This past weekend, Chris, Bean, and I drove up to our hometown for the wedding of one of my sister’s oldest, best friends.  Even with everything that is going on, I wouldn’t have missed this wedding for the world.  For as many friends as my sister has – and she has a boat load – no one comes close to the friendships that she has with Michelle and Evan.  She’s known them since middle school and while the three of them have grown up and gone on to live very different lives, their friendship is never shaken.  I’ve always loved that about them.

In fact, their friendships are so tight that somehow all three girls managed to convince three different boys to marry them within a few months of each other!

That’s Michelle (the bride) on the left, my sister in the middle, and Evan on the right.

Michelle’s wedding was beautiful.  Both Ginny and Evan were bridesmaids (of course) and so they spent the day at the salon getting ready together.

This is Ginny’s hair.  Isn’t that gorgeous?!?!

But as pretty as I always think my sister is, it was Michelle who really stopped the show.  Which is exactly how it should be on your wedding day.  Wasn’t she a beautiful bride?

What I loved most about Michelle on her wedding day was that she had two something’s borrowed.  She wore the earrings that my sister wore on her wedding day…

…and she wore Evan’s veil from her wedding day.

I just thought that was the sweetest thing.  And as they all came down the aisle, one right after the other, I smiled as I thought how wonderful it was that these women were still standing side by side after all these years.

Michelle lives in Australia now, where she met her husband, Max, while backpacking for a year just after college.  I know my sister misses her more every day and being that far apart is really hard for them.  But even that kind of distance hasn’t diminished their friendship.  They Skype, they email, they send packages, and whenever there is the chance, they visit in person.

To me, that is true friendship.  The kind that can withstand anything.  I’m glad my sister has that in Michelle and Evan.  And I’m so happy to have had a front row view of such a friendship.  They are wonderful, strong women and I couldn’t be happier for them that they now get to experience their next big adventure as wives together.

Well, ain’t it nice to see you all again!  I have missed you!  But I had a much needed little time-out with the fam and we are all in a much better place today.  I guess I should bring you all up to speed because there has been a LOT going on ’round these here parts.

After the break in last weekend, we packed up basically our entire house except for the furniture and went to stay with my parents.  It has been so nice to be here and to feel safe and secure while we make some decisions, instead of making them out of fear or in haste.  The only part that is a little tricky is that it is about an hour and a half drive into Orlando every day for Chris to work and last week, Bean Man and I had lots to take care of, so we were making the trip almost every day, too.  That part is no fun at all, but it’s just part of the arrangement right now and it could be much worse.

The first thing we had to do was figure out the living situation.  We had been holding off on moving because we really couldn’t afford anywhere that was much better than where we were without me having a job.  Which is why we hadn’t moved before.  But, we decided that job or no job, we had to move so we started looking around right away for somewhere else.  Turns out there were some options, but not great ones and though it was frustrating, we were just happy that we had other places to go.

And then, lo and behold, my oldest friend in the whole wide world, Sarah, called me last Tuesday.  She and her husband are both teachers and she told me that her school was looking for someone to teach a class.  Like the Saint that she is, she got me an interview on Wednesday.  After the interview, of course, I headed up to Sarah’s classroom to tell her all about it and as I’m sitting there gushing about some of my answers, in walks the person who interviewed me and she offered me the job.  Right there.  On the spot.

Prayer.  Answered.

I can’t be positive, but I may have started crying when she told me.  But I’m not sure because I was screaming so loudly I wasn’t able to concentrate on my tear ducts.  I can’t tell you where or what I’m teaching because of all that internet-psycho-mumbo-jumbo-safety-stuff, but I can tell you that I am so excited about it.  I’ve never taught before, but I really think I might be good at it.  School starts today, but there is a sub in my class until my temporary teaching certificate comes through.  And actually, that in itself is another blessing because I’ll probably start teaching in a couple weeks which would give us time to move in to our new place.  Commuting every day from two hours away would be really difficult since I have to be there so early in the morning and this way I have time to move before I actually start.

The next task we had to tackle last week was a daycare for Bean Man because he would be really irritated if I hid him under my desk all day.  And – wowza! – did we luck out!  We found a daycare very close to my school that is WONDERFUL!  I want to go there.  It is so clean and bright and all the kids looked happy and healthy and like they were having a really good time.  In Bean’s class, there were 6 other children and they were all his size!  It was a class of kids just like him!  And they were all sitting in little bitty chairs having a snack when we toured the facility, just like little people!  As we stood there, the two teachers helped them CLEAN UP THEIR OWN SNACK (can you imagine Bean cleaning up after himself?  I cannot.) and then move over to circle time where they all sat like little gems in a circle on the floor and watched as the teacher read a book to them.  All I could think was, “Bean is going to have MANNERS!!!!”  Seriously, I thought I had died and gone to daycare heaven.

Prayer.  Answered.

The cost of this daycare is about what we paid in Connecticut, which is a little pricey for this area.  But with my new job, we are able to pay it and we think it is totally worth the extra cost.  I really think Bean is going to love it there and it will be easier for me to go back to work knowing he’s in such a friendly place.

The last piece of the whole puzzle is a house.  With our income more than doubling since I now have a job, we were finally able to look in neighborhoods and at homes that we had imagined us living in all along.  Nothing huge, but nice, clean houses in safe, family-friendly neighborhoods.  And boy did we luck out!  We found a really great house in an older suburb of Orlando that is absolutely perfect.  It isn’t too big, but is comparable to the size of our house in Connecticut which means that – holy moly – we’ll be able to unpack completely for the first time in six months!  And the best part is that the neighborhood is full of families with kids playing outside, people walking dogs, and mothers strolling down sidewalks with their babies.

That’s right.

I said sidewalks.

Prayer.  Answered.

Now, I realize that these things might not be that big of a deal to anyone, but to our family who has lived in the ghetto for the past six months, sidewalks and kids playing outside are HUGE.  We put in our application to rent the house last week and we are hoping to hear this week if we got the house.  If so, we would move in Labor Day weekend and, hopefully, I’d start teaching the week after.

All in all, it’s been a pretty exciting time for our family this past week.  We went from the worst possible situation to the best possible situation in about three days.  I can’t even begin to tell you the roller coaster of emotions we’ve been through.  But through it all, Chris and I have continued to stay positive and have kept talking to each other.  Usually during the day, so much was going on that we wouldn’t really have time to talk too much.  Mostly just checking in with each other and updating the other on things that were happening.  But at night before we went to bed, we’d talk through things.  We’d plan, we’d worry, we’d squeal, but mostly, we’d laugh.  And it was just a reaffirmation to me that I had married the right person.  There’s no one else that could go through something like this with me more perfectly that Chris and I’ve never been more happy to have married my best friend.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go drag my best friend out of bed so he can go to work and bring me home a paycheck.

Best friends are really awesome when they bring home paychecks.

Dear Friends,

There just aren’t enough words to thank you all so very much for your kind comments, emails, Facebook messages, tweets, snail mail, offers of money and printers and computers and DVD players and cameras and all the things in between.  Your outpouring of love, support, and encouragement have made such a dark time much brighter.  It is easy to forgive the bad in the world when there is clearly so much good in it.

Chris, Bean, Big Molly, Lucy, and I are at my parent’s house, filling their clean, quiet home with dirty diapers, bowls of kibble, and lots of noise.  But they don’t seem to mind in the least.  Every need we have had during this ordeal they have met before we even had to ask.  I don’t know what we would do without them.

I haven’t blogged this week because I have been spending some extra time with my family, especially Bean Man.  Though he doesn’t seem to be having any trouble adjusting to all this chaos around him, I can’t help but worry that this time of transition is going to do some deep permanent damage and turn him into a serial killer later in life.  So, to ward that off we are reading lots of books, working lots of puzzles, playing lots of games, singing lots of songs, and watching lots of PBS.  If Sid the Science Kid can’t save you from your serial killer within, who can?

I’m also taking this time to get my own head on straight.  We have lots of things happening right now – all very good things! – and it is a lot for me to take in and adjust to myself.  The break in was just the push we needed to get things moving in our lives and we are in the process of finding a much better house and I am happy to report that I have had TWO job offers this week!  So, I’m taking time to sort through these things and make some decisions for our family.

Next week, I’ll be back with lots of exciting news for you.  But until then, please know that your thoughts and prayers have meant the world to me and we are seeing the effect of them on our lives this week.  Thank you for being kind, generous, loving, empathetic people.  Your warmth has radiated off the computer screen and wrapped its arms around our family.  I will always remember that.

With deepest appreciation,
Katie