Tale of two houses, visiting family and a birthday

Tuesday, June 4th at 3:30 pm we closed on our house in Paris, Tennessee.  Fred and I drove to Paris, had lunch with our friend (and realtor), stopped by the house and then headed to the bank.  We had a great drive up to Paris.  We talked about the last decade of our lives and much of it centered around that house:  friendships, tears, arguments, joy, home improvement projects (usually where the tears and arguments came from...ha!!!), births, deaths, parenting mistakes and successes, and on and on.  I brought two of our three boys from the hospital to this house for crying out loud.  The day was much more emotional than I thought.  I just wanted to sign papers, get our check and head out.  Instead, I was flooded with emotions and memories.  We drove by one last time and walked through.  The movers were there packing and almost finished.  One last photo...

 Sale was no longer pending...

  After the closing and all the emotion with it we celebrated with coffee (I had iced coffee, my new favorite!!) and a treat from A La Mode.  

Since the kids were at Fred and Renee's we ended up celebrating in Jackson at Cheddar's.  Then we just decided to stay in Jackson.  We headed out bright and early to close on our house in Bartlett.  (It was an eventful 24 hours!!) 

 We had movers that moved all of our "stuff" in and then the unpacking began.  Boy did we unpack!!  My mom came, my Aunt Christie, Janice, Mun, Renee and even a friend from church (who scrubbed my cabinets...bless her.).  It was a full-fledged party.  This is the playroom.  Mercy.  I made the announcement that we officially DO NOT need anymore toys!  My mom told Jack that I made this declaration and he said, "That's okay.  We always have Aunt Janice."  I think he missed something.  Ha!  

Here sits the final box.  The movers were at our house from 1:00 pm until almost 9:00 pm.  I unpacked a little while they were here, but mainly I pointed to furniture and rooms.  The unloading started on Wednesday and the final box was unpacked Saturday morning at some point.  By no means is it all done, but it sure is close.  When you live in a state of transition for six months order and routine are much appreciated.  

I'm not sure when my closet was put together, but it was pretty early on.  If I ever felt overwhelmed I would go look at my closet.  It was my happy place.  

Our finished bedroom...Speaking of a happy place.  No boys (sans Fred) are allowed in here.  

 Living room corner...

 I put my recipe file in my kitchen.  The recipe is from a precious lady in Paris...in her handwriting.  Each time I see it it makes me smile.

 Playroom before my Aunt Christie hung pictures...

 When the movers were here Wednesday they were unable to get my grandmother's couch in to my bedroom.  Two precious men came over from church and got it in.  I will forever be grateful!

This same day we picked up another Shackelford family at the airport.  The tall guy with the hat on belongs to us.  His crew is a few steps behind him.  We have pretty much been together since they got home.  We've gone to Shelby Farms, the Shackelford's house, and on and on...

 Just Fred and Renee joined us for a movie in the park in Bartlett.  It was a fun night.

I even got to take this sweet crew on a date to Sonic.  Milkshakes for everyone!!  Woohoo!!  The crew below also attended Grizzlies basketball camp together last week.  They spent most of the week together at Fred and Renee's.  Fred and I went to Lambert's Restaurant with our senior adults one day while they were at camp.  Good times!

For Father's Day everyone convened at Ellendale for church.  When you are in the ministry spending time with your family on holidays is virtually impossible.  For the first time in 17 years this crew was all together...at our new house...for lunch (or Sunday dinner as my mother-in-law calls it, but that's a completely different, confusing post).  I don't know if that fact or getting the picture below is more of a miracle?!?

Shortly after the above photo was snapped I headed toward Jackson to give my dad his Father's Day gift and then meet up with this crew below for Jack's birthday party.  I actually sent this picture during church (I know, tsk...tsk...) to tell their parents we made it.  My friend responded with "you know your friend's husband is a pastor when you get a picture of them sitting in church."  Classic and so true.  They were troopers to sit through church.  In total we had seven boys spending the night at my house Sunday night.

It was nothing short of a miracle that all seven of them were sitting at my kitchen table by 7:15, dressed with socks, shoes and deodorant (the last one was my request...grin.).  We were at church by 7:50 (with the above mentioned AND teeth brushed!!!) for VBS.  Again, you know your friend's husband is a pastor when you take seven boys to VBS...

After VBS we gained two more boys, because 7 just wasn't enough (HA!) and headed home for a birthday lunch of chicken fries and mini corn dogs.  After lunch we headed out for a game of Laser Tag and then swimming at Fred and Renee's.  Since the lighting is not good at laser tag there are no pictures, but here's one of the swimming pool.  That is a pool full of boys!

 We had pizza and ice cream cake to continue our celebration.  

 I love this eight year old.  He has his daddy's face, size, thighs and laid back disposition, but he has my heart.  Sometimes when I look at him my heart feels like it is going to jump out of my chest.  God has gifted him in so many ways.  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for him.  For now, I'm just going to enjoy watching him grow every day...literally and figuratively.

 After cake we headed home for showers...our fourth and final activity of the day!  It proved to be quite the challenge.  Fun, but challenging.  Ha!  The original seven, plus one more spent the night Monday night.  It all went smoothly.  We went to VBS and then drove through McDonald's for lunch.  We headed to Jackson to meet up with a friend from Paris and after one last swim they headed home...except that not all of them went home.  I kept one.  He'll be here through the end of the week.  He wanted to stay.  What can I say?!?  He's my fourth son for the week.  I'll take it!

All in all June has been a pretty busy month--We sold on a house and finished a chapter of our story.  We bought a house in Bartlett and moved in.  We celebrated part of our family coming home.  And we watched a little boy grow into an eight year old young man overnight...literally right before my eyes.