saying goodbye and we're on our way

The last week in our home and in University Place brought a lot of meaningful closure in many ways. I soaked it all in- really celebrating the great things in my life. When Brad and I moved to UP, we brought everything in a U-Haul (a small one at that) and we did all of the moving by ourselves. We had no kids, and were basically just anticipating our new jobs at the school district and church.

These last 9 years certainly changed our lives in amazing ways! I still can hardly believe the opportunities that opened us for us while living here - growth opportunites at the school district, getting national board certification, teaching at the gym, teaching for SPU; Brad leading the Sacred Music Chorale, working at Marine View, finishing his M Div degree. MOST IMPORTANTLY - this is the time in our lives where we became parents!!


I put off packing the house, not wanting to live among boxes and chaos. Actually, I think I put off the whole concept of actually packing up until the very last minute because I just couldn't let go of everything quite yet.

During the last week I took the time to say a final goodbye to so many people who influenced my life these last years. The list was varied - friends at the gym, our clerks at Fred Meyer, the office administrator at Evergreen, the people at church, and several of my best friends. We took the kids to all of their favorite places one last time. I had a garage sale and got rid of tons of stuff. (NEVER will I have a garage sale again - way too much work!!) It was all a little numbing and unreal.

The huge moving van came on Monday July 7. The movers were a bit surprised at the amount of packing left to be done, but worked tirelessly from 8 am to 9:30 pm to help us finish and get everything loaded.

Brad and I sent the kids to my sister's and camped out in our empty house. It was hard to say goodbye to our home full of so many memories.


What else...hmm....the renters came, our Explorer broke down, we bought a new Honda Odyssey van, we loaded up our kids and suitcases....and drove away.

On to Montana and Glacier Park for a while.

Goodbye - life in Univeristy Place.

We have until the end of the month to get to Florida. I'm going to need it to reflect and refocus.