New Job, New House, New School...

This summer was full of changes; some good, some bad.

Good Changes:
*Josh got a new job with the City of Schertz, TX which is closer to San Antonio as their new HR Director. Actually, they contacted him and asked if he would be interested in applying. He wasn't really looking for a new job, even though the City of Round Rock also had been recruiting him for interviews. When he came home from the Schertz interview, he couldn't stop talking about it. I knew then that we would be moving within the foreseeable future.

*So because the new job was about an hour and 45 min away, we needed to sell the house. I cleaned and packed up as much of our junk as possible to make the house look presentable, then we invited about 5-6 realtors in to give us a price point. The pricing was varied quite a bit, but in the end, we listed somewhere in the middle. I tried keeping the house as clean as possible while Josh started commuting and staying with his mom during the week.
One day, a good friend of mine asked if we would like to go into Cedar Park to a trampoline jumpy place, so I set out the clean towels and straightened up the house, just in case someone called to see it. Good thing I cleaned, because our agent called to varify a showing for that afternoon. The person who came to see it ended up being our buyer. We had a contract within 12 days of listing it. The Lord apparently needed us to be together as a family again. A few bumps during the appraisal and closing kept me from totally accepting that the whole thing wouldn't fall apart, so I procrastinated packing until our agent called and told me we had a week to close and the buyer needed to move in immediately.
We then went from having approx. 10 days to pack widdled down to about 36 hrs. Even in the midst of all the frantic packing, they still were unsure if we were ACTUALLY going to close on the Friday they were shooting for. Finally, at 2:00pm on Friday, they called to say closing would be at 4:00 pm. Not much notice. We compromised and said we'd be out Friday if we didn't have to clean the house, the way I would normally leave it. The buyer agreed and we were done on time, thanks to the help of several friends, lots of sweat, and lots of water bottles!

*In the middle of the closing process, we realized we needed to find a new house and quick! We looked at several in our new area and found that there are three Wards here in the Schertz/Cibolo/Universal City area. There is also an Air Force Base nearby so we were afraid to be in a transient ward where the revolving door spins people in and out very quickly. We also had to find a home in the right school district for Lincoln. He was set to attend Pre-K but through the PPCD program he has been involved with in Marble Falls. Of the 7 elementary schools in Schertz/Cibolo, we found one we loved; Green Valley Elementary.
Luckily, we were able to find a rental home in the school district of our choice that also put us in the same Ward as a Co-worker of Josh's. We are about 2 blocks from the school and apparently several church members live in our neighborhood. Yes, we are in a neighborhood with sidewalks and kids playing in the street. It's a little strange since we came from a place where we were the only house on the street. So Lincoln is a Grizzly Bear now; perfect since he's now prone to growling at everyone he meets. (Thanks Puss N Boots! You are now banned from this house!)

*We are now in the Randolph Ward that has apparently received several move in's in the past month or so. We've only been there a couple times, but I can tell I will probably be called to be Lincoln's teacher in the CTR 4 class. They don't have a regular teacher that is there all the time and I volunteered to sit with the class during Sharing Time last week until their substitute arrived. Josh however is thrilled that a new Elders Quorum President was just called and it's NOT HIM! I've never seen him smile so big at church... ha ha. Just kidding.

Now for the Bad Changes:
*Our friend and buddy Cody Brasich passed away Aug. 5th from a rare form of childhood cancer called Neuroblastoma. He was only 4 1/2 yrs old and fought it like a champ. He was actually in remission from December 2011 until mid July when the cancer returned with a vengence. It was a heart-breaking situation and it was extremely difficult to watch his parents have to deal with the treatment then death of their only son. We miss Cody every day and pray for his mum and dad every night. They all mean so much to us. Cody and Lincoln basically grew up playing together, fighting, biting, hugging, and laughing with each other. Cody will always be in our hearts.

I am a pro at handling change, having moved so much as a kid, but this move was a little more difficult for me. As I was finishing packing what left over stuff we couldn't fit in the truck and relocating all the trash to the garage, I got a little teary leaving our first home. We put so much love and hard work into that house to make it our home. And we watched our son grow from a little toddler to a big, tall, strong boy. I know home is where you make it, but it was still hard to leave our "home".

So, onto another house, another ward, another school, another area...another adventure.