Thursday June 21, 2012
Reality wraps around me like the swaddling of a mummy. The smell of cardboard boxes permeates the air no matter how much we cleaned today. In a few days our belongings will sway along behind us as we begin the trek north.
Reality is:
Over 100 boxes packed and ready to load.
Too much stuff still waiting to be packed.
Unpacking something I’ve packed because I need it again one more time.
Packing for two moves because we’re going to be in temporary lodging.
Finding out the temporary lodging may be VERY temporary (days instead of weeks). Yeah for not unpacking so much. Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh for way overpacking for that short of a stay and not being efficient with finding what I’ll need.
Finding out someone is installing the drop ceiling in the basement apartment we’re moving into on the day we are moving in. That’s going to be interesting.
Private investors planning to purchase a house and rent it to Allegany Boys Camp which will then become our home away from home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more jokes about tents.
Realizing I am going to have to wear a cape dress and a covering again in three days. I have not worn a traditional cap style covering for four years. I am not going to verbalize my thoughts on this rule except to say, it may be a good thing I did not know this was going to be part of the package back when we were making our decision about going.
Let’s just say, I’m going to need a shopping trip to Lancaster, I guess. For now, I’ll be digging into the bucket I saved for the kids to play dress up.
Losing regular internet and cell phone service. I may be back to snail mail. I am hoping to have email at the house, but I’m still waiting to see how this all materializes. I do know it’s too far back in to have DSL and satellite will doubtfully fit into our new budget. Which means I don’t know what’s going to happen to this blog space and that makes me feel desperately lonely before I even get there. After six years of social networking, this feels like the internet equation of moving out of state. I will miss skype calls with my friend in Poland. Messaging friends. And especially the friends I’ve made here. I can’t talk about that anymore because I’m under a self-inflicted rule not to cry til next week. thinkhappythoughtsthinkhappythoughtsthinkhappythoughtsthinkhappythoughts
There. That’s better. I hope to take advantage of free wifi when I get to town, but we can all guess how that will work out. So this may be goodbye and this may be the beginning of ingenious ideas of networking with limits. And if you’ve got my number, you can still text me. Sometimes I have enough service to get a text through. Or, you might be texting me. David has usurped my phone several times in the past few days and sent the craziest messages back in response to texts I’ve received.
If it’s wierd, or it stinks, suspect forgery. And if you need my email address send me a message.
Saying goodbye to a church family we have only known and loved for six months. Can’t talk about that either. thinkhappythoughtsthinkhappythoughts
Feeling excited about how the next few years will impact our lives. You can’t go through change without realizing things about yourself you wouldn’t have recognized otherwise. I am super excited about meeting new people and learning from them. Broadened horizons are always a good thing.
That I should be in bed.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU.
Thank you for being such great online friends. I have absolutely loved the interaction with you. Reading your comments. Reading your blogs. Watching your babies grow up. Hearing your heart. Thank you for celebrating with me when Liam was born and the days my books were published. Thank you for caring when I was swallowed up with the new diagnosis of food allergies and when I lost my babies. Thank you for laughing at Adam’s quotes and smiling with me at his boyish escapades. Thank you for being here.
I hope to be back …. I just don’t know how much. Meanwhile, I’ll be missing everyone like crazy!
I love reading your blogs and hearing what you’re up to… remembering 1 1/2 years ago when I packed my life up.
I have your email address so will be asking you for updates if here is quiet. 
Blessings to you guys.
I REALLY hope you can work something out… I will miss your updates, I have totally enjoyed getting to know you through your gift of writing. I hope the next few days go well for y’all!
Prayers sent your way as you adjust to your new normal!
Oh & do you really have to wear the covering that was in the dress up box??? That I would like to see! 😉
I’m hoping you’ll be able to figure something out, to get online…if not, I’ll miss reading your updates.
Praying for you and hoping your adjustments will go smoothly.
That thing of moving and then moving again sounds like it could get rather interesting.
And I’m hoping you don’t have to wear your covering out of that bucket….I also have one that I kept, still in the bucket….and it would be hard for me to pull it out & wear it again. 🙂
just reading about cardboard boxes brings that smell instantly to mind.
i remember that so distinctly from our packing/unpacking days.
i will miss you here.
thinking of you lots and praying for gracegracegrace as you begin this new adventure.
so proud of you friend and admire your faith and love and partnership with your husband..
i know exciting things await. and maybe some not so exciting things too.
but in it all may God just make Himself so real. leaving no doubt, He’s with you. always.
love you.
I’m praying that you will be able to find a way to stay connected with your online friends. I don’t know if this will work for you on your budget or your cell service but my internet connection is a hot spot on my phone. I know the feeling about the traditional cookie cutter i mean cap style covering! I’d be mentally standing up on the inside!!!! If you have time could you e-mail (doryheatwole@yahoo.com) me your snail mail address and e-mail? Hugs Dory
wow. You are taking a step back, not quite to the 1800’s though! Sure hope that you will be able to find online connections somehow as I’ll miss ‘seeing’ you. I’d be dismayed at having to wear a tradional covering like I used to but thankfully, the size requirement for here changed to something that is more doable then it used to be.
If you are doing it for the Lord’s service and to impact young lives, nothing will be too hard. After all, the externals will burn up someday. The souls saved will live in eternity. Blessings on all your new adventures!
I will miss you too. I guess I should post a pic of my little girly so you can see her one last time… How’s that for sounding like a proud momma?
Seriously though, I will pray for the adjustments… I hope your wardrobe deal comes together. That could/would bring a host of inside issues for me to work through again. Sometimes I think we think we’ve worked through things and God brings them back and I realize I haven’t done as well as I thought I had. (I should stop rambling before you think that I am preaching at you. I am not. You are more gracious than I would have been)
So here’s to much patience and grace the next while. Moving is so stressful, in my book…
Blessings to you as you move and make your home at a new place. Praying for much grace for you!
Hope it all goes smoothly as you get settled in.
Praying for special little ‘God moments’ in your days.
I.will.miss.you! But I bless you in your mission. God has great things in store for you, I’m convinced. Hugs and prayers.
A big hug from me to you. I really hope you pop in every now and then. You’re one of my favorite online writers you know. Blessings on the ‘dress’ issue. After leaving some of that stuff, it’s harder than you realize to go back, I’m sure. I hope there’s no strings involved.;) I’m so glad you’ll have a more permament home soon. Praying for you all.
Oh smilesbymiles! I will miss not seeing you around.
But you are onto a new adventure God has placed before you, and that is exciting. =)
(Maybe once you get there you will have super, duper fast internet and be pleasantly surprised. 😉
{{Hugs}} to you. Prayers for your next couple of weeks.
Happy Moving.=)
I used to write letters. A lot. That was before I started blogging (not like I do much of that anymore, either). Sometimes I really miss having a literal “pen-pal”…I wouldn’t mind taking up that old tradition again. Something personal has been lost in these cyber-friendships, and I’m not always sure that the gains are worth the sacrifices.
In Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder said, “There’s no great loss without some small gain.” I suspect she was right. And I deeply suspect that the losses which seem so great to you at this moment, will in a few short years pale significantly in the light of the many wonderful “small” gains and blessings. May God go with you, give you strength, and open your eyes to the gifts He is showering upon you.
And may He provide a way for you to keep blogging. Because a light will go be snuffed out of ole Xanga if “smilesbymiles” is gone.
oh Michelle! I hope you can come back and blog occasionally at least!! i will miss you!
I am thinking that the Michelle I know will figure out a way to blog at least once in a while…even if she does live way back in the sticks!! That’s what I am hoping, at least! You will definitely be missed and I hope that the move and the adjustments go well for you.
And hey, its OK to cry. Even before the one week rule is up!
Oh wow. This gives me a little lump in my throat. You sure will be missed around here… Your description of no internet reminds me of our time in Colorado, and while I ran to McD’s with the kids for free wi-fi sometimes, it took so much time to catch up when I finally had a minute that blogging is hard to do. I feel for you, and know that you will leave a big hole in the blogging world! You will be a welcome post anytime you’re able to find time for it! 🙂
I so applaud you standing by your husband in this. It speaks of such great courage, such selflessness. Especially because it requires some hard things, such as changing dress, new community, less social communication… Some of those things only a woman understands how much it takes to give up. I’ll be praying for you, that amid the changes it will also bring great beauty and wonderful dynamics between your family! Much love to you! ♥
I have really enjoyed getting to know you through your blog. You have such a way with words. You’ve made me laugh. You’ve made me cry. You’ve made me think. You’ve encouraged and blessed me. I surely hope you don’t have to quit.
I can imagine how hard the switch back to cap covering and cape dress will be. I pray you’ll be blessed for doing what is required with a willing heart.
Blessings as you relocate and find your place in the new community.
I’m going to miss you in xanga-land, Michelle! Will you be doing email updates? I’d love to get them if you are doing them. (my first and last name at gmail dot com).
Also, blessings to you as you go back to the cape dress and covering. I’d be balking at that too!
MUCH grace to you as you move and adjust.
Please include me if you can do email – lhilty1@comcast.net. You are in my prayers, & I’ll miss you lots till we can hear from you again. Lois
Hoping your move goes well! And I will miss you posts and comments!! 🙁 Blessings to you and your family!
@sewhappymomma – I really have to wear it AT CAMP. Please note the key words. 😉 Pictures? Maybe after I can take myself seriously. 🙂 One of my friends was here packing on Monday and found an old photo of David and I with me in a covering … she was like, who is David kissing. 🙂
@grace_to_be – You do always just know the right words girl. God has given you the gift of encouragement … did you know that? Thanks for that little courage shot in the arm.
@damys – You really should! I’m going to check fb one more time in the morning.
@lwstutz – Ha ha!! Awesome pun. And nope, no strings attached. 😉
@Elizabethmarie_1 – The house is a THOUSAND times better than what I’d envisioned so who knows …. maybe there will be enough wiggle room in the budget to do internet some day.
@appalolly – I really may not cry. B/c once I start, I’m not going to stop for a pretty long time. It’s all bottled up down in my stomach right now. Trust me, I’m already scheming. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to figure out how to post sometimes. What’s killing me is trying to figure out how to keep up w/ your (and others) blogs. That is what makes me feel like I am totally missing out.
@Jabber_wock – Kind of balking at the whole boring newsletter thing. :/ Like, I’m just not convinced I’d make it interesting. So not for now. But at this point, I’m just ready to roll with the punches. I’m kind of tired of having to eat all my nevers. 🙂
hugs…i love you….i will miss you.
Blessings as you serve at camp. WE have had family serving at camp, but in SC. May God go with you!
Oh wow! How I have enjoyed your posts..how I hope we can still hear from you.
God bless you in your new venture… a comfort for me amidst changes is “Yesterday to day forever Jesus is the same..”
I too will miss your posts & hearing of your life & your boys & their hilarious anics/quotes. 🙂 Hope all goes well with your move. And please pop in when you are able to let us know how things are going. I hope to meet you IRL someday.
Blessings to you & your family as you follow God’s call for your lives.
Hi Michelle,
I just “met” you here a week or so ago, and now you’re leaving. Sigh. It’s been such a pleasure to read back through your archives and get to know you. I hope you’ll be able to post more once you move. We are moving on Saturday, hopefully for a short time, but quite possibly 2-3 years. I couldn’t have imagined a year (or even 6 months) ago how our lives would be changed at this point. We lost our oldest daughter, 17, to brain cancer in March, after only knowing she was ill for 6 weeks. We moved once already to temporary housing, are readying our house for selling, and are moving again this week. We’re hoping to actually get to OUR OWN home sometime soon, to settle in, to have rest, to renew. May God give you grace as you adjust to your new lives.
Susan
I feel like I know your little family through your blog…. 🙂 and to think you have gone to my church the last 6 months… and i haven’t been there. It’s been great reading about what God’s been doing!! Blessings to you as you go!! ~Gen
P.S. If you send out email updates, I would love to get them! (godhorsesmusic@gmail.com)
You are one BRAVE BRAVE lady!!!!! May God bless you so so much as you serve Him where He has called you. I will miss reading your fun posts on a regular basis!! Oh and if you need a tour guide on that trip to Lanc. plaese contact me 😉 i’d love to have you come to my house and talk over coffee and show you all the quaint roads we have here!!! May God be with you and your new adjustments!!! LOVE sent to you!!!
Hey Michelle,
I don’t know if you’re still in the area or have moved yet…but wondering if there is somewhere I could go online to see my dad’s engagement pics? 🙂 Bless you in your move! And…sorry about the dress wear. 🙂
Love,
Rachel
@wildflowerdays – Hey Rachel! I have moved, but stopped by the library to order a few things. I had a few of your dad’s pictures posted on fb but he requested they be taken down. Mary has the CD so maybe you could have someone email a few to you?