Saying goodbye

When I talked to my family last night, my dad commented that I should update the blog; he wanted to see his girls. My response was somewhat sarcastic: "Yeah, I'll do that in my spare time." Who knew that I'd have spare time today, the day the movers came. It turns out when you hire movers to move you, you don't have to do anything but watch them and occasionally answer a question. So Aaron & I have been staring at each other, taking turns holding Lauren, and twiddling our thumbs. We should have left out the cribbage board for entertainment!

In many ways today is super exciting, but at the same time it's a little sad. Since I moved into this house four years ago, I've complained about it probably nearly every day: "I wish it had this" or "I wish it didn't have this" or "I hate this", you get the idea. But now when we're leaving, I'm thinking how great this house has been for us and how in some ways I'm going to miss it. Aaron commented the other day how he's lived here for 1/3 of his life, and while I'm not even close to that, this is the house where I've lived the longest since I moved out of my parents' house. But I know it's not the amount of time we've spent here but the quality of the time that was spent here.

For Aaron, this was the first home he bought. And he lived here with a few different friends. They played a lot of games of poker, had lots of bonfires, and probably drank a few beers. For me, it's the house in which I feel in love. And for both of us, it's the house in which we started our family. Neither of the girls will ever really remember living in this house, they'll see it in pictures and we may drive by it on trips home to Minnesota, but to them it will never mean anything, not nearly as much as it means to us.

We hope and pray that this house is as good to the next couple that moves into it and that it becomes their home the way it has become ours. We're also hoping that nothing falls apart or breaks in the next few months as the new family settles in (it is an older home you know!).

As we say good bye to the house, we also say goodbye to many friends here in Minnesota. We have such amazing friends here, and we're going to miss each of them dearly. It's amazing how close I feel to some of these very special people and how they've become my extended family. As we move to Michigan, I think I'm going to have a hard time answering the question "Where are you from?" While I'll always be from Pennsylvania, Minnesota has become my home over the past six years. So I think I'll have to include both of them in my response (if I want to confuse them, I may even say "Indiana, Pennsylvania and Minnesota" - he he!). So this may be our last post for a few weeks until we get settled in our new house and begin to make it our home. The next post will be written to you from Grand Rapids, Michigan!

Baptism

This past Saturday (July 10), Lauren was baptized at St. Bonaventure during mass. We missed having my family there but it meant a lot to us that all of Aaron's family could be there to witness such a special event. When Alyssa was baptized, it took place after the mass, but Lauren's was a part of the mass. It struck me how at every turn there was a special prayer for her or for us throughout the entire mass. There's something powerful about having an entire congregation of people praying for your child and your family.

Lauren was awake through part of mass and then she fell asleep shortly before we approached the baptismal font. Even when Father Bob poured the water over her head, she didn't scream, just shivered from the shock. Alyssa was left to her own devices during much of this part of the rite because everyone else was either up front or taking pictures, she made several trips from our front row pew to the font where she wanted to see what was going on, but she didn't want to sit still too long. On the last of these trips, however, she brought up her crackers and sippy cup. You have to wonder what the rest of the congregation and the priest were thinking. They might have been saying their own special prayers for us - that we might teach our child how to behave during mass!



After mass we had a dinner back at our house to celebrate Lauren becoming part of the Church. It was very informal as most of the house was packed. We ate off of paper plates with plastic silverware and cups. Aaron grilled dinner - a little salmon, chicken, and pork chops (what was left in our freezer!) and Aaron's mom brought the side dishes. We laughed though because we still had to open a few boxes to get serving spoons, can openers, etc. It was a fun day with family!