"You Must Be So Busy!"

Yeah, not really. We'll be moving in the next few weeks, and if we had to pack our own house or get it show-worthy to sell? Of course - I would be out-of-my-mind stressed & overloaded. But we purposely rented, b/c we knew we wouldn't stay here for years, and since our relocation package provides for movers, there's really not much for me to do right now. (By contract, the movers have to pack everything themselves, with no help from us. I'm soooo good with that. ;-))

With all of our previous moves, (this is #7 in 11 years!) I've whipped instantly into action online, searching realtor.com for homes. The area we're moving to is the smallest town I've lived in since my hometown, so they literally have zero rental homes listed. Both of my parents are real estate agents, so I got their sound advice not to worry, b/c it costs money to list on there, and most small-town rentals don't bother. Good news for my hope outlook, but frustrating that I truly have to wait until we get our new company-designated relocation realtor to figure out where we actually have the option of living.

What I *have* been able to do:

I have already scoped out Annelise's new Montessori, (which actually goes up through 3rd grade, providing a nice failsafe for Will, if we find the public schools not up to snuff,) along with all of the "basic" ;-) shopping places for me: Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Publix, Wal-mart, Sam's, Target, Hobby Lobby, & the local mall. (There's no Costco or Trader Joe's, but I'll take a cooler & stock up on my staples there whenever we go to Atlanta or home to Charlotte.) I've also checked out my new Junior League chapter there. I think it will be nice to finally be in a smaller-sized JL, instead of my past two, which have each covered around 4 counties at once, so the work & meetings were so spread out & often far away.

Another thing I immediately research online with each move are activities. There is a super cute zoo park down there that, even though it's small, has our ultimate favorite big zoo "must-see's" - alligators, reptile house, rhinos, cheetahs, meerkats, & lemurs! (And they even have a little train!) There's also a "RiverQuarium" (an aquarium focusing on local river life) that has tons of children's activities. Sports-wise, t-ball starts SOON! End of Feb or first of March, depending on which league he plays for, (which depends on where we live, which we have no idea, yet. A bit nerve-wracking, b/c registration was Sunday, and I don't want him to miss out! Pray for favor, that God will work it out so he can register late & still play!)

I haven't, yet, really settled on a "front runner" dance studio/gym to look into for Annelise, but I did find out that there are several area Zumba classes. :-) When it comes to church, we've had a really easy time, not having to "church shop" whatsoever in the last 5 years, by attending & instantly connecting with whichever church hosted the MOPS group I joined. This time might be different - there's only one MOPS group in the whole area, and while that's fine, I may use this as an opportunity to "age out". (It's for moms of kids from birth-Kindy; I could do one more year with Sis in K next year, but this might be easy to wean myself away. I think it's almost time; I don't really have the same support needs, anymore, as moms going through potty training, sleeping through the night, preschool choices, etc.) Now, instead of looking for MOPS, I'm looking for a church with a Praise Team that I could join & sing on, (which is a complete 180° from the traditional-only service style we used to look for! God has really done some major changing in us in these last 5 years! :-))