treating around Churton Grove. 

Think it will be the last year for these three going out together, as the older two will be in high school next year!

Meanwhile, Gray went to his first concert that evening (Sam Barber) and followed that up with a Halloween party where he dressed as Bobby Boucher (the water boy).

Joshua teamed up with his roommates and another friend to be the Ninja turtles.  They had a costumed workout and then a party.  He of course chose the red turtle.

Our church collected shoes this month for the kids in Shilishili.  Matt was able to collect at work and I got a ton of shoes donated from my school, as the 8th graders agreed to take on this project as part of their annual service initiative.  

We celebrated Nanny's 75th birthday with a fun and fancy dinner out in Durham.

Lydia got engaged a few weeks prior and officially asked Allie to be her flower girl, which Allie happily agreed to!

And big change for me-- I got braces.  Over the last year, I started having some disturbing problems with my jaw.  I'd wake up in the morning with it locked on one side and not able to open it at first.  I also started to notice how tired the muscles in my face were feeling just from trying to hold my jaw in a position where I could close my mouth.  That part was a problem I've known about since I was a teenager, but the locking was worrisome and I was told, not for the first time, that jaw surgery was the only way to fix it.  The oral surgeon said my issues will only get worse with age and so I made the call to go for it, knowing I will be braces for two years with the surgery somewhere in between.  It was hard to decide to do it, but right around then, we moved and with all the stress of that, my jaw ended up being locked for 7 weeks!  It would open to some degree, but I couldn't eat without pain or even fit my food in my mouth normally.  So that confirmed this decision and I'm grateful for that.  So here we go...into the holidays with new braces, two teeth extractions to schedule, boys coming home, hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, etc, etc.  I'm anticipating lots of joy but also some bumps along the way, as I keep trying to adjust to new normals.  Thankful for a God that doesn't change and will hold me together through all seasons of life.

 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

 As expected, these last few weeks have been a series of big transitions, with the one exception being that we thought we'd move and we're still in Durham for another week at least.

As we settled back in from our big trip, I spent the week looking through teammates' pictures, writing the blog from my journal, preparing a short talk to share at church, and attempting to make dawa and Kenyan food.  Of course, like when we went to China, it's just not the same when I make it!

That week was our last one with all 6 of us here...and who knows? Maybe our last summer together, since Joshua has a house now.  We had one last outing to play putt putt (though Julia was working) and had a game night on Joshua's last night.  The girls went with us to move in to his house.  It was not as nice in person as it was in the pictures...a little smoke-smelly, some rooms really small, some parts needing repairs/updates, but overall, it's a cute house and certainly fine for three college boys.  We moved Joshua's stuff in and quickly realized that he had nowhere to put most of his clothes, so we made a Walmart trip for some light furniture and food.  After putting it all together, it was time to say bye.  Thankfully, Joshua's roommates were around and they are really fun guys and welcomed Joshua well, so I think he was feeling ready to move on with college life.  Of course, I was super sad to say bye, but we did, and made the short trip home.  Oh yeah- this was our second annual trip to Fayetteville on our anniversary, in which we move Joshua in and I cry most of the way home and we do not celebrate.  :)

The next day, Matt and I were part of our team sharing about our trip at church, which was so sweet to be able to share how the Lord called us to this trip, equipped us, and gave us the most amazing time as we learned what it means to be a part of his global church.  The ladies all wore our Kenyan clothing/jewelry to celebrate.  Since coming back, we've been able to connect some with the friends we made there and even got some pictures today of new uniforms that our church left money for them to buy for the kids that most needed them.  So sweet to see pictures of the kids we spent time with and such a blessing to have this personal connection and ability to share what we have with them.  

Then I started back to work with teacher workdays.  It's always hard to transition out of summer and I was still feeling a bit jetlagged, but being back with my coworkers reminds me why I work where I do.  I was sure missing Jeanine, but happy to have a little time to get to know my new teacher.  It wasn't the smoothest week at home, as Matt had to work 3 of those weekdays and I had to figure out getting Julia to work and somewhere for Allie to go, but thankfully we have great support here!  We were also trying to get Gray to prepare for moving to Mars Hill and, in typical Gray fashion, he was putting off all the things I thought he should be doing, while embracing activities like 5:45am prayer meetings at his girlfriend's church, going to the movies, and cooking the family steak for his "last meal".  Friday at 4:45am dawned early and he wasn't exactly packed, though he'd thrown most of his clothes in piles in his laundry baskets the night before. 

 We managed to leave around 6 and the girls left for Emerald Isle with Pa soon after that.  It was a loooong day at Mars Hill, but a good one.  We checked in and met some of the staff and talked to Gray's coach.  When we headed to his dorm to unload, his older lacrosse teammates took all his stuff to his 3rd floor dorm room for us!  We helped him unpack, went to lunch in the dining hall, picked up a few more things at Dollar General, and met his roommate, roommate's mom and roommate's girlfriend, who had just arrived to unpack as well.  Gray's coach held a meeting for freshmen and their families and they all introduced themselves, took a photo, and began to go off together in groups.  I really liked what I saw of the coach.  He seems like he has strong expectations of the players and will hold them to it.  The assistant had a ton of energy and seemed fun. 

 Since Gray went off with a few guys, Matt and I wandered downtown to the bookstore to cool off.  Later all of us were in an auditorium for a meeting and then the students were taken to get ready for "March through the Arch", in which they come through downtown under an arch that says Mars Hill, in parade fashion with a band and parents ringing cow bells and shaking pom poms.  Gray clearly didn't love this part, but I think it's a fun tradition.  They'll march out the other way "into the world" when they graduate.  After that, we gathered to hear the President briefly speak, then had to say goodbye.  Of course I cried and Gray just kind of awkwardly patted me.  :) It was dinnertime and so Matt and I walked away to one of the downtown restaurants and I quickly dried my tears and focused on my pita bread with pimento cheese appetizer!  On our way back towards Gray's dorm, we ended up meeting a student who thought we were staff and needed to use our phone.  He also gave us a student id we had found, who we happened to recognize as a teammate of Gray's, so we ended up going back up to Gray's room, where he was laying on his bed alone eating snacks and feeling worn out, and encouraged him to go find his teammate with the lost id and maybe play cornhole with some other teammates we saw nearby, which he did.  We began the drive home and were super tired (I was trying everything to stay awake that last hour!), getting home after 11.  

In the days to come, we'd text and hope to talk with Gray a lot and not hear from him much, but eventually got a call and were happy to hear he'd been having a great time doing lots of stuff with his teammates, who we could even hear in the background asking him to go shoot on the field.  He has started classes and says it's easy so far.  Hoping he learns so much, academically and otherwise, and matures in the best way as he navigates college life!

We've talked to Joshua a little too and he seems to be enjoying life in his house, spending lots of time with his teammates too, and doing some of the same 'ol, same 'ol in year 2, like having the same kids in his classes and falling right back into old routines from last year.  What's new is that he's doing some cooking too, now that he's got a kitchen. Happy he feels at home at Methodist.

This week the girls started 5th and 10th grade and so far, so good for them.  They had a great time with Nanny and Pa at the beach and jumped right into early morning rush the next day.

Allie comes home every day with lots of fun stories from her eccentric, funny teacher, who makes them call her Queen Ducky (Ms Ducanis, the "duck" class).  Julia is loving being around friends, new and old, though feeling a little stretched to get it all done, with cheer practice every day.  The kids came this week at my school too and it sure is different being upstairs in a "foyer" kind of area for our classroom.  We hear everything as classes pass by in the hall since our wall is a thin divider, and the kids have to use the big bathroom outside the class.  They are so little, but so far they seem to be adapting pretty well.  They need a lot of interaction, reassurance, and reminders at the beginning of the year, so I'm pretty worn out/ready for quiet by the time I get home, but this "post-flood" situation with a new teacher hasn't been as difficult as I imagined, so I'm grateful for that.

And yes, we are still waiting for those wonderful rails to be installed in the new house.  Maybe next week, maybe not.  Anyone's guess is as good as ours!  We are ready to move on and be done with this last big transition of the year, but it's not up to us, so we wait.