The waiting period... Me & Boys in Durham

After a week's crazy and stressful search for a rental house, we were amazed to find (thanks to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who hear about a newly available house) a rental house in downtown Sylva, beyond what we had been hoping for with 3 bedrooms, a fenced yard, garage, basketball hoop and sitauted one block from the library and the downtown. However, it was not available until the first week of February, so the boys & I loaded up the car again and drove to Durham with Jaja, while Jim started at his new job.

This visit was unplanned (like many elements of this move!!) and it was wonderful to be with Grandpa and Jaja without an 'agenda' or pressure of a short visit (yes, we stayed 2 1/2 weeks!). We had a lot of low-key days close to home, especially with one week of cold temps and icy, sleety roads.

Apologies for the photos, which were few and not very representative of our visit. That's what happens when Jim is not around to photo-document!

One of the boys' favorite spots in the house

While much of the rest of NC and the east coast got pummeled with snow, Durham only had a light dusting of snow, covered by sleet and ice. It may have been white... but it was a sheet of ice on top and very slick and hard. Nevertheless, Timo enjoyed exploring outside and "working hard" to throw chunks of sleet around the yard.

Heading to the park to see neighborhood kids sledding

What a treat to be there for Mom's birthday! Rachel and I took her to this great little walk-up eatery for lunch (with no children in tow!). All the fish and seafood come from the NC coast. VERY yummy. And even though there was still snow on the ground, the sun was out and it had gotten a lot warmer so we could eat at the picnic table.

One of our most favorite places in Durham: Museum of Life & Science!! Hurrah!!! I loved going here as a kid, and the museum is 300% bigger and better now; we also loved going when we lived in Durham and Gemma was 2 1/2. Rachel and Craig got another year's membership to the museum and listed us on the cards, so I was able to take the boys twice. Timo got very excited to see the rocket ship and the space/astronaut exhibit, reminding me of Gemma's love of astronauts when she visited here. Sadly I didn't take other photos... and Timo has continued to ask to "go back to the museum". Don't worry, we will be back again soon, Timo.

Mawethu and Lisa live in Durham now! WHAT! Yes, these South African friends are now Durham residents and have connected themselves well with the Hawkins fam and other church folks. We got to hang out numerous times, including one morning for Lithemba's birthday party. (Naturally, I didn't get any photos with them or of the birthday, oh well.)

Mawethu, Lithemba and Mila playing football with friends in the side yard

Timo learning to go down the ramp at 1406.

Timo was carrying on dialogue between the cars

One sunny afternoon, Pete and Rita came over, and in a jiffy Timo had gone out to the backyard with Pete and they had made "a fort" with some branches. Oh yeah! 

Just another afternoon, walking down to the park - oh hey, Lisa, you did make it in the photos after all! And Lithemba pushed Mattias the whole way.

Asher, Mila, Adah Joy (pictured) and Lithemba and Timo all got in a line and were going up and down and around on the slide. Lisa and I kept looking at each other and saying happily, "This is crazy! We're at the park and our boys are playing together!"

Sunny and warm one morning, and Timo & Mattias played happily with Asher & Adah Joy & Abram outside in the Frey's backyard. At one point, all five were in the sandbox together, concentrating and quietly playing. (And then, a few minutes passed and suddenly there were screams and tears and the quietness was broken...)

snacktime on the deck (and look at that curly hair!)

Grandpa let Timo help wash the cars before before we packed up to head back to Sylva. And Jaja drove back with us again - AND Dad drove Pete's truck, loaded up with some furniture and stuff from Costco for our new house. Let's go!

Can we say "phew"!!

Our excitement - and relief - was growing with each turn of the winding mountain roads. "We made it to North Carolina!" I kept saying to Timo. And then, finally, we exited the highway, drove through the little village of Dillsboro, crossed the Tuckaseegee River and turned onto Macktown Rd (next to the big Rafting sign), and wound our way up to the Woody's house.

We were exhausted and relieved and thankful to arrive in Sylva on Jan 6th. And what a great feeling it was to be able to pull up the driveway of "the mountain house" (as we called it, to help Timo remember it from our family reunion there this past July) and be greeted by Phil and Gayle Woody's friendly faces. They graciously hosted us upon arrival; it turned out to be an open-ended invitation that stretched into a 11 day stay (for me and the boys) and a 4 week stay (for Jim)!! 

Once we arrived we were able to start looking for a rental house and getting acclimated. In the middle of trying to rest up from the trip and start in on all the logistics of moving to a new town, we spent a lot of time hanging out at the house and exploring the woods around the property. I quickly realized that we all now need big mud boots/rain boots/wellies/rubber boots/gum boots! Hurray!

one of the best things about the house is this play area, loaded with trains and Fisher-Price toys

Most evenings were spent around the cozy wood stove. One night we had a little sing-along, thanks to Gayle. (Don't look at my face to judge; in fact I really enjoyed it too!)

Timo loved helping Mr Woody gather some branches to bring in for kindling

A barn and mud and tools. Heaven for a little boy like this one!

We all spent a week together at the Woodys until we found a house to rent and Jim started his new job at Western, and then I drove with the boys and Mom back to Durham. The house wasn't available until Feb 3rd, so we ended up staying in Durham for 2 weeks - while Jim began at his new role as the study abroad advisor. The first two weeks were spent alongside the outgoing/retiring advisor and trying to get his mind around a lot of new information and procedures for the position.


One morning we went for a little walk around Sylva, getting to know this mountain town. (Colorado Springs is at a high altitude and is right on the front of the Rockies, but now we really are in the mountains!) It's a town of about 2,500 people and the county has a population of 40,000; a few miles down the road is the campus of Western Carolina and the 'town' of Cullowhee. So, yep, small town mountain life for sure!! More details on this coming in future posts! We're still learning...


One of the best parts of Sylva and the county is this incredible, historic courthouse, which now houses the public library. 

And here's Jim, on campus for the first time on a day when he filled out some paperwork at Human Resources and got his ID card (and gym access, of course). Okay, Jim, your turn to write a post about your new job.

The road trip: Four days and 1,500 miles!

Sunny, clear skies the whole way! No snow!

Two cars, with 3 drivers swapping turns

Contents of cars: suitcases, booster seats, pack n play, extra diapers, the wooden toy treehouse (too fragile to load in the moving cube), Timo's bicycle, stroller, lots of books and toys and snacks. I took a tip from the Mary Gieser book and wrapped some books and new toys, so the boys could open them every few hours along the trip. That was a great help... although let's be honest, there were numerous moments of Timo yelling, "Mattias, stop crying! Jaja is driving!" (particularly on the last day) and me continuing to marvel at how Mattias napped no more than 30 minutes in the car the entire day, and Timo never napped. Yet somehow we made it.

Driving Day 1: Colorado Springs to Lawrence, Kansas and overnight in a hotel (with a swimming pool!)
Driving Day 2: Kansas to Chesterfield, Missouri and the home of the Brinks! We stayed 2 nights and one full day with them - great to be with family at the end of Christmastime (thanks for still having up your decorations, Katie). 
Driving Day 3: Missouri to Madison, Indiana and the home of the Katerbergs! Friends from Bloomington situated perfectly as an overnight stop.
Driving Day 4: Indiana to Sylva, North Carolina and the home of the Woodys and to Western Carolina University!

No pics from the first two days of driving, except these two of the boys "being football players" (as Timo said) and running around on the grass outside a rest area. We all participated in some brisk walking or running at every stop to clear our heads and get some energy out!

We made it to the cousins' house! Boy was it wonderful to see them, and in particular to see them in their new home in Chesterfield and see a bit of their new lives there. We are really looking forward to going back and having more wrestling in the huge basement play area, and explore all the cool things St Louis has for kids. But wait, first they need to come here and Katie can help us get our house decorated and arranged!

David, Timo and Elsie riding a horse (Jim)

Millie had changed so much since we saw her in June! Now a little girl!

the fams! well, this is what you get when you try to take a photo right before bedtime...

Boys in their matching soccer shirts from Nonna

And now, on to Madison and the Katerbergs house - great friends from our time in Bloomington. This is what our families looked like one in January 2013 just before we moved....

And now we have these 3rd children, too! Mattias and Audrey, who by the end of dinner were holding hands across their chairs!

Thanks for having us, Kevin and Laura - and we'll be back!

NOW, finally, onto North Carolina!

Saying good-bye to Colorado Springs

This move was HARD - both the leave-taking part and all the logistics that make up a move - most particularly because it was FAST. In a span of two weeks (with Christmas Day and New Year's Day in between) we had to sort through and pack up our house, make plans for arriving in Sylva, and say good-bye. The latter was difficult because it was such a busy time of year, and we were not able to spend much time with people or have any kind of send-off party/event. The good-byes were quick... 

Not only that but we didn't have the opportunity to re-visit all our favorite places to say good-bye. We did had one final workout at the YMCA; one last walk and picnic lunch at Garden of the Gods; one final walk on the Monument Valley Trail; one final date night to the Broadmoor (thanks to Daneli for babysitting); one final Sunday service at Westside church; and then suddenly we were in the car at 6:30 AM on a cold Saturday morning, looking at the sunrise on snowy Pike's Peak from our rear-view mirrors.

And... we did "a terrible job" (as Jim says) of taking photos. We did get to see all the special friends and extended family for good-byes, but unfortunately we didn't take many photos. (We love you, Storrs! Custers! Lohrenzes! Kims! Reeves! and neighbors Lisa, Martha & Stewart, Liz & Lyndon and Kay!)

A good-bye with Fiona (above) and the 3 girls. Timo and Megan were good buddies, and Timo has continued to talk about Megan since we've moved. 

Fiona will forever be a really special friend to me. She was there to talk with me many times during the first year after losing Gemma, and then she was there to help at the birth of Mattias!

Liv, Mattias, Emmalyn, Megan, Timo

Kiddos laughing at Fiona's antics, trying to get them all to smile

Jason and Kara Tippetts were also such an encouragement to us during the 2nd year of our time in Colorado Springs while we attended Westside, even though Kara passed away last March. Of lasting significance is their honesty and love and kindness, and our experiences of grief that we were able to share, and we are thankful for the bond of the Holy Spirit. 
 

"Packing up day"! A very full Friday, with friends and folks from church helping with the final packing and cleaning and loading up of the moving 'cubes'. 

How would you describe that day, Jim? 

"It was not a fun day. ...That was really stressful."

Yep, that day (and its after-effects) goes down as one of our more stressful days in 14 years of marriage. It didn't help that I had a bad head cold and couldn't stray more than a few steps from a box of tissues. There had simply not been enough time to plan for the packing (and the cleaning), and at midday we looked at the boxes and furniture laid out on the driveway and realized, "It's not all going to fit." In the end, we had to leave behind numerous things - gratefully, several friends from church helped load up the 'extras' to take for donation or to try to sell on their own. We remind ourselves that stuff is not the essence of our home and our identity. A desk is just a desk. A car seat is just a carseat. A toy is just a toy. A vacuum is just a vacuum. But still, moving is darn tough.

Somehow three of us were smiling (??) in this photo, though Timo was not interested in a photo.

Jim and Don

In the midst of those last 2 days of crazy packing and cleaning, we were SO grateful for Brian and Mandy Cave, who let us stay at their house while they were out of town for Christmas. Their home was a good respite for us in the beginning of the transition, as it helped us mark an official good-bye to 825 E Yampa St, and then to the rest of the city and our community.

AND, the most amazing person who helped in all of this was MOM!!!! As soon as she heard that we would be moving (and driving) to North Carolina, she volunteered to fly out and then road trip back with us - just as she had done 3 years ago when we moved from Bloomington to Durham, and 2 1/2 years ago when we moved from Durham to Colorado Springs. Have I mentioned that my mother is simply amazing! And loves to drive! And is wonderfully patient with our two boys! Because of her help we were also able to keep our two cars and drive them both together across country to NC.

Jaja and Timo reading a book before bedtime at the Cave's house

Now - we head out!!

Catching up on 2015 and Christmas...

I know - it's February, not Christmastime, and I'm sitting in Sylva, North Carolina in our new home, and not in Colorado Springs! What happened?! We're still reeling from it ourselves. It has been a tumultuous 3+ months of transition - but one also filled with many provisions - and just this week we are starting to feel like the ground underneath has stopped moving and we can start to wrap our minds around making this new town & job & house & community into our new life.

In a previous post in December, Jim wrote about leaving DAI and job-searching. Short version reply to that: He heard about a postion at Western Carolina University at Thanksgiving time, and then in a span of 4 weeks he applied, interviewed twice, got the offer and accepted it, and we had packed up the house and hit the road!! Two weeks later, Jan 15th, was his first day on campus as the study abroad advisor.

But looking back... to what now feels like a long, long distance... 

Christmas! Yep, Christmas celebrations and end-of-year reflections all throw in together with preparations to move and trying to say good-byes. Our gifts and decorations were more subdued this year, which suited us perfectly and was still wonderful for the boys.

reading Christmas stories before naptime

Christmas morning we opened stockings, and then had a brunch with Daneli (a friend/colleague from Jim's time at DAI office) and opened more presents.
 

Timo putting out fires on the boys' tree (which he decorated)

backyard visitors on this cold Christmas day

Blankets and cars and legos - and another pot of coffee brewing - makes for a good Christmas Day.