To the rest of you: there are a lot of reasons I haven't written. I've felt...overwhelmed, I suppose. So much change happening so quickly has stressed me out more than I thought it would. Allow me to offer a quick update:
We sold our house, as you may remember. We moved on a particularly fantastic day. Whoever said that a Tropical Storm makes for a bad moving day was a liar. A liar, I tell you!
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| A HUGE thank you to our awesome friends that helped move us. We love you! And we need you again on December 27th. Seriously. Mark it on your calendars. |
After we put our stuff in storage, Ryan left for Vancouver. (With Mollie, I might add.) The boys and I stayed in Mobile and moved in with my parents. I realize that many of you don't understand the reasons for the forced separation, but it's been good. For one, Noah started kindergarten in August and we didn't want to uproot him so soon after starting school.
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| Noah's first day of school. How has 6 years gone by so fast?! |
Secondly, I was honored to be the Preview Party Chair at the 2011 Junior League of Mobile's Christmas Jubilee. I had been working on it since January and it was important to me to see it through. (The Preview Party happened last week, by the way, and was a huge success. The whole market was! We raised a lot of money that is going straight back to our community).
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| Here's a few of us from the Christmas Jubilee Committee at Preview Party. |
And finally, this is our year to be with my parents for Christmas. We knew that if we flew to Vancouver in August, we couldn't afford to fly back to Mobile in December. Because, as anyone who has ever flown in or out of Mobile knows, it costs $756,000 dollars to fly here. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but not by much. What can I say? It's a high-destination city.
So, that's where life leaves us. Ryan is up in Canada working very hard. And the boys and I are here. It's not been easy, necessarily, being away from Ryan. But it's been easier than I thought it would be. And that has so much to do with my mom and dad. I have never felt more humbled or more grateful for having such wonderful parents. I will always remember these months spent living here as some of the best times of my life. We've made memories that will help carry me through the long, lonely days ahead. So many tender little moments I've witnessed between my parents and my kids that I will treasure forever. I have never felt so at-home in my life. It's been a good time for me, for the kids, and for my parents. And I will miss it, with all my heart.
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| my dad reading to the 3 boys. just 1 of many moments like this! |
The next month is when all the big changes are happening. Ryan comes home for Christmas and then we move our stuff into 2 PODS on December 27th. Ryan and his dad then drive my car up to Vancouver. And on December 29th my parents are helping fly the boys and I to Vancouver. (Because I'm just going to be honest here and say that I'd lose at least 1, possibly 2 kids, if I flew by myself.)
When we initially get to Vancouver, we will be staying with my in-laws. And, oh yeah: I'll be homeschooling Noah for the remainder of his kindergarten year. And that is the extent of what I know about our future.
I get a lot of questions from people about what we'll do when we get up there. Let me just answer all the questions with one big blanket answer: I HAVE NO IDEA. I have no idea where we'll be living. I have no idea how I'm going to homeschool Noah while I have the 2 little ones climbing all over me. I have no idea where we will be going to church. Trust me. I wish I knew.
Here is what I do know: God is good. He hasn't left us in a vulnerable place. He is walking this road with us and providing the means to do it. I don't know what the future looks like for the Friesen five. I don't even know how to begin to think of our future. And yeah...that bugs me. But, I know his grace will be sufficient. It has to be.
