The Firsts and Lasts

We are wrapping up our time here in Houston and having many lasts and goodbyes. It is a strange thing to be moving 30 miles away. It really isn't that far. Greg drives there and back 5 days a week. But it is far enough that we won't get to see friends on a weekly/monthly basis which makes it harder to keep up close relationships. Many of my friends will be about an hour a way, so we won't be meeting up for mid week play dates too often. But we can still meet up periodically and keep in touch with friends so that will be nice.

The other week we had 2 neighbors over for a goodbye dinner. We will surely miss our neighborhood and especially our immediate neighbors. They threw us a welcome party when we moved in almost 7 years ago. They have also had special dinners for us to celebrate each of our babies. I am praying that we will get to form good relationships with our new neighbors as we have had here.

Last week at church they had a send off for us in the youth class. They made sweet certificates for us like we make for the 8th graders when they graduate to high school. They also shared some funny stories and had a cookie cake for us. They gathered around and prayed for us. We will certainly miss all the youth kids and especially all the leaders which we have been such good friends with. Something about working with youth kids bonds you together. Maybe it's all the retreats and camps and Sunday mornings and funny stories we can share with each other. We have also enjoyed many double/triple/quadruple dates with these friends on all the parents night outs. Man I hope we can find a church in the Woodlands that offers PNO, ha!

And of course we had to play "Peg Greg" that Sunday.

Then over the labor day weekend we got together with the youth leaders that we are close with for another fun goodbye party. We swam and ate good food and the kids had a great time playing together. Here are 8 of the 13 kids there.

Our Bible study group had a goodbye get together for us last week. We have been with these couples since the beginning. Well, the beginning of marriage, that is. These friends have been such a big part of our lives. It seems so long ago when we would get together as newlyweds without kids and do icebreaker questions and not worry about bed times. I'm not sure what we even talked about before we had kids. But anyway, I will miss this group so much. They prayed for us and gave us this precious verse of the week sign and they all wrote our verses.

Though there have been a lot of lasts lately, there will be many new firsts to look forward to.

Cambry had meet her teacher the other week and then had her first day at her new preschool in the Woodlands. She is going MWF 9-2pm. It is a small church preschool and everyone I've met is very sweet. Her teachers seem great and I look forward to getting to know some of the other moms at the school. I met 3 moms from her class at parent orientation and all 3 had husbands who worked at ExxonMobil. Crazy! Cambry did great her first week and has enjoyed her new school so far. Lainey has cried every time I have dropped Cambry off because she wants to go to class too.

It will take some time to adjust but I am looking forward to our new adventure. All the friends we will be missing are a reminder of God's gracious provision of friendships in our lives over the past 8 years. So I know He will be faithful to provide for us in our new community and I look forward to seeing that.