Long overdue update

SO!....

We're finally in Florida! It was quite a trip... Nothing went "as planned," but God has been with us and has shown Himself in small but very clear ways. Which is a good thing, because we've wondered often if we did the right thing. Not that we had much choice. Less than a week after DH left his job, they had their first lay-off in almost 12 years. Since the numbers are based purely on seniority, he would have been out with only 8-1/2 years there. So, at least we can say that it's not like we left a successful job and made a huge mistake!!

When we arrived in Florida we were hoping to secure a rental. It was hard to do long-distance, even with my dad acting as a local contact. But having no job to back up any kind of lease (and most people wanted a commitment, not just a short-term deal) nobody really wanted to talk to us.

Except, oddly, the wonderful couple who own the mobile home park we are now living in in our OWN HOME! Go figure. No one would rent to us, but they were willing to sell to us. I think they liked us and we are the kind of family they want here. Plus they had spent considerable time talking with my dad and looking at the available homes with him. A relationship was definitely established before we even got here. It's not what we planned, to be sure, but we have a bigger house than I ever dreamed we'd get (4 bedrooms plus a den!!) and it's in a very kid-friendly neighborhood.

Then, on moving-in day, we met our next-door neighbor, who, it turns out, is a Christian who attends the church we were interested in!!! God is so good and you just know that was no accident! One more way He let us know He's with us.

As of today we are still waiting for DH to find a job. So, so many leads and nothing concrete. I admit it's getting scary (1st mtg./lot rent payment is due June 1!) but I continue to trust in my Lord to provide. I have no doubts about what He's done so far, so I have to trust Him for the rest. He sold our home in NH in 3 weeks in the dead of winter in the current housing slump; he gave us our own home when landlords wouldn't talk to us; He has done many small things that gave us assurance....He will open the door for the job!

Any of you inclined to pray to that end, we sure would appreciate it!

Other than that, we LOVE life in Florida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting quite used to it and the kids like being able to go to the pool and the beach all the time. I know the "real" heat is yet to come, but we've experience it before and come next January when it's 10 degrees and snowy up north, I will be really, really happy that I'm here! lol!

MOVING fatigue!!!

Wow.

The last time I felt this kind of utter exhaustion was when I had a newborn and wasn't sleeping much!

I'm vowing to stay in Florida once I get there.....because I don't wanna do this again!! :(

It'll be worth it, I know, but boy is this taxing on us. And on top of it all poor hubby is still battling a bad cold.

Tonight is our last night here in our little house. It's bittersweet; there's lots here we'll miss, but it's such an adventure that we're embarking on that it's hard to stay too sad too long. I may be crossing the Georgia state line before it finally really dawns on me that we're moving to Florida!!!

But boy am I gonna have fun updating this blog for everyone once we arrive and settle in!

Computer fatigue

My head is spinning.....If I have to look at one more post on craigslist, I may go nuts.

LOL!!!

(Kim, don't count me out as far as looking over your way!!....if you find anything "too good to pass up" do let me know!)

Anywho, this is really becoming quite an adventure. But God gave us a miracle with our house on this end, and I know He'll come through on the other end. I just never thought I'd be this close to leaving and still have no place to go! :(

A house!....a house!...my kingdom for a house!

Well, you know, in all this planning and moving bit, I never thought finding a place to live was going to be the hard part! I always thought the job-hunting would be the challenge, but instead it has turned out to be quite the opposite. Hubby has a lead on a possible job already, but darned if I can find a decent and suitable place to rent.

The big apartment complexes are out because they require a 12-month commitment and proof of income. I've been scouring ads for rental homes but most of what I would consider "affordable" is in less-than-desirable neighborhoods. We had one hopeful prospect - not fantastic but do-able - and my dad even met with the landlords. His conversation with the man went very well but the wife seems to have gone all sneaky on him and took a deposit from someone else before we could solidify the deal. Grr.......

So now we have a local realtor trying to find us something temporary. I think we need to get down there and get settled and get our feet under us before people will talk to us. It will also give us a chance to really scour the various parts of town and see where we'd like to be and stay for a while.

But let's hope we find that short-term place SOON! I feel like I'm running out of time....

"What does it mean?"........."It's big."

That's what Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber said to each other as they stood and saw the huge "Stuff-Mart" go up in the neighborhood!

It's also the first thing to pop into my head when recently looking over what may well be my younger boys' new school! It has an enrollment of over 600 students!!!!!!!!! Compare that to the 79 students in their current school! Well, we knew this was going to be a big move! That's what happens when you move out of the woods.... lol!

FLORIDA BOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wa-HOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I'm pinching myself to believe it's finally happening.....We are finally moving to Florida! We close on our house on March 31st, and off we go.

I have waited so long to be able to circle a date on a calendar and say "THAT'S the day!" Now I can.

We're actively looking for a place to rent, and I'm starting to investigate schools (this is overwhelming to me....it's very different in FL than here in NH!). We're packing up the house and have our U-Haul truck reserved. The kids are super excited. Everything is falling into place and it's so amazing to me to really watch God step into a situation and show you who He is! We don't know all the details yet, but each time we take a step forward, we have enough Light to take one more.

Awesome...!

Some Sunday morning news

I don't normally post on Sundays. Not for any particular reason, it just usually seems sort of quiet in my circle of blog friends, so I lay low and wait for the posting frenzy to begin anew on Monday!

But what I want to post today is ALL about God's glory, so today seemed the perfect day to do it. We are moving, my friends. Our long-awaited prayer has been answered and we are on our way to a new adventure. What makes it remarkable is how it has all come about. And for that, you need a little background.

DH and I began praying about going to a Christian camp environment probably around four years ago now. At that point our house still needed lots of work to be ready to sell, so we knew it was going to be a bit of a wait before we could put our plan in action. Two years ago, through an on-line database that connects camps with potential employees, we were talking to two different camps and on the verge of moving to one that was our dream camp/job/location. But we needed just a few weeks longer to finish up the house than they were able to wait, so sadly we had to pass on the offer, and it faded off into history. We were devastated. But, determined to press on, in autumn that year we listed our house on the market and waited expectantly for God to move. The housing market was just starting to down-turn then, but it wasn't too bad. Yet. We had a lot of showings and a lot of "almost"s, but nothing went through until February of last year. We had an offer!! We hadn't be pursuing any camps at that point but were just sure that God would make the way once the house was sold. The very next day after the offer was accepted and the papers were signed, the man lost his job!!!!! That was the very abrupt end of that.

I will admit to you here and now that that one really shook my faith. Not the foundations of it, but the "WHY?, Lord?" I withdrew spiritually for over three months. God was still my Father, but I wasn't speaking to Him! I felt like the rug had just been completely ripped out from under me and I fell flat on my back with all the wind knocked out of me. I was the bruised reed that had indeed been crushed!! How much more was I supposed to take?

Fast forward to this winter. We put the house on the market in mid-January. At this point the economy has tanked, my DH's job is very tenuous (his company is automotive-related, which should tell you something!), and if we don't sell the house the bank is gonna get it.... We are backed into a corner. Helpless. Our hands are tied.

Hmm....isn't that just where God often wants us, so He can do His best work?!?

Yep! And He did! Less than 30 days after listing our house, we had an offer!! And the very same week, DH was contacted by two different camps seeking him for a position!

We are still waiting for some little details to fall into place with the house, but it's moving forward as it should (so my realtor tells me!) and I trust God for those details. We should have a closing date at the end of the month! Meanwhile, hubby is flying to Texas in a few days to meet with the camp director in person. He is so excited about this and I am so happy about that; he has been in a job where he's miserable for so, so long. It'll make me happy to see him so happy in his new role! My dream of moving to Florida hasn't happened, but God has set this all in place and there's a reason for it. On a purely practical level, the unemployment rate in FL is currently around 8%....that's very high and to just move on down and hope we can find work is quite a gamble. If the Lord had led us to do so, of course we'd trust Him for the next step, but He's leading us another way and I know it'll be best. On the "sunny side," we'll only be a 2-day drive from FL instead of our currrent 3, and I still get a warm climate!....yay!!!!

Fuzzy Disney Math

You know, when you want something badly enough - something that you have some control over the outcome - you can usually find ways of making it happen. It might not make a lot of sense to other people, or, perhaps, even to you. But when you look at that something long enough...turn it sideways and look at it some more....flip it over and look even more....eventually you start to figure things in your head that do make sense.

That's where Fuzzy Disney Math comes in.

I'm a Disney Nut. My license plate on my van even says so. I have a whole lanyard of collector's pins hanging from my rear-view window, to remind me of my Favorite Place every time I drive somewhere. I stream Disney park and resort music from Live365.com nearly every day. I spend ridiculous amounts of time on The DIS Discussion boards, talking with complete strangers (and some not-so-stranger anymore!) about all things Disney. It just never gets old to me. Ever.

So I'm chatting away today with some of my DIS friends and as usual someone out there is planning a trip. A trip they really hadn't planned on taking this year. But they got a too-good-to-pass-it-up pin code, and a trip is born. The domino effect kicks in and I start thinking about how much I'd love a solo trip someday (yes my friends you have to be a bonafide Disney Nut to want to go there by yourself). Next thing you know, I'm on the official Disney web site pricing out said solo trip.

The grand total isn't so bad, in the big picture. But it's insane to even think I could possiby go there this year. Even if it isn't until the fall and I have plenty of time to gather the deposit and save for the balance.

Can you see the Fuzzy Disney Math here??!

I know lots of people who just cannot wrap their brains around a solo trip to Disney. But I can't wait for one. I love having time to myself. I'm comfortable with myself and don't always feel the need to have someone else around to talk to and such. It's not that I don't want my family around; that's not it at all. It's that a solo trip would afford me the chance to see Disney World entirely on my own schedule, see what I want to see without taking a vote on it, ride something 10 times in a row if I so choose! And to be honest, the chance to slow down and take in all the details. Hard to do with three active children in tow....! And those same active children have been to Disney World three times in their brief lives, just so you know.

And before you think I've left out my poor hubby, be advised that he and I are planning a special Disney trip for our 20th anniversary in three years!

So, there you have it. I'm looking at taking a solo trip to Disney World. This year.

Well, it's winter again....

....and so begins the slow decline in my sanity for the next 4 months. Three if I'm lucky.

Winter arrived with a bang here in NH, gracing us with an ice storm last week that left over 300,000 people without power at its peak (some are still without, 11 days later....). It was unprecedented in this state. And just when folks were starting to get back on their feet from that little gem, we got a major snowstorm exactly a week later, followed by a second one two days after that.

There are now a solid 2 feet of snow on the ground.....

Have mercy I need to get out of here!!!!!!!!!

Somewhere in Florida, there's a house. With a palm tree in the yard. With my name on it.

There are HOW many people there??!!.....

I have been realizing the last few days what a culture shock it's going to be for us - and esp. the kids - moving from our tiny hamlet of barely 1200 residents to central Florida where a "small" town is more like 10,000 people! The two examples that woke me up to this were first of all looking at the web site of a church. It had an ad on one of the Ocala newspaper's web site, so I clicked it to see what it was about. It turns out to be something right up our alley, but I tell you there is nothing in all of New England quite like this place!! The segment they had on their children's programs was amazing, and there were a ton of kids. Then I thought, wow...my kids now are lucky if they have 15 kids in their Sunday school class!!!

Then, the other day I was looking up schools and school districts in the area we are looking to move to. The site I was on listed the various schools in a given county, followed by a few stats and then the school's population/enrollment..... Again, WOW. My kids' elementary school has a total pop. of maybe 80 kids. The average down there is well into the hundreds, and the middle and high schools are huge!!!

So, it's going to be interesting to say the least! But I hope it will also be a positive experience as well. While there are some aspects of rural NH living that are great, there is a whole other world out there that we don't get to see very often.

On our way to Florida!

Well, not "actually," yet. But the decision has officially been made. And I am so many kinds of excited. There are not enough Dancing Babnanas in the world to properly express it!

Hmm.....can't seem to insert any kind of emoticon here. Will have to investigate that.

Anyway, in between all the holiday stuff that goes on this time of year, I'll be going through "stuff" and trying to lighten our load. I have things that have been in boxes since we moved here! That was six years ago! If I haven't missed it, I don't need it.

I'm watching the cats tear it up around the house this morning and realizing what a treat that's gonna be, moving them 1,400 miles in the back of our van!! We've actually got a good-sized rabbit type cage that will comfortably fit them both, where they can ride most of the time. They will wear a harness and have a leash so we can take them out at rest areas for exercise. At night they can roam freely inside the van while we sleep in the camper.

The camper!!!!....that I will finally get to take to Fort Wilderness!!! Oh yeah baby!

I am so getting Annual Passes for the World when we get there. I will do the full AP for the first year; no water parks and such, but just the ones that have no blackout dates. We want to do Star Wars weekends once or twice, and those normally fall in the summer blackout zone. Plus, during the first year when it's all new and we still can't get enough, who wants to worry about not being able to go on any given weekend!?

Well, I'm off to go browse rentals again, and dream of my new Florida home....

Welcome to my blog!

Ok, so it's one of probably millions on the Web, but it's mine and I like it.

I've always been a writer, to one degree or another, so blogging comes naturally. And when you're living my life, there is plenty to write about! It may not be Nobel Prize material, but when you view life through the spectacles of wit and humor, you're bound to find something amunsing now and then. Sharing my life with a husband, three boys, and 2 cats...well, I have to do what I can to keep my sanity!

I currently live in New England. I was born and bred here, but I'm a Florida girl at heart. On a recent vacation there, we experienced what I call "rising-off-the-pavement-and-slappin'-you-in-the-face" kind of heat. I loved it. By contrast, this afternoon I took DS6 to his soccer game, and by the time it was over it was a scant 49 degrees and I was a walking (barely...) popsicle. Hate the cold... Cold hurts. Heat is uncomfortable, but not painful (unless you hang by the pool all afternoon without your sunblock).

I want to move to the Ocala, FL area. I've researched it and it seems right up my alley. It's not a huge metropolitan area like Tampa or Orlando, but it's certainly bigger (and funner...) than where I live now. But not "too" big. It still retains a rural character and offers ample opportunities for outdoor recreation in the nearby National Forest and the Silver Springs area.

It also has lots and lots of horses. DS6 and I are bona-fide horse lovers. I've been one since Day 1. I was blessed enough to ride and take lessons fairly early on, and got my first pony at 13. At 15 I upgraded to a larger model, and had that one until I was 26 and getting married and heading off to Alaska for the summer.

And to think that after that trip I actually wanted to live there....! There's no denying it's stunning in the summer and early fall, but winter would do me in. Mentally. Bye-bye frayed thread!

I digress...

So, an abundance of equines in the Ocala area is a huge bonus. And so is being less than 2 hours from Walt Disney World! My favorite place within my favorite place. Home of The Mouse Himself.

Besides giving me an outlet to write, vent, share and laugh, this blog will eventually serve as my connection to "home" once we get out of New England. I don't have any idea when that will be, but what the hey.... Might as well start the chit-chat now!