1001 Decisions

Packing is really not my favorite ... we're in the midst of it now with less than 3 days left at Forest Echo.

Even with as much packing and moving that we do, I still am not very good at it.  My Mom mentioned to me that she thought it wasn't so much the act of packing, but the (seemingly) thousands of decisions that must be made. That hit the nail on the head for me.  I have to look at everything and decide, "do I want to keep this, do I need to keep it or can I let it go?" If something is kept, it has more decisions associated with it  ... and it goes on.

So many of the things that I have I collected from thrift stores or as hand-me-downs from other people. I wonder how can I cling so tightly or be so emotionally attached to something that cost me less than $1?  Ironically, in the end it seems that the more stuff I get rid of, the better I feel. It seems like I would remember this when it comes to the decision making.

Last year even though we weren't moving locations, we still needed to pack everything so that the summer caretakers could have their home in-tact and during the time when I was packing up, I literally felt like I was in a very long panic attack.  Not great.

Every time we move, I try a new strategy in hopes of not having a complete breakdown.  This year, I working off of more extensive lists and having frequent update chats with Jason about progress, what still needs to be done and my "vision" for how it should be done :)  And, of course, lots of chocolate therapy. So far, so good.  I haven't had any big melt-downs yet, but then again, there is still time for that.

In the meantime, everything here is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!  Making it even harder to leave ...

A dandelion baby & our last visitors

I'll admit that I sort of stole this photo idea from my cousin April.  I had just said to Jason a few days ago that we should take some pictures of Luke out in the dandelions since there were so many right now, then I saw pictures of April's little guy with some and couldn't resist trying it out myself. 

We hosted our last visitors at Forest Echo last week and had a bit of adventuring with them which was nice for us too.  I keep thinking, "this is the last time I'll see this' and it makes my heart heavy, even as I get more and more excited for Guatemala.

 

Jason and William - back from 4 nights and 5 days on the Appalachian Trail.  They did not smell too good.

A quick trip to Woodstock, Vermont -- such a beautiful town and a gorgeous time of year to be there.

William gets his first lesson in diaper changing ... notice how he moves farther and farther away from Luke :)

 

Before leaving, William holds his first baby ever -- what an honor for Luke!

 

And our next home is ....

image from here

Located on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Panajachel, Guatemala -- we leave mid-August!
Jason has accepted a 4th/5th grade combination teaching position at a small international school.  Luke's passport is already in-process :)

A return to some sense normal

Last week, I finally started feeling like myself again which was a welcome relief after 5 weeks of recovering.  We had some AWESOME weather and Luke got to enjoy his first canoe ride

Of course to protect Luke's new skin, I carried an umbrella :)

His BIG head (he's in the 90th percentile for head size!)

Jason - loving Luke's spit up!

























Luke got his first tractor ride too (well, not a real ride I guess, but an introduction)

Jason - on the AT again

This time with our good friend, William, from Peace Corps.  They picked up the Appalachian Trail on Sunday in Hanover, NH and will hike south into Vermont, arriving back close to our house on Thursday or Friday.  Ironically, they got onto the trail right where it passed through town, at a gas station.  Not what you'd picture from a hike :)

Jessie, another Peace Corps friend, joined them for a few miles on the trail too.

Meanwhile my friend, Gail is here from California visiting me (and helping me stay sane) for the week.  We had snow flurries yesterday - little different than California's weather!

Bears, trash & smiles

Bears generally make me smile, we've only seen one while living in Vermont, but it was exciting and fun to see it.  Last week, we got to see the what happens when a bear straight out of hibernation smells a dumpster that hasn't been emptied in 5 months (since the trash trucks can't come up our road in the winter).  Not fun or exciting.  The trash was strewn over a 100 yards through the forest.  Terrible!  And Jason had to pick it up twice because his locking system failed on first attempt (bears are apparently smarter than they look), but has held fast since then.  Yay-hoo!

On an exciting note, Luke started smiling last week.  What fun!

Our chubby bunny

Luke had his one month appointment this week (how has one month already come and gone!??!!)
He weighed in at 10 pounds and 12 ounces!!!  No wonder he's seemed to be getting bigger!

 Luke's one month birthday was a good excuse to make cupcakes. He even had party guests - Jack and Ruth, some of the owners of Forest Echo, came by to help us celebrate.

What a difference a week makes

Last week felt incredibly like winter and this week things feel decidedly spring-like!  Finally! 

Bulbs are bursting from the ground and the trees are budding out - hurray!  It's amazing to look at the hill and see all the various colors of the trees budding out for spring -- reds, oranges, pale greens ... like a reverse fall foliage.  It's so beautiful!