A Week’s Worth

Whew! What a week!

It’s only Monday…isn’t it?

At any rate, Kiki and I spent last week atvthe beach with the girls, which was lots of fun. The weather wasn’t entirely cooperative, but we had lots of fun anyway.

We’re in the home stretch now, though! We’re back at mom’s house, and there are 8 days until Marcus comes home! Yay! So that’s in the back of my mind, every day.

We had a bit of fence drama at the new house for a stressful (for me) and frustrating (for Marcus) 30 hours. But, it’s in the process of getting sorted now, which is encouraging. It’ll cost us…but unexpected expenses happen, and that’s why we have savings… Sort of.

My writing is going well, and I’m starting to branch out more, which I’m excited about. Expect a whole writing related post soon.

Knitting continues, and I’m working on a newcsock design. I have test knitters signed up, and hope to email them a draft later this week.

So, what a week…on Monday. I wonder what Tuesday has in store…

You Can’t Go Home Again

I suppose you can. I mean, here we are. Home again.

But though I’m happy to be here, glad to be with family, and excited about our new house, coming home again entails so much more than I ever expected.

Part of the situation is, of course, that we are in a state of flux. Marcus isn’t home yet, we aren’t living in our house yet, and our things aren’t here yet. But all that aside, it’s amazing how hard it can be to move, even moving home, after three years somewhere.

I miss my friends in England, our house, our schedule and routine, everything. I miss my knitting group, grabbing the girls from school and heading to Anne’s for tea, and even knowing where to shop for the things I want and where they’ll be in the store.

Some of this is going to take time. And I know I can’t even really expect that clock to start ticking until Marcus is home and we’re moved in.

It’s so funny, because you get so much support when you move overseas–sponsors, meetings, support groups, newsletters…and even then it wasn’t always enough.

But when you move home, you’re coming home, and the support isn’t there. But it’s just as hard as the first move.

I know it will all fall into place, and that this was the right decision for me and for my family. But it’s still an adjustment. It’s still hard. And we’re still working at it…

Settling Down

We’ve been back in America for a week now. Putting aside Sam’s cold and fever, the return home has been pretty uneventful. It still feels a bit like a vacation, rather than a transcontinental move, and I suspect that will be the case until Marcus is here for good, and we’re moved into the new house. But vacation a nice, too, so no complaints here.

I’m slowly resuming knitting, and to that end, am attending a local knitting group today. My writing has been slow going, but it’s there.

So we’re settling in, settling down, slowly, but surely.

Home

I’ve been back in America for two days. It’s only fair to offer you some deeply reflective post about our time overseas, our feelings about leaving, and our return home.

However, as I’m typing this on my new iPhone and preparing to run out the door for kiki’s bachelorette party, I’ll be brief.

Marcus, the girls, and I were truly blessed by the opportunity to live abroad. We grew as a family, in Christ, and as individuals because of our time overseas and the friends that became our family whole we loved there. There will never be the perfect words to express our love and thanks for that.

We return home, and it is just like coming home. But it’s us who’ve changed, and we know that we will carry the blessings of this experience with us always, ever changed by our time in England and our family there.

Whether you call it God’s will, providence, or karma, we know that this experience was in a bigger plan for our family and our future.

We’re home.

Going Home, Leaving Home

Today is the day.  The girls and I are flying alone together, for the first time ever, home to England, from home in Maryland.  I’m nervous and sad, but excited at the same time. 

That “picture worth a thousand words” quote keeps running through my head, and I am mentally picturing all the photographs we took on our trip, wondering if there is just one that could do the whole experience justice.

Since I can’t use the one of the girls running down the driveway playing, while naked, this is the best that I can do.

 Good-bye home.  Hello home.

Home at Last.

We’re here…thank goodness!

The weather is beautiful, we’re surrounded by family and friends, the food is yummy (we’ve already had Ledo’s Pizza, wings, and crab pretzel), and the jetlag is finally gone.  What more can you ask for?

There’s nothing quite as wonderful as coming home again.  Even though this isn’t the house that I grew up in, it’s still my family’s home.  Something about walking through the front door, sitting down on the couch, poking through the pantry, walking around outside…something about it all screams “home” to me.

Of course, it’s not always easy coming home.  One of the hardest things that I always find is striking a balance between being a daughter and a mother when I walk through the front door.  I want to ignore the laundry, read a book, revert back into that lazy teenager that let her mother wait on her hand and foot.  But instead, I bring my children home with me.  Of course, everyone helps out when they see the girls, taking much of the burden off of Marcus and I.  But they’re still our girls, and that changes the dynamic of things when we come home.

In any event, we truly find ourselves blessed to be here.  There really is no place like home.

A Busy Day

Today is going to be a busy day.  I could write a to-do list here, but it would just bore you and stress me out.  So, I won’t.

Instead, I’ll talk about the things I am excited about doing today, because even in the midst of all that needs to be done, there are still happy things going on.

My Catholic Moms and Tots Group meets today at noon.  Father Apollo will do a brief mass, and then we’ll eat lunch, chat, and let the kids play.  This has grown to be one of the highlights of my week, in all honesty.  After another disastrous attempt at Sunday mass this week, I am especially looking forward to this.  I will miss it while I am gone.

I also want to knit some more of my February Lady Sweater.  I am about halfway through the body now, and just love it.  I want to put a lifeline in, just in case when I get to the airport tomorrow they won’t let me on the plane with my needles.  Fingers crossed.

Speaking of knitting, I am planning on going through my stash some tonight to decide what to bring with me to my mom’s house.  I’m really excited to sort through and find the perfect yarns for the perfect projects and pack them away.  I wonder what 5 weeks worth of wool looks like?  Hmmm…

Otherwise, there are the hum-drum last minute details that will make my day a crazy one.

But they’re all worth it.  Because tomorrow, I’ll be home.

Home.

What a wonderful word it is.

There’s No Place Like Home

In less than 48 hours I will be sitting on a plane, heading back to the states to see my family and friends.

It’s been over a year since my last trip to the states, and I can’t even begin to express how much I am looking forward to it.

Here are so of the things I am looking forward to most of all…

• seeing my family and friends
• eating a Chipotle burrito
• going to a real mall
• swimming and getting a suntan…in the real, honest to goodness SUN!
• going to the beach
• seeing my family and friends
• sitting on the screened in porch at my mom’s house, drinking a beer, watching the sailboats on the bay, and knitting.

The clock is ticking…

A Little Bit of Home

My cousin Allison has been here visiting since Wednesday, hence my lack of blogging.  After some flight delays, she managed to arrive in one piece, after 6 weeks of study abroad in Italy.

Just like when my mother comes to visit, I started thinking about her departure the minute she arrived–sad that our time would fly by so quickly.  It’s little consolation that I’ll be headed home on holiday for 5 weeks in 12 days.  It’s still hard to have someone come and go.

Not to mention that the weather hasn’t exactly cooperated since she’s been here, so other than a short jaunt into town for yum-yums and coffee, we haven’t been able to get out and do much.

But today will be different.  The sun is shining (well, at least it isn’t raining) and we are headed to Knaresborough to walk around this morning, and then potentially to Fountain’s Abbey in the afternoon.  And then tonight we are drinking beer, playing Scrabble, and making some snacks for a baby shower that I am hosting tomorrow.

Hooray!

A little bit of home, so far away from home, really makes all the difference, even if the visit is a short one.