Happy Monday friends! I hope that you had a great weekend! It was a lovely (and rainy *smiles*) weekend here in the south. I thought today would be the perfect day to update on our move back to Tennessee as I receive so many questions each day about how things are going, how teaching is going, how we are settling in, etc. In many ways it is completely surreal that this week marks two months since we moved. In some ways it seems like yesterday and in other ways it seems like it has been years.
Overall
Overall the entire move has been relatively smooth. These last eight months have been a whirlwind of getting adjusted back to teaching full time, adjusting to a much busier (and very different) schedule then the years while I was sick, still working through the loss of my daddy, and then processing the long goodbye of my precious grandmother, plus cleaning out the house in Tennessee. I would say that there are many times that I feel like we are taking one day at a time and just taking things each moment as they come, but that the move itself has been smoother than I could have imagined.
Teaching
I could go on and on and on... (and on *smiles*) about this, but I will sum it up by saying that I have the most incredible students and I am loving being back in the classroom with them each day. There has been an adjustment to a different culture (every school has its own culture) but I have been met with grace by students and parents alike and it is surreal to be living out a dream that I fought to get back for ten years. I can't believe that I am looking at less than 40 days with this group of students and if I think about it to long I will start to cry because they are just that incredible. This first year back to full-time teaching has been beyond any hopeful expectation that I dreamed about from sick days.
Blogging
Getting adjusted to teaching full time and blogging was a whirlwind and one that I didn't get to do as much with these last eight months as I would have liked. I am so grateful to my blog sponsors for encouraging me to take time to get adjusted and I look forward to the upcoming months as Caravan Sonnet continues to grow. Thank you for all of your support these last eight months as I adjusted to my new schedule.
Writing
Getting adjusted to teaching full time and blogging was a whirlwind and I had made the difficult decision to pause my writing for these last several months with a start date back of May 1st. I am in the process of preparing to pitch a new series to an agency group and I can't wait to share more with y'all about this process. Thank you so much for your prayers for this entire process.
Etsy Shops/Ebay Store
One of my Etsy shops,
December Lane, has continued, while December Caravan is on a brief vacation this year. December Caravan is currently taking a break just because with the move there is no way to properly run a full time store. Both Ebay stores are also on hold. I am excited to start incorporating this back in our lives in the future and thank you again for the continued support.
House
There is a lot of mixed emotions with this one. It is strange coming back to the house where I (primarily) grew up but even more strange coming back to the place where I spent some of the most difficult years of my life (when I was extremely sick)... and without my precious dad. To be honest there is a pretty big love-hate relationship that I have. At first it was extremely difficult to be at the house but as time has continued there has been a gentle acceptance.
There has also been a lot of work. Being away from the house for 5 years and coming back to things that you haven't used in years and for me nearly a decade since I had moved into my parents home incredibly sick and just got more sick has resulted in lots and lots of hours going through things, donating items, and carefully deciding what I want to keep and get rid of. There are a lot of emotions, tons of thought processes on this and also a different kind of grief stage to work through in this process. It has been a lot of work and a lot of processing.
The entire mold remediation process was difficult beyond words and one that I still have grieved in different ways. For all of y'all who have lost things in natural disasters or because of something similar. I am so sorry for your loss. I never understood what that would feel like and my heart truly breaks for you. I hope that you were met in love like I was. My students are incredible.
Church
One of the things that I was most excited about was getting back involved in a church community and finding other people my age (single and married). Honestly... it has been hard to do this with COVID. It definitely has made this moving process feel a lot lonelier and I know that I am not the only one feeling this way right now. At this point we are continuing to listen to church online but I hope that in the future this can change and change quickly.
Social/Friendships
COVID has made this a more complicated process and with my fragile immune system it is not as easy as I would like it to be to just get together with old friends and develop new friendships. If I am honest (and anyone who has moved understands this completely) it takes a lot of effort and time to develop friendships and at this point with all of the change that I am experiencing I am needing to guard my energy levels really carefully. I am so grateful to have connected with some of the people that I teach with and other friends from the past and some new friends.
I think anyone who moves understands all of the emotions that come with finding your "place" in a new space. I miss my friends from up in New York/Vermont a lot and I am grateful for grace in just giving myself time to adjust. I definitely don't have the social life that I would like to have, but again I think some of it is a mixture between moving, adjusting, work schedule, and COVID.
Dating
I am giggling as I write this... besides almost falling off of a mountain (Senior classes who are reading this... you know what I am talking about *smiles*)... I would say there is nothing happening in this department right now. Haha. I am giggling because I would say this is one of my most asked questions. For personal reasons I have always kept my dating life private on this blog (out of respect to the men and out of respect for just the need for a personal boundary line) but right now... no, I am not secretly hiding any secret story. Yes, I have been asked this numerous times. *haha*
COVID does complicate dating (this could be an entire post in itself) but it is difficult and it is just hard right now for this season of life. As y'all know (because I have discussed this on the blog) I do long to be married and would love to dating right now.... so I appreciate your continued prayers for this area of my life. Y'all are the best.
Thank you so much for reading today... I am so grateful for your prayers, for your love, and for your support in this time of transition and change. It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since the last update and I plan to start doing this as a monthly update and I look forward to sharing next month the adventures of Month 9 that God has in store.
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