Another Goodbye

In September of 2003, Josh and I were fresh grads from the University of Oklahoma.  Full of excitement, conviction, and a bit of naivete, we started a journey that still surprises us sometimes today.

In these (almost) ten years, we've moved 5 times.  That's a lot of packing tape, a lot of boxes, and a lot of phone calls to shady Asian moving companies.  It's a lot of changing phone numbers, lots of fixing of hot water heaters, lots of saying hello, but also a lot of saying goodbye. 

Admittedly, the catalyst for my long absence from blogging was because we were in the middle of move #5.  It happened quickly, and perhaps its speed gave me little time to process through the move.  Though I was absolutely certain this move was the right direction we were take, this goodbye was so hard for me.

We'd only lived in "our" city for a year, but I feel like the Lord took that one year and made feel like five.  I had more local friendships there than I did in four years where we'd lived before.  My kids had great friends.  I loved our apartment.  I just *really* loved where we were and what we were doing.  

And honestly, blogging in the middle of that move was just too raw.  It felt so superficial to post pictures and say, "Here's the cute thing my kid did!" when my heart was saying, "Man, I'm really just so sad."  So instead I just didn't blog at all.

On this side of things - nine months removed from the city we left - I still miss it, but I'm able to see many of the good things the Lord brought us into.  The blog will feel stuck, though, until I give a proper tribute to the city and home we loved so intensely for that one year. 

I'll never forget the day I took this picture - it was our second day in our city and we were walking around looking for an apartment.  We stumbled upon an interesting looking apartment complex and went inside to take a look.  It wasn't on our radar at all, but after going in and checking it out, we knew that was the place for us.  This picture reminds me so much of the Lord's guiding hand, at work even when we are unaware of all He is doing on our behalf.  

In this home, our oldest lost her first tooth. 

In this home, our girls operated their first lemonade stand.

And then watched the neighbors stare in wonder at the Carrot Cake muffins.  

         

In this home, my youngest child had his first birthday.  

In this home, we made hamburger buns for trick-or-treaters.

In this home, school drop-offs were a family affair.  

In this home, friends were made, cookies were baked, friendships were born. 

In this home, we joined our first homeschool co-op.

In this home, we celebrated school dance performances.  

In this home, the story of the Pilgrims was heard by the littlest of ears.  

In this home, a host of friends gathered to be thankful together.  

In this home, friends stuck together and helped out.  Even when it meant a lot of present-wrapping.

In this home, Abby joined the Family Fun Nights.  

In this home, good news of great joy was proclaimed.  

In this home, every heart prepared Him room.  

In this home, the CGB (Carollo Girls Band) was formed.  Samantha was the whistler, Emma was the piano player, and Abby was the drummer.  

In this home, we celebrated our first ever Chinese New Year.
                                      

And we invited friends over to celebrate the madness with us!

In this home, we painted.  Often.

In this home, we played in the snow. 

In this home, Abby stopped sucking her fingers forever.  

In this home, we shopped like locals.  Sort of.  

In this home, we welcomed spring!  [We were amazed by the beautiful flowers all around us!]

In this home, we had our first neighborhood Easter Egg Dye!

In this home, I may or may not have spilled blue paint everywhere.  And then flushed it down the drain.

In this home, we worshipped.

In this home, we continued our love of water balloons.

In this home, we read lots of books.

In this home, we learned "The Star Spangled Banner".

In this home, we crafted.

In this home, we LOVED our huge patio!  (and the view too!)

In this home, we jump-roped with our neighbors.  Every week.

In this home, we cooked together.

In this home, we made lots of music.

In this home, we really hit our stride when it came to school.

And in Chinese, too!

In this home, we enjoyed the summer heat - and cooling off from it in the pool with friends!

And in this home, we were sanctified even more.  =)

In this home, our second baby girl lost her first tooth.  [And she actually lost it, too!  Once it was pulled, it immediately disappeared!]

In this home, we considered buying a pet.  Instead, we decided to just play with all our neighbors' pets.

In this home, goodbyes were hard.

But with all we had done in this home, it couldn't have been easy.  

[For privacy reasons, many of the people we love very dearly who still live here are not pictured.  If you're one of those people, please know that I'm only leaving out your awesome pictures to respect your privacy!]