Shocking!!

I have a blog!!  Who knew?!

I promise I think about updating almost every day.... but then I don't.  I *could* use the "life is busy" excuse, but who am I kidding?  I make time to play a few rounds of Bejeweled every day, and update my Facebook status... yet I don't stop over here to write a few words about my day.  Or my week.  Or apparently even my month.  I just haven't been able to commit the energy to put my thoughts into so many words, I guess.

Anyway.  I obviously don't have quite enough free time to sit down and really blog about my last month or two or three.  Even though I want to.  I want to share all the pictures and videos from Jacob's birthday two whole months ago.  All the fun photos from the last-minute summertime things we did before Melinda started school.  All the details about how very much Melinda's enjoying Kindergarten.  All the leaps and bounds Alex is making into toddlerhood.  But those will all have to wait.

For now, I'll fill you in on the life-changing details that you may not be aware of if you don't keep up with me otherwise.  Since Jesse lost his job last month, and our apartment lease ends on October 31st, we need a place to live.  We still have our condo back in Louisville, Colorado, and our renters' lease was up on October 1st.  Since Jesse wants to work in Colorado ideally, and we'd honestly both love to settle there with our family, it makes sense to go ahead and go back.  So that's what we're doing.

On October 27th, just over a week from today, we'll be getting a moving truck through ABF, and packing it up.  We've been slowly packing our things in boxes over the last month (and boxes + kids make the best entertainment ever!!), but we'll really crack down hard for the rest of the week, beginning the fun of living out of suitcases while we pack away everything we don't absolutely need.  Our goal is to be on the road by the 28th, maybe the 29th, depending on how long it takes to clean up after ourselves.  ABF drives the moving truck for us... we just have to get ourselves there.  It's a 26 hour drive, if you ask Google Maps (by way of I-70), and we're thinking of trying to make it in two days.  The longest road trip we've taken with the kids was about 9 hours, and they did great for that... but who knows how they'll tolerate a 14+ hour drive.  We'd love to get at least as far as St. Louis, Missouri on the first day, but really, our plan is to go as far as we can, till we can't stand it anymore.  We just want to get the drive over with, save a few bucks on less hotel nights, etc.  And, if we have a reeeeeally long first day, if we need to take 2 more days, at least they will both feel nice and short by comparison.

I've been trying to get rid of a lot of things in preparation for our move, but apparently nobody wants my stuff.  ;)  I took all the baby clothes out of the closet, sorted them, washed them, and took them to a consignment store across the street.  They only took about 1/3 of those clothes, because they have ridiculously high standards.  I tried listing a bunch of stuff on Craigslist, too, but only got one bite.  Thankfully, that was on my biggest bunch of clothes, and I got myself $40 out of it, but I really wanted to get rid of it all.  And I will, one way or another.  If nobody wants to buy them, they're going to be given away for free.  I'm not hauling them halfway across the country to store in a condo almost half the size of where we currently live.  I'm keeping the boys 2T clothes for Alex to grow into, but everything else is going.  And someday, when we have another child, I'll have tons of fun getting new clothes!  Hopefully it will be a bunch of baby girl clothes, because seriously -- getting rid of the baby girl clothes is breaking my heart in strange, nonsensical, unreasonable ways.  I'm not a girly girl, I didn't dress Melinda like a girly girl, but oh, I love those adorable little outfits.

I've also been trying to get rid of a few toys and pieces of furniture with varying success.  Since we won't have a playroom, the toys will belong in the kid's bedroom.  Maybe a few of them will be allowed in our living room, but I've rather grown to like having the toys stored out of my living space at the end of the day.  And I won't be taking my desk with me.  It's too big and bulky, and starting to look really shoddy anyway.  All that lovely top-quality veneer has been peeling off.  So we'll take Jesse's desk, which will disassemble nicely for moving, and we'll come up with some creative way to have both of our computers in the living room, somehow. 

We also just passed on Alex's high chair.  He's apparently such a big boy these days that he's been in love with sitting on a grown-up chair.  Well, standing more than sitting.  The first time I let him sit at the table at an adult chair, I gave him a shoebox to sit on.  He LOVED it.  Every time he went to the table after that, for the next week at least, if the box wasn't sitting there waiting for him, he looked around for it expectantly with an audible harrumph.  Because he is so entitled to sitting like a big boy at the table!  At least, he thinks he is.  ;)

Anyway, bottom line is that we're getting ready to go.  We've been saying our goodbyes, prepping ourselves emotionally as well as physically, and we've got all of one weekend left in Maryland.  It will be incredibly sad to leave the good friends we've made here.  It will be hard to say goodbye to the place I gave birth to all three of my children.  But... we've missed Colorado so much.  We've been aching to go back.  Now we're actually going!  It would be lovely if it were on a more positive note, but we're confident that the employment piece of the puzzle will work itself out with time.  I know we're following the path the Lord wants us to take.  And while we wait to figure out the how and why of it all, we'll very much enjoy living close to relatives - Grandma and Grandpa Newson, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Ben and Aunt Brea - and being in our old stomping grounds.  Plus, the weather these days is practically chasing me away from Maryland.  It's been rainy, gray, and cold for almost 4 straight days.  And here I thought I got away from Seattle years ago!!   Granted, the autumn colors are just starting to show all their glory... but I need the sun.  NEED IT!  Doesn't matter if it's cold or hot, just give me anything but gray.  All gray does is make sad things even sadder.  And saying goodbye to your home and friends from the last six years is sad enough.

In the meantime, please do keep us in your prayers.  I'm sure it won't be a perfectly smooth transition (Melinda's already completely up in arms about having to switch to half-day Kindergarten once we get to Colorado), and we're very concerned about the van's ability to make the trip.  It's been giving us so much trouble the last several months.  Jesse keeps saying we may need angels to carry it... or that we'll get all the way to his parent's house (where we'll be staying until our things arrive with the ABF truck), and the van will just heave and fall to pieces as soon as we're in their driveway.  The good news is that we'll be able to walk pretty much anywhere we need to go, from our condo.  But, please keep our safety and sanity in your prayers- we'd appreciate it so much.  Being stranded in the middle of Kansas because of car troubles, with 3 kids in tow, in late October, is not a trial I would like to experience. 

I probably won't make any other updates until after we're in Colorado, and probably not until after we're at least mostly settled.   Adventure awaits us!  May we greet it with happy hearts.