**Pictures are randomnly placed throughout post. :)**
Hello! It has been awhile since my last post and my, how things have changed! We are here...in California. It took us two full days of driving and one hotel stop in Grants, NM, but we made it! The kids, Addy and Duke, did great. The first day was the hardest on both of them, but by day two, they were old pros.
I am happy to be here. I am. Really. Leaving Texas was one of the hardest, most gut wrenching experiences of my life. It goes without saying that leaving my family, especially my mom and my dad, ripped my heart out. They have all lifted us up through prayer, love, and support and I feel it. The morning we left, I was able to calm my crying (sobbing, more like it) a few miles down the road from my parents' house, but started up again when we crossed over the TX/ NM border. I watched Texas disappear behind me in the rear view mirror and felt that aching in my heart again.
~~Oh Texas...you have been a good friend, but I know we will see each other soon. You have my heart. I am a proud Texan through and through and don't think I won't brag about you to my new friend, California.~~
The arrival here was made much easier by Toni's welcome! She transformed what was her room to Addy's room. When I walked in, Addy's crib was put together, her changing table was in there, her dresser painted by her Daddy was in there, her toy chest, and her rug were all in there making me feel like a piece of "home" was waiting on us. I don't think Toni will ever know how much that meant. I shed many a tear leaving our home, but more specifically, Addy's bedroom. SO many memories.
As hard as it was to say goodbye to family, friends, and our first home full of memories...I still feel that this is right. So many things are falling into place with ease. I have a job, I start tomorrow. Addy has a preschool, she loves it already. Dusty continues to exceed at his job, loving it more everyday.
I am nervously excited about my job. I will no longer be a classroom teacher. I am the new Transition Specialist for the Lindsay Unified School District-a town about 10 miles from here. I will be coordinating the transitions of kids entering preschool and exiting high school under the SPED umbrella as well as writing all the IEP's and facilitating meetings. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but that's all I know at the point! I start tomorrow. (the street I work on is lined with palm trees with a backdrop of mountains! No forgetting where I am!) I think I may even have an office! Crazy!
This summer was a whirlwind. I know a lot of people that love us had doubts about this move...some may still have those doubts. Something is telling me that this is right for our family. I feel like we have been "led" this way. It did happen fast, but the signs were there. Dusty and I talked about that on our long trip and we both said that we feel God puts these signs in front of us and leaves it up to us to make heads or tails of it. We did just that...we called "heads"!
When Dusty left Texas six or seven weeks ago, it tore me up. Tore him up too. But he said something to calm me that still rings in my ear that I will leave you with...he said,
"Babe, think about the story we are writing...think about years from now when we can look back and say how brave we were then and that there won't be anything that can stop us once we get through it."
And I think he is right...what a cool story...
