Juggling June's Joys - Welcome Holly!

Now that we had a contract to buy a home, Bob and I began interviewing contractors to help us with the changes we wanted to make, which included taking out some built-in cabinets and redesigning the fireplace in the living room, and replacing lots of flooring.  I was also delegated the task of drafting a rental agreement for our home in San Antonio, which Chelsea and Thomas would be moving away from this month (June 2017).  Fortunately, they have friends who are going to dental school in San Antonio, and they were interested in renting our home for the next three years.  So, this landlord business all worked out very well for us.

But my most exciting "task" of the month was to be able to go take care of Knox while Chelsea was in the hospital delivering "Baby Hoggie" (as Knox would say).  Holly joined the family on June 8th, and I remained to help until the 13th.  (Unfortunately, I had a Rheumatologist visit the next day which I had to return to.)  However, because Thomas would not begin his doctor residency training for a few weeks, they were in good shape.  Little Holly had to remain in the hospital for a couple of days because the alveoli in her lungs were not completely inflated.  Seeing Holly all hooked up to tubes was a little reminiscent of  Emma's birth, but thankfully, not nearly as traumatic!  She was home in just a few shorts days and has been healthy and fine ever since. What a good-natured joy she was/is; a much needed blessing since they would be moving in just a few days!

Just a couple of days later, on June 16th, Bob and I drove to San Antonio to help Chelsea and Thomas move 3 hours north to Temple, Texas, where they will live for 3 years of residency. They had previously closed on a home there and had moved some things prior to Holly's birth.  Even so, Chelsea is quite the wonder woman to have handled everything that was needed during such a hectic time in their lives.  I guess we will give Thomas some credit, too!

Now it was time for Bob and I to think about "moving" into our home in a couple of weeks.  When Bob's parents passed away a few years ago, we inherited some furniture which we left in a storage unit in Las Vegas where they had lived.  We decided to retrieve it just before closing on our house, because it would provide us with a bed!  But we couldn't retrieve it sooner because we had no home.  So we flew to Vegas on the morning of the 27th, enlisted two nephews living there (and their friend) to help us load the truck, and then began driving back to Texas the same day.  Thanks for the help, Cody and Greg! I took photos of the ever changing landscape along the way.  Lake Mead was beautiful and later we spotted elk grazing in the wild, cattle ranches, gigantic windmill farms, and even the "Cadillac Ranch" sculpture in Amarillo.  And yes, I let Bob have a turn at the wheel! (wink)

We pulled into Temple the evening of the 29th and spent the evening with Chelsea, Thomas, Knox and Holly. 

The next day we drove to Conroe and closed on our new home.  We had arranged for some movers to help us unload our truck and set up our bed the following day and then spent our first night at "home" July 1st, 2017, nearly three months after arriving in the states!

Estate Matters

After the impromptu reunion with our children In Las Vegas, Bob and I remained a while to take care of estate issues.  Personal property was divided between the siblings and Grandma and Grandpa's home was cleared out in preparation for garage sales and the eventual sale of their home.  Sorting through the boxes in the garage was only the tip of the iceberg!  Bob and I did inherit some nice furniture among other things, but that meant we would become the owners of a storage unit!  We hired some movers to help us transport the extremely heavy load.  That's the curse that accompanies the tremendous blessing of "stuff".  But we are very grateful for and humbled by all that we have received!  After selling so many things when we moved to Korea, it will be well used when we return to the states to live.

The siblings had a great time breaking into safes that were without keys or codes.  Mom and Dad must have been laughing as they looked down upon the fun the boys were having testing their brawn against the strength of the safe!  The girls enjoyed rummaging through costume jewelry and other treasures. 

 For an early valentine's day celebration, Bob and I broke away from the work and took in a show down on the strip. It was a Cirque du Soleil performance called "Beatles Love", and was really quite good. They took Beatles songs and put them together in a sequence which told a story. And each song was accompanied by a different unique circus performance. Their interpretations and visualizations of the songs was very creative and enjoyable. After Bob returned to Seoul, I was able to get away to the Las Vegas Temple and really treasure the peace and calm of that day.