Yikes!

The roller coaster has slowed down long enough for me to get off, even though rest of my family is still on it. Here's our last month in a nutshell--We moved from Minneapolis to Columbus June 9, and spent a week unpacking, getting new licenses, plates, learning our way around, etc.

A week later we headed out to Pennsylvania for three weeks of basketball camp. We lived in the dorm, spent tons of time with old friends, took twice-daily walks around campus, enjoyed fellowship at Heritage Baptist Church, threw zillions of pinecones into the pond, ran crazy around the gym when camp was not happening, and ate "yummy" food in the cafeteria, almost got attacked by the psychotic campus geese more than once, enjoyed fireworks with great friends, and had many ice coffees from the brand spanking new Dunkin Donuts. Our hearts were filled up there.

We ended up leaving camp a couple of days early to head up to Boston. My grandmother died July 1 (yaay for her being in heaven, sad for her not being here...) so we spent a few days with my family in Massachusetts for the funeral. It was really great seeing everyone--I saw relatives I hadn't seen in years and I know it made Grampy so happy that every single person in our extended family came (including soldiers flying in from Iraq and missionaries flying up from Ecuador). There was lots of crying, but even more laughing.

Mark had to leave the day after the funeral to start another basketball camp in Cleveland, but he insisted that I stay with my mom longer, so he drove the 10 hours himself with the kids.

I flew from Boston to Columbus today. My kids are still in Cleveland, staying with Mark's parents while Mark finishes up that camp. After these crazy 5 weeks, I've never been happier to sit on my own couch. Since we were only in Columbus for a week before leaving again and going through all the craziness, I feel like my house is brand new all over again.

We leave in another 2 and a half weeks for my brother's wedding down in Virginia, so that's another 9 hour trip to torture our kids with, but I'm not going to think about it yet. I have the next 3 days all to myself before Mark, Jake, and Rory roll back into town and I have lots of plans. I'll fill my days with coffee, relaxation, stocking our kitchen with food, getting a library card (always a necessity right away for me), exploring the city a little bit, and possibly painting the kitchen if I'm feeling extremely motivated.

Real life in Columbus has definitely not started for us yet. But we're almost there, and very happy about it.

Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for us.