The Move

   I took a trip to California from December 10th-13th with just Gabriel.  I had a blast staying at my parents, visiting with my aunt and cousins and attending the annual Floyd Family Christmas Party.  The best part was surprising my brother and sis-in-law with the fact that I was there!  The party was at their house and they asked my parents to come early to help with the To Do List.  When we got there, Scott was in the front yard planting flowers and I opened the van door and asked him if he needed help!  Priceless!
    The day after I got back to town, Marc and I discussed the upcoming move/transition/Christmas plans, etc, and decided that we were crazy enough to pack up our house in a week and a half and move to Sarasota county on the opposite side of Florida before Christmas.  It was a crazy idea!  It would have been impossible without the devout help of dear friends in Jupiter who helped me pack or watched the children for me and also the help of new friends from our new church (which Marc is pastoring) who helped us pack, unpack and organize!
     The worst is behind us on that one, but our friends in Jupiter were surely shocked that we up and moved without proper goodbyes!  Marc is still there 4 days a week working and sleeping in our old, empty house, but the good news is that our church in Jupiter is throwing a goodbye party for us the weekend we return for Marc's cousin's wedding!  What a great way to come back and say goodbye while in the meantime, I am getting used to the new area and getting time with the ladies out here!
     Why did you move in a week and a half? You may be asking. . . Well, two main reasons!
1. We wanted to get the kids back into normalcy and schedule.  We had been off of school already since the middle of November and to drag the move into the end of January would have made it hard to school, pack and feel sane!  By moving before Christmas we shortened the amount of crazy time before starting school again on January 3rd!
2. We wanted me to start to get to know the ladies here!  I had only visited our new church 3 times before Christmas!  The first was the weekend they were checking us out (and we them!).  The second time I came my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their 4 kids came with us, so I was spread between old and new.  The third time, my parents were with us, so again, not a lot of opportunity to get to know people.  Our Christmas visit was supposed to be a 5 day visit while staying at a hotel!  Those 5 days cost more than 2 months of cheap rent at our current residence!  It seemed a no brainer to move into the rental, not stay at the hotel.  However, at first, we were going to stay in an empty rental on air mattresses.  Then Marc and I decided Christmas would be more enjoyable with FURNITURE!
     So we pushed to move in a week and a half and we have. . . drumroll. . . .normalcy, schedule, and time for me to get to know the wonderful ladies here!

                          God directed, we followed, and we survived!