A fast 13 months

I can hardly believe our time here is up. In two days I will be back in our home state ready to start a  new adventure. It all still seems so surreal.
I taught primary for the last time today, and as they announced my name to release me I felt tears sting my eyes because  I have grown to love these kids and it has truly been a privilege to serve them. They have taught me so much. I really think they have been the ones serving me.
A couple nights ago we grabbed a quick dinner and took it to our favorite park to eat one last time. It's a beautiful secluded park that we have grown to love and have spent several evenings at eating a picnic dinner alone as a family or with friends. Before we left my husband and I both stood there for a bit as if reminiscing about our memories there and tried to memorize every little thing about the park before we headed back to our car.
Tonight I said most of our goodbyes. I invited all of our close friends to come over for some ice cream and quality chatting time. We had so much fun. Every single person that was in my small little home tonight felt like family. We have been incredibly blessed with amazing friends out here. I will miss them the most. I will miss the east coast in itself for several different reasons but the friendships we've made here are priceless.
Tomorrow evening our awesome neighbors have invited us over for dinner one last time all together. I want to go but at the same time I don't. It means saying goodbye, for a time.
But now the pictures are off the walls, most of our things are packed, and now our home doesn't feel like home anymore. It feels like what it is- an empty apartment. Tomorrow my husband and some others will take all the furniture out and we will do the final cleaning touches.
After packing so much this last week I decided that packing is like a trip down memory lane. Different memories would stand out as I went through all our things and placed them in their specific piles/boxes. Memories of growth, struggle, happiness, and cherished moments came flooding back. In some ways it seems like yesterday we were just unpacking our boxes, ready and anxious to start a new adventure on our own! Now, 13 months later, here I am packing our things, taking a trip down memory lane from the last year, and I am so pleased at where we are in life and who we've become as a family. Yes we are going back to our home state, but in a lot of ways it will be a completely new adventure then when we were there before because we are different. We have grown so much individually and as a family.
Basically moving is emotional and draining in itself, but then let's add a pregnant woman to the mix and that equals me :) Bless my heart. But everything does feel right even though it's kind of hard. It feels right to be going back, I feel ready, and hooray for new adventures. Bring it on!