How Things Have Changed!

The house is packed up, the goods are gone... now we wait!

The packing days went very smoothly! We had a good group of workers that worked so hard to get all of our things packed up efficiently and quickly. It was awesome. The first day was a little rough. We had planned that the girls and I would be gone during the process so we'd be out of the way. I guess I never thought Sara seeing the movers would effect her, but when they came in while she was playing I looked over at her and her face was just so sad. She was tearing up and trying so hard not to cry. When I ran over there to comfort her all she got out was, "I don't want them to pack up my Tsum Tsums!" It was so sad, but it was also hard not to chuckle about it. Poor girl. Eventually, she was totally fine with them being in our house and didn't seem to care about the house being completely empty. 

Jordyn on the other hand, was SO confused when she walked into the empty house. We hadn't been there since the day before when there were boxes everywhere. She came running into the house to do her normal things and just stopped and looked around. It was so sad! But we ran through the whole house and after a while she didn't care and was just having so much fun chasing everyone! 

Jordyn and her lazy mornings

Now is the hard part. We only have to clean up a little bit tomorrow morning, but then it's just a waiting period. I feel like we've done all the things we've wanted to do and now it's almost like we're just wasting time. haha 

All of this waiting around does make us think about our time here. 4 and a half years here doesn't seem like a long time, but looking back I can't believe how many life changing events have happened to us up here! We came here as a family of two and are leaving as a family of 5! I've done 3 years of teaching at an amazing school, with a lot of crazy drama there haha. Then, started this Stay-At-Home mom gig, which I have fallen in love with. I've started a new adventure with LuLaRoe. Made lots of new friends who have come and gone. Lost two babies and birthed two babies... with another on the way. 

It's a little sad to think that this is where the girls have grown up so far and we're leaving! This is what they know and what they're familiar with. I was thinking about how well Jordyn knows her way around our house and knows where everything is, and now we'll have to reteach her all of that. I think about all Sara has been able to experience here and how hard it's going to be for her since there's no Disneyland in Alaska. haha It makes me so sad to think that when people ask where they were born, this place probably won't mean much to them. They are officially "Military Brats" :( It's just so different from the way I grew up, so it's hard to relate to. But we'll figure it all out along the way. 

Using her imagination and some kitchen goods from our temp. housing to make Troll smoothies!

Anyway, this is our last blog from California! Stay tuned for more crazy adventures to come in Alaska! ahhhhh!

2 Weeks!

Today marks two weeks til the movers come and pack out our things! It's all getting so real! I go through moments of excitement, to anxiety, to sadness and then I just want it to be here already so we can just be done with it! Just a little recap of where we are in our life. We have tickets to fly out of here March 2! It'll be a long trip, but also the most bearable option that we had! ha We're shipping our car up there and staying in temporary housing before we fly out. When we get there we've been saving up for a minivan that we'll get pretty shortly after we get there! YAY! Then we plan on staying on base for at least the first year, just because the hospital is on base and I would feel better about being right there for the birth of Baby Girl #3!

This move has been different emotionally for me. Last time we moved, it was so hard leaving MY home! Leaving my family and my close friends was really hard. This time, it's been a struggle just because I feel like I've kind of already checkout out of this place. It's not a good mindset to be in. I feel like there are probably two different military wife/mom mindsets... the mom that checks out like me and the mom that takes every advantage of every last moment. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I will miss about this place. But I never thought I'd have that "itch" to get somewhere new and start over! I've been really praying and working on being content and productive in the place I'm at instead of spending all my time and efforts planning and thinking about the future. I was reading through the Proverbs for a bible study I'm doing and this Proverb stuck out to me: "Commit to the LORD whatever you do and He will establish your plans" 16:3. It's just a nice reminder to live my life for the Lord every day and try not to worry so much about planning because the Lord knows my future and will take care of us!

We've been checking things off the list as we await our last days here. One thing we did was make one last visit to Disneyland! It was awesome because my parents and my brother and his family came down to meet us too! It was a hard trip though knowing it would be the last time we saw all of them for who knows how long. :( But it was just so nice for the girls to be with their family. It's going to be the hardest part of all of this being SO far away. I try to convince my parents to just find jobs up there and come with us... haha Even though it's pretty unrealistic, but wouldn't it just be great!?

 

Sara talks about moving to Alaska ALL the time. Today, I had a plan to start packing up some of their toys, so that when we open it again in 2 weeks the toys will be exciting again. Sara looked at the bag with a confused face and asked me "Mommy, are we moving to Alaska.... orrrr Disneyland?" haha I guess you know you've been there too many times if your 3 year old is asking that. We talk all the time about how the packers are going to put all their things in a box, but for some reason maybe seeing the suitcase, she had a really hard time with knowing that she won't see her toys for probably a month!

Jason's Tech Sergeant promotion ceremony! Yay

The girls are growing up so fast. Sara likes to tell us that all the time too. A lot of the times when she's telling stories she starts off with "When I was Jordyn's age" or "When I was a baby". It's quite amusing. They are the best of friends, and the worst of friends. haha Typical sibling things. Jordyn has really taken off with her talking the past couple weeks. Although, I'm sure if any of you were here you would have no idea what she's saying! She's still a Mama's girl, we'll see what happens when the new baby comes! Yikes. But it's been so fun being able to watch them learn and explore together. The other day I laughed because we were at church playing with a handful of other kids and there's Sara and Jordyn just wanting to play together. Crazy girls.

Jordyn transitioned early to a Toddler bed before we move!

Sara's favorite thing in the world right now... Trolls

So there's our life in a nutshell at the moment. If you're reading this, we'd appreciate a quick prayer. Just for peace and contentment. Also, just a prayer to not get too stressed out about little things while we're in the process of moving. And prayers that the girls will transition to the new place easily.