Just about settled.

It's been seven days now since we've arrived at the new house. The kids and I left SW Kansas on Saturday morning and by the time we arrived the moving van was gone. And it was time to unpack. It was a bit hairy and stressful for a bit but practically everything is in it's place except for all my photos and paintings. The garage is a bit of a mess too but that's not my department. 

The last few weeks have left me feeling anxious and nervous but those feelings have quickly subsided. DR and I have meshed together fairly well this week after six months of living apart. I sure am sleeping better now that my bed isn't empty! 

The biggest adjustment we've probably all had to make is the change in climate. Of the seven days we've been here it's rained every day but one. Everything is so very green and there are flowers everywhere....it's a bit of an assault on the senses after 5 years in SW Kansas. Even the wet smells of grass and earth seem almost intoxicating. 

It's been so wet in fact that we had to go buy rain boots for the kids so they had something to play in the woods with. (More on that later.) In SW Kansas I never even had to buy them winter boots. A SW Kansas winter is a dry winter. You always hear about the dry heat but a dry winter is different too. It may get cold in SW Kansas but it's the humidity in winter that will drive that cold to your bones like here in the east. I've felt like I've gone through three seasons in one day just because the way humidity effects my body. I didn't think I'd ever have to get used to humidity again!! 

Across the street from our house is a lake that the kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing in. Wading and skipping rocks and tromping through mud. I haven't done this much laundry in ages. Yip, Yap and Yahoo are constantly stripping off wet clothes. I won't complain though because they are outside!! 

This little lake is a gem where you can fish and has a 1 1/3 mile walking path around the lake. On Mother's Day evening we all went for a walk here and ended up getting thoroughly soaked by the rain. The boys, who were almost 6 years old when we moved away from Illinois, were happy as clams that they were in the rain. Yahoo however was not impressed. She was only 1 1/2 years old when we moved to SW Kansas so she know nothing but a climate of severe drought. She HATED walking in the rain. It was almost comical how much she complained!! 

Besides the house I think we have made a good start into settling into the community. We signed up for the summer reading program at the town library. Yip and Yahoo are in baseball this summer and Yap is signed up for golf camp. I'm trying to spread the word about The Roving Brush and hoping to get a couple painting parties scheduled for summer time. We've met a few of the neighbors and have become a familiar face already at the local Orscheln Farm Store. 

I'm excited for the summer. I think it will be a good one but I am a little bit homesick for SW Kansas. 

I miss you Sue, Connie, Angie, Cassandra. Montezuma will always hold a special place in my heart! 

Big News!

Wow, I can hardly believe that it's been almost four months since I've blogged. I know I've been ignoring my blog here but I must say the other aspects of my life have been flourishing! 

In case you didn't know, in the last year I've started my own business The Roving Brush, a traveling painting party. It became more successful than I had ever imagined it would. In the past 16 months I'd say I averaged one party a week which along with substitute teaching and teaching Sunday School I've only gotten busier the last couple of years. 

And of course Yip and Yap are 10 1/2 years old, almost as tall as me and busy with basketball, 4H and the many adventures they get themselves into. Yahoo will be 6 in a couple of weeks and is so very proud of the fact that her bike's training wheels are off and she's working really hard at learning to ride like a big kid before......

........big news coming......


........can you guess???.............


WE ARE MOVING! (Yes, again!) 

Let's recap shall we?? 

Quick timeline;
Aug. 2003 - DR and I were married and I moved from central Indiana to Kentucky. 
March. 2004 - DR's job moved him, temporarily, to Delaware. I was two months pregnant with twins. I move in with my sister in Indianapolis because we don't know how long "temporary" will be and what issues we may have with twins. So for the next few months DR and I flew back and forth to see one another. In June, "temporary" became permanent and I am told by my doctor to no longer fly. 
August/Sept. 2004- Yip and Yap were born very healthy and a month later my mom and I drove to Delaware with the babies. DR didn't like the position he was forced into with this company and so....
January 2005 - My parents and teenage brother came to Delaware and helped move us back to northern Indiana....through a blizzard....with 5 month old twins....to a rental house that I'd only seen once.....two years before.  
October 2005 - We moved again to a house we bought two streets away because,you know, we thought we'd be there for a while. 
July 2006 - DR is asked to take a position in southern Indiana close to his family....we move again. 
October 2007 - July 2010 DR's company moved us again to central Illinois close to the Indiana state line. Yahoo was born!! 
July 2010 - March 4, 2015 We've lived in Montezuma, KS one of the best little communities in the world!! (can you tell I'm biased?)  
March 4, 2015 - will be our last day in this great town and we'll be moving to a 20 acre place in the country that I haven't seen yet!


I am super excited for our move though. We'll be living about an hour southwest of Kansas City, KS which is only a day drive to my parents in Indiana!! That's so much better than the two day drive with three kids that we've faced these last 4 years. DR has taken a job with his company that's a promotion (more on that later hopefully!) that he is really enjoying. He's been living in Kansas City in a hotel since early December and we are all tired of it! My kids miss their dad!!! The kids are pretty nervous about being at a new school but I'm sure they'll adjust pretty quickly. 

Anyway, with our move coming up we (obviously) have some big changes coming. I anticipate that the biggest challenge for me is that I will suddenly have either a) a whole lot of time on my hands to blog or b) so busy with living in the country and kick starting The Roving Brush again that I won't have time to blog! We'll see! 


As I was searching back through my blog to find that timeline above I found all those posts I did years ago that were Pics of the Day. Now why haven't I been doing those in a while? Oh, I know it's tricky to lug a camera around, load pics onto the computer and then post. But now I have a phone I can blog from and....why haven't I? I've decided to try to do those again.

With just about 3 weeks until moving day my schedule is all kinds of crazy. Some days I find myself busy from sunup to when I crash into bed and then other days, like today I find myself with some unexpected time on my hands. 
I'll do my best to keep you all updated on the big move! 

Keep us in your prayers...we need it!! 

Heather 

We Are Truly Blessed.

I was substitute teaching down the road this week at an elementary with 52 children. That is, 52 students in the whole elementary, and that included a preschool class. As I was standing in the noon sun on a gorgeous November day, I was struck anew by just how blessed my family and I are to live in Southwest Kansas. 

Of course living in the middle of no where isn't without it's annoyances. It's too dray and too warm. I'm too far from family. I miss trees and leaves and humidity (a little humidity anyway). But these things seem like trivial complaints when I look around and really appreciate the fantastic community my family and I live in. 

We live in a town of 900 people. Maybe my kids and I don't personally know all 900 of them but there are a large chunk of faces we recognize and who recognize us. One of my boys' best friends lives right across the street from us, the main street of town by the way, and he's often found playing at our house. The other day he crossed the street without looking for cars. Granted traffic is rarely busy in town and most people are VERY good at watching out for darting kids. But a truck was coming and the driver, who knew the neighbor boy, stopped in the middle of the street and warmed him about not looking before he crossed the road. It's nice to know people here not only look out for children who aren't their own, but will discipline them as well; I appreciate that. 

Just a few evenings ago I was doing some work on the computer in the living room. It was well past 9:00 and DR had already gone to bed when there was a knock at the door. I was rather surprised considering our town "rolls up the sidewalks" at dark. Of course, I wasn't nervous about answering the door either. I just can't imagine anyone wishing to cause me harm would bother knocking first. I answered the door to find another of my neighbors, a woman about my age, crying on my doorstep. She's a single mother and had some bad family news that day. All day she'd been upset, she couldn't calm down and had seen my light on and had come over to ask me to pray with and for her. I was a bit flustered, no one has ever asked me to pray for or with them before. My neighbor doesn't attend church but know I do...it's a small town after all. So we sat and talked and prayed. It warms my heart that this woman felt comfortable enough to come over and ask for help though we've known one another less than a year. I can name at least 5 people who live only a block away from me that I wouldn't hesitate asking for help, day or night, if I needed it. I've lived in other towns where I barely knew my neighbors even after more than a year of living beside one another. 

But really the thing I appreciate the most about living in rural Kansas are the SMALL schools. In 1994 I graduated from an Indiana high school in a class of about 130. While in college, still in Indiana, I did my student teaching at a school of a thousand students. While in Kentucky I substitute taught with police officers and racial fights in the hallways. A small school is a nice change of pace. That's not to say a super small school is perfect; we still deal with a lot of the same issues as big schools (behavior, bullies, cliques). But for the most part there isn't much of that kind of stuff to deal with and rarely any major issue. The teachers in Yip and Yap's school knows every one's names, not just in their classroom...everyone. The 5th grade teacher knows all the elementary students though they haven't bee in his class yet. In our small school we are lucky with the individual attention students receive. The staff isn't stretched thing meeting the needs of 30 plus students, rather the largest class I've see in the elementary is 19. A little school might not have the tax base or resources for lots of computers or the most modern facilities, but I'd much rather have the time and attention of their teachers over a fancy school any day. 

I asked my mom recently if the fact that DR and I have moved so often really bothered her and my dad. But she said , no id didn't. Of course they'd like it if their grand kids lived closer. (I'm hoping she'd like to have DR and I live closer as well but you can never be too sure about the priorities of grandparents) but if we couldn't live back home in Indiana she and Dad are awfully happy their grand kids are growing up in such a wonderful little community. I'd have to agree. 

Of all the states and communities that DR and I have moved into in the last 9 years, this community has by far been the most welcoming, the most like home and family and for that I am very, VERY thankful! 

Unemployment and Illegal Immigrants....wanderings of my thoughts.

Have you heard about this little immigration issue (argument, problem...whatever you want to call it) we have in our country? Maybe you've heard some rumblings going on down in Arizona? Have you heard about that law passed that would increase enforcement of the deportation of illegal immigrants? I know, I know...it's old news. But I'm not writing this post to argue about illegal immigration...really. It's a hot button issue and I'm sure there is someone out there who could begin a great discussion with me about the error of Arizona's ways. No, instead today I'm writing about unemployment.

The topic of illegal immigrants and their deportation came up in a conversation I was having with DR the other day. Honestly, I expected him to voice his support for the crackdown on illegals. He's a black and white kind of guy if you know what I mean. ("Follow the law!") But he surprised me.

DR's stance was this; if illegal immigrants are forced to return to their home country, wherever that may be, then who'll do the work? Yes, unemployment is high in this country but not everywhere. Here in our part of Kansas (as DR tells it) in some businesses there are too few workers for available jobs. Even he has had difficulty hiring qualified people at the grain elevator. In DR's case qualified applicants includes the ability to speak English. But there aren't tons of English speaking people knocking on his door to work at a grain elevator. If mass numbers of immigrants are deported and numerous jobs open up across this country, will people (unemployed US citizens) really move to where the jobs are?

DR's not so sure they would.

He got me thinking so I did a bit of research about unemployment in our country. According the the US Dept. of Labor last month Kansas has one of the lowest rates, about 7%, of unemployment in the country (North Dakota is the lowest) while Nevada has the highest jobless rate at 14%. But those rates don't necessarily reflect the available jobs that aren't being filled because there aren't qualified applicants. (I'm speculating a here; I haven't found any reports on it.)

It is over 1,200 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada to Wichita, Kansas and over 1,300 miles from Las Vegas to Bismarck, North Dakota. If those are the states where the jobs are, like DR suggests, that's a long way to pick up and move your family to find employment...if you are qualified.

My question is this...How far would you move for a job? And what would it take for you to pick up your family and move over 1,000 miles? If you were unemployed would you move out of state, away from family, for a job, any job, if the opportunity presented itself? Why or why not?

See, I don't think I have an objective view of this because I've lived in 5 states in 7 years. Moving for DR's job just doesn't bother me anymore but that is probably because we are fairly stable in our finances. Would I be so willing to pick up and move out of state if we were living paycheck to paycheck? Would I be as willing to move away from my family, who are all in Indiana, if I didn't have the ability to go visit?

"We are a movin' family."

If you don't know how often our family has moved in the last 7 years then click here to gain a bit of background.

About a two months ago, as you probably know, our family arrived in Kansas from Illinois. Moving isn't new to us and once the movers finally arrived we promptly unpacked and quickly settled into our new community. I think I can say that we are all in a good groove here. We've joined a church, visit the local library regularly and everyone has already made new friends. We love this community and we are doing good!

Yip and Yap especially seem to have easily slipped into the groove of the community. So I was surprised when Yip said the other day, "I wonder where we are going to move next."

"Hey! We just got here." I replied.

Yap chimed in, "Yeah Mom but we are a moving family!!"

So...there you are! We are a moving family. We've moved a lot and I know we'll move again in the future. I think it's inevitable with the nature of DR's job and ambitions. When the boys were about three and we moved to Illinois from Indiana, as well as this past move, I worried that they would have a hard time making the transition. We talked a lot about what to expect to prepare them for the move. Obviously picking up and moving halfway across the country hasn't seemed to bother them at all!

Part of me feels guilty though having to uproot our family every couple of years. Of course, I know there are advantages to such a lifestyle. I think our family has become more flexible in dealing with change. We've been able to visit parts of the country we may never have traveled to otherwise because we've lived so many different places. Especially after this last move, I've noticed my boys are much more open to meeting new people...probably more so than me!

But could all this moving be bad for my kids too?? I don't know. I lived in one home from the time I was born until I went to college. I never had to move away from my family. My grandparents were all close by as were my large extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. I know for me it was wonderful growing up with the constancy of my family. Sometimes I regret that my kids don't have the family experience that I had.

However, I've realized that times are changing. No longer, or not often anyway, can a person be born, grow up, live, work and die in the same place. It seems to me that my and my siblings generations are going further away for college and are more likely to move away for jobs. My brother is in college in Kansas and I have another cousin at college in Oklahoma. I wouldn't be surprised if neither of them went back home to Indiana permanently.

Back when my parents helped DR and I move back from Delaware to Indiana my dad commented on how much more mobile my generation is than his was. I can see that too. Transportation is more reliable and readily available. Communication, like cell phones, allows for quicker and easier trip planning. We have information readily available all the time with the Internet. Now with Facebook or MySpace we can keep in touch with family and friends better than ever before. But mostly I think it is a mindset. I think my generation feels there is nothing that can or should hold us back, not even loyalty to family or location. I think we are more mobile because we have allowed ourselves to be.

My kids have that mindset already. After I was informed that we were a moving family I asked them where we should move next. Without pausing or missing a beat Yip answers, "Australia!" Well...I've always wanted to visit Australia. Why not live there for a while? You never know Yip, you may get your wish someday.

What do you think? Has your family moved alot? Do you have family who lives far away? How do you handle it? I really want to hear any comments on this subject!

....and more moving delays...

....(continued)....


Friday, July 16th, we are an hour from our new home with the expectation that the moving truck will be there the very next day we get the phone call from the moving truck driver, Bill. He now had to go, against his wishes, to Missouri to take a load back to Illinois before he could bring our stuff to Kansas. He'd give us a call later to let us know when he'd be there.


In the meantime we roamed our town and kept ourself busy.

Montezuma, Kansas. Population; just under 1000. One grocery store, one restaurant, one hardware store, one pharmacy, one tiny library, a post office, a town pool, about five churchs, two grain elevators and a large Mennonite community!!

Yip and Yap have spent most of their time in the tree in our front yard! Great for climbing!!

The town pool is small but only a block from our house. With the temps hitting 100+ degrees, we were there three times the first week. We just missed signing up for swimming lessons but the boys have made tons of progress learning to swim on their own just in the past two days! They may be jumping off the diving board before school starts!!

We didn't pack too many toys in the car and the ones the kids did play with were small and they were already bored with them. A wonderful older couple from the church we are attending invited us over to borrow some cooking utensils, pots, pans and toys. They even let Yip and Yap borrow this OLD pair of roller skates. What a great couple!!

After being stuck in Hutchinson, KS with truck trouble our driver finally arrived on Thursday, July 22nd. Well, it's been a week and everything is unpacked and organized...well, except for the garage!

\

So far I'm really enjoying our new town and home. Everyone here has been so welcoming and friendly. Montezuma is such a small town I feel comfortable letting the boys ride their bikes to the playground on their own. I don't mind walking a block to the grocery store while the baby takes a nap. This town reminds me of Andy Griffith's Mayberry; small, clean and friendly!

Are we there yet?

Yes!! We made it to Kansas. All in one piece and no children were lost along the way! There were some bumps along the way and some change of plans but we are finally settled. All the boxes are unpacked and we are starting to live "normal" as Yap puts it :)

Here's a quick rundown of the last few weeks for those of you who are interested in hearing about our little adventures.

The movers had us all packed and loaded on Tues., July 12th. They gave us a window between the 17th and the 22nd of when they would arrive in Kansas. Since they weren't in a hurry, we weren't either. We were planning on arriving late the evening of Sunday the 18th.

So 10:30 pm on the 12th we rolled in to St. Louis and crashed. After a big breakfast the next morning, the 13th, we took off for the Arch! The boys were quite impressed and loved being able to see all the "ant" people below. At the Museum of Westward Expansion I kept teasing the boys that this would be our new home...

...a sod house. They weren't impressed.

After the Arch we headed to the Grant National Historic Site just down the road. If you enjoy history this is a great place to go. I learned lots about Ulysses S. Grant I never expected. Did you know grant never wanted to be in teh military? He wanted to be a horse farmer.

After leaving St. Louis we drove to Stanton, MO and Thursday, the 14th, morning we visited the Meramac Caverns. I had visited these caverns when I was five years old with my grandparents and wanted Yip and Yap to see them too. They weren't nearly as big as I remember them being, but still pretty impressive. Yip was afraid there were werewolves inside!

Thursday afternoon the truck driver hauling all our stuff and told us he thought he'd make it to Kansas by Sat., 17th, at noon. Could we be there?

You bet!! I was excited we'd be able to get settled sooner than expected. We decided to speed up the trip and get to Kansas Thursday night. We stopped at Ft. Scott about 4 pm, an hour before they closed to take a look around and a well needed break from being in the car! Ft. Scott was SO interesting! I really want to check it out again someday because there wasn't nearly enough time to see all I wanted to see.

Friday morning, July 16th, we left Eastern Kansas and drove to the Wichita Zoo. Neat animals, very hot (100 degrees) and a good stopping point after a long morning drive.

After leaving Wichita we still had a 3 hour drive until we made it to our new home. With only an hour to go before we arrived at our final destination, we received another call from the driver......plans had changed....

....to be continued.....

Boxes, boxes everywhere!!

Moving Day #1 down and only two more to go! (The curse of the car struck over the weekend but I'll get back to that in  a future post.)

After a bit of a late start the moving guys attacked our house with gusto. Everything is now packed and ready to be put on the truck tomorrow.

But my husband really suprised me by actually washing out the kitchen cabinets. Grant it was man clean, but it still goes to show he is a pretty darn good husband! My fridge is almost empty too. The only thing left is milk (with nothing to drink out of), eggs (nothing to cook them in) and green beans (no forks to eat them with). Hmm...guess breakfast will be at McDonald's tomorrow.

While the packers were working and DR was cleaning, the kids and I went swimming, played at the park and ate ice cream. When we returned home in the late afternoon Yahoo was exhausted and went to bed right away but Yip and Yap were still full of energy and needed to play. Okay...what to do? All the toys, movies, everything is packed up!! 

Okay....umm...oh look a marker!! Then a bit more searching I found a bunch of markers in a box that hadn't been taped up yet. So up until bedtime the boys did this.....

....they drew funny pictures all over the moving boxes!! Pretty creative I thought. Plus, it's always nice when they can entertain themselves.

One day down, two more to go. Tomorrow the movers will throw everything on the truck and we'll be on our way. Sometime next week, hopefully, our stuff will be at our new house. Wish us luck!

Counting Down.....

We are counting down the days. The kids and I will be picking up DR in 2 days and in only 5 days we will be driving to Kansas! We've all missed Daddy and are so excited that he's going to be home when the movers pack us up. Of course I'm ecstatic that I won't be driving the kids to Kansas all by myself!

I think we are ready. The suitcases are packed and in the car. My mom gave me a box full of books and games to keep the kids entertained on the way. Thanks Mom!! The house is organized, semi-clean and ready for the movers. Craigslist has helped me get rid of stuff as well as the Goodwill store. My sister is going to babysit for me while the movers pack up. Larry the auctioneer will be picking up some furniture next week while the movers are here. I even have cookies ready for the movers. (This particular guy is awesome; he moved us last time and I want to stay on his good side for the future!)

While the movers are here I'll do my last minute sweeping, vacuuming and cleaning out cabinets and closets. I think we are ready but I don't feel ready. Even though I've done this before and should have this moving stuff down pat, I keep having this nagging feeling that I am forgetting something and for the life of me I can't figure out what it could be. Maybe I'm just anxious that something is going to go wrong. Well, I know something is going to go wrong...it always does. I just wish I knew what it's going to be.

Ah well...it will show up in it's own time.

In the meantime I've been thinking about what to leave behind. When you move most of your energy is spent trying to remember no to forget anything. But since I've done this thing a time or two I've learned there are two very important objects that you need to leave behind for the next occupants of your house. 

Toilet paper and a shower curtain.

(This photo cracks me up!)

Two things you always need right away in your new house and usually the things you have no idea which box they are packed in. I'm lucky because DR is already in our new house and I know TP and a shower curtain are already waiting for me! 

Moving anytime soon? Be nice leave the essentials!

July is Crazy!

The month of July is going to be a crazy one for our family! Looking ahead, I'm not sure how we are going to survive. For the next couple weeks I'll be, hopefully, getting the house and appliances cleaned and organized. I also have to pack for our drive to Kansas. DR is taking a train back here to Illinois on the 10th and we'll pick him up. (Woo Hoo!) The movers will be here on the 12th and 13th to pack up the house. I'm getting the same guy that packed our house last time and boy was he fast so those should be two really good days. When the movers leave DR, the kids and I will be heading west. (God Help Us!!) Even though it only takes two days to drive out to our place in Kansas, the movers won't be arriving at our new house until sometime between the 17th and 20th. So...we have some time to kill.

What to do? Take a family vacation. Now, we've NEVER taken a long family vacation. The most we've ever done is camped three days over Labor Day weekend with my parents and siblings or a weekend road trip somewhere. Needless to say five or more days spent driving in a car and staying in hotels with DR and the kids will be.....interesting.......and most definitely a learning experience. We're planning on hanging around St. Louis for awhile and maybe trying to find a good family spot somewhere else in Missouri or Kansas to stop and check out.

I doubt I'll be around a computer, or even in the mood to post this upcoming month. I didn't want to leave you all with nothing to look forward to! Because, I know, my posts are the highlight of your day. (just kidding!) Anyway, I've got a Photo of the Day coming to you every day in July. Some are kid photos for the grandparents! My kids are the only reason my parents read my blog. I think. Some photos will be more "artsy" shots that I've taken in the last few months. Flowers, bubbles, windmills...stuff like that.

If you don't mind, please keep me and my family in your prayers this month. I'm already anticipating a lot of stress and hope it isn't going to be as bad as I think it is. When we finally settle down and get everything unpacked I promise I'll be back with posts on the move, Kansas, the new house, and the new town and hopefully lots of neat pictures too.

Have a Great July!

Sunday Devotions - "Wait upon the Lord."

They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  ISAIAH 40:31

This plaque, with the verse Isaiah 40:31, was a wedding gift given to us from my grandmother. It is one of the first things I make sure gets put up on my walls when we move. The last few weeks have been stressful. DR has been in Kansas and I've been on my own juggling the last minute moving details, my own daily tasks and all the things DR does around the house; like mowing the yard. Even though there is a lot to do preparing to move, there are some days where I just feel as though we are waiting....and waiting....and waiting. It can be frustrating and emotionally draining. There are days I wonder how much longer I can wait before we finally get all this moving stuff DONE!

When I am at my most frustrated and pushed to my limits it is this verse that keeps me going with strength and joy. God is always with us. No matter the obstacle. No matter how hard or how far. When we wait with the Lord he gives us the strength we need. The strength of eagles! The strength to run as far as we have to run and never growing weary. We can never have that kind of strength on our own.

And yes, God gives us the strength (and patience) to wait! For me, waiting is more of an obstacle than doing...something, anything! I don't like to sit still. (I just heard my entire family's heads shake in unison!) But God has a purpose in waiting so I will wait...and God will be here to help me bear it.

Dear God, Thank you for giving us the amazing strength to face our most difficult obstacles; whatever they may be. Thank you for waiting with me Lord! Amen.

MOM!!! I'm ready to go to Kansas!!

What do you think?

 Is this a good solution to my Moving Dilemma?

She looks pretty comfortable, don't you think?

Moving Dilemma #1 - The Curse of the Car

With planning this whole move from Illinois to Kansas, 830 miles by the way, I have been trying to get as organized as possible. I've learned a lot from past moves and I am hoping that those experiences will make this big move much smoother. However there are a few issues that even being organized, I don't know what to do about.

Dilemma #1 - The Curse of the Car

This dilemma is the big one because I KNOW it's there! Let me explain....

1. When we moved from Delaware to Illinois there was a caravan. My dad drove the boys, me and pulled the trailer full of our stuff. My husband drove the Ford pickup and my mom and brother drove our Monte Carlo. Somewhere in the middle of Ohio the idler went out of the car. Luckily, my brother and DR were able to get it fixed right away. (What's an idler?)

2. When we lived in northern Indiana and were only moving two streets away my sister, who was helping us move, took my husband's truck to get pizza...and backed into the neighbor's car.

3. A week before we moved from northern Indiana to southern Indiana DR was mowing one day and threw a rock through the driver side window of our newish Dodge truck. We had mowed by the truck all summer and NEVER had a problem with rocks!

4. And on the last move to Illinois, I locked the keys in our Volvo wagon the day the movers were packing up our house, which meant no phonebook to call a locksmith. I finally was able to reach someone who came out and saved me! Thank goodness!  (I REALLY don't miss that car!)

So see? I know it's coming. I'm just worried about what form it will take. Maybe just a flat tire? Maybe something that will be easily fixable before the big moving day? But what if we break down in the middle of Missouri? Or I get stranded with three little kids in the middle of Crazyville, USA? Or what if I get in a fiery car wreck in the middle of nowhere? (Thank you Wild America)

Note to summer travelers; if you see a crazy looking lady with three kids bouncing in the back seat of her Suburban....please stop....it's probably me.

Wait...what? A red Suburban?? That's not my car!! Oh no, The Curse of the Car has already struck!

Anyway, just remember folks, be nice to people along side the road they might just be traveling 830 miles to the middle of nowhere, Kansas.

My Kansas Dream House!!

Here is the plan for movng to Kansas; DR will tie up some loose ends at home and work here in Illinois and then get out to Kansas to start working around June 1st. The kids and I will wait here until he finds a place for us to live, and then we'll join him. Not much of a plan is it? Well, so far it has always worked for us!

DR and I have been cruising Kansas real estate sites online lately trying to get a feel for the real estate market out there. If you have never had to house hunt with a spouse.....then thank your lucky stars!! Even though DR and I have had to do this quite often, we still aren't good at looking for houses together. I know what I want and need, and he knows what he wants and thinks we need. We can never agree on where we want to live and I get tired of looking at houses pretty quick!

I don't ask for much in a house. Three bedrooms, a basement and a garage would be nice, a dishwasher (I don't have one now) and plenty of space outside for the kids to play and for a big garden. I have never asked for much in a house until................................................................................

..............I saw this house listing!

I have found my dream home!

A log cabin. I've always wanted to live in a log cabin!

This house is gorgeous! I'm just drooling at the description.

Built in 2002, the two story house has 6 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms with over 4,500 sq. feet!!

The Master bedroom is 15.5x21 and has a private balcony & loft.

The Living room is 30x25 with a huge stone fireplace.

The Kitchen is 20x27, (did I just read that right? Nice and big!) with stainless steel appliances...oooh!

The basement has over 2,000 sq. feet; that's bigger than the house I'm living in now!

All this approximately on 40 acres. Not sure what I'd do with 40 acres but I'd figure out something. (No goats or zuchinni!)

We won't even talk about the price tag of my dream home considering it's close a million dollars!! I love looking at houses...not the price tags :)

"What do you think honey....can we buy this one?"  (Hey....a girl can dream can't she? By the way, know anyone selling a house in Kansas?)

Alright, what would your dream house be? Where would it be? I'd love to hear!  

My Gypsy Life; The Never Ending Road Trip.

A couple weeks ago I posted about flying out to Kansas for a job interview with DR. Over the last couple weeks, he has finished the second part of interview and talked to many people regarding this position. We both feel confident that this is a good move for his career and for our family. Therefore very soon we will be moving to Kansas.

Now, if you are reading this and part of my family, you are probably shaking your head and saying, "Moving again? Those poor guys!"  If you aren't part of my family you need to be filled in on the gypsy existence and never ending road trip our family has been on the last seven years.




Quick timeline;
Aug. 2003 - DR and I were married and I moved from central Indiana to Kentucky.
March. 2004 - DR's job moved him, temporarily, to Delaware. I was two months pregnant with twins. I move in with my sister in Indianapolis because we don't know how long "temporary" will be and what issues we may have with twins. So for the next few months DR and I flew back and forth to see one another. In June, "temporary" became permanent and I am told by my doctor to no longer fly.
August/Sept. 2004- Yip and Yap were born very healthy and a month later my mom and I drove to Delaware with the babies. DR didn't like the position he was forced into with this company and so....
January 2005 - My parents and teenage brother came to Delaware and helped move us back to northern Indiana....through a blizzard....with 5 month old twins....to a rental house that I'd only seen once.....two years before.  
October 2005 - We moved again to a house we bought two streets away because,you know, we thought we'd be there for a while.
July 2006 - DR is asked to take a position in southern Indiana close to his family....we move again.
October 2007 - The company moved us again to where we are now, central Illinois close to the Indiana state line. This is the longest we have been in one place since DR and I have been married.
Today- We are preparing to move to southwest Kansas.

In seven years we have lived in four different states and in six different houses. And now we are contemplating the biggest move yet to southwest Kansas.....and I have to admit I'm very excited about the idea of moving again. During the years of moving I've had conflicting emotions about the moves; anxiety, eagerness, anger, happiness. There was always a lot of unknown variables to every move but in every community we moved to I always found wonderful people, places and attractions. I've learned a few things in my years as a gypsy that have positively changed my outlook on life.

My Grandma M. asked me once which was my favorite house of those we had lived in. I couldn't pick one. We've owned and rented houses that were two stories and ranch homes. Some had basements, some didn't. We've lived in big towns, small towns, and in the country. There was something I loved and hated about every house.  I've learned to be flexible because no house is perfect. The house itself isn't important; it's the family and home that is built within the walls that counts. This time, I doubt I'll even see the house in person before we move there. I trust DR to find a good house because he knows what we need and what I want. My only request is a house that is self-cleaning!! Is that too much to ask?

A lousy part of moving, of course, is the packing and unpacking. A few of our moves we have been lucky enough to have movers pack everything up for us, but not always. Although it may be in our genetics for DR and I to be packrats, we have learned that we just don't need....stuff.  Therefore I'm constantly cleaning out cabinets, closets and toyboxes of stuff we just don't need because I don't want to pack or unpack it. I've learned that when I'm not attached to stuff I enjoy my day to day life much more. It's kind of hard to explain, but I'm less stressed about losing things or possessions getting stolen. Oh, I still have some stuff that is very important to me like family heirlooms but the possessions I would have been attached to ten years ago don't seem nearly as valuable now.

Personally, the most difficult part of moving has been meeting new people. I have never been what you call a "social butterfly"; I'm more the "wall flower type". Even though it seems we'ved moved a thousand times and I've met many new people, it's always hard to put myself out there for the first time and form new relationships. I'm perfectly happy as the hermit, staying at home and becoming engrossed in my own projects. The thing is, I've very rarely been disappointed when I finally got to know people in a new community. People everywhere are just wonderful and I miss each and every one of my friends we have moved away from. I have become more confident in myself over the years when approaching people but I still have a long way to go.

The best part of moving, by far, is seeing new places and taking advantage of different opportunities each community provides. Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Gettysburg, Statue of Liberty, West Baden Springs are places we've visited that we might not have if we hadn't move close to each location. I'm excited about all places we could go to from Kansas. The Rockies aren't too far and I'd love for the boys to see history first hand in Dodge City, the Queen of the Cowtowns. Of course everywhere we have lived we've found little gems in each community too. The hedgehog at the library the boys loved to visit. The art guild of which I was a member. The playground and grocery store within walking distance of our house. The little things create memories as well as the big things. 

Why would I be upset about moving again? Before I married DR, I loved to travel! I've had the opportunity to travel across the country; Washington, Arizona, South Carolina, Texas to name a few. We are on this earth for such a short amount of time and this world is oh so big. I want to see as much of it as I can! Rather than be grumpy about moving I'm looking at it as an adventure full of opportunities. Who knows what Kansas will bring? All I know is that I'm ready and we will do great!