Savannah sent me a first day of school picture.
Heidi kept me posted on how Xander was doing in Ohio. He stayed busy with family hikes...
pool parties...
a Labor Day hike...
and celebrating McKenna's birthday.
Xander's first day of his sophomore year!
And there he goes!
Heidi also sent me a picture of Xander at his first football game as a Springboro Panther. It was not until I received this picture that I had any idea I had just enrolled my kids in a school whose colors are blue and white. Ugh!
Meanwhile, back in Maryland, our days were filled with more packing, cleaning, and preparing our townhouse to be listed.
Cleo was totally confused as to what was going on so we tried to raise her spirits with some accessorizing!
One thing I'm definitely going to miss is the woods behind our house. What a fun playground it was for our kids! And so many critters, like this cool spider...though I'm pretty sure they have spiders in Ohio as well. Yikes!
All the goodbyes that needed to be said - a wonderful lunch with Lauren;
a girls night at the park with my church friends - Grace,
Leah,
Catherine,
Elinor,
Nicole,
Sommer,
and Melissa.
There was a ward BBQ where we got to say more farewells. And it was here that we basically sold our townhouse without even having to list it. Stephanie Williams asked me when we were putting our home on the market, we started talking about it, she said that she and Lee had decided to sell their home and were looking for a townhouse to buy that they would live in for a year, pay off their debts, and then rent out after moving into a larger home. They wanted to see it the next day and the rest is history. What an incredible blessing from our Heavenly Father!!!
John and Alta Anthony and Phoebe,
Shelby, my cute Addie, and Kellan,
Debbie,
Dani and Melissa,
Marley and Stephanie,
the Leins,
and one of my favorite seminary students, Claire.
Tracy came by that night for one last hug.
On Sunday David was released from his calling as bishop which was an extremely emotional thing for him. Since we still weren't meeting as a ward it was a very small gathering with just the Stake Presidency, David's bishopric and their families as well as the new bishopric and their families present. Everything was broadcast to the ward and several testimonies were shared, including mine and David's. Having David serve as bishop has been a wonderful blessing in our life and I know he will miss it.
Sweet Christian! She was there with her family and was bawling as soon as church ended. She gave both of us huge hugs!
My fabulous YW partners in crime! What a time we had serving together!!
David and President Brady - a truly special friendship.
The members of the Stake Presidency observing Covid restrictions.
And our dear friends the Pauls.
So many, many special people that we will miss tremedously. After church we went home, changed, and Noah and I were off to Ohio! The next day I posted on Facebook: "Yesterday was moving day and my heart is a little sore. Maryland, my Maryland. I may not say "warsh', have only been to Ocean City once, avoid wearing purple on Fridays, and have never acquired a taste for Maryland crab, guts or meat, but I have fully embraced Old Bay and the O's and firmly believe the Maryland state flag is the coolest one there is. For the past 15 years I have loved all the trees and the Bay, the Hippodrome and walking the Inner Harbor, hiking in the beautiful state parks and exploring all the history and battlefield sites. And the people. It's the people - out church family, next door neighbor family, soccer family, football family, my seminary kids and my Edgewood kids, and all our wonderful friends - who have made Maryland home. As I drove out of Maryland there was a sign that said "Please come back". I most definitely will.
