Saying Goodbyes

We tried to see as many friends and family as possible to say goodbye last week.

(Sadly, my phone is currently not working so I am unable to retrieve pics from Will's preschool friends who gave him so going away presents.  Hopefully my phone will come back to life asap & I can get those pics.)

Giving high-fives to his Sunday School friends

Ellie and my friend, Stevie, who happens to be our church's nursery coordinator

Saying goodbyes and thankyous to the women who worked with Daddy

(Thank you, Claudia & Charlotte for helping to make R's work at CBTD so fulfilling!)

a goodbye hug with his pal, Leila

picnic party at the park 

Ellie & one of her buddies

playing with friends at the park

We've had so many dear friends we wanted to spend time with during our last few days at home in West Texas but between moving & Ellie's care, we were just running out of time to see everyone...

so we decided to get together at our favorite park by our house (convenient for us as we could walk there & I knew I was close to home in case of a diaper/cast incident with E) for a picnic party.  It was so fun to visit with friends & watch our kiddos play happily.

Ellie & Crystal

Ellie & Sarah

I have cried lots of tears as we've said "see you later" to friends and family and "goodbye" to our house.

As we pulled out of our driveway on Saturday to head to the airport (the kids & I flew solo on Saturday... R comes midweek along with our movers,) I was sobbing.

Sweet Will attempted to comfort me from the backseat,

"It's okay, Mommy, we just have good memories here.  Think of what we will do in our new place, Mommy,... we'll go to the zoo, to the museum, and to the ocean!'  (There is a great zoo & a museum in our new town... the nearest ocean is about 6 hours away I believe!)  Sweet boy.  Love that tender heart.

It's just that leaving our house is so hard as I do have such good memories there.  It's where I experienced each of my 3 pregnancies.  I lost a baby there. (Not a good memory but certainly a significant event for me.)  I laid in a hammock in that backyard and sobbed with a broken heart at 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant as I lost a baby and listened to the church bells downtown play "Amazing Grace."  I went through two very challenging, high risk pregnancies in that home.  We celebrated learning we were pregnant again.  And again.  We brought home a baby boy to this home.  We watched him take his first steps in the playroom which we had worked so very hard to accomplish.  We cried as he took those sweet little steps.  We praised God he could walk.  We began to understand what those marriage vows really meant.  We learned the value of true friendships.  We took our baby to preschool for the first time at that same church whose bells comforted me four years earlier.  We learned we would have a baby girl while in that house.  We named her and prepared to lose her in this home and we thanked God when we brought her home at nearly three months old to this home.  We spent lots of lunchtimes eating on the front steps.  We went to the park at the end of our block almost daily.  We really became a family there.  We just loved our home and, in the words of Will, I do have great memories there.  We never thought it would be a forever home but it was still difficult to leave it.

(Just after leaving, we realized two things.  1) We forgot Will's antibiotic & 2) we didn't kiss or hug one last time in the house.  So, we hurried home (we were already running late for our flight) & ran in to grab Will's meds.  And then we kissed in our absolute least favorite room of the house - the room I will not miss at all and that caused many a disagreement between us regarding stroller storage vs cars... the laundry room.  Also known as the garage.  Romantic, aren't we?)

The only thing that makes it easier to say farewell to friends and family and our church is that because we have family there, we know we will always return.  I have cried a great deal leaving as I know I will miss out on so many of the little experiences - picnics with friends, swimming and playing at Honey's, late afternoon walks with a friend, & mom's group.  But, I am thankful that we will get to go back to visit our church and that we will get to see our friends when we are back in town visiting family and we will still get to swim and play at Honey & G-Dad's.  

Knowing we get to go back to visit makes leaving a little less hard.