The past two weeks have been fairly uneventful.  Emma had a piano recital last Saturday.  I am still so proud of her and her determination to master a piece that, by all accounts, was too advanced for her.  Emma and Chandler attended their first track practice on Sunday evening.  We told them they could try it out and we would pray about letting them participate this summer.  A decision has yet to be reached on that, though.  Regardless, they loved it and I want to do what I can to encourage all of the girls to be active.

Today we will (more or less) wrap up school year 2012-2013.  A couple of the girls have some finishing up to do next week and some slacking to make up for in the coming weeks, but “formal” school ends today.  This has been a year of a lot of trial and error on curriculum.  We tried a lot of new stuff at the beginning of the year.  Some of it we pushed through and just finished.  Some of it we changed at semester.  Some of it we will do again next year.  Some of it we won’t.  But overall, it’s been a really, really good year.  There have, as always, been character issues brought to light and we have all grown and changed.  Hopefully for the better.  The slower pace of life after pulling out of most of our extra-curricular activities has been an amazing gift.  And while I know we probably won’t go that slow next year or in future years, I have savored every minute of the slow this year.  We are all so ready for the summer and a long break, but at least I’m not coming out of this year feeling like I just got home from a war.  😉

The big, bittersweet news of this week is that after talking casually about it for years and praying a lot and looking just a little, we bought a new-to-us house this week.  Those who know me, especially those I was texting for prayer on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, know how hard this decision was for me personally.  I love my house.  We first saw this house nine years ago today and I loved it from the moment I walked in.  We have raised our family, up to this point, in this house.  Grace has little to no recollection of our first two homes.  This is the house our girls know and have lived life in.  It will be very hard to leave this house.  But over the years we have come to realize there are certain things we want to give our girls that this house will never be able to provide.  Hence, our casual search over time.  Last Saturday, Matt was browsing through the MLS (not an unusual activity for him) and found a house within our price range that appeared to have everything we needed / wanted.  He went to the open house on Sunday.  He took me back on Sunday night.  We went back again on Monday and walked through the house for an hour and a half.  Long story somewhat shorter, we reached a final price agreement with the owners on Wednesday and signed the contracts yesterday.  Lord willing, everything will go according to plan and we will be moving sometime next month!  I was still struggling with how long it would take for that house to feel like our home until yesterday afternoon when we were able to take the girls over and show them.  Watching them walk (or maybe run) through the house, checking out all the rooms and the yard and everything, it truly felt like home.  Funny how that changed in my life without me even realizing it.  I have placed a lot of sentimental value on this home we are in and it will be hard to leave it because of the memories and blood, sweat, and tears we have put into this house.  But I realized yesterday that my home is where my people are and this is a move we are making for them.  So, soon we begin the crazy journey of packing up a large house full of seven peoples’ stuff (really just six….I can’t blame Amania for too much “junk” yet) and preparing this house to sell.  I will miss our quirky neighborhood and all the wonderful neighbors we have, and especially the friends our girls have (finally) made in the last year.  But we believe this is where God is leading us and we know God is good and we are excited, even if somewhat anxious, for this new chapter in our lives.

So that’s about it for life around here.  Not much going on really.  😉  This weekend is going to be a busy one with lots of activities the next three days.  Looking forward to some sunshine (Lord willing!) and time with family as we celebrate some birthdays and Mother’s Day.  May your weekend be blessed and filled with God’s best gifts!

For His Glory ~