Our Last Move

The last time our family moved was back in 2006. It’s fun to look back at old pictures from when we first moved and see how things have changed around here in the past 6 years. *Please excuse some of the clutter in the pictures. Moving is a time when the house is definitely unorganized. J*

 

The prior owners of our home hadn’t touched the landscape in about two years. We had our work cut out for us, and we were very thankful that my Grandparents came to help.

This is what it looked like back in September of this year. We’ve tried to keep up with it. Having 7 pairs of hands makes it a lot easier!

When we first moved, our dining room had Victorian-style wallpaper that was a bit too formal for our casual, crate-style dining room table and chairs.

During our house flood we re-painted the room and put a wood border around the middle.

The boys’ room had Jungle wallpaper around the bottom when we first moved.

Now they have it painted with a dark blue. (See the moving van outside the window?)

Roma and Rubia were able to get a room that matched their style of décor.

But they have re-arranged the furniture since they got bunk-beds.

My room was Tonka trucks. Yes, trucks. It DEFINITELY didn’t match!

I like it better the way it is now!

As you can see, a lot has changed around here since we first moved in! And I’m sure a lot of things will change once we get to our house in Texas.

 

Friends are Forever

Packing up the dreams God planted

In the fertile soil of you

 

Can't believe the hopes He's granted

Means a chapter in your life is through

 

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

 

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

 

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

 

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

 

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

 

That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.

 

With the faith and love God's given

Springing from the hope we know

 

We will pray the joy you'll live in

Is the strength that now you show

 

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

 

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

 

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

 

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

 

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

 

That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends

 

No, a lifetime's not too long to live as friends

 

 

--“Friends” by Michael W. Smith

 

As we officially begin our journey to Texas tomorrow, we want to take the time to say how thankful we are for all our friends in Michigan. God has truly blessed us far beyond what we could have ever imagined, with many kindred spirits in our 14 years here. Many of them have become the family we never had in Michigan! We will miss them dearly, and we’re grateful for every moment we had with them. Please come visit us in our new home in Texas! We love you all dearly and will miss you so much!

 

Our Last Sunday in Michigan

Our last Sunday in Michigan was filled with many emotions: happiness, laughter, tears, and heart-felt words of encouragement from friends.

 

There were many goodbyes at church. In the high school class, Ben read a final farewell letter, I taught the lesson, and I read a letter of thanks to our teachers.

Immediately after church we went over to see friends for lunch at their home. We had a delicious lunch of Sloppy Joe, homemade bread, and several kinds of salad, along with lots of fellowship.

Some of the kids played Kemps while the rest of us chatted.

Us kids with some of the R kids.

H has been such a dear friend to me over the past 4 years. I’m going to miss her dearly!

Our goodbyes were cut short because we had to get back to church for a communion service. Roma and Rubia were very excited because it was their first time participating in communion. The service was only about 45 minutes long but we stayed for another hour-and-a-half saying goodbye to people. Our church family has been such a blessing to us and we will miss them so much. There were some tears, but also lots of laughter! I’m so grateful for all the time I had with this group of people!

 

A Friend-Filled Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was not only filled with lots of time with family, but also lots of time with friends. We’ve had many last get-togethers with friends since we have less than a week left here in Michigan.

 

Friday afternoon we went over to the home of a dear friend from church. Mr. M is a big outdoorsman and does lots of deer hunting this time of year. A couple of years ago he had us over to his house to make summer sausage with a deer he shot. He talked with Mom on Sunday because he knew how badly Josiah wanted to shoot a gun. He offered to have us over and let us do some target practice on his property (which is surrounded by woods.) We readily agreed! Only it wasn’t just Josiah. The rest of us were just going to “watch” but we ended up shooting as well. J

 

*For those of you who may have a weak stomach, you might want to close your eyes and scroll past this next picture. I’ve tried to pick the least gory one, but a dead deer is a dead deer. J*

 

An hour before we arrived at Mr. M’s house, he shot a 200+ pound, 8 point buck that was walking through his yard! He had gutted the deer and drained most of the blood before we got there. But the guys helped hang it up. He was definitely a beauty!

Once we had taken care of the deer, we got onto our shooting lesson. Mr. M gave us a safety lesson and told us a little bit about the guns we would be shooting. The first gun we shot was a .22 caliber Browning rifle. I think it was a straight bolt action rifle (you put the magazine in the bottom and then slide the mechanism forward which pushes the bullet into the chamber.)

Josiah got to take the first shot. He did a great job! We were shooting at the white papers on the red target towards the left of the picture. We all had the opportunity to shoot five rounds.

Ben got a bulls-eye on one of his shots!!

Then we girls took a turn. It was a lot of fun! I had worried that the rifle would kick back a lot, but it really didn’t at all. I was able to hit the target with all five bullets, and Rubia came within ½ a centimeter of a bulls-eye.

Photo Credit: Mark.

We’d been outside for about an hour and were quite cold (the temperature was about 33°F.) Mrs. M made delicious hot chocolate for us which we really appreciated!

After we had warmed up, we went out to shoot the pistol. It was a revolver that held 9 rounds of .22 bullets. We shot at a can about 20 feet away from us. Rubia shocked us all with her pistol-shooting abilities! Watch out when this girl has a gun in her hands! The first 4 shots in a row nailed the can. After that, she was laughing too hard to make very good shots. J But she’s definitely a natural!

The pistol was a good deal louder than the rifle. I should have asked why that is because they were both .22’s. Any gun aficionados want to explain that to me?

Photo Credit: Roma.

Our can once we were all finished with it. J One funny shot I made caused the can to jump 3 to 4 feet in the air! I don’t know how I hit it, but it would have made a great video!

After our shooting adventure, we went home and got cleaned up because Uncle Paul and his family were coming over for dinner! We enjoyed pizza, breadsticks, popcorn, crackers with artichoke dip, veggies with dip, and fruit.

For dessert we ate ice cream cake!

We had such a good time visiting with them again. We are going to miss their family so much when we leave. L They have truly become family to us! In fact, they’ve been over to our house every weekend for the past month!

We had to get a big family picture before they left. I’m so glad they were willing to stay even though it was already 10:00 p.m. by the time we got around to taking the photo.

All the kids.

This picture is probably closer to our true personalities. J

On Saturday we had some more dear friends visit us, whom I’m sure you’ll recognize as they’ve been on the blog many times before. We had a delightful time visiting with them over meatball subs and triple chocolate cake with ice cream.

We kids had lots of fun visiting as well. During part of the evening we watched a few “Beverly Hillbillies” episodes since we all love them!

Another family picture. J

The kids picture.

I’m so grateful for our weekend filled with friends! We are blessed beyond measure by so many kindred spirits!