Still, Still, Still... waiting.

Here it is, December 30, and we are homeless.  I was joking about that for the first week, but now it is serious, and we are all feeling it.

We are literally Homeless! I have to document the play by play (or mishap by mishap more appropriately) so when I look back on this in many, many years I might be able to laugh at the insidiousness of it all!

We were supposed to close on our house on December 20,

Moving out of Woodstock

It's bitter sweet. We are excited to move to a new house, have a new start where we will be for a long time, but we have made some good friends here in Woodstock, and will take with us the memories and friendships always.

Here we wait... (caution, this is a venting post)

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'd love to linger on that thought.  But, it was over the moment the plane landed. And has been going around in circles since then!  I am usually very positive, so I apologize in advance for ranting, but if I don't, then I will literally have a hole in my stomache (I've already lost too much sleep and weight over this!!)

We arrived in Atlanta to find

Thanksgiving in Arizona

We had a great trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. We were able to spend 10 full days there, and we saw so many friends and family and places. We are so thankful we were able to go be with family for such a great trip.  Here are a few pictures of what we were up too... ( I apologize for my phone camera now, we made this trip with just carry-on luggage, so the nice camera didn't make the packing cut! )

Last day, noticed.

There are many times in our lives we are in the middle. The middle of the school year, the middle of a project, the middle of training, the middle of a vacation, etc.  There are only a few times we are at the beginning and at the few times we are at the end.  Many of those few endings even go unrealized,

The "seasoning period" is over!!

We heard great news. No, we heard AMAZING AWESOME news today!!

Harper Halloween 2013

 Happy Halloween!!

 We went out Trick-or-treating around 6, and there was no one else out, so we went home and snacked on some nachos and waited until 6:30, and we were still some of the first kiddos out roaming the streets.  We went with

The last week of October 2013

Last Saturday we had a super fun time at Big Springs Farm where we fed the goats, pet the pig, rode the broncos, posed as pumpkins and ate some good old "bolled p-nuts" (boiled peanuts)! We got some pumpkins to

We're heading to North Carolina!

About 4 weeks ago, Tim called me and asked, "What do you think about Charlotte?"  Not sure exactly what to think, and wondering why he asked about my good friend's new baby girl named Charlotte, I responded, "I don't know?"  He had just received a call from his regional boss asking him if he would like a facility manager position that is coming available in the next few weeks.  He didn't have time to talk, so he said we'd talk later and hung up.  I was a little dazed, and feeling a little euphoric.

When we moved out here to Atlanta from Gilbert, AZ we wondered how long we would be here. Not thinking we would return right back to AZ, but that GA felt like a mission call, to get acquainted with living away from family, struggling in a difficult culture change to prepare us for another step. Knowing from recent experience that the only constant in life is change, we dug into our lives here in Woodstock, GA and have LOVED it!! We have met friends, neighbors, work associates and just plain good people. We have invested into friendships that will last a lifetime and we are so thankful for inspiration to bloom where we are planted, no matter how short or long you anticipate being there.

For the last few months, I've been hesitant to plan anything past Thanksgiving. We are scheduled to go to AZ for 10 days in November and for some reason in so many areas of planning my life and schedule, I just couldn't see past that trip!  Well my faith has given way to the knowledge that the Lord knows where we are and where we are going and even when we are going there.  After multiple invitations to plan for events and activities in January and February I continued to have an uneasiness to commit, that I couldn't shake.  I've had that uneasiness before, and ignored it and learned some really hard lessons because of it.  I know better now, and pray my faith to continue to grow as I move forward on the Lord's timetable of when and where we need to be, as well as what we need to be doing.

So, for the last few weeks as we've kept this to ourselves and finalized this decision, I've cried a lot, but felt even more peace about moving forward.  As my wonderful aunt Roseann said, "We can do hard things! Is hard bad? Hard makes you smart and hard makes you strong."

I've been worried about how the kids will handle another big "uprooting" change again so soon, but, just like me and Tim, they will grow and be better for it. Kids are resilient, and we are doing our best to fortify them with a testimony and knowledge of the Plan of Happiness that will help them get through hard times now and throughout their whole lives.  They are going to do great!

When I renamed our blog to "Harper Town USA" I had an inclination that we may be moving somewhere, but had no idea the challenges and blessings that were laid out before us on this journey.

So, here we are headed to Mooresville, NC and as we look forward with faith, we take with us the cherished friendships and memories we've made here in Woodstock.

It's Fall in Georgia

It's fall in Georgia, and we have a huge tulip tree in our front yard that is probably 100 feet tall, has about a million leaves and they like to fall from September 15 until buds show up again in the spring.  Most of the leaves fall about now, and in the past week, this is what has accumulated.  The girls love to play in them and the pile is about 5 feet tall when they are all raked together.  

I remember playing in leaves as a kid, but it was a lot of work to get all the leaves raked into a pile. Because this tree is so tall, all the leaves fall in a relatively small area that we just blow all together and it results in lots of fun with little work.  Who doesn't love that!!

Here are some pictures and some videos here on my youtube channel.

I see, you see, Tennessee!

We had a week off school this past week, and Tim took off work for the first time since we've been here in Georgia, so we skirted the city and headed up to the Great Smokey Mountains!!  It was a much needed vacation for us all to remember we are a family and we love each other and there is more to life than waking up early, scrounging for food with little time to prepare, and hustling to the next "thing." 
We went up there on Sunday, Sept 15-Thursday Sept.19. We stayed with the Ensign's on Thursday night at their cabin.
On Monday we went to the Titanic Museum and played around at the cabin. Tuesday we roamed around the shops and outlet mall at Pigeon Forge. Wednesday we went to Dollywood and had a blast!! We saw the Ensigns there and they invited us to stay at their cabin on Thursday night. Thursday we packed up and went to the Ensign's in Gatlinburg (20 min from the cabin we rented) then went to lunch and the Park visitor's center. We then did a driving trail/tour in the Park and enjoyed time some playing in the creek. Then Thursday night we played games and visited and the girls watched movies and played.  Friday morning we packed up and headed home. It was the first vacation in a long time I was sad to come home from. I felt recharged and ready to tackle life again.
We had a great time. Here are some of the pictures to help tell the story.  And a Video

 The girls on our way home, we had to stop at the sign!

 First night at the rented cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN

 A visit to the Titanic Museum. This was fascinating and so well done! We all loved it (no pictures allowed in the museum though )

 The actual size of the anchor on the Titanic

 Goofing off at the cabin, the girls play like they are ponies all the time!

 La la laaaaaaa!!

 Best vacation pass-time...

 Our squirrel by the stuffed squirrel :)

 The "smoke" in the Great Smokey Mountains.

 Audrey being... Audrey

 Picture looking up in the canopy as we drove through the park. It was so lush and green and beautiful. In about a month all the leaves will be turning colors for fall. This park was absolutely beautiful.

Out the window picture on the driving trail. This was awesome!

 Kennedy was midsentence, saw the camera and gave me this pose, then continued on with her sentence. Goofy kid!

 Little Pigeon River. It refreshed all of us as we waded and tossed rocks in it. It's sights and sounds were breathtaking (and life-giving)

 Playing in the creek

 All of us at the Ensign's cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. We ran into them at Dollywood, they are in our ward, and he is our Bishop! They invited us to stay at their cabin to extend our vacation another night, and it was wonderful. They were perfect hosts, they showed us all around Gatlinburg, and introduced us to Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  It was truly the icing on our wonderful cake of a vacation.

Another shot in front of the sign Emma 10, Kennedy 5, Audrey 7.

Happy 1 year anniversary Georgia!

We've passed our 1 year anniversary here in Georgia.  On Sept 6 we arrived here and stayed in a motel. Our house was empty except for what we had in our car until the movers came on Sept 10, which was the first day of school for the girls, first day of work for Tim, and the next chapter in our challenging journey of life.

I've decided to accept the fact that today is all I have. Memories of yesterday are precious, and hope helps me wake up in the morning, but each day has beauty. Each day has life and value.  My family is my ticket to happiness I get to keep with me through the whole ride of challenges, joys, difficulties, laughs, and togetherness.  I am thankful for that every day.

Not going into guilty details, here are some pictures to help me play catch-up on our life in the last half of a year, in reverse order... (on the previous post)

August 5, 2013
First day of school for Emma, Audrey  and Kennedy in one school, the only time they will ever be at one school, at Arnold Mill Elementary.