Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Holy crap, Marie.
We found a house! It's huge! It's a great location for taking Ty to/from school next year. They don't care how big our dog is or that Jerry has a non-traditional job. The house is in my parent's neighborhood. Specifically, it's in their cul-de-sac. Holy crap, Marie.
When my parents moved to Jax several years ago we made jokes about them being "Barone close", as in neighbors, like on the tv show Everybody Loves Raymond. Little did we know one day we'd be sharing a cul-de-sac.
We move in in a few weeks and we are quite excited. I think living so close to my parents is going to great. We are all pretty laid back and no one will be reenacting the Spanish inquisition. We've been living with Jerry's parents for less than a week and I'm already getting spoiled by leaving one or both kids at home with a grandparent if I need to run an errand or have an appointment. So while it will be so nice to have our own space, it will also be more work again. The kids love living with the grandparents now and they're looking forward to moving into the other grandparent's neighborhood. Ty already knows some of the kids there and we are well acquainted with the neighborhood pool/water playground.
The new house has stairs. None of us have ever lived in a house with stairs before. This sounds so silly, but I think it might present a logistical dilemma as we are getting used to life with multiple levels. If anyone has organizational advice for me on how NOT to go up and down 1,000 times a day (with toddler in tow) I'd love to hear it!
Monday, June 25, 2012
We moved! Advice for futures moves.
We sold our house (yahoo!) and moved in with Jerry's dad and step-mom until we find somewhere to go.
I have some advice for anyone thinking of vacating their home and living in a temporary residence.
1. Don't do it.
2. Ok, if you have to, there are worse things in life. Like actually being homeless. So don't refer to yourself as homeless, because while unlikely, you actually could be homeless one day, and that is quite different.
3. Don't use PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). They cost an utter fortune and if you have any problem of any kind, you're on your own, sister!
First, Jerry opened the door of the pod (they are technically called PODS, even if you only have one, but that is awkward to say, so I will just call it a "pod" because I'm the boss around here.). It's like a garage door and there are metal guards that keep it from rolling too high and getting off track. Apparently my husband is the hulk because the door got jammed above the metal guards, which then kept the door from coming down at all. With a bunch of our crap inside. At 7 o'clock at night. The PODS people couldn't have cared less. They told us they didn't know what we were talking about and that there was no one to come look at it, and that they couldn't credit our account at all. They also told us that they did not have the home phone number for the franchisee in Jacksonville. Really? So you sold a franchise to someone and now cannot get in contact with them if they are not in their office? We are not morons. Luckily my dad IS Clark Griswold, so he came over and disassembled part of the door, closed and reassembled it. It was a two hour ordeal from when we realized the thing wouldn't close until my dad got it closed. Did PODS reimburse him for his time, gas, or tools? Nope. But we were thankful that someone could come to the rescue. PODS sent someone the next morning who told me everything looked great. Yup, because my dad fixed it the night before. Thanks for nothing.
4. Don't use PODS. We had to get a second pod delivered. We hated to do it, they are terrible people. But we already had one and it didn't make any sense to get a different variety of pod and send half our stuff somewhere else. So we paid for ANOTHER pod. :( And it was delivered full of COCKROACHES the day before our move!!! I wish I was making this up. Part of the pod directions is to load the pod, then set off a bug bomb (yes, all over your every possession) before it gets picked up. Um, ew. Also, cockroaches, ew. So I set off a bug bomb before loading it. You know, because I had time to make a special trip to walmart to buy one the day before moving. Should you ever have roach problems I do recommend Bengal Gold. It kills roaches on contact for 6 months. That is serious. The Raid Fogger did quite a job as well. And then there were dried up cockroaches with their legs in the air all over my driveway. Those lucky buyers didn't know they were getting shriveled up cockroaches with the house.
5. Don't use PODS. I requested an end of the day pick up for the day of our move. Naturally the PODS people called me at noon to see if we were ready. Because they had 40 pickups that day and they were on my side of town, and they couldn't just show up when everyone wanted them to. So I told the pod man everything I thought about his company and all of the ways they failed at their jobs in my calmest, quietest, serial-killerest voice. And he told me he'd call back in a few hours to see how we were coming.
6. Send your kids to camp the week of your move! This was NOT the original plan, but Ty got sick the week he was suppose to go to camp, so I let him choose which week he made it up. To my surprise and great delight he chose the moving week! I would never have forced that on him, moving in a big, emotional deal. But I think he'd decided he'd had enough packing and crazy mom to last a lifetime, so off to camp he went! And it was waaaaayy easier to get his room cleaned out and packed (THANK YOU MOM!) and the rest of the house packed with only half of my children there to make a mess.
7. If your friends are of the "helpful" variety, send out a list of things that you need help with. I put a list on facebook of what I needed help with and so many people responded. It was amazing. I think people want to help, but they are very busy already and they don't know what specifically they can do. If you tell them, "These 15 things are killing me" it might be easy for someone to stop by on their way to something and pick up your goodwill stuff. Or maybe they are great with tools and can disassemble one or two pieces of furniture or whatnot in a matter of minutes, but it would take you an hour or more. I think this is true of anything you need assistance with in life. Instead of drowning, try asking for specific help. People are actually kind of awesome if given the chance.
HERE IS THE MOST AMAZING MOVING ADVICE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER!! (It's from my helpful, loving friends. I have one specific helpful and loving friend who recently moved and did not provide any advice. She told me she had no advice to give because her move was such a disaster. Stephanie, here's some advice so next time won't be such a disaster!)
1. Start packing one room and do not start a 2nd room until that one is finished.
2. LABEL boxes with as much info as you can. 10 boxes all labeled "Kitchen" is not that helpful when you just need to find one really important thing--take it from one who has been there. :-)
3. Colour code the boxes in each room
4. Pack valuables and breakables up first, because they require more care and time to securely pack. That way as it gets down to crunch time and your're just randomly throwing stuff in giant boxes, you can rest assured that breakables and valuables are safely and perfectly packed up already.
5. Don't try to move with 2 children!....We're moving right now and 1 child unpacks the boxes faster than we can pack them...good luck! :-)
6. Order pizza, open bottle of wine....
7. When we moved last-someone told me to take hanging clothes-7-8 and place black garbage bag over it and it made moving all the hanging clothes easier-put masking tape to write which room.
8. Throw away as much as possible, your new house will accumulate the same junk guaranteed!
9. use towels to pack fragiles...kitchen towels, bath towels. First organize before you start packing getting rid of clothes and things no longer needed. Much less stuff to pack. Do one room at a time. Kitchen last. Anoyne can help pack kitchen dishes but only you can pack you room. Little bits throughout the day. I'll try to think of more. Will be packing here also. :)
10. I'm all about very specific labeling as well!
11. Having just moved to a new place two weeks ago (only moved a mile away and were blessed to spread the move over a week and a half), we were able to pack boxes, move to new place, unpack in the room they were going to be going into, and take boxes back to repack again. That way, some things got set up rather quickly, but then we also had "it's at the other place" moments as well. After moving 11 times in the past 20 years (yikes!), all the above advice is awesome. One thing we haven't done, but I threaten to do after every move, is that if we move again, we are either hiring it out to a moving company, or simply selling every last item (even the kids if they sit too long) and buying a camper. :) Good luck...and I'm keeping you all in my prayers!
12. Really basic, but small boxes for heavy things, larger ones for light things. Bedding and towels can go in big garbage bags. If you purchase white newspaper sheets for packing you wont have to scrub newsprint off your fragile stuff. Send the kids to gramma's house!
13. Hire someone!
14. Go ahead and pack up anything you can live without between now and the move. Packing up a few boxes right away might help you feel motivated and productive instead of overwhelmed. It will also help with the unpacking process once you're in the new house (if something was packed in one of the first boxes, it probably doesn't have to be unpacked right away). Be specific when labeling boxes (what room does it belong in, whose stuff is it, what is inside). Designating one spot in the house for your packed-up boxes to live until the move.
15. If you have to buy boxes, Home Depot has some great ones. We had to buy some there. I labeled specifically on the tops of boxes and then I just wrote a letter on each side (K = kitchen, L = living, J = Jocelyn's room, M = master, and so on) so we could easily take each box where it needed to be as we entered the new place. My only other piece of advice is just to keep making progress. Thinking about packing and moving everything drove me nuts, but just packing one box at a time felt more feasible. Oh, and choose one place in the house to stack most of the boxes as you pack them so you don't feel like you're living in boxland. (You'll feel like that long enough in the new place!) And call me if you need someone to commiserate with! We're in boxville, out of the old house 100% but not settled in the new place yet (just moved in 2.5 weeks ago).
16. Have a moving party! Hire your most trusted friends over for pizza and beer. Tell them that for every box that is packed appropriately and safely they can get a slice of pizza and a beer!
17. Pack everything. hand carrying single items to a truck wastes time & energy. I'd go with the Capt'n Morgan Black Spice Rum. One before the move, one mid-way then finish the bottle after the kids are tucked in. Oh yea because i'm a pastor do not forget to pray.
18. Anything you haven't used in a year can usually be tossed. Throw away as much as you can now (garbage, donate, etc) and unpacking will be much nicer.
I agree that towels and clothes are the best (and cheapest) way to pad breakables. If you want free packing paper, go to Publix on the last day of their sales circular and ask for their remaining old circulars.
Hospitals are the BEST places to get moving boxes. They get thousands of boxes a week and many of them are nice and sturdy. So try a drive by of their dumpster/loading dock area and/or ask to speak to someone in the loading dock area about boxes. Every hospital is different, but many are happy to cut down their garbage bill by giving you as many boxes as you like. My recent move was sponsored by Jackson North Hospital. My brother's by Aventura Hospital. ;) Liquore stores are the second best place to get boxes. You won't find the amount or the variety there, but their boxes are very sturdy. So are boxes for water bottles at the grocery store. If you still don't have enough boxes, try craigslist. Many people advertise their moving boxes in the free section. I once got all expensive uhaul boxes from someone who just wanted to get rid of them after a move.
Make sure that you pack cleaning supplies and tools in a well labeled and accessible box. You will likely need those first and more urgently than most anything else.
I agree that detailed labeling is the way to go. I had 5 kitchen boxes, but couldn't find glasses to give everyone a cold drink after moving for the life of me. I had to run out and buy plastic cups.
Invest in renting (or if you move a lot like me: buying) a handtruck for each of the stronger people who will be helping you move. It makes you much more efficient. I own one and always rent an additional one when I move. They are the most valuable pieces of moving equipment you will use. And unless you are actually moving appliances, don't get the appliance one. It is hard to maneuver.
Best of luck. I hate moving too.
19. A lot if good advice above. A lot of small boxes are better than a few big ones. Pack the truck with a few big items and then fill to the top above them. Usually an improperly truck has the front piled high and the stuff slowly sloping toward the rear just waiting to shift during the drive.
20. If you are moving close by maybe you could deep some things in dresser drawers and then put them right back in the dresser when you get there.
21. I forgot - liquor store boxes are great for glassware...
22. Having just completed a move, my only advice is that if you wish to remain sane, DON'T DO IT!!!
23. Now that I've read the comments above, my advice is: 1. send the kids away. 2. hire movers. 3. grab the wine and cheese and head for the Caribbean for the week!
I have some advice for anyone thinking of vacating their home and living in a temporary residence.
1. Don't do it.
2. Ok, if you have to, there are worse things in life. Like actually being homeless. So don't refer to yourself as homeless, because while unlikely, you actually could be homeless one day, and that is quite different.
3. Don't use PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). They cost an utter fortune and if you have any problem of any kind, you're on your own, sister!
First, Jerry opened the door of the pod (they are technically called PODS, even if you only have one, but that is awkward to say, so I will just call it a "pod" because I'm the boss around here.). It's like a garage door and there are metal guards that keep it from rolling too high and getting off track. Apparently my husband is the hulk because the door got jammed above the metal guards, which then kept the door from coming down at all. With a bunch of our crap inside. At 7 o'clock at night. The PODS people couldn't have cared less. They told us they didn't know what we were talking about and that there was no one to come look at it, and that they couldn't credit our account at all. They also told us that they did not have the home phone number for the franchisee in Jacksonville. Really? So you sold a franchise to someone and now cannot get in contact with them if they are not in their office? We are not morons. Luckily my dad IS Clark Griswold, so he came over and disassembled part of the door, closed and reassembled it. It was a two hour ordeal from when we realized the thing wouldn't close until my dad got it closed. Did PODS reimburse him for his time, gas, or tools? Nope. But we were thankful that someone could come to the rescue. PODS sent someone the next morning who told me everything looked great. Yup, because my dad fixed it the night before. Thanks for nothing.
4. Don't use PODS. We had to get a second pod delivered. We hated to do it, they are terrible people. But we already had one and it didn't make any sense to get a different variety of pod and send half our stuff somewhere else. So we paid for ANOTHER pod. :( And it was delivered full of COCKROACHES the day before our move!!! I wish I was making this up. Part of the pod directions is to load the pod, then set off a bug bomb (yes, all over your every possession) before it gets picked up. Um, ew. Also, cockroaches, ew. So I set off a bug bomb before loading it. You know, because I had time to make a special trip to walmart to buy one the day before moving. Should you ever have roach problems I do recommend Bengal Gold. It kills roaches on contact for 6 months. That is serious. The Raid Fogger did quite a job as well. And then there were dried up cockroaches with their legs in the air all over my driveway. Those lucky buyers didn't know they were getting shriveled up cockroaches with the house.
5. Don't use PODS. I requested an end of the day pick up for the day of our move. Naturally the PODS people called me at noon to see if we were ready. Because they had 40 pickups that day and they were on my side of town, and they couldn't just show up when everyone wanted them to. So I told the pod man everything I thought about his company and all of the ways they failed at their jobs in my calmest, quietest, serial-killerest voice. And he told me he'd call back in a few hours to see how we were coming.
6. Send your kids to camp the week of your move! This was NOT the original plan, but Ty got sick the week he was suppose to go to camp, so I let him choose which week he made it up. To my surprise and great delight he chose the moving week! I would never have forced that on him, moving in a big, emotional deal. But I think he'd decided he'd had enough packing and crazy mom to last a lifetime, so off to camp he went! And it was waaaaayy easier to get his room cleaned out and packed (THANK YOU MOM!) and the rest of the house packed with only half of my children there to make a mess.
7. If your friends are of the "helpful" variety, send out a list of things that you need help with. I put a list on facebook of what I needed help with and so many people responded. It was amazing. I think people want to help, but they are very busy already and they don't know what specifically they can do. If you tell them, "These 15 things are killing me" it might be easy for someone to stop by on their way to something and pick up your goodwill stuff. Or maybe they are great with tools and can disassemble one or two pieces of furniture or whatnot in a matter of minutes, but it would take you an hour or more. I think this is true of anything you need assistance with in life. Instead of drowning, try asking for specific help. People are actually kind of awesome if given the chance.
HERE IS THE MOST AMAZING MOVING ADVICE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER!! (It's from my helpful, loving friends. I have one specific helpful and loving friend who recently moved and did not provide any advice. She told me she had no advice to give because her move was such a disaster. Stephanie, here's some advice so next time won't be such a disaster!)
1. Start packing one room and do not start a 2nd room until that one is finished.
2. LABEL boxes with as much info as you can. 10 boxes all labeled "Kitchen" is not that helpful when you just need to find one really important thing--take it from one who has been there. :-)
3. Colour code the boxes in each room
4. Pack valuables and breakables up first, because they require more care and time to securely pack. That way as it gets down to crunch time and your're just randomly throwing stuff in giant boxes, you can rest assured that breakables and valuables are safely and perfectly packed up already.
5. Don't try to move with 2 children!....We're moving right now and 1 child unpacks the boxes faster than we can pack them...good luck! :-)
6. Order pizza, open bottle of wine....
7. When we moved last-someone told me to take hanging clothes-7-8 and place black garbage bag over it and it made moving all the hanging clothes easier-put masking tape to write which room.
8. Throw away as much as possible, your new house will accumulate the same junk guaranteed!
9. use towels to pack fragiles...kitchen towels, bath towels. First organize before you start packing getting rid of clothes and things no longer needed. Much less stuff to pack. Do one room at a time. Kitchen last. Anoyne can help pack kitchen dishes but only you can pack you room. Little bits throughout the day. I'll try to think of more. Will be packing here also. :)
10. I'm all about very specific labeling as well!
11. Having just moved to a new place two weeks ago (only moved a mile away and were blessed to spread the move over a week and a half), we were able to pack boxes, move to new place, unpack in the room they were going to be going into, and take boxes back to repack again. That way, some things got set up rather quickly, but then we also had "it's at the other place" moments as well. After moving 11 times in the past 20 years (yikes!), all the above advice is awesome. One thing we haven't done, but I threaten to do after every move, is that if we move again, we are either hiring it out to a moving company, or simply selling every last item (even the kids if they sit too long) and buying a camper. :) Good luck...and I'm keeping you all in my prayers!
12. Really basic, but small boxes for heavy things, larger ones for light things. Bedding and towels can go in big garbage bags. If you purchase white newspaper sheets for packing you wont have to scrub newsprint off your fragile stuff. Send the kids to gramma's house!
13. Hire someone!
14. Go ahead and pack up anything you can live without between now and the move. Packing up a few boxes right away might help you feel motivated and productive instead of overwhelmed. It will also help with the unpacking process once you're in the new house (if something was packed in one of the first boxes, it probably doesn't have to be unpacked right away). Be specific when labeling boxes (what room does it belong in, whose stuff is it, what is inside). Designating one spot in the house for your packed-up boxes to live until the move.
15. If you have to buy boxes, Home Depot has some great ones. We had to buy some there. I labeled specifically on the tops of boxes and then I just wrote a letter on each side (K = kitchen, L = living, J = Jocelyn's room, M = master, and so on) so we could easily take each box where it needed to be as we entered the new place. My only other piece of advice is just to keep making progress. Thinking about packing and moving everything drove me nuts, but just packing one box at a time felt more feasible. Oh, and choose one place in the house to stack most of the boxes as you pack them so you don't feel like you're living in boxland. (You'll feel like that long enough in the new place!) And call me if you need someone to commiserate with! We're in boxville, out of the old house 100% but not settled in the new place yet (just moved in 2.5 weeks ago).
16. Have a moving party! Hire your most trusted friends over for pizza and beer. Tell them that for every box that is packed appropriately and safely they can get a slice of pizza and a beer!
17. Pack everything. hand carrying single items to a truck wastes time & energy. I'd go with the Capt'n Morgan Black Spice Rum. One before the move, one mid-way then finish the bottle after the kids are tucked in. Oh yea because i'm a pastor do not forget to pray.
18. Anything you haven't used in a year can usually be tossed. Throw away as much as you can now (garbage, donate, etc) and unpacking will be much nicer.
I agree that towels and clothes are the best (and cheapest) way to pad breakables. If you want free packing paper, go to Publix on the last day of their sales circular and ask for their remaining old circulars.
Hospitals are the BEST places to get moving boxes. They get thousands of boxes a week and many of them are nice and sturdy. So try a drive by of their dumpster/loading dock area and/or ask to speak to someone in the loading dock area about boxes. Every hospital is different, but many are happy to cut down their garbage bill by giving you as many boxes as you like. My recent move was sponsored by Jackson North Hospital. My brother's by Aventura Hospital. ;) Liquore stores are the second best place to get boxes. You won't find the amount or the variety there, but their boxes are very sturdy. So are boxes for water bottles at the grocery store. If you still don't have enough boxes, try craigslist. Many people advertise their moving boxes in the free section. I once got all expensive uhaul boxes from someone who just wanted to get rid of them after a move.
Make sure that you pack cleaning supplies and tools in a well labeled and accessible box. You will likely need those first and more urgently than most anything else.
I agree that detailed labeling is the way to go. I had 5 kitchen boxes, but couldn't find glasses to give everyone a cold drink after moving for the life of me. I had to run out and buy plastic cups.
Invest in renting (or if you move a lot like me: buying) a handtruck for each of the stronger people who will be helping you move. It makes you much more efficient. I own one and always rent an additional one when I move. They are the most valuable pieces of moving equipment you will use. And unless you are actually moving appliances, don't get the appliance one. It is hard to maneuver.
Best of luck. I hate moving too.
19. A lot if good advice above. A lot of small boxes are better than a few big ones. Pack the truck with a few big items and then fill to the top above them. Usually an improperly truck has the front piled high and the stuff slowly sloping toward the rear just waiting to shift during the drive.
20. If you are moving close by maybe you could deep some things in dresser drawers and then put them right back in the dresser when you get there.
21. I forgot - liquor store boxes are great for glassware...
22. Having just completed a move, my only advice is that if you wish to remain sane, DON'T DO IT!!!
23. Now that I've read the comments above, my advice is: 1. send the kids away. 2. hire movers. 3. grab the wine and cheese and head for the Caribbean for the week!
Pretty amazing, huh? Really, when you're panicking and you have no idea what you are doing, how amazing is it to get specific directions tailored to you? Besides getting some direction on how the heck to pack and move, I felt LOVED! Thank you friends!!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Climbing Mountains
Today was Ty's 5th Grade Completion Ceremony. It's like graduation, but Duval county is of the belief that you don't graduate until you graduate high school (touche DCPS...), so you "move on" to a new grade or level or "complete" a grade or school. Which is factual and a little less exciting than a "graduation".
The teachers gave out awards- 5th grade completion, awards for A or A/B honor all year, A citizenship all year, perfect attendance all year, book standard, turnaround student, and the classes voted on superlatives. Also, the principal gave out a few awards. Tyrell got 5th grade completion and science fair participant.
To be honest, it was kind of a buzz kill. Because I know how hard Tyrell has worked and how far he has come. And I am UNBELIEVABLY PROUD OF HIM!!!!!!
I recently read where an adoptive mom referred to her kids' struggles as "climbing mountains, in the snow, with no feet". It is so true. I had the most loving, nurturing upbringing and I still A) rely on my parents for advice and emotional support and B) doubt myself and struggle with negative self talk. Basically Tyrell had none of that for the first ten years of his life. None. N. O. N. E. He spent 10 years knowing that no one truly cared about him and would put his life before their own. So can you (or I) blame him when he pulls away from the love and support he now receives?
He made the school spelling bee. He is performing at grade level at school (he wasn't at the beginning of the year). He plays team sports. He has friends. He laughs at jokes (he didn't used to). He controls his anger almost all the time. He works hard. He's started letting his creativity out. He learned to swim. He can be around some of his triggers and not lose it. He tells me he loves me and sometimes he hugs and kisses me. He has climbed mountains, in the snow, with no feet.
I don't doubt that his teachers have noticed, because they have told me how well he is doing, how proud they are of him, how much his test scores have improved throughout the year, etc. I know they have seen a lot of progress at school. But they must not really know the depth of what he has and is overcoming. Because I am fighting the urge to throw him a party. A big, fat, gypsy-inspired party. (No, I am not being discriminatory, watch TLC. Gypsies know how to party. Fact.)
I guess I just wish he was publicly acknowledged for all of his efforts. I want the rest of the world to recognize everything I see in him. Perhaps that's not realistic. I don't know that I've ever been all that realistic. Jerry and I are flabbergasted by the amount of ground Ty has made up academically this year. We give a huge amount of credit to his teachers. I wrote thank you cards to them about a month ago, and this week I wrote a 3 page letter to the principal explaining exactly how this school year has affected Ty, specifically what his teachers have done to help him. They have supported and encouraged him as a person and his efforts academically. I will be forever grateful to them for changing Tyrell's academic direction.
Here is my mountain climber with his fabulous teachers at the completion ceremony this evening.
Here's to you, Ty. I wish you believed all of the wonderful truths I know about you. I wish the world knew the height and depth and length of all you have overcome. I love you infinite.
The teachers gave out awards- 5th grade completion, awards for A or A/B honor all year, A citizenship all year, perfect attendance all year, book standard, turnaround student, and the classes voted on superlatives. Also, the principal gave out a few awards. Tyrell got 5th grade completion and science fair participant.
To be honest, it was kind of a buzz kill. Because I know how hard Tyrell has worked and how far he has come. And I am UNBELIEVABLY PROUD OF HIM!!!!!!
I recently read where an adoptive mom referred to her kids' struggles as "climbing mountains, in the snow, with no feet". It is so true. I had the most loving, nurturing upbringing and I still A) rely on my parents for advice and emotional support and B) doubt myself and struggle with negative self talk. Basically Tyrell had none of that for the first ten years of his life. None. N. O. N. E. He spent 10 years knowing that no one truly cared about him and would put his life before their own. So can you (or I) blame him when he pulls away from the love and support he now receives?
He made the school spelling bee. He is performing at grade level at school (he wasn't at the beginning of the year). He plays team sports. He has friends. He laughs at jokes (he didn't used to). He controls his anger almost all the time. He works hard. He's started letting his creativity out. He learned to swim. He can be around some of his triggers and not lose it. He tells me he loves me and sometimes he hugs and kisses me. He has climbed mountains, in the snow, with no feet.
I don't doubt that his teachers have noticed, because they have told me how well he is doing, how proud they are of him, how much his test scores have improved throughout the year, etc. I know they have seen a lot of progress at school. But they must not really know the depth of what he has and is overcoming. Because I am fighting the urge to throw him a party. A big, fat, gypsy-inspired party. (No, I am not being discriminatory, watch TLC. Gypsies know how to party. Fact.)
I guess I just wish he was publicly acknowledged for all of his efforts. I want the rest of the world to recognize everything I see in him. Perhaps that's not realistic. I don't know that I've ever been all that realistic. Jerry and I are flabbergasted by the amount of ground Ty has made up academically this year. We give a huge amount of credit to his teachers. I wrote thank you cards to them about a month ago, and this week I wrote a 3 page letter to the principal explaining exactly how this school year has affected Ty, specifically what his teachers have done to help him. They have supported and encouraged him as a person and his efforts academically. I will be forever grateful to them for changing Tyrell's academic direction.
Here is my mountain climber with his fabulous teachers at the completion ceremony this evening.
.JPG) |
| Mrs. Jones |
.JPG) |
| Mr. L. |
Here's to you, Ty. I wish you believed all of the wonderful truths I know about you. I wish the world knew the height and depth and length of all you have overcome. I love you infinite.
We still have nowhere to go. I have been LOOKING and LOOKING and LOOKING. It turns out it is difficult to devote all of your time to finding a place to live and pack your current residence, oh and parent those pesky children that for some reason can't feed and clean themselves. So I've been spending all of my time parenting and looking (which means not packing). And apparently it's all in vain. We've gotten NOWHERE! If you had told me that selling my house would go pretty smoothly (besides being a giant pain in the rear and getting locked out with 2 kids and a dog) and finding a new house would be the hard part I would not have believed you for one second. But that's how it's going. Sigh.
Last week I asked for packing advice on facebook and I got the MOST AMAZING AND THOROUGH responses! I'm so thankful for such kind, loving, and knowledgeable friends. I am going to do what everyone says, just as soon as I do any packing of any kind. Sigh.
So here's where I'm at. Everyone says pray, believe God has the perfect house for you. Believe you me, I have been. I've been up in the middle of the night feeding Eli, having a breakdown because I'm soverytiredwiththeknowledgethatEliwillnevereversleepthroughthenight and soverystressedoutandpanickybecauseIhavetwoweekstogetmyfamilyandthingsoutofhereandIhavenoideawherewearegoing. And I've been begging God to do something, anything, make this work out somehow. And I have believed He would. But nothing has happened. Worse than nothing, every single thing has fallen through. Prime example: we found what appeared to be an AMAZING house on water, fenced, 5 bedrooms, reasonable price, a bit dated. Close enough to Ty's school next year and work for Jerry. It appeared to have been empty for years and on the market for sale since 2010, on the rental market since February. It's now June. I called the guy before 9am this morning to schedule a showing. He told me he got an application that looks good for it yesterday. YES.TER.DAY!!!!!!! Every single time we think something might work out, we're a day late and a dollar short. Frustration does not even begin to describe it. I truly do not feel like we're being that picky, and our budget is pretty broad. We need space. We're willing to pay for it. Where is it?
So here's where I'm at. Does God love me? Yes! Does God take care of me? Yes, absolutely! Does God care exactly how many square feet of space would be ideal or whether or not a certain layout would help or hinder Eli's napping? Eh, there's a lot of suffering in the world, A LOT of hungry, homeless people. I am not one of them. Frankly, I hate that this house business is taking so long because I feel like I should be more available to help others. So is God concerned with those specific things that would make a house work or not work for my family? I'm just not sure.
Think about when a child receives a gift. They either get excited or they tell you why it isn't exactly right (please do not let that be my children, ever!). I don't want to be that kid to God that tells him what I have isn't exactly what I wanted, or there's something wrong with it.
At the same time, we saw 2 houses yesterday that we could make work for us (and didn't have a problem with our giant dog). They wouldn't solve all of the problems we have in our current arrangement, but we could get in pretty much immediately, and deal with the layout. But if we wait very long they'll both be taken.
Jerry wants to keep looking. I'm okay with that in the way that I agree we haven't found anything in the same ballpark as "just right", but I'm SO NOT OKAY with it in the way of we have to vacate this house SOON! On top of that, I SWEAR every time I find something that I think could work, my wonderful husband tells me something completely different from our last conversation about houses. And we've had about 1,000 conversations about houses at this point. So I am LOSINGMYEVERLOVINGMIND!
I even tried to call an apartment complex this morning to get a plan B going, and I couldn't even do that right. I pressed 0 for a leasing agent, as prompted, and then there was dead silence for an extended time, and then simultaneously someone answered AND voicemail started talking to me. WHUCK?
All of these things are telling me to wait. And I have been waiting. But at what point does waiting become practicing stupidity?
A lot of people have encouraged us to get a POD or a SAM (pick your delivered storage container of choice) and while I think that's a good idea, it doesn't solve the where to go problem. Remember that I called an apartment complex today and the technology broke. My mom offered for us to move in with her and to take her room (because Eli naps well in a pack n play in her ginormous, dark, and quiet walk in closet. Don't judge, the closet is bigger than a lot of bedrooms I've seen.) and that she and my Dad could sleep on the pullout sofa or the guest room. My mom is incredible!! But I told her she might not want to offer her bed without having any idea how long we'd be staying. At this point, it could be a while.
So we wait. If we don't have a plan by this weekend you can find me in a psychiatric hospital because I can't handle much more of this.
Last week I asked for packing advice on facebook and I got the MOST AMAZING AND THOROUGH responses! I'm so thankful for such kind, loving, and knowledgeable friends. I am going to do what everyone says, just as soon as I do any packing of any kind. Sigh.
So here's where I'm at. Everyone says pray, believe God has the perfect house for you. Believe you me, I have been. I've been up in the middle of the night feeding Eli, having a breakdown because I'm soverytiredwiththeknowledgethatEliwillnevereversleepthroughthenight and soverystressedoutandpanickybecauseIhavetwoweekstogetmyfamilyandthingsoutofhereandIhavenoideawherewearegoing. And I've been begging God to do something, anything, make this work out somehow. And I have believed He would. But nothing has happened. Worse than nothing, every single thing has fallen through. Prime example: we found what appeared to be an AMAZING house on water, fenced, 5 bedrooms, reasonable price, a bit dated. Close enough to Ty's school next year and work for Jerry. It appeared to have been empty for years and on the market for sale since 2010, on the rental market since February. It's now June. I called the guy before 9am this morning to schedule a showing. He told me he got an application that looks good for it yesterday. YES.TER.DAY!!!!!!! Every single time we think something might work out, we're a day late and a dollar short. Frustration does not even begin to describe it. I truly do not feel like we're being that picky, and our budget is pretty broad. We need space. We're willing to pay for it. Where is it?
So here's where I'm at. Does God love me? Yes! Does God take care of me? Yes, absolutely! Does God care exactly how many square feet of space would be ideal or whether or not a certain layout would help or hinder Eli's napping? Eh, there's a lot of suffering in the world, A LOT of hungry, homeless people. I am not one of them. Frankly, I hate that this house business is taking so long because I feel like I should be more available to help others. So is God concerned with those specific things that would make a house work or not work for my family? I'm just not sure.
Think about when a child receives a gift. They either get excited or they tell you why it isn't exactly right (please do not let that be my children, ever!). I don't want to be that kid to God that tells him what I have isn't exactly what I wanted, or there's something wrong with it.
At the same time, we saw 2 houses yesterday that we could make work for us (and didn't have a problem with our giant dog). They wouldn't solve all of the problems we have in our current arrangement, but we could get in pretty much immediately, and deal with the layout. But if we wait very long they'll both be taken.
Jerry wants to keep looking. I'm okay with that in the way that I agree we haven't found anything in the same ballpark as "just right", but I'm SO NOT OKAY with it in the way of we have to vacate this house SOON! On top of that, I SWEAR every time I find something that I think could work, my wonderful husband tells me something completely different from our last conversation about houses. And we've had about 1,000 conversations about houses at this point. So I am LOSINGMYEVERLOVINGMIND!
I even tried to call an apartment complex this morning to get a plan B going, and I couldn't even do that right. I pressed 0 for a leasing agent, as prompted, and then there was dead silence for an extended time, and then simultaneously someone answered AND voicemail started talking to me. WHUCK?
All of these things are telling me to wait. And I have been waiting. But at what point does waiting become practicing stupidity?
A lot of people have encouraged us to get a POD or a SAM (pick your delivered storage container of choice) and while I think that's a good idea, it doesn't solve the where to go problem. Remember that I called an apartment complex today and the technology broke. My mom offered for us to move in with her and to take her room (because Eli naps well in a pack n play in her ginormous, dark, and quiet walk in closet. Don't judge, the closet is bigger than a lot of bedrooms I've seen.) and that she and my Dad could sleep on the pullout sofa or the guest room. My mom is incredible!! But I told her she might not want to offer her bed without having any idea how long we'd be staying. At this point, it could be a while.
So we wait. If we don't have a plan by this weekend you can find me in a psychiatric hospital because I can't handle much more of this.
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