We made it back. 3046.18 miles. Orlando to Portland. Kids actually did surprisingly well on our very long 8+ hours of flying. The ringing endorsement was when the folks who sat behind us on the flight said, “your kids did way better than I expected” (is that a compliment? I think so). There was a screaming baby on our last leg, thankfully it wasn’t one of ours. But that’s just grace, could easily have been one of ours.
There was one gentleman who called me “the bouncing lady” because everytime he looked at me I was bouncing someone. “Do you do this all the time?” he asked. “Yes. Yes I do.” The same gentleman actually looked around at one point and said, “there are a lot of kids on this flight!”, then we realized they were all ours. Man.
We sat at the back of the plane so as not to inconvenience too many people. It’s kinda like the rowdy kids want to sit in the back of the bus so no one can see what they are doing—same concept. At the back of the plane, we made friends with the flight attendant in charge of us for both flights. She was so sweet, so gracious. She’s a parent and must have had pity on us. She actually bought us all beers (when does that happen?!?). We felt like God really made sure we got home safe and sound and without too many complications.
But we are home, safe and sort of sound. Within the first 12 hours of being home I did have a mini-melt down. My mom left to go home and Jon had to go to his office and I realized, “oh sh#%! you mean I have to be alone with all of these kids all day again? I don’t know if I remember how to do that!” Jon reassured me, it will come back, how to do real life again and he is right. But I do admit, I am a little scared of my kids. I love them, but there is fear too. Silly. How can a thirty-something be afraid of people four and under? After we got home it just felt like the day before school started again—the eve of going ‘back to work’ without the extra hands we were blessed with while on vacation. While feeling the butterflies in my stomach and teetering on the verge of feeling completely overwhelmed, I read a fantastic verse: “God is a very present help in trouble.” So in the moments when I feel overwhelmed, knee deep in diapers and want to scream, I know he is VERY present and I am not alone. Hallelujah!
And my first day back at work was a good one! We signed papers on our new house! So our house closes today and we get keys this afternoon! Yesterday we did the deed of signing the next 30 years of our life away. So in 2042 we will be done with our commitment to buying this house. I look at that number and it doesn’t even look like a year! We brought the twins with us to the signing (only left bigs with grandma), and as I wrote my signature about a bazillion times on paper after paper, then saw that number—2042—the escrow lady said, “just think, your twins will be 30 when you pay off the house!” I don’t know if that encourages me or discourages me.
Regardless, we are thrilled about our house. Amazed actually. Being willing to leave our home/life we loved in Sisters was not easy. Somehow having a home here to call our own feels like God redeeming what we gave up. It makes us feel like this new place is really our home. What is it about owning a house that changes things? It’s more work and more expensive because you have to fix things yourself, but I think the ownership piece makes you work harder to keep it up. Often with renting I have thought (and sometimes said) “well, it’s just a rental.”…”Should I rake the yard? Nah, it’s just a rental… Should I clean the garage? Nah, it’s just a rental… Should I mop the floors? Nah, it’s just a rental.” Isn’t that awful? Not the mark of being a great steward. The buck stops with me when you own. Plus, it gives us a place to bounce our babies and for our more mobile children to bounce off the walls without feeling like we are going to lose our rental security deposit. It’s our own place to beat the hell out of. We are excited about that.
We will be moving SLOWLY over the course of the next month. Gonna crack our sole bottle of wine we had saved to celebrate!
