Saying Goodbye...

In the last few years as we've had more children, Paul and I have talked alot about spending time as a family being a higher priority than amassing as much money as possible. Basicly, that family time is more important than being rich.  We want to have enough money to live comfortably, but other than that, we want to enjoy our family.

That being said, over the past year or two, Paul has put family time over trying to impress bosses and trying to get bigger raises, etc. I have LOVED the fact that he would rather come home than put in a few more hours of face time at work.  Has it meant that maybe he's not advancing at work as quickly as he sees his coworkers advancing? Sure. Has it meant he's probably happier than them?  Sure.  It's a shift I've seen in our family dynamic that we are all glad for. It's been a shift for sure as we both worked probably 60-80 hours a week when we met.

So, as part of this, we've toyed with the idea of moving back to the East to be closer to Paul's family.  We've set it as a long-term goal and have kept it in the back of our minds. After a series of events (I would call God's hand, my aethiest or agnostic friends may call coincidental) we decided to try to do it this summer.  Paul would keep his job and work remotely, which would be difficult, but we decided the amount of time we would hve with Paul's family would make it worth the short-term sacrifice. 

I will admit, I knew as part of marrying Paul that marrying him meant probably heading back to his home sooner rather than later, but I was a bit resistanct. I'd lived elsewhere but having kids makes you long for being near your family. This presents issues when your families live 2500 miles from each other.  However, I had been praying for about 18 months for a feeling of peace about the move and also for Paul to start attending church (I normally take all 3 kids by myself each week).  As part of the move, I felt a calmness come over me and Paul offered to start attending church with me.  Both prayers for over a year answered in one week, so I agreed and packed up our house, put it on the market and packed up all of the children's and my clothing (Paul would stay behind at work until telecommuniting was possible). After packing up our entire house in two weeks and many showigs, all 5 of us and 4 wardrobes headed off in the station wagon.

Before we left, we said goodbye to some (we were keeping it quiet) including my grandparents...

Incidently, Valerie would use this walker backwards hanging on to the part where Henri's feet are and push it down the hall to the delight of everyone!

Valerie had her surgery to remove the cyst and the same week started cutting 6 more teeth to bring her total to 8.  You can tell how cranky she is...

We went for ice cream as showings of the house got us out...

It was all exhausting...

While packing, Carter took some pictures...

A beautiful shot of my backside...

This would be my favorite self-portrait by him...

Some nice pictures of the other kids...