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The next morning, we swept the house clean while Lewis began preparing to move in his little family in a few days.  I sat outside under a tree with Alex and baby Lewie as we watched her husband run to and fro cleaning here and cleaning there.  It occurred to me that this was now his home and not ours though it is still our house.  Knowing that our daughter, grandson and son in law will be living, loving and laughing in our house, is comforting.
At noon, we packed the car, put the bunnies and birds in the very back of the van and then came the hard part,  the part I had not wanted to think of throughout this whole moving episode.  I decided that I couldn’t possibly say goodbye to my babies, so we hugged and drove away.  The tears held until Alex and Co. could no longer see us and then there were tears, silent painful tears.  Lots of them.
We had to stop every 2 hours to change the bedding in the carrier holding the bunnies so Poppa wouldn’t complain about the peepee smell and then of course we would all get a bathroom break and a chance to stretch our legs.
I started on a cowl to keep busy for the 14 hours we were in the car.  I was hoping to get it done before we reached home but forgot to plan for driving through mostly darkness so I am still working on it.
We finally drove up our driveway at 4 in the morning.  The kids were all somehow awake and beyond excited.  We had everyone close their eyes until we were in the driveway and then I wished there could have been enough light to capture their faces as they saw the house for the first time.  When we moved to Brooksville, they were all very small and did not have much of a reaction to moving in to a new home, but this, this was priceless.  As they ran in to see this new place that we could be calling our home, they ran about here and there, claiming rooms and shouting so many thank you’s to momma and poppa for our new digs.  (oh goodness, did you miss the post with the new house???  here ya go.)
They haven’t stopped thanking us.
We have so much work ahead of us, everyday presents new challenges.  Apparently we are in a dead zone with no cable, phone or internet until we figure out the best solution to these issues.  I am at this moment using the internet at Panera to post this but hope to have some type of connection to the world soon.
In the meantime we have been playing the woods until we are too cold to talk, playing cards and board games and as soon as I find the popcorn maker, we will be back to movie night (I should probably find the box of DVD’s too).  Mostly everything we own is still in boxes including our shoes which means some of us are wearing flip flops which is what Floridians wear most of the year. We are taking it a bit at a time.  The only things I really need to find right now (besides warm shoes) are the pots and pans and not gonna lie, finding my hair iron would be a total bonus.
I have so much to say…I do and I hope to at least go to the library (Panera is a way expensive habit to get into) every few days to share them with you.  Everyday would be nice huh?  If you have internet right now, take it from me, you are blessed.
I will be sharing the house, room by room with you as soon as we get the internet solved.  Until then, thank you for all the emails, sweet comments, prayers and kind thoughts.  Some of your comments, through Facebook and here have been a balm for my aching heart.  You are all so special to me and your words mean so much!