We Moved (and Other Little Tidbits of Information)

(I am going ahead and posting this now, but need to come back and add more photos!) 

I have honestly been so frustrated with myself and this blog that I almost gave up on it altogether. I have had grand intentions to go back and update on all of the events in our lives since last Halloween. But here we are, getting very close to this Halloween, and I have yet to do that. So forget it. I'll start with our move and move on.

So, yeah. We moved. To North Carolina. We have felt the pull to move to North Carolina for years now and, in fact, almost did it a couple of years ago. But this time around, everything just fell into place in an almost surreal way, from Jarrett first getting the call about the job, totally out of the blue and during one of Atlanta's two ice storms this past winter, to the sale of our house. Everything just felt right, and so we moved ahead with each step. The only hang-up seemed to be finding a house on this end, but the fourth house on which we made an offer finally stuck, and I think we ended up with it for a reason. It just seemed to take forever, and was extremely stressful, but we could not be much happier. We have plenty of space for us and the business, it's in a safe neighborhood, and we are in one of the best school districts. Jarrett is enjoying his job thus far, and really likes the people he works with. We have been to a church a few times, where we have started meeting a few people (and just tonight got an invite to dinner next week... yay -- possible friends!), and with school starting, I am sure we will meet more people soon. We have already been blessed with several visitors -- our first being Atticus and Alison and their boys, which was just fabulous; then, Jarrett's brother, Jonathan, and his wife, Michelle; and, most recently, my parents. And, of course, living so much closer to family has been wonderful.

We moved from Georgia on May 3, the day before Jarrett's and my 12th wedding anniversary. But because we did not yet have a house, we ended up staying with Jarrett's mom until the movers came, on July 7. During that time (and before), quite a lot happened.

Before we left, we had a May Day celebration at Gabriela's, which ended up being the girls' last day at playgroup (sniff, sniff... and, yes, there were many tears). I was also treated to a most lovely dinner with my closest Atlanta girlfriends.

We visited Kate and Tim.

Jarrett and I flew back to Atlanta (while the girls stayed with Jarrett's sister, Bethany) to close on our house, and we were able to enjoy dinner out with a bunch of our friends while we were there.

The girls and I stayed at my parents' house for a week.

I was able to visit Kate by myself, while the girls stayed with my parents in Charlotte.

Then the girls and I headed to Atlanta to stay with my friend, Shelly, for a few days. We were able to see some of Elsa's friends and spent a morning with Gabriela, which was wonderful.

And our last hurrah before moving in was another visit to Tim and Kate's for the Fourth of July weekend.

And, now, we are finally starting to feel settled in. We are pretty much entirely out of boxes, and are down to organizing, hanging pictures (we have already hung more than we did at our last house!), waiting on purchased furniture (as well as furniture Jarrett is building for us), etc. But, overall, it is beginning to feel like home, and for that I am thankful.