Finally

I suppose I should have posted when it happened, but the biggest news right now is that our house in Big Timber, Montana finally sold.  This is one huge burden off our shoulders.  The week before we got the offer on the house, Nathan interviewed with Stillwater Mining.  We went back and forth.  Should we go back an try to recapture the life we had, or should we hang on a little longer with the faith that we are where we are supposed to be?  As it happened the offer on the house and the offer for the job came the same day.  We took the offer on the house and closed that chapter of our lives.  It was a bittersweet decision.  We miss Big Timber-- the people, not the weather.  The kids miss going to school and having friends.  I miss having a real house and having time to clean it.  Josie would be in Debbie's preschool this year.  I would have had whole mornings to myself.

However, I just couldn't go.  We love the long growing season here.  We love our families.  It's hard to be far away from them.  Nathan doesn't love his job, but it pays well.  I spend a lot of time with my mom.  I missed her those five years we were away.  My kids see their grandparents everyday and their cousins every week.  I just couldn't give those things up again. 

So, we move forward like we always do.  The kids are adapting to home school.  The boys both have one more football game and then there is wrestling and basketball to look forward to.  Dylan takes art lessons from his great-grandma, and now spends a lot of time drawing.  Our house is chaotic and loud.  We are closed into a very small space.  Everyone fights and yells and it often feels like there is no peace at all.  But, we harvested our garden and bottled about 50 quarts of grape juice.  I canned tomatoes and spaghetti sauce, pears and pickles.  I even made raisins for the first time with our table grapes.  This lifestyle on a little farm in a tiny house isn't glamorous, but it's okay.  For now, at least. 

I do hope that someday I will have a house again.