Talk Radio in a Corn Patch

My neighbor plays talk radio in his corn patch to keep the racoons away. (I can hear it if I happen to head out for a run early enough. I find it both quirky and charming.) And that's not all I know about this new home of ours. I've pretty much gotten down the street numbers of all the paved roads in College and Young Ward (there aren't many). I know which ones connect best to where I'm trying to go, and the easiest ways (from the north or the south) to get to our house while 600 S is under construction. 

I've figured out the new dishwasher, washing machine and dryer; can almost recall which kitchen items can be found in any given cupboard or drawer, and sort of know which light switches to push for the lights I am actually intending to turn on. I've grown resigned to legs covered in mosquito bites; am no longer surprised by all the run-over frogs I see on the road; and now know the exact sound of a Sandhill Crane.

I know the field where two camels live (though I've yet to discover who owns them); and I can reliably match a handful of new names with their correct faces. I have a system for opening and shutting blinds based on the sun coming up or the sun going down; I'm growing used to catching small crickets and grasshoppers (and returning them to their outdoor home); I know the two spots to quickly place towels when it starts to rain (under the skylight in the girls' room and along the ledge of the front-room window); and I'm almost starting to believe that these stretches of flat green--with their passing herds of cows and horses--are really going to keep being there for me to look at from every window in my house.

Of course, there are still a lot of things that need to happen before life feels truly settled up here, and I still feel a bit as though I'm holding my breath--just waiting to exhale in a final and complete sigh of relief. 

It is miraculous that we are at this point really. I do recognize that. I can hardly even believe that throughout this last Christmas season and throughout this entire last spring, I had no idea that we would actually finally find a forward path and begin our move. (I was looking at pictures from Daisy's April birthday last night and found myself shocked to think that April-me had no idea we would be out of our house and living in this rental before summer ended.) Even at the start of May we were uncertain if this would happen. And now, only three months later, it has! During the past three years, as we contemplated moving, it always seemed to me that it would be an impossible feat--that it would take me a full year of working non-stop to get us moved out of our house. So it is miraculous that it pretty much happened in 2.5 months. I do not know how I did it. The house emptied--chicken coops taken down and moved, food storage (including tons of huge wheat buckets) carried out, a storage room cleared, six bedrooms and five bathrooms packed up and cleaned, the laundry room, the kitchen, a pantry filled with more toys that food, coat closets, game closets, crafts, and on and on. Every baseboard and door and cupboard and drawer cleaned, and six kids all registered and ready to go in new schools. It's amazing. I recognize how my prayers were answered with clear thoughts about what next thing to accomplish each day. And I should be feeling only relief and gratitude for having been seen through it! And I truly do in moments! 

But ... Mike has been staying most nights back at the house so he can work on countless fix-it projects before putting the house for sale (and his presence is what makes me feel most at ease whenever life is in a state of change--so not having that consistently is hard), and the garage still needs packed up of all of tools, etc. The house needs sold so that we can quit feeling the financial strain of everything involved in a move and so we can begin moving things forward with county demands towards building. Beds still need assembled for the boys, the computer nook set up, and our new routines fleshed out here so that it feels fully familiar and all it's little peculiarities (like talk radio in your neighbors corn patch and every library requiring a different card) have become our comfortable and known.

Still, we are on our way! This has really happened! Not everything. Not the building and so on, but the move! And my little journal is filled with many moments of the help, answers, direction and peace I've been given these last months. Many of those comforts have come through scripture I've been directed to with a whisper of, "This. This is the message for you right now." In fact, just this week, as I prayed and plead over things that still feel unsettled and choppy, I came across this from Luke 3:5: "... and the rough ways shall be made smooth". There. Another thing to reflect on and hold to when I feel in turbulence with all of this change. These rough, bumpy paths will be made smooth again. I know they will. And I'm grateful for a God who is willing to give us repeated comforts as we lose our grip on the ones He's already given us and call out for more again. 

And now ... some pictures:

Last backyard trampolining in Pleasant View.

Goldie has been doing a week and a half of home MTC up here in Logan (more on that later). During one of her breaks one day we went to the Gossner cheese factory and the Pepperidge Farm outlet. (Also, Abe and Daisy are still technically living back in Pleasant View since they will be working until they head back to BYU, but they have been good sports about coming up here often--partly because I think they know how much I need to feel like this place will be a home for all of my kids!)

(Sadly Daisy was working and didn't get to join us for the outlet excursions.)

A lovely Hans picture.

The day we arrived to officially move into the rental, this note (along with two small Bigfoots) were waiting for Hans. (We think they maybe were friends with Aunt Sarah beforehand.)

Despite the Bigfoots, Hans did not stay happy throughout all of the unpacking at the rental. (The kids did get shuffled underfoot a lot the last week of packing up in Pleasant View and the first week of unpacking at the rental.) 

Front yard.

Someone made Mette a crown of morning glory as we unpacked.

Summer turned 9 just a few days after we moved in! Our first birthday up here. (And the first time I just bought a birthday cake. There was so much chaos that week that baking a cake felt beyond me. Summer did decorate it with a tiger at least!)

More front yard. (With Jesse looking down the road to see if he could spy Anders returning from his first Deacon's activity.)

A picture Abe texted of climbing one day with his cousin Andre, cousin Mia, and recently-discovered 2nd-cousin Hans. (Pronounced differently than our own Hans. In fact, when Abe texted me this picture, he texted: "'Cousins.' Could also be captioned: 'An Outing Where I Avoid Using Hans's Name Because I Will Say Hants instead of Hawns.'")

Jesse's first Teacher's Quorum activity. Baptisms for the dead at the Logan temple. I hope my kids eventually feel comfortable with their new classes and quorums. (Probably they will. ... Just as we finish building and change wards again.)

Old Navy was one of several stops we made while scouting out Logan on Summer's birthday. "Locals" (maybe sort of like a Quilted Bear?) was their favorite stop. 

One incredibly happy thing happened the week we arrived: My friend Marilyn texted that they happened to be staying at an Airbnb in Mendon. She didn't realize that Mendon was literally a small skip from where we are renting (in fact the kids' elementary school is in Mendon). So we went walking together early one morning, and I got to show her the new little rental as well as the farm. Then another night she and her husband Sam invited us for dinner. They are no strangers to hordes of children (as they have ten just like we do!) so I had no concerns piling into their place with the seven kids who were up here with me that night. We've been great friends for nearly a decade, but haven't had the chance to meet one another's families, so it was such a happy thing to finally get to know her kids and husband in person. 

Another great joy for the kids in our scouting-out-of-Logan was the BAM store ("bricks and minifigures"--basically a Lego store).

The night before Goldie was to be set apart we were still without internet (we have to have it installed through a phone line out here and the guy that was supposed to come had the wrong address and never showed up). We knew Goldie would be needing it for home MTC so she and I, spur-of-the-moment, drove the younger kids all up to Bear Lake to pick up the little hot spot we have at our cabin. While there we figured we better have one last beach adventure and shake before Goldie leaves. I don't know if you realize, right off the bat in the photo below, but I have several cold, just-out-of-the-lake children huddled on me.

It was a Saturday night so the line for shakes was lonnnnng, but it had to be done. 

I liked the comments after I texted the picture of us getting shakes to Mike and the older kids who weren't with us. 

And, to end, the younger four walking from our rental down to Sarah's house (with Mike's Aunt Sarah and one of her granddaughters) for a little princess/superhero tea party. (Sarah and Garth have also brought us fresh corn and Costco pies, twice. They are the best neighbors you could have!)