Moving

I wanted to write a more interesting title...but I can't think of one...I'm still not sold on this moving thing(even though we already have!). I have been sitting on this post for quite a while. And now that we are officially moved in to our new home - I guess I better write it :) 

Your daddy got a new job this past August (2013) in Iola working at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. This was the first step to doing his dream job working in theater. His title is assistant tech director. He has learned so much in the past year doing this job. His job also requires a lot of time. There were many days he would leave home at 8, drive the hour down to Iola for work at 9. Work all day, have a few hours off where he would go to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner, then back to work by 5:30 and he would work until 10:00 pm. Then head back to Ottawa and return home at 11:00...just to turn around and do it all over again. We talked about daddy just spending the night in Iola on those crazy work weeks...and he did before Easton was born. But after Easton was born, there were many nights where you both would be up and daddy would go in to Eliana's room to help her go back to sleep, and typically I was already awake feeding Easton. There for a while the two of you kiddos were going back and forth waking up - we would get one to sleep and the other would wake up. :) So, it resulted in daddy driving home just to sleep at our house....and mommy feeling like a single mommy throughout the evenings. So - we decided it would be best to move to Iola so that at least when daddy had those 2 or 3 hour afternoon/dinner breaks he would be home and able to help out! :) 

So, step one was to get mommy's resume in order again and apply for jobs in Iola and Chanute. Then we met with our AMAZING realtor. She told us we had to declutter!! Yeah, we knew that....we tend to hang on to too many things. So, we got a uhaul and packed up most of our stuff and moved it down to Iola. Our house was ready to start showing. I then got a call from Chanute that they wanted to interview me as did Iola. So, the Wednesday before Spring Break I had an interview on the same day for both schools. Chanute called me the very next day to offer me a job teaching 4th grade. Iola wanted me to wait to answer because they had a few more interviews...but your daddy and I decided to go ahead and accept the Chanute position. So- step 1 - get house ready - check. Step 2 - get mommy a job closer to Iola - check. Step 3 - start showing house - check.
We did get an offer on our house from our very first showing - but it wasn't a great offer so we said no. 

Step 4 - sell house - check. 5.5 weeks after we put our house on the market we sold it! And then we had to start moving.
We were so sad to leave Ottawa - but knew it was best for our family. We sold our house on May 20th but we couldn't get in to our new place until June 1- so we spent 1 week at mimi and papa's house and then two weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's house. And then we had ONE more week at Grandma and Grandpa's while we tried to finish unpacking.  

Here's mommy and daddy having a picnic the first day we moved in to the house. September 24, 2009.

Five years later....May 18, 2014. We are having a picnic right before we move out.

Walking in to our new home :) 9-24-09

A lot can happen in five years! Walking out five years later. 

5-18-14

We are so thankful that God helped guide us as we made all these new choices. We prayed and asked God what we should do - and we felt he was telling us to move - and then he opened and closed the doors as we walked through. 

This was when we moved in to Garfield Elementary. This was a hard good bye for mommy. I loved working at Garfield and loved the people I worked with. It was hard for mommy to move. This was May 2012

To now - May 2014!

Our U-Haul :) 

Our family :) Ready for our new adventure.

Easton is our big driver!

So, we moved to Iola. We moved in to Grandpa-Great Jimmie's place. He built himself a one bedroom with a HUGE garage on 33 acres of land. SO, we have lots of land -but not a lot of room on the inside. But you will be amazed at how I've made this one-bedroom work! It's amazing when you downsize the amount of stuff you have how you can save space! :) I think we will survive in this house - I really do. The hard part is going to be living on 33 acres of land and in the country.....surviving the bugs and supposed snakes...which thankfully I haven't seen any! But we have seen plenty of bugs!!! eek!! I'm gonna have to toughen up! :) 

Eliana and Easton, we changed your world a whole lot in the past month - but we will all survive! Easton is clearly little enough to not notice the difference...well, obviously he does because his sleeping habits (which were not good to begin with) have gotten worse! :) But, Eliana, you're old enough to ask questions and really know what is going on. 

When we finally moved in to our new place - which you were ready for - you kept saying, "I go to my new house?" You were SO excited to see your things! You ran from item to item exclaiming "Mommy! Look! My bed! Daddy! Look! My minnie mouse! Mommy look! Easton's crib! etc" It was so precious - and you're still doing it as I bring in more boxes! :)
But along with the new excitement comes the sadness of leaving your house that you knew, and your friends at Sherry's, and our church family. You may not have known it was our last goodbye at the time -but now you will ask about your friends, church, or Sherry and you just don't understand why we won't take you to see them! 

Ottawa was mine and your daddy's home for 10 years. It will always have a special place in our hearts. I hope (and I'm sure it will) Iola will eventually leave an impact in my heart as well (Iola is already in your daddy's heart since he grew up here). Luckily, I feel very confident that this is where God wants us. He has made it very evident to us, and I'm happy that we listened and followed what He wanted for us.

I look forward to writing about all of our new adventures soon! 

Love you both!
Mommy