I have missed you, and I’m back.

It’s been a month now since we moved into our new home in Virginia. It’s been 6 months since I blogged regularly, and there is so much I could tell you, I almost don’t know where to begin!

This move, our 10th as a military family, is complete. We are still fulfilling medical requirements and registering for things like school in the fall, but for the most part, we are finished.

It’s time to get back to blogging, which I can’t wait to do!

If you live nearby, and I haven’t paid you a visit yet, don’t worry, I will. And if you were afraid (or relieved-ha) I had given up writing completely, let me assure you that I haven’t.

I needed time off to focus on my family and this move, but at this point I’m really just sitting around playing the Jeopardy app on my phone, so… time to get back to work, eh?

Good-bye, Old House. Our Georgia friends will always hold a special place in our hearts.

End-of-year gifts from John David. Good-bye Pre-school.

Hello, moving boxes, you old rascal you.

Hello, RV and hotel stays.

Good-bye dear friends. Thank you for being there for us. I love this Georgia-shaped cutting board I received as a parting gift.

Hello again, moving truck. Better late than never… This is the tree-sized limb that almost fell on my rental car on moving day but missed it by a hair. Thank you, Lord, that it missed!! And thank you to my friends and neighbors who helped me clean up the debris.

Hello, new kitchen and hello to you too, you dear old boxes. Every single one of you showed up unharmed.

“Sometimes you gotta go where everybody knows your name…”

Returning to this place has been even more magical for us than I even dared hope.  The boys are running around with other boys all day long. The trampoline, which was mostly unused the past two years, is back in daily play. Bicycles are being ridden again. The sounds of children playing Nerf-war games echoes through my house.

Ahhhh yeah.

Alan has been on vacation for a month, so I feel like I am too. We are all on this restful, ridiculously long, staycation. I get to sleep as late as 8:30 in the morning some days, and going for walks on sidewalks in my own neighborhood is such a breath of fresh air.

But my favorite part is that everywhere I look there are friendly faces, both old friends and new friends too.

playroom photo wall

Moving to encouragement and familiarity, rather than to fresh new beginnings, was exactly what we needed. There’s a time for new adventures, but there’s also a time for returning home. We are lucky. We have many ‘homes.’

The v-tach is back.

This was especially timely as we had other worries. Right before we left Columbus, my heart began acting up again. It felt like a punch in the gut when my cardiology clinic called about my implanted monitor reading, saying that I needed to meet with an electrophysiologist about a possible ablation. (It’s a procedure where they go in through your leg with a catheter and burn off the cells of your heart that are causing the trouble.)

I’ve been trying to avoid having an ablation, but my heart keeps acting up. It’s all unsettling and tiring. What mom needs yet another thing to WORRY about???

Most days I’m fine. I’m not even a big worrier, but it’s there in the back of my mind. I pushed off the electrophysiology appointment. I’m going in July.

That’s why it’s that much sweeter that this move was to a place we hold dear, rather than to a new frontier, if you will. We have health issues to sort through and children to raise. It feels like the perfect time to be back in our beloved Virginia.

Thank you for welcoming us back.

Daniel, anxiously waiting at the door for his friends to arrive.

This summer we are memorizing Psalm 23 as a family. (Yes, even little John David). It felt fitting because it’s a short but mighty message, and God has taken such good care of us.

Psalm 23

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