I had a dream last night. In my dream, Baby E (who was sleeping beside me) rolled out of bed. He was crying and I rolled over and looked over the edge of the bed. As he laid there crying I said, “You ok, buddy?” He said, “Yes” and promptly got quiet. In my dream I thought, “ok, he’s fine,” and rolled over and went back to sleep.

At 4am I woke up and looked over, only to discover that, except for me, the bed was empty. No Baby E. So, apparently that wasn’t a dream. My kid had rolled off the bed and I had left him there! So I leaned over to check on him… only he wasn’t there! I was so confused. I sat up and looked around the room. That’s when I saw his head barely peaking out from under my bed.

Poor kid! He had not only rolled out of bed, but had managed to then roll under my bed.

So now for the dilemma. It’s 4am. My kid is asleep completely under my bed. I can’t leave him there, can I? But getting him out would definitely wake him up. What to do? In the end I figured a good nights sleep was what we all needed, so he spent the rest of the night under my bed. Around 7:30 this morning I heard a faint, “Mommy, how do I get out of here?” coming from under there. I helped wiggle him out and all was well. 🙂

This morning we packed up my sister-in-law and her family’s house to move them to their new home (35 minutes from our new house!!) Since I’m no longer working we are now officially living at our new house, though most of our stuff is still back in storage and at my in-laws house. We will make time in the next couple of weeks to make trips and bring it all over. We packed our van to the brim for the trip out today.

Since it is a Saturday, I don’t think it has really sunk in that I’m no longer working, since it just feels like a weekend. I wonder what it will feel like on Monday. I’m incredibly excited about being home and all that that means for our family, but I am also struggling with being really sad about leaving my job. I miss everyone already.

I’m so very grateful that part of our family will be so ‘close,’ and I am looking forward to settling into our new community!

We’ve been praying for this day for years and it has finally happened.

I emptied the drawers. I cleared off the computers. I took the pictures off the walls. I said my goodbyes and I turned in my keys.

After 9.5 years, it was time to go.

I’m going to miss this building. I’m going to miss my office and the videos I have gotten to edit. But mostly I will miss the people. I think the success of nearly every job in the world is whether or not you like and respect the people you work with, and I certainly have for the past decade. I will miss them.

Today was pretty difficult. I didn’t realize how much I had worked myself up to it until I was halfway home and the adrenaline subsided and exhaustion took over.

But I’m lucky. I’m fortunate. I’m blessed to be getting this opportunity to be home with our kids. In the midst of tying up all the loose ends today, I also purchased our curriculum for this coming year. We are very excited to see what God has in store for our family as our future unfolds.

Thank you for all of the well wishes!!

I have a heavy heart this evening. Between hearing about an injury of a family friend, to learning that other friends lost people they care about in a workplace shooting, I am weary with grief. Today was difficult on so many levels. I don’t have much to say.

We met with friends and family tonight for some ice cream and time together on the boardwalk. I’m going to miss our get togethers, but I love that the children are squeezing in more time with their cousins and friends!

One more day.

It starting raining pretty steadily while we were driving this evening. We were on a back road and on a blind turn I had to slam on the breaks. There was a man standing in the middle of the lane about ten yards behind his SUV. It took me a moment to realize what was going on, he had stopped to help a box turtle across the street.

The kids were very curious about this incident and started asking me all about turtles. I think they are fascinating animals, so I did my best to describe different kinds to them. But I warned them there are some turtles that can hurt them, so I didn’t want them to go near any turtle without me until I am sure they know what they are looking at.

I remember the first time I ever saw a snapping turtle. I was probably around 12 years old and I saw this huge turtle crossing the street in front of my house. As I got closer I noticed it wasn’t the normal box turtle, but rather it had spikes and looked aggressive. The turtle was huge, at least 12-15 inches in length. Eventually a neighbor came over with a broom, stuck the handle in front of the turtle’s mouth and I was surprised at how quickly the turtle snapped at the broomstick and latched on. From there the neighbor was able to pick up the broom (turtle attached) and walked if far away from any of the other houses.

This evening our discussion about turtles lasted a few minutes before we moved onto another subject. However on the way home, C told me that she thought it would be cool to train a snapping turtle to be a really good pet. She said she would train it to only snap at people that were trying to steal her or steal money. Otherwise, the turtle  would be nice and she would cuddle up with it every night in her bed. We discussed the pros and cons of such an idea, but in the end I think she changed her mind 😉

When I got home this evening I could tell that my kids were tired. After the third day of VBS, they are pretty much wiped out. We had plans, though, so I knew we had to get out the door pretty quickly. I made them dinner, and while it was cooking I looked down the stairs so see that Baby E had fallen asleep… on the wooden stairs. That couldn’t have been comfortable. He was in fine form when he woke up and never quite recovered his spirits this evening.

We had the chance to meet up with some of my friends from years ago this evening. We met at Rita’s and had italian ice and caught up with each others’ lives. I am grateful for the friendships that you can slide right back into even if you haven’t seen each other in years. This amazing couple has had such an impact on my life and they continue to do so. I am thankful for them and the way they live out their faith in a tangible way. They are truly a blessing and I am glad we got the chance to see each other before our move. 🙂

I think I have finally resolved myself to the fact that for the next few days I am just going to be a blubbering mess. I sniffled though most of my morning commute. My eyes watered throughout the day. But for the most part, I held it together. Then this afternoon I said goodbye to Gail, since she is going to be on vacation for the rest of the week. I’ll be honest, I cried a lot. I knew it would be hard, but it was so much harder than I expected. Her friendship has truly been a saving grace for me. I will greatly miss our chats, bubble tea runs, and all the little things that make a daily friendship so special. Leaving was hard and my commute home was done through blurry tears.

Three more days.

The kids and I met up with some cousins this evening at the park. The kids enjoyed themselves. I’m trying to squeeze in as much time with the people they love as possible before we leave.

This afternoon, my office threw me a going away party and it was simply wonderful. I will add more pictures when I get them. There was a delicious spread of fruit, rita’s italian ice, and cookies from my favorite cookie store. The whole office showed up, and even my original boss and other people I have worked with through the years were there. The best surprise was when Tim and the kids showed up.

It is difficult for me to put into words what today meant to me, but I do know that I am going to miss each and every one of those people. I have built some amazing friendships along the way. I’m thankful I have a few more days with them!!

It’s late, but I will post more tomorrow!

Tomorrow starts my last week of work. I’ve been emptying my desk, clearing off my computer, and taking stuff off the walls. They have started interviewing for my replacement. It’s a strange sensation to watch it all happen. I’ve been struggling the past few days between sadness and excitement.

Tim and the kids came home last night and the kids were in bed by the time I got back from my dinner. Tim brought Baby E into our bed so that he could spend the rest of the night with us. He fussed for a moment and then opened his eyes. He smiled his sweet little smile, and said “Mommy!!” and fell back to sleep. While I didn’t get much sleep last night, I loved the feeling of him in bed with me, knowing my kids were home!

After church this morning we made it to the park for a little while and then for a trip to Rita’s. Tim had to go out to the new house so I told Baby E he could sleep with me again. After much tossing and turning, he finally fell asleep. 🙂

Tomorrow the kids start vacation bible school for the week and they are very excited. I’m looking forward to hearing about their adventures every evening!

FIVE MORE DAYS- we got this!!

Tonight began my week of goodbyes. As our time here is winding down to an end, I’m taking every opportunity to spend time with as many people as possible. This evening I went out to dinner with some dear friends. We went to a nice restaurant nearby and enjoyed each others’ company. Later a few of us went for ice cream and a walk on the boardwalk. I’m going to miss these women. I know I will make new friends in our new town, but leaving these ones is pretty hard.

Thank you for making my night special. Love you!

My parents started their business when I was just a baby. My childhood is populated with the memories of the various shops they worked out of. Each of them have their own reference point, the way I can describe them to my family members so that they know which one I am referring to… “the first one,” “the one with the dumpster out front,” “the one with the yard,” “the one with the office in the basement,” “the one with the fig trees.” I could say those phrases to my brother and sister and they would know exactly which one I was talking about.

Yesterday when I went out to get my nails done with my friend, we drove right past one of them.

It was the shop with the yard. Sometimes in my head I get “the shop with the yard” and “the shop with the dumpster out front” confused in my head, not their exterior, but the layout inside.

But there are definite memories from “the shop with the yard.” For one thing, it had a yard so we got to play outside more than at any of the other shops. We had a cat at that shop- his name was Higgins and he was huge. One day when we were at that shop my mom took us to the mall, and when we were at a pet store, she let me pick out my first pet bunny, which we brought back to the shop that afternoon. I named it Hershey Kiss. Don’t worry, it lived at our house! (Unfortunately it soon ate rat poison we didn’t realize was under our kitchen cabinets from the previous people, and Hershey died, but that’s another story for another time.)

Behind the closed bay door is a ramp into the shop area, big enough to drive a truck onto. My sister and I used to sit on moving dollies and race each other down the ramp and out into the parking lot, being careful not to run over our fingers. My dad did a custom paint job on his car in that shop. And it was in that very parking lot that I learned that my grandmother had passed away.

Back then we were always covered in dust and dirt. We amused ourselves with the tools at hand. We watched our parents work together to build a company that could sustain and thrive their family.

It’s a strange sensation to stand there 30 years later and gaze at the door- the feeling that it is familiar and foreign in the same breath. Our childhood experiences were unique, and looking back I am so thankful for my not by the book, unusual, outside the box memories!

Every once and a while we have to take a survey at work, a kind of measurement on the health of the organization and the people working for it. The questions range from whether you feel you are given the resources you need to do your job, to if you feel your job within the organization is important. One of the questions we all kind of make fun of is, “Do you have a best friend at work?” It seems like a silly question to put on the survey, but in spite of that, I have been blessed to be able to answer “Yes” on that one every time.

Gail is my best friend at work. In fact, outside of family, I’d honestly say she is my best friend.

She and I became friends over our growing baby bumps back in the day. I was pregnant with Big E and she was pregnant with her son. They were born about ten weeks apart. A few years later I had Baby E and a year after that she had her daughter. We’ve been navigating working-mom life together now for years. It has been a blessing to go to work each day and know that there was someone there that was on the same journey I was on, someone that could understand the victories and the failures of juggling a family and working full time. We’ve shared stories, advice, joys, and heartbreaks as we’ve watched our kids growing up.

Leaving Gail is one of the saddest parts of leaving my job.

This evening after work we got to spend some time together. We went and got pedicures. It’s been years since I’ve had one (professionally, that is, C gives me pedis sometimes, so you know…) The chance to just hang out outside of work, with no kids and no responsibilities was simply wonderful. I wish we had thought to do it sooner and more often. 😉

Mom friends are important. They keep us sane. They are our sounding boards. They talk us down from our ledges. They make motherhood less lonely. They are indispensable and I am incredibly grateful that God gave me such an amazing friend in Gail!!