Perhaps this too is for the best...

That's a quote from a rabbi in one of my favorite books to read aloud to the boys "Solomon and the Ant: A book of Jewish Fables".  The rabbi says this every time something goes seemingly wrong and drives his companion nuts on their short journey till they discovers the rabbi was right.

I found myself saying this a lot the past week as we journeyed and transitioned to our new home in North Carolina.

We started packing up the 26' Foot Penske Truck on Tuesday night with the help of the Parays to entertain the kids, Miss Natalie to deliver the food and our awesome packing team:  Hanif, Kassie and Kyle.  By the end of the night the majority of the house was loaded in the truck.

Kyle came back to help Wednesday night.  So I decided to reward him by introducing him to Thai Food :-).  Parays came to play again and help with Little Miss. Grandpa Harv came with desert and took a turn at entertaining Little Miss as well (trust us she needs many keepers).  That got everything from the garage loaded up and it didn't seem like we'd have much left in the morning.

Thursday morning the Parays came by before school for one last playdate. :-(  Kevin came by to help Chris get the mattresses in and Christina came to help with the rest.  So glad she came because for some reason the "little" we had left took a long time to get loaded and filled the truck, that seemed plenty big Tuesday night, to the brim Thursday morning.

During all this I was still conversing with the Lender and we remained on the edge of our seat as to whether we would close or not.  Then by noon Thursday we looked clear to close Friday and we started the first half of our drive around 1:30pm.  That's when our trip with the rabbi began.

• Overturned semi on 1-4 stops traffic completely on I-4 30 minutes into our trip and delays our forward progress over an hour.
• This was "for the best" because the lender called and told me I could not use a personal check at close for the down payment.  Since the car wasn't moving I was able to call my bank to find out what needed to be done to send a wire. 
• It turns out I needed to fax the information in and I didn't have a fax in the car.
• However, the stopped traffic was for the best again because we were only in Sanford and hadn't passed my parents house where Chris' dad was dog sitting.  So Chris calls Harv to prepare for our arrival and we take a detour to send the fax.  Of course the fax didn't work and we had to take pics and get a secured email, blah, blah, blah.  But at 4:01 the email was sent and we loaded up to start our journey again. 
• All this too was for the best because I had been worried about hitting rush hour in Jacksonville but that was no longer a problem.

We arrived at the hotel in Savannah at 9pm.  What should have been a 4 hour trip turned into 7.5 hours (we had a poop incident along the way too that lengthened our trip).  However, all that said the kids never complained once and neither did the dog.  They were really troopers.  I swear as I was starting to really worry about my night vision it suddenly and miraculously improved as I was driving as we were making our way to Savannah (I have avoided driving at night for years).

Next morning we head off without incident, only issue is the Penske truck is really, really, slow.  We cannot even stop for lunch if we are going to make our 1:30pm close.  When I asked the lender if there would be space to park the truck.  Ken quickly changed the location to someplace where there was room and Sarge would be allowed inside.  He had jumped through some serious hoops to get us closed in ten days and this was just one more and we are very appreciative.

We got within 500 yds at 1:30pm when Siri miss directs us into a neighborhood across the 8 lane road from building we need to be in but that too was for the best.  As I pull over to the side and turn on my flashers.  People from the neighborhood just wait patiently behind me, no one honks.  When I wave them around, a lady actually stops beside me rolls down her window and asks if she can do anything to help.  I'm sorry to say that's not how things would have gone down in Orlando, it gave a me good feeling about our new home.

Our realtor had called me on our way and knowing we were running late (b/c of the slow truck) offered to pick-up Panera.  Dawn has met and anticipated our needs about our home over the past few weeks and this was just one more thing.  Having food to eat somewhat entertained the kids at close.  All the kids but Amber that is who kept escaping and running down the hallway to sit in this one office (Oyeevey!).  Luckily no one in the office seemed to mind, I'm sorry to say Sarge was better behaved than Amber LOL.

We arrived at our new home for the first time a 3pm.  Dawn, gave us our first tour of our new home.  Everyone had told us the property was beautiful and they were right.  It was a much denser forest than we anticipated.  It was the sanctuary we have talked about having for years.  Inside the home was more spacious than I anticipated as well.  But more on the house in another post where I'll explain how we've been excercising the saying of the rabbi a bit more.  Here's some compare and contrast photos.

Front yard - Florida

Front yard - North Carolina

Backyard - Florida (22x30 synthetic grass)

Backyard - North Carolina (.89 acre half is a Forest with deer)

A time to Swim

We have had a wonderful, fun, and productive time swimming this year.  The children have shown such improvement during the past season.  It's ironic that this weekend was planned to be our year-end party for the younger swimmers turned not only into a celebration of Jared's One-Year anniversary of his surgery but also a farewell party for us.  

After their final lesson, the kids played for a long time between the pool and the park, then filled themselves with pizza.  We adults spent the time reminiscing about how small the kids were when Hanif first started teaching them five years ago and how far they've come.  We spent time getting know Hanif's mom and sister and enjoying each others company and conversation as we always have. 

This summer we had fun not only swimming in the pool but also playing at the playground as the kids took turns taking their lessons.

Little Miss is not pictured probably because she was either refusing to get off the swing or ruling the rest of the playground :-)

The "Sportsmen" will continue swimming through the fall, but Coach Hanif was kind enough to have a pizza party for Lance after practice Friday where he expressed what a key member of the team Lance has been over the years.

Words alone will not express how we will miss all our friends in swimming; the camaraderie between the kids, the parents and our friend/Coach Hanif.

Michaelmas - Season of Change

For the last three years, Michaelmas has been a season of huge changes in our family.  Three years ago was our last big Michaelmas party that ended in a visit to the ER which triggered another journey that ended last Michaelmas when we returned home after a month-long stay in Boston with more hope in the future for our family than ever before.

This year, as we reflected day-by-day and gave thanks for each part of our journey last year in Boston, a new journey began to unfold.

On Labor Day this year (which was the day before Jared's surgery last year), Chris got a phone call from a recruiter about a job in Raleigh, NC.

On the subsequent Thursday (the day Jared woke up after surgery last year), Chris had a phone interview with the company.  After Jared woke up, we expected him to be in ICU for a week, and we expected it would be a week before we heard anything, if ever, about the job.  In both cases, we were wrong and things started moving forward at lighting speed.

They wanted Chris in Raleigh for an in-person interview on Monday, 9/9.  So, he drove up Sunday night.  The interview wasn't until 2pm, so he checked out one home in the area and met the best friend of a friend of his who was a realtor in the area.  The home wasn't a good fit but it was nice to look around the city. Afterwards, he went back to study some more before his interview.

All his studying for tricky technical questions turned out to be unnecessary; the interview was very casual and Chris was excited.  He hoped to hear back in a week or so and began the 9 hour drive home.  Two hours into his drive, the recruiter called; he had an offer.

When he had driven up, neither of us really expected anything to come of it, and if it did we figured we could stretch things out until the end of baseball season in November.  Once again we were wrong.  They wanted him up there no later than October 1st.

Since then, our lives have been in hyper-drive.  Finding health, home, and car insurance, finding a home and all that entails (financing, inspections, etc.).  Thankful that Dawn (our realtor) and Ken (our lender) have been amazing.  And if everything goes as planned we will be in our new home on Friday, 9/27.

A home in a town I've never been to.  A home neither of us have seen in person.  To a town where we know no one.  But also to a town full of possibilities for our family.  Chris getting out of the defense industry and into the banking industry is a huge opportunity and into a position where he can really contribute and learn new things again.  He can still bike to work, though its 4 miles longer each way.  Sports and Homeschooling seem to be really big for the boys.  Lastly, our new home is HUGE and sits on nearly an acre of wooded land; in a rural part of town; yet still remains close to everything.  We are hoping it is the sanctuary we have wished to have for years.  We can even have chickens!  

The possibilities are enormous, but so is the change.  We have always lived in Orlando since the day after our marriage.  We have lived in this house for the past nine years.  Though we have out-grown it (literally), it is still home.  The hardest thing to leave behind is the friends who have become family to us.  I feel like doing a tribute to each of you here but I would rather do that personally.

However, separating from our best friends/family, the Parays, is the hardest part and tears at the heart of each of us so much, I don't think I could say it out loud.  I am not good at expressing my feeling in words, yet though I may fail miserably I must try.  Our lives have been so interconnected for the past 8 years its like leaving behind half our family.  But we have prayed for years for God to never open a door that we should not pass through.  Our simple prayer has always been "God don't let us screw-up our family by doing something that is not your will."  We have to believe that this change, though terribly hard, will be good for ALL our family, the Otto's and the Paray's.  That this change will not harm any of the children but build them up to serve Him better.  That this is not the end of our families closeness but just a new and different phase.  

This time next week (the day before Michaelmas) we should be in route to Raleigh to close on our new home.  Let the journey begin.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Try a Tri (Again)

This is the third year of Lance and Matthew participating in the Mini-Maniac Triathlon run by some friends through the YMCA.  They had been practicing hard for the swim...

But what was really different is that this year they had another friend join them...

On the 11 month anniversary of his surgery, Jared participated in his very first triathlon!  They were all really excited!

For Jared, the course involved a 50 meter swim (one length, and he finished ahead of two kids), a 2 mile bike (That part was the easiest for him, averaging 10.1 MPH) and 1/2 mile run.  His performance in the run is what really surprised us.  Coming after the swim and the run we expected him to be tired out but he came into the finish jogging strong and smiling; beating two kids in his age group (equivalent of 12:46/Mile)!  What a kid!

For Lance and Matthew the course was a bit longer:  100 m swim, 4 mile bike and 1 mile run. They both did great! 

Lance got kicked in the face in the swim, which slowed him down a bit but he kept going strong.  He averaged 14.7 MPH on the bike.  Lance showed awesome improvement in the run; breaking a 10 min mile with a time of 9:51.

Matthew had trouble with the girls again - they keep trying to knock him off his bike for the third year in a row!  I keep telling him stay away from the girls :-)  LOL  He came 4th out of the water, averaged 14.2MPH on the bike and ran a 10:47 mile.  Another great performance!

And a photo credit to Titus who got up really early and road with the boys to the Tri to help dad take pictures! (Amber and I made it before race time by car)