Still here....just in a different here.

I've been MIA for a few weeks now because of a major life change for our family.

As many of you know, we've lived in eastern Virginia for the past 9 years (almost) and because we moved there for Grant's new job, we had no family nearby.  Throughout the years, we tried multiple times to move back closer to family, but the doors kept getting shut and we felt like we were in Virginia for good.  

We settled ourselves in for the long haul and just decided to grow where we were planted.

This year, however, the desire to move became stronger than ever and became a goal for us.  

After months of us praying, wondering, and waiting, God answered our prayers and provided a job for Grant at the Walmart home office in Northwest Arkansas, which is where I'm from and my parents and two of my siblings still live.  

Because we didn't want to run "split" operations, Grant in Arkansas and me and the kids in Virginia trying out sell our house, we decided to move all of us to my parents' home until we find a home to buy.   

We were faced with the task of packing up most of our house - a rather remarkable amount of stuff going with us, and lots more stuff just packed up in boxes in the garage to make the house "show ready".  

Oh, and we can't forget all the cleaning......and the efforts to spend time with our dear friends before we left.  

It was a complete whirlwind of activity, little sleep, excitement, and stress.  And we can't forget the tears.  

It was so difficult to say goodbye to our best friends who have walked through life with us and shared in the ups and downs of pregnancies, child-raising, homeschooling, church, sports, and everything else you can imagine.  We have been so incredibly blessed with wonderful people surrounding us - and we don't take that for granted.  

So we made our 3 day journey on Thanksgiving weekend - a real adventure complete with a child vomiting all over the floor and seat the first evening.....our credit card being rejected multiple times because they were suspecting fraudulent activity (never mind that we had already informed them that we were on a trip and would be making lots of charges), and arriving at a hotel past midnight and exhausted beyond description to discover that the room was much smaller than expected and wouldn't accommodate our family.  Fun times.  :)  

On the up side, the weather was great, the traffic couldn't have been better, and the kids and dog did very well.  

We're trying to settle in, get some homeschooling done, and look for a home right now.  So that's about it....

I'll be posting more recipes soon and will definitely be trying out some new ideas on family for the holidays!