settling in . . .

Well . . . almost.
I'm starting to feel quite at home here in our new house. We've been here right at two weeks & I only have one box left to unpack. {and it's the box with all the dvd's that I'm wondering why even made the move in the first place??!!} And the once empty, big house now feels just like home - and this has been very good for our family.
Familiarity.
It's been, by far for me, the biggest adjustment with our move and while I know that I was raised here in Tennessee, it hasn't been my home in eight years. That's a long time. Things & places here are not quite ours yet. And we all are dealing with the somewhat sadness of knowing that the places we left will never quite be ours again. Deacon is still to young to really care or understand our move but the girls have had some issues. Sophie especially. She is a lot like me - she attaches to things tightly & she has had some bouts of frustration & sadness but doesn't really know how to tell us what she's feeling or what she needs . . . . which is probably, in it's basic form . . . familiarity.
Our first few weeks here were like a big vacation for them but now, Brock is busy with a new job, I'm busy with unpacking & getting our house is order while mixing in the fact that we are learning to do life with a whole new group of people right in the midst of the craziness that is summer - and until I sat down tonight to relax a bit, it had never hit me that I have yet to take the time to really talk with  my girls about how they are feeling. Are there things that they would like for us to do for them? In my Mommy mind, they are still babes who should just go with the flow that is our simple crazy life, but in reality, they are almost seven. They are little women. Little women full of emotions, feeling and insight and I have been very insensitive to that. When things go off the rail in my life, I turn to my Father. He is the one I have learned to trust - and in Sophie & Ella's little minds, Brock & I are the ones they have learned to trust, so now, in these hard, sad and uneasy times for them, I will be there for them. Ready to listen. Ready to offer advice. Ready to offer comfort with my words and my actions . . . because that is how my Father would 'parent' me.  God help me to mother that way that you father.

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Well, that post went in the total opposite direction that I had intended for it too. I was gonna tell you all about my 30th birthday and how it really wasn't that bad and how much we love our new church family and our house & how much fun I've had & will have decorating . . . but so it goes sometimes, I'll save it for another day . . . and this blog is, after all, somewhat journaling for me. It's therapeutic. And most of the time, I teach myself more through the words than anyone else.


So, I'll just leave you with a few random pictures from the week. {aka what the phones sees}










{yes, I realize it looks like Brock is flipping the camera off but he's actually holding up three fingers . . . you know for 30!}