It’s been a while since I shared any kind of family news except in passing, so I thought I’d give a little post-relocation update. When I start to write things like this, I sometimes feel this kind of post will be lightly visited or commented on, and I am often surprised and touched by your care and concern and interest.

Well, it has been two months since we moved. That seems unreal! I have all the inside boxes unpacked except for some of decorations, and I hope to dig into those this week. I still don’t know where I am going to place everything, but I’ll start with what I do know. I love how having things on the walls personalizes a home. Then once I get the bulk of that done, I have some boxes in the garage and shed to go through.

Everything is coming along nicely and I don’t have to use the GPS every time I leave the house any more. Aside from all the things I disliked about our old house, its one major advantage was that it was close to most everything.  School and church were five minutes away (three if all the lights were green!) as were grocery stores, W-Mart, the dentist, the mall, Jim’s mom’s place, etc. Here, school is about 8 minutes away (more if a train is going by or traffic is busy), as is W-Mart and Target, Jim’s mom is about 12 minutes away, church is 20, the mall is about 20, maybe a little more. So I am spending more time in the car, which is one of my least favorite things. But I was just thinking yesterday that I could start listening to some sermon and seminar tapes while I drive and at least feel like I am making good use of the time. My car has a cassette tape player rather than a CD player, and I discovered a lot of tapes during the move. So I might try that, on longer drives at least.

It has been nice to have Jim home in the evenings. He does still have to travel some, but not nearly as much. We’ve had a lot to do on weekends, but hopefully soon we’ll settle into a more relaxing routine. He has been the one most pulled in different directions and pressured over the last several weeks between taking care of details with all of our moves, both houses, his mom, work, etc., etc., so I am really hoping things slow down for him soon.

I’m having to adjust my cooking. Even though in SC we often only had three of us at home for dinner, Jim was there on weekends or Jason and Mittu came over for dinner. But I am ending up with a lot of leftovers now even when I’ve tried to pare down. I have some for lunch but can only deal with so much!

Jesse does sorely miss his old friends, and it still gives me a pang to think of his not graduating from the same school his brothers did, the school he had gone to all his life. But he seems to have jumped right into things at his new school and at church. They’ve been very welcoming. Last weekend he was invited to a youth activity at a friend’s church and this next weekend there is an overnight activity with our church youth. He’s been to several school volleyball games and plays basketball once a week after school with several guys hoping to make this year’s team. He took his camera to one of the volleyball games, and showing his principal one of his pictures resulted in his being asked to take photos for the yearbook. So, even though he misses his old friends and his brothers and sister-in-law, he’s adjusting well. His grades were lower than usual the first few weeks, I think just from adjusting to new teachers and how they do things, but they seem to be coming back up now.

Jeremy has been in Rhode Island a little over a month now. He lives in a house that has been divided up into apartments and all his neighbors are polite and fairly quiet. He had enjoyed experimenting with cooking for some time  before, so cooking for himself wasn’t a totally new thing — just having to do it every night for himself was! And shopping for them! He’s having to learn to cut down recipes as well: some of his first dinners lasted three or four days until he was tired of them. He really likes his job and had some friends up there before he moved and another couple who have moved there since then, so he is enjoying get-togethers with them.

Since Jeremy lived at home during college (though on week days we only saw him late at night and early in the morning) and then at home after college, this was our first major separation. He had only been away from home a week at a time before. And this was farther away and longer — this was actual moving out rather than going away for a visit. So this separation was hard on us all in various ways and I’ve had more than one teary session, even reminding myself that this is normal development and we had him at home longer than many parents had their kids there and telling myself I just needed to appreciate that. But, it is still hard when someone who has been a part of your life and home for 26 years isn’t there any more. I am glad we live in this era where we can text, Facebook, or call with ease. When I was first married we were doing well to call home long distance once a month. That would be so hard! But we’re all adjusting, and knowing he enjoys what he does and where he is helps a lot.

Even though Jason flew out of the nest when he got married, since they lived so close by I didn’t really consider him too far out of the nest. I think it was hard for them at first being the only ones left in SC, but they’ve had a lot of visitors with people they know coming through town, so I think that helped a bit. And we’ve been there or they’ve been here about every other week, I think, so we haven’t had a really long separation. I don’t think I have mentioned this here before, but it is public knowledge now, so I don’t think they’d mind my mentioning that they’ve been putting in job applications both here in TN and in OK, where Mittu is from (one reason they’ve been up here often). So we’ll see how the Lord leads. It has been discouraging for them to travel for an interview and have it seem to go very well only to have the job go to someone else, but they’re waiting for the Lord’s timing.

Something else I don’t think I have mentioned here is that Jason has been having trouble with migraines since last winter. I don’t think he ever had them before in his life, but he started getting them, and now they’re almost a daily occurrence. He has been to several doctors and had several tests run, but has had little relief. Thankfully the American Family Medical Leave Act allowed him to keep his insurance and not be penalized for missing work, but of course, he wasn’t making any money when he didn’t work, either, and that ran out several days ago, so they had to let him go. They did so on good terms, though, saying that if he ever was well enough, they’d love to have him back, so that helps. He and Mittu were living in an old house, so we were hoping maybe it was a mildew problem or something, and once they moved out, the headaches would go away. But so far it hasn’t seemed to help. They are living in our old house, painting and doing some minor repairs and keeping the grass cut, etc. so that is a help to them and to us. I’d appreciate your prayers for the Lord’s healing and guidance in their lives.

Grandma has been adjusting well to her new place. This place has a smaller staff yet they are more attentive — I don’t know how that can be, but it is. She has one main lady who cares for her through the week, whereas in the old place you never know who was going to be there when. She has double windows that look out into a neighbor’s yard, and I think she enjoys seeing some of nature. She always liked to be outdoors as much as possible when she was younger, and even though she likes to keep to her room and read most of the day, I think she enjoys this window to the outside world. She is generally a pretty happy person. I mentioned a scare with her health a couple of weeks ago, but everything has seemed to be on a even keel since then. She does go to Sunday School and church with us and then comes over to out house for Sunday dinner.

We really enjoy our new church. These folks have been the best of any place we have ever attended when it comes to welcoming new people beyond the initial handshake and greeting. Several people speak to us and introduce themselves every time we go and several have gotten pertinent information to us or made sure we knew of upcoming events and personally invited us. Even though it is difficult going to a new church, they’ve made every effort to ease the transition. They just put together a pictorial directory this last summer, which helps immensely! We often flip through it after a service and review who we met in order to try to remember names. We really enjoy the pastors, preaching, and music as well.

I have to admit I don’t really miss the ministries I was involved in at the old church. I think I was feeling more pressured than I realized, as it has been such a relief to get things done at home without feeling the need to stop and get other things done or plan for the next thing coming up. There were a couple of things I had considered laying aside when Jim’s mom first came, because I knew that her coming would have an impact on my time, but they didn’t take a lot of time in themselves, so I kept talking myself out of dropping them. But I think sometimes just having the responsibility is weighty even if the time isn’t a major investment. I do miss the ladies’ booklet and the outlet to minister to other ladies in that way, especially when I come across something I’d love to share there. But the ladies group and the booklet are in wonderful hands.

Sometimes I have wondered if, after I get the house all set up, I am going to ask myself, “Now what?” But I don’t think so. As I’ve mentioned before, I have had some ideas simmering on the back burner for writing and for a possible web site, I have family mementos that I discovered and gathered during the course of moving that I need to figure out what to do with, and I have about ten-twelve years of photos to sort through! Plus I want to make some curtains and assorted other things, so I am sure I will have plenty to keep me busy as the duties of everyday life allow. I am sure opportunities to minister will come up over time, but for now I am more than content to be in a nesting phase. With the older two out of the nest and with the realization that Jesse will probably be in dorms for college rather than living at home, I am more acutely aware of the shortness of the time with him before he tries his own wings, and I want to make the most of the time he is here and be available to him.

So that’s about it. We’re just plugging away at everyday life, getting things done as we’re able, and enjoying our new place and situation. And looking forward to Thanksgiving when we’ll all be together again!