It's really happening this time

Just got off the phone with our mortgage person. And, apparently, she was under threat of horse's heads in her bed if she didn't get us to closing on time, but she pulled through. One of the benefits of getting your mortgage through a place your brother works: you get good treatment.

Closing day is tomur little ones. My korrow. Moving day is Saturday.

I woke up this morning early, feeling all of the sadness. Change is stressful, and I not only have to manage the logistics of things, I'm also responsible for the emotional well-being of foids love this place. They have great friends. They are going to be sad next week when the impact of moving sinks in: no friends next door, across the street, always available. We're only moving a few miles, possibly less, but it means new new neighbors, new ward, new school. Starting over is hard when you're seven. I know: I remember.

Also, sadness for me: It's a lot harder to make friends as an adult than it is as a kid. My kids will do fine, they'll make friends, Nathan's even excited to start at a new school. But I have some lovely friends here and I won't see them as much. I don't like this part of moving.

When we moved in here, we were two relatively newlyweds, naively looking forward to the birth of our first child. We thought we'd live here for maybe five years, have a couple of kids, then move on. We've been here seven; we've brought four kids home. We learned a lot about home maintenance, how to clean up vomit, and the importance of keeping up on the dishes. So, so many dishes. So many happy hours in the back yard with our lovely shade tree that I will miss dearly. So many nights we were glad our kids couldn't tell time so we could put them to bed early (I miss those days). Watching our babies grow and turn into people.

The last seven years have been an intense ride in all aspects of our lives. A lot of professional development for Levi, a choice to step back from the professional world to focus on some screaming beings for me. Days and months when we struggled and tried to work together, growing in respect for each other's strengths and grace for each other's weaknesses. And many hours of church service that we pretty much always felt ill-prepared for but hoped that it would turn out all right. We still hope that. It's hard to leave a ward we know needs us but...our path is beckoning. And we look forward to what it could be.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.