The Master Plan

For years now I've adopted this as my personal motto in life: Everything happens for a reason and when the time is right for us to know, we will.
I even had that imprinted on our checks! Ok so I'm soft, that's not news.
What IS news is that I have come to know the "reason" for our move back home. The easy on the surface answer is to help out my MIL. Now though there is more. About 2wks ago my new son-in-law (wow did I just say that???) found out that his mother has only about 6mos to live. She has a disease that there is no help for; not sure what it is. She is only 50; he 24 and the youngest of all his sibs who are spread out around the country. My heart breaks for him and his family and I hardly even know him. I thought it was amusing that he calls me "Mom" already,but now I wonder if maybe I'll be that fill-in for when his real mom is no longer here in person? I will do my best to be there for him.
And if that wasn't enough, on Friday while we anxiously awaited news on the new baby, my MIL received a call from her best friend. The friend, who I have known for 15yrs had just been given the news that she has a cancer for which there is no cure and whose time is fleeting. These two women have been best friends since they were teens and are only 60yrs old. I think of Lisa and me, best friends since we were 12 and how devastated one of us would be without the other. This move is going to be hard enough I'm sure,but at least a move can be temporary and there are vacations etc. Heck, we made a pact ages ago that we have to grow old together and die at the same time! My MIL is beside herself and to say that this loss will turn her upside down is not an understatement. I just hope and pray that we can give her the love and support she'll need when the time comes and that God will give her strength to carry on, I'm sure it's what her friend would want.
Sorry to be so somber tonight, this has just been weighing heavy on my mind.

Look who's 19wks old

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!!

I'm happy to say that my BIL & SIL are proud new parents to their baby born on Friday. My poor SIL was in labor for 36hrs after her water broke. We were all so worried; family there and all of us out here. Finally she had a c/s and all is well. Our new nephew weighed 10.7lbs more hugs for my SIL for trying to push him out naturally! He's cute as a button though and ironically is the same size at birth that Princess K is now at 4mos old!! Can you imagine? I picked her up and told D. that I can't imagine giving birth to a baby that size. She's a real peanut though for her age. We're so happy for them though and when D. called yesterday to convey our good wishes he said his brother was thrilled. D. is 15yrs older than this brother so it was a really big deal to know that he's a dad himself now. We can't wait to meet our new nephew and congratulate R & B. They will be a wonderful family and have been truly blessed.

Moving....at a snail's pace

To borrow a line from one of the world's great writers, Mark Twain let me say this: Rumors of my being a great packer/organizer have been greatly exaggerated.
We're leaving in five days and here is where we're at. A livingroom that looks like a bomb went off:
A garage with not nearly enough packed boxes in it and other things precariously balanced that should not be:

And two baby girls who are less than thrilled with little play space and the fact that we cannot hold them every minute of the day when there is work to be done:

Let's just say that there is not alot of progress to be made with five kids underfoot. Three aren't capable of helping (well N. could,but is more of a hinderance than a help at only 2yo) and two can't seem to stop fighting long enough to get the job done. And admittedly, I'm not pushing for much because it's less aggravation for me. They're playing now as you see,but in all fairness that's because Qbert did pack up most of their room.
The trailer will be here Wed. night and we'll load the furniture we're bringing (which is very little) and boxes into it. The next two days will something of an indoor campground as we eat, sleep, play on the floors. Hmm...should be interesting. The good thing I guess is that we didn't move in with a whole lot and we're also purging a whole lot of what we have. Freecycle and Craigslist have been lifesavers lately!
The Triptik has been read and reviewed by the three of us old enough to read and understand it. We've checked out http://www.roadsideamerica.com for tips on sights to check out along the way from here to Boston. Nothing spectacular jumped out at us so we'll just wing it and see what we see. Each of the boys has a backpack stocked with a disposable camera, books, coloring books, puzzle books, crayons and a sports bottle. The coolers will be stocked with various sundries. We also stocked up on dry goods like crackers, cereal etc. It would be too pricey to eat out every meal for 4 days so we'll bring what we can, find grocery stores along the way for incidentals and eat out one meal a day. D. and I are looking forward to finding good homemade hearty meals at little places along our route a la Alton Brown on his series Feasting On Asphalt or Guy Fieri and his Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Love watching those shows! And yes I'm a big enough dork as my kids would say to have checked out their sites and wrote down names and addresses for the ones they visited that will be on our route.
Along the way we plan to take many photos, some videos and keep a journal. I say PLAN because we all know how things can sometimes not turn out the way we hope. I'll share what we have when we get settled.
For now it's back to laundry, boxes and duct tape all calling my name. Maybe I can at least get one packed while the baby girls are sleeping.