Colorado

It's been a while since I've updated! We finally left Georgia on the first of September, and we made the long trip across the country.

Leaving Georgia was hard for me. There are so many wonderful memories wrapped up in that little brick house...our first house, the birthplace of Mae, growing our family. I was so excited to start a new phase of our lives in Colorado, for sure, but it was not easy to leave my home.

Before heading to Colorado, we all drove up to Pennsylvania. The rental house that Jay found for us in Colorado doesn't allow pets, so our dog and two cats were going to stay with Jay's parents for the time being. We had a lovely time visiting them, and Pennsylvania was beautiful. Jay surprised me and took me to Lancaster County. He knew I had always wanted to visit, and we weren't sure when we were going to make it back to Pennsylvania, so he decided to take me this time. It was lovely, really lovely. I'm as addicted to technology as the next person, but I think I could fall in love with the simplicity of life without all of these gadgets.

One thing we found out on the drive to Lancaster County was just how much poor Mae hated riding in the car. We drove up from Georgia in the middle of the night, so she slept the whole time. But the hour long drive to Lancaster was not easy for my poor baby. After that trip, we decided that Jay would drive out to Arizona with his father and Zee, while Mae and I would catch a flight from Harrisburg to Phoenix. It was hard saying goodbye to our pets, but we knew it wasn't forever. I was worried how Zee would take it...Moose is her best friend.

Our visit to Arizona, to see my family, went as well as could be expected. My family can be somewhat volatile, but everyone seemed to be in good spirits for the most part. I was terribly stressed, so I was the one behaving badly. We had an early first birthday party for Mae, and it was great to see so many people come and show their love for us.

We finally headed up north to Colorado! We spent the night at my grandmother's cabin in northern Arizona, then we did the long drive from there to Colorado Springs. It was an interesting drive, but very stressful because of poor Mae. She was not pleased, to say the least. After 13 long hours of driving, we finally arrived to our new house...and no utilities! Jay had set up the utilities before he flew back to Georgia, but the utilities company never switched the account over to our name, so the utilities were turned off. So we spent the night camping out in our new house! And the utilities company promptly fixed the problem the next day, and the movers also showed up and delivered all of our stuff. And we have a lot of stuff! Too much!

Since then, I have slowly been unpacking, and we have been exploring Colorado Springs. We purchased a family membership to the zoo, and we've been USING it. We've taken the girls up the train to Pike's Peak (not the best idea we've had!), and we've driven around, getting a feel for the geography of our new town. Jay decided to get out of the military after all, so we will be leaving Colorado next spring. So I have a lot of stuff to pack into a few months! We did not take advantage of Georgia, and I learned from my mistake, and we're making the most of our time here in Colorado.

One new thing for me is snow. We had our first snow fall not long after arriving in September. What a shock! I did not care for it at first, but now after several snowfalls, I'm starting to really enjoy it. The beauty of the snow dancing and fluttering towards the grounds is something to behold. I might grow to love it after all!

We have been trying to find a new church home while we're here, and we tried a new church today. It was quite the experience! I loved the architecture of the church from the outside, so we decided to give it a try, not knowing that it was a gospel church. We really loved the service there, but...it was LOUD! Our ears were ringing for quite a bit of time afterwards. I think we'll go back next week...Jay actually really got into it, and that's the first time I've seen him truly ENJOY a church service in a long time. The pastor was great, very animated, and it was probably the first service where I didn't have to concentrate on keeping my focus on the sermon. I truly enjoyed it as well. And what was great...with all of that noise, it was okay if the girls made noise as well!

What I'm thankful for today: a warm home in a cold place, Mae learning to fall asleep without nursing to sleep, Zee being the funniest little girl imaginable, and Jay, without his love and support, I never could have done this move.