~ in NOT of ~

7/14/09

Moving and Cleaning

Looking back at these pictures, I am amazed that the exhaustion I felt is far from my memory. I am so glad that it is over, but I am sad too. Thank-you to my dear friend, for suggesting that we take on the military housing giants and clean the place ourselves. Not because I enjoy cleaning, and I am not even sure it was worth the $ we saved, but it was worth the memories! And of course, a big thank-you to all who helped and shared the elbow grease and laughter.

Inspection time: After the housing office went through with a fine tooth comb and said it was un-sat (not good enough) an exhausted and newly pregnant friend came to my rescue helping me clean, and another already very busy friend watched my little lambs. We realized in the light of day some spots had defiantly been missed. So we cleaned some more and took care of the other unfinished tasks of which we were never informed. The housing giants then called in the corporate bosses because of my arguments (thanks for the nudging, hubby) about cruddy blinds and cheap flooring (I won) and we paid a total of $191. We would have had to pay that in addition to the cleaning fee ($350) if we chose not to clean it ourselves, so it was a nice save.

It was now hours after our expected departure time and we found out we had to rush off to the other base down in P'cola because we were not informed of some paperwork that was supposed to be picked up. Several hours later than desired, we finally headed off for our new life.

I was a bit grouchy but the ride was smooth and went pretty quickly. We got caught in a big storm, but with a prayer it passed over quickly. Because of all the delays we had to set up in the dark, but that too, wasn't so bad.
Now we are just getting the boxes unpacked and exploring our surroundings.

You'll have to read more about our new home in a later post.

7/9/09

What a sweet scene.

Handsome little man on the fast bike, brrrrrrm brrum. Little lady, sweet as can be, cookin up a good meal...

a couple of signs you are moving...

Dad's painting while the lambs are sleeping...

and Pops is sleeping in a closet...

7/8/09

Time limts and priorities

This is our 11th move in not quite 10 years. Yes, I said eleventh. Not all of the moves were required by the Navy, for example when Boy was born we chose to move out of our 750 square foot caulking sealed wood floor military apartment to a 3 bedroom duplex with laminate floor thick black cabinets, but we have moved 11 times none-the-less. One of my biggest pet peeves about all the moving is that there are so many details at the very end that we are stuck scrubbing switch plates and light fixtures so we don't get adequate time to say good-bye. I am not very good at good-bye but I feel like so many things are left undone.

This is the place that I have disliked the most, yet had the best time. I really, really, I mean really disliked this area. We all really disliked it here. I could go on for hours with complaints but I know how much a mother has influence on her family so so we would sit around the dinner table and take turns stating something we liked about Florida just so we wouldn't feel so bad. It was hard work to go around the table twice. That was until we found the co-op, (that is the place where homeschool families meet and take classes together, you know, so we're socialized.) We have belonged to co-ops before, but there is nothing like the paths that we crossed here. I have met some truely wonderful people here and I finally understand what "Titus 2" means. I have found my Spiritual Family. These are not just people like me, we aren't all brainwashed into thinking the same things. In fact we are all very different. We come from very different walks of life, very different backgrounds, we differ in beliefs, ideas on raising children, being a wife, homeschooling, and keeping house. We go to different churches, read different versions of the Bible, cook different types of food, you get the idea. One thing we don't differ on though, is the God we serve. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I feel very blessed that we were here, even the short time it was. I will walk away from Florida on Friday morning a completely changed person. Even Boy pointed out that this was the place we have made the most friends, "even you, mama" he said with tears in his eyes. So thank you to all the wonderful people here. I can't say enough how much you have meant to us. You will forever be etched in our hearts.

7/7/09

Primary Flight School Complete

Here is the video that our friend put together about Primary Flight School. You get a glimpse of the school Dad just finished. Hard work and good times!

7/6/09

Pops goes to the beach

Pops went to the beach for the first time this past weekend. We decided to take the RV out for a spin. We landed on the beach for 4 days, it was awesome!

he absolutely loved the beach! he ate half the beach and drank his fill of sea water, he'd have crawled out to the nearest island if we didn't fight him off... What a blast. Bittersweet knowing there is no ocean for the next year at least...