Wow! It's been almost a year since we have moved down here and the time has just flown by! I cannot believe how much our life has changed for the better. The kids are adjusting well to school and making friends. Gary has been promoted twice since transferring. We are in the process of buying our own house.
Ashley has decided to join the Army after she graduates. She is exercising, making it a priority to go to school, and has even cleaned up her attitude around the family. Garrett is finally starting the teenager attitude that I am starting to recognize as "angst." Boo is growing into a beautiful young woman that I hardly recognize yet allowing her loving and compassionate self to dominate. Morgan is even more Morgan than ever before. She is self-motivated with school, responsible, and organized. All of the kids are creative and imaginative. I am proud to be their mother.
We moved from the house we moved into when we moved down here because in September we found out that the woman we had been renting from was not making her mortgage payments and the bank foreclosed on the house. In October my neighbor, Margie, gave me a number to call about someone who was looking for someone to take over payments on his house. We talked with the loan officer in charge of the loan on the house and were told that if we made the next three payments on time he would write the loan for us to have the house. So, three months later, we are 2.5 payments in (getting ready to make the other .5 payment on the 11th) and waiting to find out what the terms of the loan will be.
Mom and Dad are proud that we're buying a house and have been helping with the gas until we get the refund and can carry ourselves. The house payment is supposed to drop and after Gary gets a car I'll be going back to work.
We have made some really genuine friends down here. Margie, Will and Bob's mother, has become the kind of friend that allows me to give in to my "it's not so serious" side. She let us borrow her Christmas tree over the holidays and is the GOD when it comes to specials around the area. Jenni was a surprise friend and I'm really glad for it. She lived next to us when we were on Toccopola Loop and stayed to herself over the summer. It wasn't until we were getting ready to move and she found out how things went down that we started talking. She reminds me a lot of myself in many ways. She is adamant about how she feels about things and stands up for what she thinks is right. She also has fallen in love with the kids and will ask if she can keep one or two of them while her husband is gone for the week. She, her husband, her two friends, Margie, Will, Bob, and of course my family all loaded our house up and moved us over the 20th or so of October because Gary was working crazy busy hours and we didn't have a trailer to move our stuff. Since then we visit at least once a week and watch out for one another.
Christi and Jamie have always been family, but since moving down here even more so. They are always available for conversation or help if needed. In June Luna's head gasket cracked and we were at a loss as to who to go with to have her fixed. After finding out why NOT to go where we went, Jamie gave up a day's sleep to help us get her into town to O'Reilly's in Pontotoc so we could figure out what was wrong with her after over a month of being "fixed." Yeah...that whole deal was a cluster f***! However, even that turned out for the best because we met some wonderful people and still maintain contact with them. Peter, from Gary's work, let us use his personal vehicle for almost the whole time that Luna was being worked on. Mike, also from HD, helped Gary get to and from work until Peter let us borrow his Jeep. Keith, Luna's new "doctor," was more than happy to help us get Luna back on the road.
Another surprise friend is Kathy from the appliance rental place. She has not only been a godsend with understanding our crazy life, but she has become a friend. We call and chat with one another about daily things and give each other suggestions for problems that are going on at that time. There was one point over the Christmas break that the fire was being especially stubborn and she told me that if it didn't catch to pack up the kids and Clover and come over to her house. The fire caught right after we got off the phone. But...the fact that she offered meant a lot.
I guess what I'm taking so long to say is that I'm genuinely appreciative and surprised by how welcoming the community...no the STATE has been to our family. I love how real the majority of the people are down here. How friendship really is important to other people and they try to be the kind of friend they want. It was the way I grew up and it is how I have wanted the kids to grow up. It may have taken us a LONG time to get down here, but we finally made it and are thriving with it.
