living to tell about it.

hello friends. it is so good to be back. as i sit here in our new home, looking out of the twelve pane window at a landscape filled with snowy pines and hillsides with grazing deer, i am reminded of His ever present blessings. it has been a hard week. i was telling myself that i had no idea what moving was until this big move. and this is only the half of it. i have five months to breath until we're at it again. but for now, i will soak in the peace that this environment brings. the serenity out here is quiet. still. wide open. it is truly gorgeous.

sunday and monday were the hardest days. in my little hopeful mind, i figured we'd have everything moved on sunday in about two trips and have the rest of the late afternoon and evening to {start to} unpack and clean our new place. we already had monday planned to clean the old house. i am completely laughing at myself and my outlandish high hopes. everything was way more than i expected. my ideals were a wee bit off, to say the least. don't you get so disappointed when that happens? as you sit that night barely able to breath because you're so exhausted and mad at the fact that you didn't accomplish nearly what you thought? yeeeah, that was me. so monday's sun came up and we were back at the old house with still more to move (because remember? sunday wasn't completely accomplished). we cleaned for twelve hours. TWELVE. and probably still didn't get to every detail that i would have liked. on a positive outlook, the girls did amazingly well with hardly anything to play with in a cold and empty house, with parents on the fritz of squeezing cleaning life out of every minute. and the hubby was a masterful sanitizer. he rocks at cleaning. and to think, we lived pretty clean lives. i had no idea what lurks behind things. and way up high. and way down below.

on the way home super late monday night, i was having a conversation with myself (it was late. don't judge.). it went something like this:

me: "i locked the doors for one last time. i'm feeling a bit emotional, but okay with it."

me: "yeah, but you just spent twelve hours cleaning that joint. don't you think you're a little tired of looking at it?"

me: "ah ha. light bulb moment. that's why you detail clean before leaving...so that you're completely annoyed with the place and it's not as hard to leave. i completely get it now."

okay, so this conversation wasn't audible, just floating around in my overly tired brain. but isn't that true? not that i despise that adorable little house, but i seriously needed to step away after those exhausting two days. and it was good to take those giant steps. funny story: on monday when we left the new house to go to the old house, i had the girls with me in the subi and as we turned on our old street, jessa says, "no mama, not this way. we have a new house now." and that totally sums up her attitude with this move. another amazing blessing has been her excitement to be here. she loves it out here. both the girl's transition has been smooth. both have been sleeping very well at night. and both have been enjoying the new environment. out of the blue jessa will shout out, "we have a new house! yessss!" i am also happy to be here, trying to capture the same excitement my little one has. isn't it great when they are role models for us?

i still have some cleaning to do out here because after all, no one has lived here in quite awhile. {side note: there is a deer staring at me through the window right now. and five more meandering through the lawn. and about fifty running through the trees at the top of the hill. wow. very cool.} most of the unpacking, for now, is done. mostly some clothes and my scrapbook stuff still lay in piles, but for the most part, i'm feeling good at what has been accomplished in two days. i had to put some weekly activities on hold or else i would have gone mentally insane. "town" is now thirty minutes away (the "town" that i'm familiar with) and i've had to go there three times already this week to tie up loose ends. this blogging break is like a nice big deep breath.

pictures are coming soon. i have to upload them to my computer which doesn't have internet yet. we had to go through at&t's communication manager for internet out here. it's the only coverage we could get and even then, we have to sit by the window to make it work. it's just a blessing to have access. could you imagine? me? without internet? scary thought as shivers run down my spine. and movies have been a life saver. we don't get cable (which is great with me) and the local channels are hard to pick up. so jess has been watching her movies while i stay busy. yay for mindless entertainment.

well, i think that is enough for now. i think this could very well be my longest post to date. i can't wait to catch up with the rest of my blogging people. you are still out there, right?

blessings on your week!