For Grandma Schwalm

Today I ran into the bathroom while the children were ALL occupied with a toy. No sooner had I heard the door click to indicate it had closed that I heard a knock. Do you know what my Thomas asked me after his third attempt to get in the bathroom with me? 

"Hey mom? Is that you in there? What are you doing?"

We live in three rooms, Grandma. Three. Two bedrooms and a main living area...And he wanted to know what I was doing in the bathroom. 

The answer? I was running away. 

Things aren't working out so well with the house situation. We can't seem to find a home that Matt and I both agree on. So we found one that we both dislike but will be just fine to raise our crazy brood. It will be a lot of work for Matt, but at least we will be together. 

I think a lot about the sacrifices you had to make while Grandpa was serving the country. My struggles are nothing compared to that. You inspire me. 

I think a lot about your favorite prayer for serenity. "Lord, grant me the serenity accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

There has been so much over the past year that I could not change. As a  Schwalm woman, I always had the courage to change the things I could...but not always the wisdom to know when my courage needed to give way to serenity. 

So here I am, your namesake, asking for your prayers and love. And keep laughing  with me, because I need to keep a good sense of humor. I fail so much more when I take myself too seriously. 

I love you, Grandma. You are with me everyday, in my heart. And your Schwalm spark is in each one of these little souls that I feed, change, clothe, bathe...

Saying Goodbye

We cried a little and spent as much time with our families as we could before we left. We really didn't realize how close we really were in Syracuse...

 

Because both families came to visit within the week!

 

 

 

 

 

Maine

The weekend before Matt started his new position in the 'Cuse, we vacationed with the Pernots in Maine. It was an awesome weekend, and the children had a fantastic time on the beach.

Week One

We are here. 

The children slept for almost the entire trip, making it easier for me to drive without a co-pilot...or five. 

We met Matt at the hotel and Joseph, in his very Joseph way, said "welcome home!"

They wasted no time getting our things unpacked to reclaim the cart in the grand tradition of pushing eachother around in vacation. 

My kitchen is truly complete. Fully furnished...and even has a dishwasher!!!!!

This is our meal schedule. Breakfast is included in our stay, seven days a week. Dinner is included on three nights a week, with a special Customer Appreciation Dinner every Monday. So.... Four nights a week with no cooking!!!!

The laundry facilities are two rooms down from our suite and are complimentary. I just have to bring my own detergent. 

Esther has been most patient with our transition. She is cutting three teeth at the moment and trying to walk...so I am going to cut her really-ultra-bad sleeping habits at the hotel some slack. 

These guys have been sleeping really well!!!!

Hotels are notorious for having more pillows than we have heads to lay upon them. The children were not disappointed here. They spent the first morning making pillow forts/nests. 

Nathan has been really wonderful here and is doing a great job potty training! He will be the first of the three birthdays we will celebrate in temporary living. 

Thomas christened temp living by jumping off the couch, jedi style, head-first, into the wall. This child has more bruises and bumps and cuts...

We have a pool. Now I need sixteen hands and four hundred flotation devices. 

Busy Days

The children have been so patient with all the upheaval over the past month. Tomorrow we begin our newest adventure in temporary living so we can be closer to Matt. I will try to document as much as I can because I know how quickly this time will go by. Trying to enjoy each moment. 

Big News

As all of you know, it has been an incredibly challenging 9 months for us. There was so much joy when we brought Esther home from the hospital. The joy, although it never disappeared, quickly morphed into panic when GM closed and Matt became unemployed.

We put out >75 job applications. A handful of those turned into interviews. None were in the immediate Rochester area. The best offer we received was from a company in Syracuse. We talked and talked and talked some more. We were ready to make the move. The assessor came to the house, took pictures and gave us an estimate. We were really doing it! The morning we were going to call and accept, a job offer came in from a company about an hour from home. We cried tears of joy and accepted that position immediately. We no longer had to worry about fixing up and selling the house, moving away from our families and all the stress that comes from change.

Fast forward four months. The position we accepted turned out to not exactly align with our family values. Matt spends a great deal of his time traveling and the time away from home is becoming a strain. 3a-3p night shifts coming up and more travel. Matt misses the children and the children miss their father.

Matt is the most morally upright person I have ever met. He committed to his position and was determined not to look for a new job until he had put in his time. Soooooo, when the company from Syracuse wrote an e-mail in May and asked if he was willing to talk, Matt was skeptical. Hadn't we just finished saying that we were staying here? Hadn't we started fixing up the house for ourselves? Was this a God thing? We had been talking a lot about how unhappy we were with the lack of family time...we had been praying for a solution.  Matt agreed to a phone call, and the recruiter said:

"We were sad that we lost you the first time around. And I Never Give Up on a good candidate."

A sign? Maybe.

We spoke in code for a couple of weeks. We agreed that we were not going to talk in front of the children about the possibility. We just weren't sure anyway.

So when the kids started talking to one another about growing out of our home and wanting to move a few weeks ago, it surprised me. I was in another room with Esther when I heard Joseph and Sarah talking candidly about wishing they had a new house. I came in the room and I tried to redirect them: "But Joseph, we are almost done fixing up the playroom! What makes you want to leave?" He responded by telling me that the house was too small for us and there were a lot of hornets around here. I chuckled and asked Sarah what she was thinking. She told me that she also wanted to leave because we had been here for allllllllll her life and that was a veryyyyyyyyyy long time. I asked where she wanted to go, assuming the answer was Strasburg or a grandparent's house.

"I want to move to Syracuse," said the 6 year old.

A sign? Maybe.

Projects started getting done even faster. Our house went from this...

To this...

...in just a few weeks. Not like us at all.

 

Matt says now that the house is finally looking presentable, we have to leave. It is just the way it goes...

 

So we accepted the new offer this week. Matt will start his new position in the beginning of July.

The Express is "solid in the siding." Hold on tight and pray for us as we begin our new route. We are nervous and excited, confident but cautious. We pray for peace and God's will.