Acceptance

Sometimes God allows the path we are on to pursue roads we would prefer to avoid. When this happens, acceptance can be so difficult. Fully trusting His will and way, I know His way is best for me, my family, and my friends. That does not mean accepting His will is easy for the human flesh. Often, it is down right torture. God's plan made a major change in our lives this summer when He moved our precious friends Paul, Amy, Isabella, and Hayden off of our street and out of our town. I will never forget the afternoon Amy called to break the news to me. I was chatting away like normal about this and that when she suddenly says "I have something to tell you." I knew instantly that she was leaving. I knew God had called them somewhere else. I was immediately heart broken and in full blown grief mode. The tears came with no warning. I was not the wonderful supportive friend I needed to be, I was devastated and I could not hide my brokenness from her. She knows me too well and plus, I was bawling like a baby so why even attempt to hide it? This news came only weeks after finding out we were also having to say goodbye to our other precious friends who I wrote about here. This post is long overdue but I knew I could not even attempt to write it until I had some acceptance and I could do it without crying my eyes out. I think I am there, we'll see as I proceed...

We were at least thankful to find out that even though we had to immediately get used to Paul being gone with his job, Amy and the kids would be around for a few weeks. As it turned out, they were around until the end of July. It became our mission to spend as much time as possible with them. We had some sleepovers...

Trying to get used to not seeing this beautiful face almost daily has been very difficult!

And this face...I cannot even describe how much I miss this face as well.

We did a lot of swimming. Amy and I did some tanning. I cannot imagine how the kids and I will stand next summer when they are not here to spend lazy days by the pool with us!

I can't begin to count the memories we have with this family but one I have to note here is how I will always remember Izzy learning to dive at our house. She worked so hard on that dive and this summer she finally nailed it!

Along with Kelly's family and Shelley's family, we hosted a going away party for them. If I had let myself, I could have cried all night that night but instead we all just tried to enjoy each other and treasure the time together.

Since it poured rain on 4th of July, we saved our fireworks for this night!

I won't ever forget Paul saying as they left that night, "one way or the other, we will be gone by July 29th". After that, July 29th became a day I dreaded...but as time is prone to do, it flew by and before we knew it, it was the very week of July 29th. Amy, Izzy, and Hayden rolled into town on Monday night and I quickly claimed her children for the next day. We didn't get to have Amy b/c she had to supervise the movers as they packed but boy did we enjoy Izzy and Hayden. When we headed down our street to begin our day, this was what we saw. It was a jolt of reality and I realized they really were going to leave and I really was going to have to see another family move into their house. Oh how I disliked seeing this truck!

I got us out of there as fast as I could. The kids and I headed to Carrollton for the day. We began our day at Chick Fil A for lunch. Cooper and Hayden both wore their undershirts in and while that normally would have driven me crazy, I really did not care. Those little things were not important on this day. The kids were so good at lunch and they were so excited about our next stop. After lunch we went to what is called a "water park" but it is actually just a really big pool with a few slides. Even though it was small, it was perfect for our day. It had something for everyone and I could see all the kids at the same time even when they were not together. They (we) all loved it and stayed until it closed.

After we left there, we went to visit Kristal and Brad who had recently moved close to there. The kids played like they had been going to their house all their lives. On our way home, we did a drive thru dinner and ate in the car. The kids really wanted to swim when we got home so that is exactly what we did. One thing I had already learned from my other friends moving was once they are gone, you realize you didn't have enough time. I tried to squeeze every minute I could out of this day.

The kids were more tired than they realized but they still played and had fun. Amy walked up to visit and we sat around the pool watching them swim one last time. I was so sad to see this day end because I knew what tomorrow would bring. I didn't want to face it and I really did not want Claudia and Cooper to have to face it. I knew it would be so hard on all of us. One thing I know for sure, when you hurt big when you have to say goodbye to someone, it means you loved big when you had them with you. We have loved these friends really BIG!

The next morning, we got ready to help them finish up. The kids and I went down and while the kids played all over the yard and empty house, Amy and I cleaned. I loved every minute of helping her because it was the last time I could be that friend to her. Amy and I have been each others go-to friend for child-care and everything else since the first summer she moved to our street. It will take me a while to get used to her not being here for me to call on and me not getting to help her out as well. Her homey den went from this...

to this...

I wonder how many hours of fun my Claudia has spent in this room...

and I am so sad that she won't have those hours of precious time with Izzy in this room...

When it had all been cleaned, the moving truck had pulled off, and there was nothing left to do but lock it up and head south, the kids and I found a way to say good-bye and we left Paul and Amy's for the last time. We had all just enjoyed our day and suddenly it was time to leave. We all fell apart. While the boys were totally boys and so nonchalant with each other, the girls ripped my heart out. This was so hard to see...

I would have loved a picture of Amy and I together since we never remember to take those but we were not  really wanting to have a picture made in our current state. We were dirty, sweaty, and bawling like babies so we skipped the photo op. Hayden wasn't really into my pictures but I still had to have one more of the four of them here. I know we will see each other but it won't be the same as here...they won't be our precious neighbors.










While I thought I was ready to write this post, the end has been hard to write. There is no way for me to put into words how much we already miss our neighbors and our friends. We are so thankful God brought them here for four years. While I thought we spent a lot of time together over the last four years, now that the opportunity is gone, I know it was never enough.