Tag Archives: moving

On the transition…

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Many people have asked how the transition to the new house has been on our sweet little Wonders. I had this post scheduled for today with only pictures (mattress store selfies while Dad does the shopping negotiating everything else less important than laying on beds and taking pics with the kiddos) but then wrote it last night when a few other transitions had popped up to cope with and process as well.WonderBOY was extremely anxious about moving. He was typically pretty anxious in our old home, never wanting to be on a separate floor from us and on most nights, ending up on the floor in our room or at the top of the stairs sleeping so he can hear us watching tv downstairs. I remember the day that Scott got our keys to the new place and started moving our first load…..we came in after the packing and as soon as WB saw the “empty” living room, he just started crying. The fear of not knowing where “our things” went was very hard for him.

The deep fears of loss and abandonment not only get attached to people, but to belongings that hold memories and comfort for this little man. Assuring him that our things were indeed at the new house and even his self-packed boxes were waiting for him in his new room were not enough…..after another load was packed, he was filled with relief and joy when seeing his new room and his “stuff.” So excited in fact, that he didn’t even look at the rest of the house and got to work right away organizing his room. So sweet…..since settling in, he has started to feel more comfortable and has even tested out sleeping in his own room (even though we are on separate floors now and out of earshot). Throwing our big “snow week” into the mix after the move may have done more damage than good with transitioning as my little man craves structure and routine and that week had absolutely ZERO of that. I am looking forward to a few weeks of normal schedule here to get us back on track.WonderGIRL has loved the move to our new house, due to the fact that she has some fun girl friends she already knows that live close by (thank you coaching world for inserting players and their younger sisters into our tribe for this very benefit). Working on her room together and giving her more independence with the kitchen and more breathing room is going to be such a positive for her.

WG has been praying for more “foster siblings” since we moved as we had to renew our home study and paperwork last week. In a fate-filled turn of events, two sweet young girls came home with us for a short-term stay (on the very date WG and WB came home with us three years prior – crazy right?). The one thing WG thought she was missing from her life came with some very hard feelings when the reality of that wish came true. Feelings of “being replaced” and jealousy toward the other girls in the house were big topics of conversation as we cared for new friends in our home and shared our rooms, our meals, and our love. I have faith this will get easier for her as we continue to open our homes to children in need and start trusting that she is ours forever and ever, no matter who we get to love on and care for temporarily.

As I shared the news today with my Wonders that our new friends wouldn’t be coming back home with us tonight and that they were waiting for a new plan at the CPS office, WG promptly replied “Shouldn’t we go sit with them? They are probably so scared.” Tears start forming as I remember this because I knew they were scared too but didn’t have the same panic response as her who lived it and endured it a few years back and THAT breaks my heart and makes me love her so so much all at the same time. It is moments and statements like these (which I NEED) to remind me that this girl is:
1. a fighter and has endured tragic events so much worse than I can even imagine.
2. ready to care for others (probably better then she can care for herself).
3. learning about compassion and perspective taking in some big ways.
4. someone that can use her trauma to help others, maybe only to inspire them when she thrives as a hopeful story but also to connect in ways that may of us truly can’t understand.

Back to the dale….

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These past two weeks have been full of surprises – a super fast close and move date and then a whole week off with snow to settle in! As many of you know from the paint samples that were on our old living room wall for well over a year, I have some commitment issues when it comes to decorating a house. This week with our snow-mageddon storm, I had some time to work all of that out and start making our HOUSE a HOME. Part of that included quite a bit of Amazon shopping which then I felt super guilty about – sorry beloved delivery people – your sacrifical efforts this week to get to our house in the weather and bring me my furniture were SOOOOOO appreciated.Still deciding if I like this headboard or not with the navy and white decor. Perhaps with the wood dresser and some cooler nightstands – it will go better? Feel free to weigh in – it helps with the indecisiveness.Love love love the sliding barn doors on our closet – poor Scott is living out of a different closet since this one is a bit small but so cute to have a little nook all to myself.Did I mention that our downstairs has a FULL KITCHEN??? We love all of the possibilities that this opens up, including keeping the kiddos contained during snack and breakfast times. Scott found this adorable little table and chairs to perfect their personal “kid cafe.”I know many of you saw the progression of WonderGIRL’s room unfold over Instagram posts, but today we added real mattresses and bedding and the inner 14 year old me is uber jealous about this whole situation (although the real 14 year old me should be extremely grateful because I had a huge room, bathroom, and most importantly, the DJ Tanner phone in my room where I could sneak three way calls after bedtime with all my homies – so thank you Mom and Dad).We don’t have much in our upstairs living space and I hope to build the room around this amazing vintage-y piece of goodness I found at our local furniture store. I am so excited to actually get to put my scrapbooks on display versus hidden in my craft room. Don’t mind the cluttered mess on top – I’m feeling out what looks good and where all my “mantle” decor from the old place can go.I used to be utterly ENAMORED with these old Bobbsey Twin books on display at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house growing up. After the passing of my Grandpa and my Grandma moving out of their beloved home, I was the lucky recipient of these gems. I feel honored to get to display them for future generations of readers to lovingly peruse while visiting my house as well. The copy of Gone with the Wind shown on the right is from 1913 – how cool is that????

As many people have mentioned, the renovation that the previous owners did on this house are beautiful and PERFECT for our family. We are extremely grateful to them for putting such care and attention to detail in so many place throughout the house – hopefully they catch this post and others on FB (the previous owner is a childhood classmate of mine) and can see some of the results and love come out of their amazing efforts in fixing up their home for a future family.

On moving….

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The stars and powers above that be have teamed up to align and we are moving!!! Although we’re pretty content in our current home, we would love to add some more room (separate rooms to be exact) for the kiddos and for potentially more children in our home. We thought our “starter home” was dang big when we moved in….add two energetic school-age children to the mix and voila! We’re constantly on top of each other!!!When looking for our forever home to team up with our new forever family (still gives me all the feels to say that), we had a few key things we were looking for. Extra rooms for more foster/adopted children. A separate living space, especially for entertaining our friends and family and their lovely kiddos! A mother-in-law suite or independent living space for WonderGIRL  to grow into and practice independent living before heading out into the real world (insert extreme Mama anxiety here). The house we found has all of these specifications and we are so lucky we found it when we did! It even has a special nook (see picture above) that the Wonders have deemed our “cool-down” spot to escape to when feelings are strong and tempers are hot.Oh ya and the master bathroom after their recent renovation on the house is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
It’s been fun to share the planning and decorating ideas with the kiddos. I can’t wait to be intentional with our spaces and create some calm, happy places for each member of our family (and future family members too!).The “mess” of moving has been interesting to process with WonderGIRL and WonderBOY. Moves before for them have been forced on them and the result of usually negative experiences (a relationship change, being kicked out, foster care, etc.). They also haven’t traveled with all of their belongings before. Sometimes they wander around our current house and point at objects, asking, “Do we get to bring this?” And we respond with “Yes. All of it. We are literally CARRYING all of this into our new house piece by piece, box by box.” Their eyes and smiles get big after this response.

We have also used this experience to teach them about the value of money. That moving into a nice house is a result of smart management of our money. We are careful to tell WG and WB that “we aren’t CHOOSING to spend our money on that” instead of “We don’t have money for that.” They both know we have money (and most likely, much more money in our family than what they are used to) and we don’t want to lie to them with dismissive statements like that. We reinforce these concepts each time we go shopping, create wish lists for birthdays and Christmas, and head out to meals together as a family.

I’m sure there will be more stories to share as this adventure unfolds but thank you for all of your kind support and some of your physical support too (you know who you are crazy friends that actually ENJOY the moving process and have helped us so far). Cheers to new adventures!