BIG NEWS!!!

Lots of changes are a-comin' for us! We found out this week that we are being transferred to Gainesville, Florida! This is a very exciting move for me especially. I am sooo happy that we will be closer to several of my family members, including my sister, aunts, uncles, and many cousins on both my mom and dad's side of the family. Living here in Georgia has been a wonderful experience. It is so beautiful here and we've had a lot of great adventures in this lovely part of the country. I will always have a special place in my heart here because we have made such wonderful friends and most of all, two of our children were born here. So, I am a little sentimental about leaving in that regard, but I am very much looking forward to being closer to family...and beaches...and Disney...so many new adventures await.

I have just begun researching schools, neighborhoods, churches, and the area in general in Gainesville. It is a college town, home of the University of Florida (which has almost 50,000 students, by the way!), so we will be deep in the heart of Gator country, which will be fun. Other than the college though, it looks like a relatively small town compared to the major metro areas we are used to living in. I personally am looking forward to that. Florida is not generally known for good schools, but we are very fortunate, in that Gainesville has the very best schools in the entire state of Florida and even has 1 of the top 10 high schools in the nation, so I am relieved that our kids' education is not at stake here. The school that Evan has attended here has been great and has afforded him a pretty progressive and enriched education, which is important to us. Speaking of Evan, he is excited and apprehensive at the same time about the move. He loves sports so much, that it's always enticing to him to think about all the new teams of which he'll have opportunities to see games....Jacksonville Jaguars, Orlando Magic, Gators, etc. He's so funny...such a GUY! But, he is also at an age now (4th grade) where he is really starting to develop strong friendships and he is going to be sad to lose these friends. The good part is that he will be able to start 5th grade there and get to know everyone before he has to start Middle School (which we all know middle school is a pretty rough turning point in life), so I think that is a plus. So, we are hoping to get to move in June and have time to settle into the area and find a church so we can get to know some people before school starts. We are looking forward to the new adventure, but also are fully aware of the challenges that will come up since we have 2 babies in the mix now! Life is sooo much more busy with 3 than it was with 2...my head spins most days lately...with the move, I think it could just spin right off my shoulders, so pray for me, please!

We will be trying to get things together for a big garage sale, along with throwing out a bunch of junk that NOBODY would want (ha ha), and doing an insane amount of yard work and a few home repairs and touch ups to get the house ready to sell. I feel like somebody just pushed the rocket booster on my life!

Another exciting prospect for me is that I will be living in Florida, so I will get to attend my family reunion for the first time in about 18 years! I know that I have to have tons of new family members that I have never met before, so I'm really looking forward to getting to know the new and see those I haven't seen in forever! Yay!

So, get ready all my dear Florida family, we're coming soon!