Groovy

Leaving our home in Tennessee was quite possibly one of the most heart wrenching, ugly cries I have had in a very long time. I was so thankful Joe had the girls in our new-to-us van in front of me on our way to drop the car I drove at the movers. I sat in front of the place after hours on the driveway with neighbors and friends pulling in, just hoping to catch us before we got on the road. I tried to burn it into mind, just like it was. That place I searched for when my Hope was just a wee thing. That place where I brought home two more baby girls who learned to smile and sit up and crawl within its walls.

It was really, really hard.

Made that much harder by the memories in the final hours leading up to departure. That slumber party with the dearest of friends. Pizza and driveway bike rides, friendship bracelets and Joe's hilarious storytelling, jumping on mattresses and reading and singing to a room full of little ones that I thought for sure our own babies would grow up next to for a long time to come.




The night before we left town this friend came over to help me clean for hours. It was such a precious time for our whole family. When she and her family came for their driveway farewell, I thought for certain none of us would make it through.
Hard.

Then in the ungrooviest of ways, it seems the only thing I lost in our big move... save some of my sanity and some pink floaties... was my camera's battery charger. My camera is like therapy and I longed for it as Alysse took her first steps (!!) and as the girls saw their new home (and bunk beds!) for the first time. I wanted it badly as we made new Fourth of July memories at Thomas Jefferson's forest. The girls learning about history, playing old fashioned games, begging to ride the ponies one more time. Somehow documenting it through my faithful lens always helps me see in black and white that even though life changes, those same beautiful faces are before me and ready to write a new chapter.

I did get a picture or two of the face that helped us make our new house a home while my parents graciously kept the big girls. She was such a gem for that week as Joe and I busted it to unpack our lives and make a place the girls would be excited to get to know. Although they love it, their first week back was a challenge for all of us as we dealt with a number of unknowns and missed the familiar of a quiet little cul-de-sac in rural Tennessee.

But this past week. This past week my replacement charger finally arrived. Of course that is good news, but it represents the bigger picture. God moved us here and He is in the details. What has been will always be a part of us and there was a time, for a while actually, when Tennessee didn't seem like the perfect fit either. When I thought maybe God forgot what He designed our hearts to crave. Over the years, though, He provided and gave us a place that was so special that it left a deep heartache as we watched it in the rear view.

We trust that He has more in store for us all. Believing this leaves us with one alternative.

It's time to get back into our groove.

We've been working on it, talking out heart stuff when we need to, and making a way as we wait for this quiet little street near a downtown in Virginia to become our new familiar.
I believe we are getting there.
~Katrina