It’s been a busy last month. And I have this frantic feeling that it’s only the beginning. When we moved here 3 1/2 years ago, our time here seemed like an eternity. After all, it was going to be the longest we had ever  put our roots down. We actually threw away the boxes we were unpacking rather than storing them in the garage for the next move. It felt good. I had a lot of fun turning this house into a home. We planted grass and bought a swingset. Planted grape vines and a peach tree. Which by the way has produced the most mouth watering peaches one could ever dream of. I’m really going to miss that tree. Or at least the peaches it produces. We have made friends that we will have for the rest of our lives. Our family has grown. We have welcomed two little children into this world in this little house. And the memories that have been created…

And in only 10 weeks and 5 days, it will all come to an end. It is so bittersweet for me. We have almost finished what we started 10 years ago. It’s been a long hard road with a few side streets along the way. This is an overwhelming feeling. Some days I can hardly believe that we are almost there. I am exicted thinking about the next chapter we will be starting so soon.  A job, a house, no more school… I really don’t even know what these things will be like. And I can hardly wait.

But other days, my heart grieves this life we will be leaving behind. these past 3 1/2 years have been the best of our lives together. We have had so little, (materialistic) but yet we have had so much.  Our hearts have been filled beyond what we could have ever imagined. I remember when we first came down here. Eric had just graduated from the U of O with his Masters. We knew that we would be moving down here in the fall, and so we made a trip to look around. Hopeful that we could buy a house. To be really honest, a little overwhelmed of the whole “So Cal” lifestyle that we would be thrown into. So we spent a few days looking for housing. Nothing. Nothing to buy since it was the height of the housing boom. Nothing to rent because nobody really wanted to rent to a family with 4 children. We left feeling frustrated and discouraged.

Then one day, on the maybe twentieth time of calling the university housing office to see if there was anything availble…there was that morning. But we needed to decide within a few days. So with only a few pictures of the place, we agreed it would definitely work for our family. I loved that it was peach. Eric still calls it “pink”. I loved that we had three palm trees in my front yard. (which they chain-sawed down in the wee hours of a Sunday morning about a year ago, much to my protest and sobbing). I loved that my kitchen windows looked out over ”The Field” and the mountains. We would be close enough for Eric to walk to school, so we could get by with only one car.  The house was small, on a busy road, and had a dirt pit for a backyard, but it was perfect for us.

So we moved in, threw away the boxes and learned the ways of So Cal. We have had good times and bad. We have laughed and cried. We have watched our little children grow and then grow some more. Gabe will be the same age when we leave as Joshua was when we started. And Maryann is in between them. We have watched as God has provided for our family in ways we never could have imagined. During the times that we were sure there was just no way to make ends meet, God would pour out His blessings on us.  We will always remember these years as the best.

So, as I pack up boxes that the boys have retrieved from the school’s cardboard dumpsters, I am sad. It seems like just last month that I was unpacking this house. But we are done. So half of me wants to run on, see whats coming next since we still haven’t figured that one out yet. But the other half wants to stay here. Wants to live in this little peach house forever. Wants to keep being a students wife..(well, maybe a job would be nice). I want to keep all my girlfriends and the park days and the weather. Man, I love this weather and am really going to miss it. I want to desperately need God to provide for my family. Because when He does, He is so close and so real to me and our children. I want to be a part of this little town that we have grown to love. I want to keep going to our church and hearing Pastors awesome preaching. But, the countdown has begun. And there is no stopping it. So I take a breath, and grab on, because life is about to change in a big way and I don’t want to miss a thing!

~Cheryl