Chaos is the story of my life...

It is not often that you get the chance to stand on the precipice of a new chapter in your life and look back at the old one closing behind you. I have missed most of the opportunities in the past because I didn't realize the break in chapters or because I was too busy to really notice. This time however, I have this odd feeling. Like I want to exist in two worlds but I can't. I keep thumbing through our last chapter and reminiscing, just a little reluctant to actually let that last page turn. Yet, I am really excited about this new chapter and what it will bring and what God has in store for our family here!

So here we are, beginning our second week in Colorado and it is a little surreal. I am not sure how long it will take for me to fully convince my heart that we have moved. My brain is fully aware of where we are but I catch myself thinking about "home" and what I would be doing if I were still there. This past week has been chaotic at the least (and I know that contributes to this feeling of being a little out of place) so I will just start from the beginning of the move and catch you up.

We rented a uhaul and movers last Thursday. It was freezing and raining but we had to get packed. The movers ended up being terrible and would not listen to any of our suggestions and packed our uhaul horribly. We ended up having to rent two more pull behind trailers to get everything and even then we left a lot of things to be donated. We ended up having to drive three vehicles up here so we asked my father-in-law, Larry, if he would drive up with us, and he graciously agreed. My mom also made the trip with us and she rode in the car with me to help ease the trip for the kids (and me). We all left our house the afternoon of the 1st and I shed my final tears for the house that I had brought both of my precious babies home to, and where we had been blessed by countless friends and family events over the past 4 1/2 years.

We made it to Amarillo and spent the night and then got up early to make it to Aurora with plenty of time for movers to unload us. We rolled in to our new apt. complex around 3pm and the movers opened our uhaul. They could not believe how it had been packed and that they were supposed to be professionals! We have several pieces of broken furniture and several large scratches or gashes in different items as well. But, they got us completely unloaded and they packed our garage from floor to ceiling, with enough room to walk through. The kids were fascinated with the snow and played in it until they were literally frozen! Larry and my mom were troopers and entertained the kids for several hours while Jon and I directed movers all over the place with our stuff.

Larry went home Monday morning and my mom went home on Wed. morning and I don't know what I would have done without all of their help!! Thank you so much!!

Jon took Monday off because we still had so much to do and we got a lot of stuff unpacked and lots of boxes broken down that day. We have a very tiny washer and dryer that came with the apt. so it takes 3 loads to do my normal 1 load. My mom worked really hard getting our laundry caught up while I tried to get everything put away and organized. By Friday I was finished and just had things left to hang and boxes to take down to storage.

All of that work made for a very chaotic week for the kids, but it is over and done and now we can hit the ground running with getting a new routine going. Overall, they have done fantastic! They love the snow and they love seeing the mountains. Our apt. is big enough for them to have most of their toys so they also have plenty to play with. Our only problem has been sleeping. They are now sharing a room which is complicating things a little. David is not adjusting well to the new surroundings and wants to sleep with us because he says he is scared. David screams and cries and keeps Alex up and then he will calm down long enough for the two of them to start laughing and playing games with each other. Then when we go in to get them to calm down and go to sleep, David starts the crying all over again. This process has taken from 1 to 4 hrs each night and still ends up with both of them getting up and trying to sleep with us sometime after 1am. I know they are just needing the security of their routine again so we are trying hard to get them back into one.

We took the kids to the zoo yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, and the zoo was free! There were lots of animals out and you can get really close to them here, so the kids were fascinated! They also have peacocks that roam free all through the zoo and lots of wild geese. The kids tried to chase down every peacock and goose they came across and Alex almost touched one a couple of times (with me freaking out in the background of course)! There was also lots of melting snow, making large slush puddles everywhere which was probably David and Alex's favorite part.

There is a park and playground right across the street so Jon and I are going to take the kids there this afternoon to let them burn off a lot of their pent up energy from this week.

I hope this time next week I can report a very non-chaotic week to you! That is most certainly my plan.

God's blessings over your week!