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Thursday, December 22, 2016

ANOTHER MOVE. WHAT'S NEW?

It is well with my soul.  Being in Texas, that is!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY TEXANS, AGAIN; Austinites?  Though my southern accent has never left me, we've not been Texans in nearly 12 years.   We lived in several different states, our longest stint being Maryland (go Ravens) for almost 7 years.  Both of our children were born in Baltimore, so it will always hold a piece of my heart.  However, we most recently lived in the SF Bay Area for about 7 months.  We were able to orchestrate a move to Austin, thanks to Tim's amazing job!  Facebook has a small office in Austin, and although Tim's team isn't primarily at the Austin office, they let him move because he's THAT awesome at his job.  That's what I believe, anyway, :).

As we've gotten a bit older, our priorities have changed.  While living in Baltimore, happily planning to settle there long-term, we started saying in passing, "Well, maybe we'll move back to Texas one day. And if so, let's definitely move to Austin".   This, of course, was well before Tim's current job was even thought of.  To finally be in Austin living out our long-term plan so soon, is VERY surreal.  We never really thought we'd move back.  Hopping a plane or train once or twice a year to see family became the norm, and we were completely fine with that.  However, while living in SF, our desire shifted from "maybe one day, but probably not" to "we'd be so much closer to family...it's so much cheaper there..let's go now!". haha. The kids LOVE their grandparents, and my own grandfather is 85 and my favorite person in the world.  So, without stating the obvious, it became a mission to get us back to Texas ASAP.   I want the kids to grow up near their grandparents.  Those relationships are typically so special.  So, I kept nudging Tim to broach the topic of moving to the Austin office, instead of back to Baltimore and working out of the DC office as was planned all along.

To make a long very emotional story short, we were given the green light to move to Austin, within 30 days bought a house sight-unseen, and flew in at the end of June to sign our papers.  The kids and I moved ahead of Tim for 5 months, but Tim stayed for the first 2 weeks of July to help us get "settled".  We didn't bring ANYTHING with us aside from 8 suitcases, two carseats and a couple of boxes we shipped with valuables. And we actually survived all of this.  haha!  Tim just moved to Austin for good the week of Thanksgiving.  He lived in an apartment in SF with a roommate and visited us here in Austin once a month for a week at each time.  WE DID IT!  And we're still furnishing our house, btw.  Dude, you MAY think that's cool. IT AIN'T!  It takes MONEY. And PATIENCE.  My personality is to get everything done immediately...whatever I'm doing.  I get an idea, and it has to be fully completed that day.  So, imagine me trying to furnish an entire house.  I've had to color my hair twice as often, ;)

The summary of the past 6 months through pictures:

Moving again....

NEVER AGAIN

Our flight from Oakland to Austin...bye SF BAY!

Our first night in our new house. Our second day in Austin. (air mattress strong)

The final playdate with our CA friends. (out of order here)

Our 1st week in our house was also July 4th weekend, so some of Tim's family visited!
The kids LOVE their Aunts. 

We ain't go no couch to sit on, brah. (first few weeks)

Our first visit to our hometown from Austin.  We DROVE (6 hrs)!  Miracles do happen.

I met up with Tim in Los Angeles (note the palm) for a week in October to visit his brother and family.  Tim flew down from San Francisco, I flew over from Austin. We can do things like this now.  Grammy is so much closer!! Thank you GRAMMY!

At his brother and sis-in-laws house, acting a fool per the usual. 

Paw (my grandfather) and Gramps, the kids grandfather. 

My mom came down for Halloween!  We're taking advantage of every free weekend by seeing family one way or another.  

Babes

Sophia's homeschool group get-together; roasting smores. 

Crazies

Kid-free drive from Austin to Texarkana.  It's the little things that are the big things, for me. 

Thanksgiving

Weekend in Dallas

The kids and Grammy rode the train from Dallas to Texarkana while Tim and I visited his parents in Sherman.  We're a train family, if you haven't gathered from our previous travels, :)

Before we went to Sherman that weekend, we caught his sisters show in Dallas. EPIC!  Check our her band, Colonial Blue.  TRUE TALENT AND INCREDIBLE MUSIC. She writes it ALL.  

Unprofessional family Christmas photo

The temperatures dropped, and so did our sanity.  

 Our first time decorating our yard for Christmas

And this picture is one of the top reasons we moved back to Texas. 

We absolutely adore our new life here.  And we are beyond thankful for the many blessings God has given us.  None of it will ever be lost on me.  I also have to thank my wonderful husband for my amazing life.  Thank you Tim for all of your hard work!



(In case anyone goes back to look at previous posts on here, I did write an entry about our move, but I did not share it with anyone.  So some of the info is redundant. :). )