I Want to Remember This: We Did It!

In June we packed up our house, loaded a U-haul with the help of friends, drove to our new house (while our daughter stayed in our empty house with my mom to play in a softball tournament), drove to our new house in the Upper Peninsula, unloaded with the help of my husband's parents, and unpacked and organized. The unpacking and organizing went pretty slow this time. In some houses we have moved into, everything finds its place right away, and in other houses it takes more effort to get things put away. We also weeded the garden and planted more seeds and some plants. Then we headed back to our old house to clean and watch our daughter play more softball. 

We were able to spend a long week together at our new house over the 4th of July. We unpacked and organized some more, made some curtains, installed some shelves, weeded and planted again, harvested our first lettuce, remembered Oliver on the 7th anniversary of his death, hung out with family, and visited the beach several times. It was so amazing to be together in our new house. We have been dreaming of this moment for a really long time, and we are just in awe that it happened. God has been so faithful to us all our days. 

We are back at our old location one last time to finish up work and softball. In just a few short weeks we will be back for good, ready to put down roots and watch God continue to work in our lives. Thanks for following along on this series! I am looking forward to having some time between softball games to write more about what has been on my heart during this season, not just recapping the to do list! Love, Janet

We made a strawberry pie to help remember Oliver.
Every year remembering him has looked a little different.

Ash loves our new home!

It looks like a real garden! So far the critters have
left it alone.

Getting ready for my first harvest. 

We are only 15 miles from Lake Superior!

I Want to Remember This: Memorial Day Weekend at Our New House

We spent Memorial Day weekend at our new house. We worked hard on lots of big and little projects and had fun too! When we bought the house two years ago, it was furnished. On this trip we were able to move everything that we weren't keeping out to the barn and host a yard sale. Now we are ready to move our things in, and we were able to meet a lot of our neighbors at the sale. We also prepared our garden plot and planted tomatoes, onions, beans, rutabaga, lettuce, kale, carrots, chickpeas, cilantro, potatoes, gladiolas, marigolds, and nasturtiums. We'll try to plant more things throughout the summer. Finally we cut down an elm tree that had died in our yard and surprised ourselves by also cutting it in lengths, splitting it, stacking it in the barn, and burning the remaining brush. Most of the time I was too busy to take pictures, but here are a few! 

A walk along Lake Michigan during our drive.

Discing our garden before planting. The leaves had just started
to open on the trees when we were there.

My daughter and I made chocolate graham crackers and bought
milk chocolate with caramel for smores!