This Week At Our House #45

1. I am a little late, well, like 5 days. John got 3 job rejections last week including the one he interviewed for the Church just after we moved. We weren't terribly surprised given how sure we felt about moving in order to find a job. 
2. I have felt like I need to not murmur so much. It helps me when I am not focusing on the negative aspects of everything. But, oh, oh, oh am I praying harder than I ever have before.
3. Ruth is making friends fairly easily here. She is very unhappy with the school and the state of North Carolina because all of the graduation requirements are so different and so she has to take a bunch of freshmen classes in order to graduate.
4. Kate is having about the same experience as Ruth. Church is good. I think making friends has been fairly easy, but she feels like the school is dumbed down and more like a prison than a high school and she is unhappy with having to take additional graduation requirements while having the ones she already took only count as electives.
5. Johnny definitely feels the same about the school. He is having a hard time getting enough sleep here and has a hard time getting up and going in time for early morning seminary.
6. Adam is doing fine in school, but misses Legacy Prep. He does however, have more recess and running time which he says is a positive.
7. Rachel was below in reading at Legacy Prep but ahead in reading here, so that helps her feel pretty good. She, like all of us, misses Utah and her old school. 
8. Anya has found it easier to make friends here and is doing well with the school.
9. Joseph likes school here. He doesn't say that he misses anything. I think he is doing fairly well on the whole.
10. Josh likes having aunts and grandparents around. 
11. Arwen is doing ok. She spends most of her time with me.
12. Suzy is getting into everything in my parent's house and always trying to hang out with my parents and sisters. She is curious and friendly, and I think she has finally gotten used to sleeping in a room with other people which is good for her.

This Week's Pictures

There is a beautiful park here that we love. It's wooden with lakes and walking trails and fun playgrounds.

This Week At Our House # 44

We moved our stuff into storage and I signed my kids up for school at my parents' house and I am so sad that we don't have our own house. My parents are being really kind. There are way too many people in their house as one sister, plus one sister and her two kids already lived here for years, and my other sister moved in a week after us.  So there are 19 people in a home that is just a little bit smaller than the one we moved from.

We have enough money to easily pay rent and living expenses for 6 months, but no one will rent to us because John does not have a job. I feel heart broken, and depressed and abandoned. I feel like this trial has been never ending. I know we are not the only people who experience things in life like this. I know it is a part of how life is supposed to be, I just wonder how much lower we can actually go.

My parents have been very kind to us. They say they want us here and that we can stay. But it doesn't mean it's not hard on them and on us and on my sisters and on the other 2 kids.

On a happier note, Adam got a fishing pole for his birthing, and John took Adam and Johnny fishing for the first time. They didn't catch anything, but they really enjoyed it.

One more happier note: The ward is exceedingly nice. The youth program is huge and our kids have been very welcomed.

And as a point of interest, the older girls and I always talked about how if we moved, we wanted to move to a place that rains more. Well, we have been here for 17 days and it has rained 13 of them. And it was all day rain storms not just rain for an hour. Everything smells musty. Today, the sun is shining, for the 4th day, and we are going to the park.

Happy Birthday, Adam!!!

I can hardly believe my dear boy is 11! Adam has always been such a fun kid! He laughs and rough houses, teases, and plays all the time. He's strong and athletic and keeps our family on the move. He loves building things, shooting guns and everything boy! He is Johnny's best friend and a good example to his younger brothers. Adam enjoys choosing the right and trying to be the best boy he can be.

This Week at Our House # 43

First Week in North Carolina

On Tuesday John and I went to Raleigh to look for a home. It may be hard to get into one because John does not have a job yet. We will know by the end of this week whether or not we can rent a home. But John has a job interview in Raleigh tomorrow morning. He also had an interview with the LDS church. If he gets that job, it will be straight back to Ut because he has wanted the safety and stability of working for the Church and has been trying to get a job there for 5 years.

Life at my parents is a little rough even though the kids are enjoying visiting their grandparents and aunts. The kids miss our schedule, their friends, school, their own space. I miss sleeping without Susan in the room and I miss my big, organized kitchen. Hopefully we won't be here too long, but my parents said they are happy to have us stay as long as we need to. They are being very generous with us.

M parent's ward has been very nice. They called up the kids and invited them to seminary and to all the youth activities. A couple of people have offered to help John find a job. We've been welcomed here even though we do not officially live here.

Halloween in North Carolina is a much bigger party. I think the weather is a big part of it. Teenagers trick or treated. Adults dressed up. Many people set up candy stations at the end of their driveway. The decorations were much more intense and somewhat more gruesome. For the first time ever, we didn't stop trick or treating because we got cold, we stopped trick or treating because we got tired.

I am feeling impatient with my life right now. I need to work on having more faith and trust in the Lord and His timing. I know everything will be ok, even if it takes longer than I want it to.

This Week at Our House # 42

The Packing Up: We did not ask for help to pack up, but a very sweet young couple in our ward came and helped and I am so glad. They helped John and his brother Jeremy put the heavy items in the van and they helped sweep and clean out cupboards. We had the usual having to make last minute choices about what to keep and what to throw. John ended up taking 2 loads to the dump the next morning, and I cleaned the house for 8 hours straight. We had an intense couple of days for sure.

The Driving: We spent the first night at Jeremy's house and then left Utah at 11am the next morning. Jer and Rosanne helped us a ton. They were our best friends. I think they are what we will miss most about Utah. We drove until we were half way through Nebraska with a quick stop in Laramie, WY to visit John's sister and her family. The kids were good in the car. But by the end of the night, Susan was crying and really unhappy. She then cried for the first three hours in the hotel.

The next day we drove to Chicago to eat dinner at Giordonos, John's favorite pizza place. The Chicago style pizza was really, really good. Then we started to head south through Indiana. We drove through a bit of a scary part of Chicago and Ruth and Kate were so funny making fun of all of the liquor stores and the liquor stores that advertised lottery, WIC, and food stamps. City people make fun of suburban and country people, and we found plenty of irony viewing their lifestyle just through their local businesses. We stopped just north of Indianapolis for the night. The time zone changed on us and we had a bit of trouble finding a hotel so we didn't stop until 2am. This time, Suzy seemed unhappy, but resigned to her fate of life in a car and nights in a hotel. She just laid quietly went to sleep. That was a relief.

The last day, the drive was beautiful through the Appalachian mountains. The fall colors were vibrant and the hills and trees were breath taking. By the time we got to North Carolina, we were pretty worn out, but still had a few hours left. We made it to my parent's home in Charlotte at 10:30pm.