You may remember that Az and I made the difficult decision to accept my parents’ invitation to move in with them so they could help us with childcare. We listed our house for sale for several months, but took it off the market during the last trimester of my pregnancy. We planned to relist our house in June.
We are not moving. We will stay here in the Midwest.
My brother is in the army and he received word last week that he will be deployed to Afghanistan soon. While he is gone, his wife and their three young children will move in with my parents. We are in prayer for his safe return and for his family.
Obviously this has disrupted the family in many ways, and one small outcome of it is that we will not be moving south. In many ways the decision is a relief - we were not sure we could sell the house in the current market, and now we don’t have to - but we wish the decision had a different impetus. My sister-in-law says she is rather weepy, and her oldest child is sometimes sad her daddy is going, and sometimes excited to live with Grandma and Grandpa and so close to their cousins. We hope for the best and pray. For now we will unpack our boxed-up books and settle back into life here.
Staying is nice, too. Still, it’s too bad that you won’t be getting that help… does it make you feel any better to know that although the first couple of months with three small children are VERY hard, it becomes pretty simple by six months? No?
I don’t know what sort of heinous emergency would send me cheerfully to the loving embrace of my in-laws, though. They quite openly loathe me.
Oh, IN-LAWS. That’s entirely different. I have very nice in-laws, but living with them would make me utterly miserable. The constant southern niceness and conflict avoidance would make me hate myself. One of the reasons Az was willing to live with my folks is that they deal with conflict directly and they accept loving disagreement and correction.
Your brother and his safety will be on my mind.
I’m glad you’ll have a little more certainty about your situation but hope your brother’s family will be comforted in his absence.
Things often have a way of working out. I hope for the best for everyone, especially your brother and his family.
Now you can enjoy your house after putting all that work into it.
Oh, the mixed feelings. I feel them in response to your post too. Concern for your brother. Relief that you don’t have to stress of waiting for your house to sell. And I presume that your original reasons for moving haven’t changed.
How great that you are all so supportive of your brother’s family during this rough time. That doesn’t happen in all families.
My best to your brother. I hope he returns safely.
My youngest daughter and her hubby moved in with us while he was away in Columbus training for the Highway Patrol. Then they got their own apartment again, but her first child waas born terribly handicapped. They came back to live with us, so we could help take care of the baby and they could save money to buy a home. (”Life is a Journey” on my blog is her story) While they lived with us, she had the only child out of eight pregnancies that actually lived. He is a Junior in college now and a wonderful guy. We really enjoyed having our kids live with us for eighteen months. I’m hoping your new plans will be the best for you and your family. Best wishes to your brother in his tour of duty.