To my NH friends

What to say and how to say it? There are so many sentiments swirling around in my head that I'm having trouble collecting them into a cohesive expression of how much you've meant to me.

You were what made leaving New Hampshire difficult. You were what made it livable for me while I struggled through the seemingly endless winters and made the far-too-short-for-me summers so much more fun. It was all of you that helped keep me sane while my husband-against any wishes of his own- worked way too many hours.

You helped me figure out my way in parenting and solidifying the decision to homeschool. You were my family when mine was so far away. You celebrated with me when exciting things were happening and supported me through the difficult things. You bouyed me when I was just so burned out I didn't think I could survive this process of a husband in medical training coupled with 2 young children.

You made the agonizing process of saying goodbye both so wonderful and so difficult all at the same time. We were so very well fed, given heartfelt well wishes and beautiful remembrances. You entertained my children so I could take of things and helped get us out the door to close on our house. It meant the world to me, but made it heartwrenching to leave behind.

I cried as we left town for the last time.

To say thank you isn't enough. Helen Keller was quoted as saying "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

You are now a part of me and although things are pretty good here, I miss you a great deal. I pray that I find something as wonderful here.

So far, so good...

Finally, a chance to write a little. Dave and Dillon are taking my mom to the airport in Indianapolis while I'm home with a napping Corryn.

We're doing pretty well, I have to say. My mom has been here for 2 weeks and has been a tremendous help in making this transition with 2 young children. The house is functional, though there are still boxes to deal with. It'll get done eventually.

The rental house is pretty nice- and a good bit bigger than what we moved from. And lighter. We had the darkest house in New Hampshire, so all these white walls and windows are a welcome change for me. We're in a cookie cutter housing development which is fine for the time being, but definitely isn't our dream. The neighbors, thus far, are really nice & keep bringing goodies our way. There are also a few too many door to door salesman for my tastes. Sidewalks are everywhere, which we've taken many walks on already. Dillon is now a pro at riding the little bike that we have & is beyond ready to graduate up to a real bike. We plan on saving like crazy for the next year to 2 years to find/remodel/build our dream house.

The community is mostly good as well. For the first several days we tended to drive through the industrial parts, just because that was the most direct and most familiar route. I started hearing this little voice inside my head "what have we done moving to this ugly, industrial place?" I made an effort to start taking different routes & it has made all the difference. I really do like it here. The farmer's market is good, though vastly different (disappointingly so for Dillon) from the one we left behind. THere are tons of parks, so we're making it our goal to work through them. The people are friendly. I can get pretty much all the foods I like to buy (such a small thing that makes me so happy!).

We start horseback riding lessons today and believe it or not, have a playdate set up for friday morning. When we met with the owner of the horseback riding place, she offered to connect me with another homeschooling family that she knows. Lo and behold, I got a call from her yesterday. We had a lot in common, so we're getting together. It's a good start. We're going to take the girls to the Indianapolis Children's Museum friday afternoon since Dillon's already been asking to go.

So that's it in a nutshell. I have my moments of sadness in leaving New Hampshire and definitely miss our friends. But I also have a good bit of time in which I'm feeling really good about this move and really excited that we've finally reached what we've been working toward for 12 years.

It's going to be just fine.

Doing OK!

Just a quick note to say that we arrived in Indiana safe and sound. After accidently standing up the cable guy a couple of days after arriving, we got it rescheduled and finally have internet access again. We've made a good bit of progress through the boxes and are settling in a bit.

I'm going tomorrow to try to get my drivers license. To get one from out of state here, you have to re-take the written test, so I have to look over the actual rules of driving (after a number of years of doing so...)so that I'm am not ashamed to show my face in public having failed a driving test! I'll write more & post a few pictures as we get a bit more settled.

An empty house

It's all empty in here- so much so that it echoes. We've been cleaning, though somehow it still looks messy with just the stuff we kept behind for us to use. We close on the house on Monday, so it has to be clean by then.

After cleaning all morning, we took the girls and Dillon's friend E to the local science museum. Other than Dillon's meltdown at not getting to buy junk food out of the vending machine it went well. We're both sad tonight at telling friends goodbye today.

This time getting ready for our move has really highlighted what wonderful friends we've made here. I'll write more about it later when I'm not so exhausted- and after I've enjoyed some of the loaf of gluten free bread that someone annonymously left still-warm in the mailbox for me.

Packed

The packing is done. We have a down day today since the truck isn't going to be loaded until tomorrow. Well, sort of a down day, there's still a fair number of things to do around here, but I'm thankful for the chance to get them done without having to dodge the movers.

Dillon's feeling pretty rattled. She goes to find something she wants and finds that it isn't where she's used to it being and gets upset. Sometimes. Sometimes she takes it all in stride. Largely it depends on how well fed she is and willing she's been to eat during the day. All I can do is try my best- I can't force her to eat.

As thoroughly not fun as saying goodbye is, I have to admit that I'm ready to get this moving stuff done and get life put back together again.

Ack!

The moving people will be here in less than 3 hours to start packing up the house. In that time I have to feed myself and the kids, clean the kitchen so they can pack up the dishes, finish up the last 2 loads of laundry, finish separating out the stuff we're keeping here with us from the stuff they can pack up, and finish packing the suitcases that we'll be living out of for most of the next 2 weeks. Dave is gone all day taking his anesthesia board exam in Burlington, VT, so I have a babysitter (aka lifesaver!) coming. I'm actually pretty organized about the move, but there's so many things that happen last minute that it feels crazy and stressful right now.

Today is also the last day of horseback riding, so Dillon has to tell her beloved Pipsqueak goodbye. I've taken lots of pictures & will try to get a few more today.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. I'm going to survive this chaos...I'm going to survive this chaos...