In spring of 2015, we embarked on a journey to move to Hendersonville, North Carolina. As you might imagine, the move almost 9 hours north of us was quite the experience. Since that time, so much has transpired. Through this post, I hope to give you a glimpse into all that has happened since then. Hopefully, it will give you a little bit of information as to why our blog was deserted for so long.
Spring 2015
Ryan came home from working on the road. He had taken a week off to get us moved. We rented a rental truck and packed up from what we thought would be our forever home, but after there were many issues transpire up to an including a neighbor who was irate that we were buying the only piece of lakefront property that he didn't own on the street. He really made our lives as miserable as he could. We tried for a good year to do our own thing, but we found that he was just going to do whatever it took to make anyone living in that house miserable. Because of this, in the fall of 2014, we decided to try something new. I had never lived in the mountains and since Ryan worked on the road, it was something that he was really looking forward to. He loved the idea of coming home to somewhere that the neighbors wouldn't be trying to ruin his only day or two with his family. So, we packed up the budget truck and off we went.
Travel to Hendersonville
Day 1: We pulled out at about 7 am. We wanted to beat rush hour traffic in as many big cities as we could. Ryan driving the Budget truck with Maddie. That left me to drive our little sedan with Kenzie. It was spring break for our kids, so it was a perfect time to go. We drove from Hudson, Florida to Savannah, Georgia before the kids decided that they had had enough. They needed to stretch. We pulled in to a hotel for the night. We had less than 5 hours to go, but as you know, when you have kids traveling, sometimes, it is best to make that stop than it is to just push on.
Day 2: We woke up at about 5 am and set out for the last leg of our journey. We arrived at the condo before noon. We had stopped in town for a bit of a walk around Main Street. Let me tell you, if you have never gone and just walked your town's main street or whatever the historical area is, go do it. It is so much fun. After dropping the truck off at his parent's condo, we parked the car right in front of their place and jumped in their trailblazer. It snowed the night we stayed in Savannah and we wanted to be sure that we wouldn't get stuck in our little car, so we took the SUV out and took the girls to my favorite place. Jump off rock is to this day the one place I love going every time we are in Hendersonville.
Throughout that first week, we went hunting for places to live. We applied at an apartment complex and were accepted. This was about day 3-4 I would guess. We were able to move in the next week. So, we put our belongings in storage since we had to take the truck back soon. When move-in day arrived, we rented a trailer and my father-in-love drove his SUV with the trailer attached to move our belongings from the storage unit in Etowah to our apartment on the other side of Hendersonville. My mother-in-love and I had taken the girls in my car and we were picking up things that I knew I needed and getting lunch for them. Once everything was inside the apartment we said our good-byes and they went on home. We started the task of finding homes for everything. It was a humbling experience.
Over the course of the next several weeks, with Ryan gone back to work and me in the middle of my college education, I had to balance living in a new area, being a stay at home mom, going to school, and everything that comes with the above. We, very quickly, found that there was one mom who didn't like that we were in the complex. You see, we played by the rules. Her sons did not. One of the children liked to play very close to traffic. I had a conversation with the school because of how unsafe he was being and you can imagine what happened after that. After she came to me and started chewing me out, she realized that I had made the call simply for the safety of her son and we were fine after that. In fact, Maddie became pretty close friends with the children and they started to behave a bit more.
Our time in Hendersonville taught us what "home" really felt like. We met some of the most amazing people we have ever had the pleasure to meet. I became very close to my friend Tiffany and Maddie met her best friend ever, Gracie. Shortly after meeting, Tiffany invited Maddie to Gracie's sleep-over. It was the first time that Maddie had stayed over at anyone's house that wasn't family. Tiffany only lived about 10 minutes from me, so if I needed to run over to get her, that wasn't going to be a problem. She also sent me photos from the night and had Maddie call me. It was rough on this momma, but all in all, she had a great time and we made friendships that will last a lifetime.
Also during that time, Mackenzie was asked to be a Lost Boy in the high school production of Peter Pan. She was only in 5th grade, but they wanted her, so I said YES! This was right up her alley. She loved it! We went to practices as often as she was required to. Maddie learned what it meant to sit in the audience and Kenzie learned lots of rules of the stage. When the producer came to tell us what she needed for the play, I went to work! I found these awesome combat boots for her to wear. Needless to say, my kid was the only one with shiny black combat boots on stage! It was a hoot. She had 3 nights to put on the play. We attended with Yaiyai and Pappy. It was really great to see her really enjoying herself.
Shortly after that, it was time for DARE camp. She went for a long weekend with the local police and was able to learn lots and have tons of fun. While she was gone, Maddie and I just enjoyed each other.
As fall approached, the yearly slow down for Ryan happened. It was so bad that he received some checks for less than $100. Because of this, we were faced with 2 decisions. First we had to decide if we would borrow from a family memeber to cover our rent. The second decision was if we would move in with a friend and sacrifice the life we loved in North Carolina. Ultimately, not wanting to borrow money from family and not know if we would have what we needed for the next month due to the nature of his job and my still being in college, we opted to move in with our friend. Ryan had to go back to work, and so our friend and I packed what we could into my car and his little pickup truck. Again, we set off south. This time, we went to Merritt Island, Florida. From the moment we left the mountains, my heart was breaking.
So this was in December. We moved the kids to the schools there and regretted it immediately. The bullying began. We knew this was a temporary move, so we were looking actively from the time we got there for our next home. During our time there, one of my brothers sent me a message on facebook that was very hurtful. It had the tone that my move was stupid and that I needed to find somewhere and stay there. From that point forward, I have been very careful of what I post because I know that he will judge me no matter what I do. Shortly after that, as I was preparing to graduate college, more judgement came from other brothers. So I became withdrawn. I graduated in March, but the ceremony wasn't until August.
Just a couple of weeks before I finished college, our friend and I had a falling out. It was to the extent that I feared for my life and the life of my family. That weekend, we came to Ocala. We had other friends living here. They were able to help us get into a unit with their landlord. Ryan stayed in MI and finished out his 2 weeks notice at the nursing facility he was working at and I started applying to jobs. I applied to one called iScribes. I didn't hear anything, so didn't think anything of it. (more on that in a future post). As summer was in full swing, the landlord needed to have us vacate the unit we were in, so we were moved across the driveway to another unit. We have been there since.
December 2016, we had been in the new unit for about 6 months. We had Ryan's parents for Christmas, and we knew that we didn't want to stay here. We have stayed only to get our lives back on track before deciding what to do. Our hears have yearned for the mountains since we moved away, but we were afraid to make that leap for a few reasons. First, was it what God was calling us to? Then, do we have the funding to do it? And now, where will we live and what will Ryan do for work (more on this in another future post).
So another year goes by. The girls continue in the same schools. It is now December 2017 and I have just gotten big news at work (watch for that post upcoming as well). We didn't have his parents for Christmas, but did an early Christmas with them. It was then that we made a decision that we would seriously look at moving "home". The only place we have ever truly felt was home. It was time to really start to try and see what we could do. We had been in Ocala for 1.5 years at this point and we knew we didn't want to stay here. Aside from the bullying at school for the kids, it just wasn't where our hearts were happy.
In 2018, so much has happened, and that will all be covered here very soon, but I wanted to bring you up to speed. This is going to be a wild ride, and we can't wait to see where life takes us! It's amazing to see how we have changed, good and bad. The one thing that remains constant is the love our Lord has for us. Without that, I do not know where we would be or if we would be at a point to be writing this blog post right now.
The above verse means so much to our family. For without the strength that has been given by Jesus, we would not be able to withstand all that has transpired in less than 3 years. Yes, we have been judged for what we have done, but without the context for why we have done things, one can only jump to conclusions. Yes, we will continue to be judged, but we know that with Christ anything is possible. We are learning to lean more on the Lord and less on the fleshly things that happen around us. Keeping our focus on our Lord, is what will get us over the hurdles that are surely to come.
Love,
Dawn and crew
Spring 2015
Ryan came home from working on the road. He had taken a week off to get us moved. We rented a rental truck and packed up from what we thought would be our forever home, but after there were many issues transpire up to an including a neighbor who was irate that we were buying the only piece of lakefront property that he didn't own on the street. He really made our lives as miserable as he could. We tried for a good year to do our own thing, but we found that he was just going to do whatever it took to make anyone living in that house miserable. Because of this, in the fall of 2014, we decided to try something new. I had never lived in the mountains and since Ryan worked on the road, it was something that he was really looking forward to. He loved the idea of coming home to somewhere that the neighbors wouldn't be trying to ruin his only day or two with his family. So, we packed up the budget truck and off we went.
Travel to Hendersonville
Day 1: We pulled out at about 7 am. We wanted to beat rush hour traffic in as many big cities as we could. Ryan driving the Budget truck with Maddie. That left me to drive our little sedan with Kenzie. It was spring break for our kids, so it was a perfect time to go. We drove from Hudson, Florida to Savannah, Georgia before the kids decided that they had had enough. They needed to stretch. We pulled in to a hotel for the night. We had less than 5 hours to go, but as you know, when you have kids traveling, sometimes, it is best to make that stop than it is to just push on.
Day 2: We woke up at about 5 am and set out for the last leg of our journey. We arrived at the condo before noon. We had stopped in town for a bit of a walk around Main Street. Let me tell you, if you have never gone and just walked your town's main street or whatever the historical area is, go do it. It is so much fun. After dropping the truck off at his parent's condo, we parked the car right in front of their place and jumped in their trailblazer. It snowed the night we stayed in Savannah and we wanted to be sure that we wouldn't get stuck in our little car, so we took the SUV out and took the girls to my favorite place. Jump off rock is to this day the one place I love going every time we are in Hendersonville.
Throughout that first week, we went hunting for places to live. We applied at an apartment complex and were accepted. This was about day 3-4 I would guess. We were able to move in the next week. So, we put our belongings in storage since we had to take the truck back soon. When move-in day arrived, we rented a trailer and my father-in-love drove his SUV with the trailer attached to move our belongings from the storage unit in Etowah to our apartment on the other side of Hendersonville. My mother-in-love and I had taken the girls in my car and we were picking up things that I knew I needed and getting lunch for them. Once everything was inside the apartment we said our good-byes and they went on home. We started the task of finding homes for everything. It was a humbling experience.
Over the course of the next several weeks, with Ryan gone back to work and me in the middle of my college education, I had to balance living in a new area, being a stay at home mom, going to school, and everything that comes with the above. We, very quickly, found that there was one mom who didn't like that we were in the complex. You see, we played by the rules. Her sons did not. One of the children liked to play very close to traffic. I had a conversation with the school because of how unsafe he was being and you can imagine what happened after that. After she came to me and started chewing me out, she realized that I had made the call simply for the safety of her son and we were fine after that. In fact, Maddie became pretty close friends with the children and they started to behave a bit more.
Our time in Hendersonville taught us what "home" really felt like. We met some of the most amazing people we have ever had the pleasure to meet. I became very close to my friend Tiffany and Maddie met her best friend ever, Gracie. Shortly after meeting, Tiffany invited Maddie to Gracie's sleep-over. It was the first time that Maddie had stayed over at anyone's house that wasn't family. Tiffany only lived about 10 minutes from me, so if I needed to run over to get her, that wasn't going to be a problem. She also sent me photos from the night and had Maddie call me. It was rough on this momma, but all in all, she had a great time and we made friendships that will last a lifetime.
Also during that time, Mackenzie was asked to be a Lost Boy in the high school production of Peter Pan. She was only in 5th grade, but they wanted her, so I said YES! This was right up her alley. She loved it! We went to practices as often as she was required to. Maddie learned what it meant to sit in the audience and Kenzie learned lots of rules of the stage. When the producer came to tell us what she needed for the play, I went to work! I found these awesome combat boots for her to wear. Needless to say, my kid was the only one with shiny black combat boots on stage! It was a hoot. She had 3 nights to put on the play. We attended with Yaiyai and Pappy. It was really great to see her really enjoying herself.
Shortly after that, it was time for DARE camp. She went for a long weekend with the local police and was able to learn lots and have tons of fun. While she was gone, Maddie and I just enjoyed each other.
As fall approached, the yearly slow down for Ryan happened. It was so bad that he received some checks for less than $100. Because of this, we were faced with 2 decisions. First we had to decide if we would borrow from a family memeber to cover our rent. The second decision was if we would move in with a friend and sacrifice the life we loved in North Carolina. Ultimately, not wanting to borrow money from family and not know if we would have what we needed for the next month due to the nature of his job and my still being in college, we opted to move in with our friend. Ryan had to go back to work, and so our friend and I packed what we could into my car and his little pickup truck. Again, we set off south. This time, we went to Merritt Island, Florida. From the moment we left the mountains, my heart was breaking.
So this was in December. We moved the kids to the schools there and regretted it immediately. The bullying began. We knew this was a temporary move, so we were looking actively from the time we got there for our next home. During our time there, one of my brothers sent me a message on facebook that was very hurtful. It had the tone that my move was stupid and that I needed to find somewhere and stay there. From that point forward, I have been very careful of what I post because I know that he will judge me no matter what I do. Shortly after that, as I was preparing to graduate college, more judgement came from other brothers. So I became withdrawn. I graduated in March, but the ceremony wasn't until August.
Just a couple of weeks before I finished college, our friend and I had a falling out. It was to the extent that I feared for my life and the life of my family. That weekend, we came to Ocala. We had other friends living here. They were able to help us get into a unit with their landlord. Ryan stayed in MI and finished out his 2 weeks notice at the nursing facility he was working at and I started applying to jobs. I applied to one called iScribes. I didn't hear anything, so didn't think anything of it. (more on that in a future post). As summer was in full swing, the landlord needed to have us vacate the unit we were in, so we were moved across the driveway to another unit. We have been there since.
December 2016, we had been in the new unit for about 6 months. We had Ryan's parents for Christmas, and we knew that we didn't want to stay here. We have stayed only to get our lives back on track before deciding what to do. Our hears have yearned for the mountains since we moved away, but we were afraid to make that leap for a few reasons. First, was it what God was calling us to? Then, do we have the funding to do it? And now, where will we live and what will Ryan do for work (more on this in another future post).
So another year goes by. The girls continue in the same schools. It is now December 2017 and I have just gotten big news at work (watch for that post upcoming as well). We didn't have his parents for Christmas, but did an early Christmas with them. It was then that we made a decision that we would seriously look at moving "home". The only place we have ever truly felt was home. It was time to really start to try and see what we could do. We had been in Ocala for 1.5 years at this point and we knew we didn't want to stay here. Aside from the bullying at school for the kids, it just wasn't where our hearts were happy.
In 2018, so much has happened, and that will all be covered here very soon, but I wanted to bring you up to speed. This is going to be a wild ride, and we can't wait to see where life takes us! It's amazing to see how we have changed, good and bad. The one thing that remains constant is the love our Lord has for us. Without that, I do not know where we would be or if we would be at a point to be writing this blog post right now.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
The above verse means so much to our family. For without the strength that has been given by Jesus, we would not be able to withstand all that has transpired in less than 3 years. Yes, we have been judged for what we have done, but without the context for why we have done things, one can only jump to conclusions. Yes, we will continue to be judged, but we know that with Christ anything is possible. We are learning to lean more on the Lord and less on the fleshly things that happen around us. Keeping our focus on our Lord, is what will get us over the hurdles that are surely to come.
Love,
Dawn and crew
Comments
Post a Comment