The Winds of Change are Blowing…Again

I don’t know about you, but if there is one defining hallmark of my life…it’s the abiding constant of change.

I’m 46 years old and I’ve lived in approximately 41 homes, 20 of them in the last 23 years I’ve been married to Hubs. Now granted, 8 of those were homes/apartments during my college years, but even if you don’t count those, it’s still a goodly sum.

If you really want to know some of the places I’ve lived, I made a board on Pinterest that shows all the different cities.

As life would have it, we are moving again. It’s only a few miles away, but it’s to a new town called Bellville, Ohio and a new school for the boys. When I first saw Bellville, I thought of Stars Hollow, the town in the TV show, Gilmore Girls (one of the Daja’s and my favorite shows).

Stars Hollow:

Bellville:

Bellville’s bandstand is more ornate and dates back to 1879. Beyond the bandstands, there’s the same small town charm and feel. The houses are cute and in good repair and people, in general, seem to take pride in their homes, community and school. We won’t be living in town, but on the outskirts on a 12-acre, heavily wooded property that sits on a hill.

I haven’t taken pictures yet, but it looks a lot like this:

Imagine this in a more untamed way, and you’ve got it. The home is owned by some friends of ours from church. They accepted a job in Idaho Falls and since their kids all live and go to college there, it was a great move for them.

We needed a bigger house because of a change in our family situation.

Hubs’ youngest sister, Katie, will be moving in with our family. I leave on Saturday for Utah so I can pick her up.

This picture is from two years ago on Katie’s birthday.

Katie just turned 38 and she has Down’s Syndrome. Hubs’ mom is in a nursing home and can no longer care for Katie, so she’s been living with the siblings for the past couple of years. It’s our turn to take care of Katie.

With two teenage boys in the house, we don’t have the young kids that the other siblings have, which we think Katie will like better. She doesn’t like the loud noises that come with younger kids.

I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be a huge change for our family, but mostly for me. Katie requires care and attention that’s different from teenagers. She is not capable of heating up a Hot Pocket for lunch while I’m busy working on a project. She needs assistance in the bathroom to make sure everything that needs to get done gets done. She needs a bedtime routine to help her wind down for the night.

If we’d let her, Katie would sit on the couch and color all day long. She’s certainly spent many years of her life doing just that. My sister-in-law, Celeste, has been Katie’s primary care giver for almost the last year. She and I share a different approach to Katie. We believe that Katie should be exposed to activities that challenge her and encourage her to interact with other people.

Before moving to Utah, Katie didn’t have many opportunities to interact with people outside of the family. Since living in Utah, Katie has participated in programs and we’ve seen a remarkable change in Katie as she’s worked with other people and made friends. We’re hoping to continue that progress with Katie.

Fortunately, we live in an area with a wonderful program called, New Hope, that will help us figure out the best resources and programs for Katie in the area.

It’s been difficult for Katie to leave her home with her Mom. If Katie had her way, she’d go back there in a heartbeat. She wasn’t well prepared for the changes in her life, so Celeste has had to deal with the fallout from that transition. Celeste has done an amazing job to help Katie understand that she will not be living at home any more. Katie has really started to settle in, but she is excited to come live with our family.

When the Daja was over visiting Katie a few weeks ago, Katie said, “Ryley (Daja’s name), come here!” Rye went into the kitchen and Katie pointed to the date on the big calendar.

“I’m going to Ohio. With Suesan!” She kept telling Daja that she was moving to Ohio with Suesan and David. Since Katie doesn’t usually talk unless asked a direct question, this is a huge improvement for Katie.

  Katie watching a video Birthday Message from her Mom.

We’re happy she’s excited for the move. It’s not always easy for change, especially for Katie. It’s going to be a little chaotic at firs because we’ll be in the process of moving homes in the first few weeks she’s here. I’m excited to decorate for a girl again, and Katie loves to be girly. It will be nice to not be the only girl in the house.

I have no idea how these changes will affect my blog. I plan to keep posting and doing projects, but I may be more hit and miss over the next few weeks. By no means am I done blogging. I still have too much to share.

I appreciate  your patience and support as I make these changes. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for those of you who have encouraged and cheered me on and who follow my adventures. I love every comment and it truly makes my day when someone tells me that a tutorial I wrote helped them.

Thank you for being such a great group of blog friends.