Texas seemed like such a great state, when I was living somewhere else. I had pride in Texas. I had a whole room dedicated to the state. But now that we are back, I miss Tennessee. The simple life. The hills, the trees, the green. I miss everything I really needed within 12 minutes. And I miss our life there. But buck up, Julie. Time to move on.

So, here we are. This is our rent house, 1849 sq ft. While getting our stuff to fit was a challenge at first, I am enjoying the small space. The house has turned out to be just what we needed. We do have a 7 x 10 storage unit that is mostly full and we have sold 1 couch, 1 ottoman, and 4 bookcases – not to mention the 2 bookcases and 2 chairs I got rid of before we moved. There is something fulfilling about parting with stuff. As you can see there is no space for flowers or planting of any kind. Which probably will keep us from putting money into something we don’t own, though I miss the beauty that we created in TN.

I think we have made it through most of the boxes. Even after my spreadsheet of labeled boxes and box numbers, I am still missing my kitchen candle (from Shayna) that I loved, my dust buster and Alyssa’s brand new glasses. The first two items I am sure will show eventually, but the glasses I am afraid are gone.

The girls are doing fine. Alyssa’s starts 3rd grade on the 23rd and I am hoping it is a chance for her and myself to get involved and meet some people. The little girls are registered for preschool 2x a week as well. They have been playing around the house, chase, hide-n-seek, plenty of Pink Panther on Netflix and Megan is addicted to Angry Birds. We have a community pool that stays open till 11pm which is awesome and there is a good trail to ride our bikes on. Overall, if I would give it a chance, I think it could be a nice place.

I took the girls the other day to a splash pad in Cedar Park and at least it gave us something to do for one morning. It is tough on all of us not having friends to call up and hang out with. Just for a break, a new setting, some interaction with others. As I read recently, I am giving up on understanding. Boy, do I not get some of the things that have happened to us. But I will never understand, instead I need to ask for peace. So, trying to look to Him to find this precious peace.

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to put these pictures on the blog. This was a trip that Kedra and I planned for 2010, and well, other things got in the way last year. So to say we were looking forward to this week is an understatement.
Kedra found us a great condo that fit both families for the week in the Sandestin Golf Resort. We were walking distance from the pool and a golf cart ride or bike ride away from the beach. We had so much fun! The kids played and got along great all week. I think by the last evening we had figured out that swimming in the morning, lunch and rest time, followed by dinner and the evening at the beach was the best plan. Thank you so much to my friends for making this trip possible and loving us enough to actually want to spend the week with us. See more pictures in the album.

That best describes my status right now. Emotionally and physically. Ethan moved to Austin in May. With the exception of 2 weekends and a trip to Destin, we have been apart for 3 months. So emotionally family has been hard, single-parenting is hard. I realized that for the last three weeks, almost every moment of my day, has been packing related. We did the pool, lunch with friends, but alot of my day was spent planning or packing. And I was still taping boxes the morning the movers arrived. They packed up all day yesterday, and a sweet friend helped me clean the house late into the night.

In the midst of that, I began saying goodbye to friends. Good ol’ JB left for Africa earlier in the week so she was first, my family away from family with our small group at church, sweet neighborhood friends, and then the greatest next door neighbors chose a trip to Alaska the day we leave. I was blessed beyond anything I can measure in Spring Hill. Friends who sacrificed money to fundraise for cancer, babysitters during 5-a-week radiation, a friendly face walking down the sidewalk, friends for the girls to play with by simply walking outside. I loved our little world here. I could have stayed, watched the girls grow up with friends, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the snow, the cool nights, the pleasures of a small city.

But it has been evidently clear that God has different plans for us. To take our story to a new place. And that is where we are headed, following his lead. If you follow (and comment) I will continue to update all my daily experiences as we move and share with you how God will continue to provide for us as we move into the next phase in our lives.

I am not going to pretend I have it all together. The packing I could handle; bathing, feeding 3 kids daily, I could do it. But moving to a new place is scary. I don’t know my neighbors, I don’t have a church family, never seen the schools I chose, don’t even know where the grocery store is. Trust. That is about all I can do, and pray God blesses me in Round Rock like he did in Spring Hill.

The last night in the Tanyard Springs house

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
Ephesians 3:20

Today I hold on to this verse. It is one that I memorized years ago at camp and has always stuck with me. I think because it was set to a song. I was reminded of it today as I ran. I was in an Austin neighborhood where family lives and thinking how different it is than home. I don’t see kids running up and down the street, I don’t see playmates for my children, and I don’t see friends for me. I began to worry that I will not find the things that I think are important for my family. But if i really read and truly believe this verse, it doesn’t matter what I imagine I want or even what I ask for. He his able to provide even more than I could even think to ask. How awesome is that?

In a short hour, I will hit the streets of Round Rock with a realtor searching for a possible home to rent. And it doesn’t matter what I think I want going into this, because He is able to do more.

One great thing we snuck in before the end of the season was strawberry picking. I have heard it is a fun thing to do and we finally did it – us and the cicadas. During the month of May there was an attack of cicadas in at least the Nashville area. We starting hearing horror stories weeks before they arrived about the dead shells covering the ground, they come out every 13 years or something. Anyway, it was like the plague in certain areas and the strawberry patch was one of them. The sound of these bugs was so loud in the trees that you almost had to cover your ears. But we found areas where we were safe from the bugs and we picked some strawberries. It was hot, but it was a good experience. The girls were impressed that fruit really came from fields like that and we came home with a bucket full of fresh strawberries.