Transition Stuff

I have these two personalities that live inside me...I have a definite explorer spirit...who has to somehow commune with my homebody spirit. I have always loved traveling and experiencing new things. I am at home on the road. I love navigating new cities and discovering new places. But, I grew up in the same house from the time I was born until I graduated from High School. My mom later moved (AFTER I was married and living in Nashville). I love to explore. I hate to move. I have been confused by this, but I think I have figured out that the explorer spirit thrives when there is a known home base. I'm experiencing some weird emotions lately that seem to be in direct conflict with each other. I am excited about the new adventures ahead for us. I can't wait! I am excited about all the pages of life that are yet to be written. I guess it's the moving thing that's stressing me out the most. If it were possible to snap my fingers and have the whole thing done, I would. I am serious. I so TOTALLY would. However, as I have learned more than a handful of times in my life, God teaches us some things in going through a process that we could never learn otherwise. We learn dependence. We learn to trust. We learn to pray. We learn to wait upon Him. That pretty much sums up where I currently find myself.

In the meantime, the kids are finding ways to incorporate their thoughts about moving into some fun games. Last night at bed time I sat on the bed with Maddie, Ella and Sam and played a game that Maddie termed, "I'm moving to Texas." It's a memory/alphabet game that we had some fun with. You had to repeat every word and then add your own each turn. After all was said and done, here are the things we're bringing with us to Texas:

A: Apple
B: Banana
C: Car
D: Dog
E: Elephant (get ready Abilene ZOO!)
F: Frog
G: Gargoyle
H: Hainey (our dear friend who currently lives in Washington DC)
I: Iguana
J: Jackpot (um, yes, please)
K: Kiki (Aunt Kiki, will you come with us??)
L: Lemon
M: Maddie (good thing!)
N: Nancy (as in Fancy Nancy)
O: Ocean
P: Parrot
Q: Queen
R: Robber
S: Seventeen Snakes (Maddie did this because she knows I have a phobia)
T: Telegraph
U: Universe (Sam thinks in big terms)
V: Venomous Rat (Ella...this item kind of sums up our hilarious Ella)
W: Weirdo (pretty sure we're bringing 5 of those)
X: X-ray
Z: Zapper

The kids amazed me with their ability to remember all those words and think through to the next one. Sam received a little coaching from Maddie, but he did a great job too!

I also wanted to share some video clips with you from when ZOE sang at Otter Creek last weekend. Thank you to David England for making these available and to Jackie (his wife) for taking them!