Change / The Big Move

It really has been a while, nearly nine months, since I last made an entry.  There's a pretty good reason for that.  A lot of things have changed.  We bought a new house and you moved to a new school.  It's difficult to list all of the things that have transpired since February, but I'm going to try to highlight a few important things.

2015 was split into two major themes:  Firsts and lasts.  

On May 28, 2015, we bought a new home in Boyertown.  We visited several homes, but none of them wowed us like the Boyertown house.  You and I absolutely fell in love with it when we first walked through it.  It even brought us to tears.  Daddy knew how badly we wanted this house, so he put in an offer to our realtor (little did we know would he turn out to be our new neighbor!).  

You told me that if we bought this house, you would be completely fine with leaving your school district.  I believed you.  You believed you.  You were wrong.  More on that later.

On June 11, 2015, we sold our house in Schwenksville.   Daddy and I were SO excited to move on, but it was very difficult for you.  When we said goodbye to the house, you literally took pictures of every corner of the inside and outside of the house.  You took so many photos that you drained your battery and had to use my phone to finish taking the rest.

Saying goodbye to your friends and school wasn't very difficult at first.  That's mainly because after we moved, you still had to go to school for two weeks before summer break started.  We drove 20 minutes to Schwenksville for two weeks back and forth.  We had some lovely conversations in those car rides.  Saying goodbye to your closest friend, Zaidy, wasn't very difficult at first, either, because she came with us even on the very first day that we moved in.  On the last day of school, you and Zaidy cried for a long time after you got off of the bus.  We had a sleepover planned at our house that night, and I didn't think you guys would be able to pull yourselves together to have the sleepover.  But you both got it together and had a great night.

Your first summer in the new house.  We tried our best to get Zaidy over here every other week or so.  Madison came over a few times, too.  Once school started, those visits started to become less and less.  Summer in our new house was a learning experience.  A lot of firsts.  We met our neighbors, the Creeds, who have turned out to be a huge blessing.  You even started taking piano lessons from Ms. Erica.  You played a few times with Allie, Jonathan, and Grace.  It was hard for you to find common ground to play with them because they are a little younger than you.  They had swings and a bouncy house, and they loved to scooter.  That helped a lot to break the ice.  

We built a fire pit and had some fires in the backyard.  We went to a food truck festival.  I sent you to some summer camps.  We tilled and maintained a garden.  We went to the playground almost daily.  We rode bikes every day and you scootered a lot.  We made Jumbo Jenga.  G-Dad made you a swing.  We went to the beach.  We got a hammock.  We spent a lot of times unpacking boxes and setting up our new house.  You started gymnastics.  

You are so pretty.  

We had a really fun housewarming party in July.  All of your friends (even Lila!) and family came to visit the new house and we partied until the wee hours of the morning.  Zaidy spent the night that night.

We sent you to vacation bible school at Trinity down the road from our new house.  It was very hard to send you there because you absolutely did not want to go.  You were scared.  Of course you were.  Like you told daddy and I so many times - this move is easy for you because you don't have to move to a new school and leave all of your friends.  I strongly encouraged you to go to VBS anyway, and I'm glad that I did.  You met your friend, Sydney, there.  Little did you know that God brought Sydney into your life to be your closest friend in 5th grade and that she'd be in your class!  You also met Grace.  She doesn't go to your school, but she will go to your middle school one day.  Her mom was my closest friend in 10th grade.  

Our neighbors across the street had a yard sale over the summer.  You met a boy named Colin.  He was sweet and told us that he was going into 5th grade, too.  He said, "Maybe we'll be in the same class!"  Again, this was God's hand at work in your life.

Even with all of that fun (and more that I can't think about right now), you had some pretty bad days.  I felt like the world's worst mother at times for moving you out of that house.  It was a dumpy house, but it was the only house you ever knew.  And you begged us at times to move back there.  

School.  Summer seemed to go by very quickly.  You had good days and bad days.  Sometimes you would cry and tell me how scared and sad you were to start school.  On the first day of school, I went into your bedroom.  You moaned when you realized what today was.  You cried all morning.  My heart felt like it was going to burst into a million pieces.  I wished so much that I could hold your hand and be with you the entire day.  We walked the long walk down the hill and we said goodbye.  I wrote tons of little notes to you and hid them in your bookbag, lunch, etc. to encourage you to smile, be brave, and pray because God is with you.  You were so brave, Madelyn.  I was so proud of you.  You came home and absolutely hated it.  It wasn't the same.  "My life was perfect!  Why did you have to ruin that?"  

The second day of school was hard, too.  But the third day, there was hope.  You had started to make friends and realized that it wasn't all that bad.  We learned that Colin was in your class and so was Sydney!  Over the next few weeks, you, Colin, and Sydney would become close friends.  They both love Minecraft, too!  There were always ups and downs in your new school, but you adjusted very quickly.  You even got plugged into music very quickly.  You got into chorus and violin right away.  You even tried out for Show Choir and made it!  You also auditioned in a trio with Colin and Sydney and you made it for the Christmas Concert!  Your first violin concert is coming up this week.  I wish you would practice more (and with a better attitude!), but I guess I don't know many kids that actually enjoy practicing.  Either way, you are super talented and you are developing a beautiful singing voice.  

School has been going very well.  It's been three months now.  You got your first report card and you are actually advanced in reading and writing.  Not surprising - you love to read.  You're currently in the Harry Potter series, and you're loving it.  

We visited Trinity down the street from our house and decided to continue going there.  I started sending you to the Wednesday night program, GAK (God's Amazing Kids), and you cried the first time because you were scared.  I decided to start volunteering there, which helped you to continue going.  We also started inviting Sydney to come with us.  Grace and the Creeds go there, too.  You've already started making a good amount of church friends.  Next year, you start youth group.  

We did spend a LOT of time processing/canning foods at Uncle Rob's house this year.  It seemed like we were over there every weekend for months.  You had your 11th birthday party.  It was a family party and you got a lot of great gifts.  We spent our first Halloween at our new house.  Halloween was a lot of fun!  We walked around our development with the Creeds and some other neighbors.  You got a LOT of candy between the Halloween Parade and Halloween night.  Now we have our first Christmas to look forward to!  

I wish I had been writing down all of the events in this memoir since February.  There have been some very sweet moments that I'm sure I'm forgetting to write about.  

2015 can be summed up with the word change.  I pray that you learn this lesson from our move.  Life changes.  Sometimes that change is hard.  No matter what changes come to your life, God is always  there.  He is always the same.  He will never change.  

When things seem hard, I hope you don't look at what was lost, but look at what is left.  God has blessed us overwhelmingly.