I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's face it folks...change is hard.  You're going along all snug in your rhythms and *thwak* the rug is pulled out from under you.  In our case it was a move across the country that started it all.  We arrived here in the beautiful state of Tennessee exactly 6 days before what they are now calling the 500 year flood.  We searched those 6 days for a rental home we could all be comfortable in and one that had a yard in which the girls and I could explore, garden and begin collecting the animals we had been praying for every bedtime for the last year.  Well when water starts rising and people have to leave their homes, panic ensues.  We were told to grab on to the first home that appealed to us and be happy because there would be a lot of displaced people looking to rent  homes until they could get back into theirs.  And so that's what we did. 

This is a video I took around noon of the first day of rain.  We had no idea at the time what was to come.  The siren you hear was the fire department going in to rescue someone from the building.



Now don't get me wrong.   The home we "grabbed" is a lovely, large and comfortable home but it is not in the country as we had planned, nor does it have a yard that can be explored, gardened or made to house animals (even if they were allowed).  We are in suburbia.  It took me several weeks to get over that and to get used to the fact that our dreams were going to be postponed for yet another year at least.  The girls, on the other hand, promptly made friends with the only two little girls on the block and have made the best of what they have. (We should all take a lesson from our children).

After making our choice, we headed over to North Carolina to spend the next three weeks with my mother while Nashville dried out and our possessions could make their journey from California.  The girls loved visiting their "Gammy" and spending time on top of a mountain in the middle of a national forest was just what we needed.

The first half of our things arrived in late May (with the rest coming mid June) and we proceeded to settle in .  Things were timed perfectly, for the last weekend in May was the annual Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival chock full of fiber, fleece and furry things.  Susan's Fiber Shop was there and I brought home the drum carder I had been saving for for over a year along with some English 5-Pitch Combs.  And as many of you know, I have quite a  love for furry things so I tucked one of these under my arm as well.

Petunia, my French Angora, will be ready to shear in about 6 weeks. My own sustainable fiber source!  And it can live in the house!  (Where there's a will there's a way!)

Another big change took place not long after we moved in.  On June 7th, our little Angelina turned 7!!!

And just last weekend, yet another change.

She told me, by the way, "I think the tooth fairy is just you, Mommy"  So many changes. Exciting and a little sad.  Homeschooling will be starting again soon and that will help us get our rhythm back.  In the mean time, we continue to unpack, to settle in, to get used to this crazy weather and to accept whatever changes that come our way.  I'm so glad to be back and I look forward to sharing our lives with you, my dear friends.