Saying "Good-bye" to Florida and "Hello" to Washington!

Leaving Florida after living there for over 21 years was much more difficult than I ever imagined!  We had so many people who we thought so much of there--including co-workers, people at church, and people in the community.

 After playing for our ward choir for 16 years, it was difficult to say "good-bye" to all of the wonderful people involved.  After that many years, we certainly became like family.  We have had to say "good-bye" to others who have moved and it was difficult to see them go.  Now, it was me leaving!

Here I am with our choir president, Margriet Luke, and choir conductor, Leneta Hill.  What wonderful, dedicated workers these women are!  I learned so much from both of them and will certainly never forget them!

 One of my proudest moments was when we presented "Women of the Bible," in a Relief Society Presentation.  This involved so many hours of practice in both the singing and parts spoken, but it was truly a fantastic and moving presentation.

On our last Sunday at our ward in Florida, we had a get-together afterward.  Somehow this looks like spinach cake--but it was actually very delicious.  George was teasing Leneta with it!

We had to take one last trip to Spring Park and see the beautiful sunset on the river.  We loved to go there and when the grand kids would come to town, we always had to make a visit there.  They loved to walk down the dock and see what the fishermen were catching.  Also, they loved playing on the playground which was right behind us.

And it was definitely a place where we would take our little mini-Frosties and Diet Coke to just enjoy the outdoors after a day's work.

We sold or gave away so many of our items, but this little red tractor was the hardest item for George to part with.  However, I can't say I was that sad.  George had two very scary incidents with it that made me glad he no longer had it.  But, to this day, he still regrets having to give it up and the day the guy came to pick it up, I think I saw tears in his eyes!

Every time we drove down Hwy. 17 which went into Roosevelt, as we drove past this corner, George would say, "That's the spot where I was a patrol boy!"  I must have heard that a thousand times!  I kept telling him that I was sure the road had definitely been widened since then because today it is six lanes going one way, four going the other, and a train track--which yes, that was there then.  But anyway, he had many fond memories of doing that.  We had to go past it one more time and he made me take a picture of it for remembrance!

As further proof of his days as a patrol boy, here is the picture.  He is third one back on the right in the V.

Things in our neighborhood were really changing.  For the nearly two years that we lived in our home in Magnolia West, there was  practically no one on the entire street behind us.  But soon, this is what we saw when we looked out.

 Our little Canadian geese friends were really disturbed by this and couldn't figure out where their vacant land for THEIR home went.

 Of course, the biggest change would be that George would no longer be the Asst. Superintendent anymore.  He was so sad to leave.  He absolutely loved his 19 years working for the District and wished he had spent his entire work career there.  The people he worked with were such great workers and they all got along so well.  On another blog, I will put in pictures and details of the fantastic Retirement Party they gave him.

When we first dove into getting things organized for the move, it looked like an impossibility to get it all boxed and gone through.  Some of these boxes had been in the garage for nearly two years, so they were looking pretty bad.

 It's amazing what you find when you're packing items.  I had forgotten that Kyle had been awarded this trophy of the "Lost Scout" back in 1985, but I will never forget the fear we had as a family when he and two other Boy Scouts were lost in the High Uintahs overnight.  So scary!  Yes, every item brought back so many memories!  The "stuff" was easy to get rid of--the "memories"--no way.  They were definitely boxed and sent to all the kids they applied to so their family can enjoy the stories!

But we just kept at it and continued to go to Goodwill and selling items, until we got everything totally organized for the move.

Underneath the boxes, we saw this snake skin!  So glad it was only the skin!!!

Then we suddenly had a curve ball thrown at us when George found out he had to have cataract surgery the day before the truck was to be loaded, and he wasn't supposed to lift anything!  Fortunately, several ward members, plus the four missionaries in our ward came to the rescue!  They, along with two professional truck loaders, got the entire amount of items we needed to load, done in about four hours.  It was a miracle--but everything fit in one truckload!  We met up the next morning with OB and Candy Baker, our fantastic truck-driving friends, who would be driving all of our items, including the truck and two cars, to Washington.  What a relief that we had professionals doing this who just happened to be some of our best friends!

 We stayed a couple more days at our home (the beds were all gone!) and the last night at some wonderful friends' home (the Jacobs) before leaving our little home behind that we had loved so much!
Our final good-bye to our home, neighborhood, and Florida before heading for the airport to fly to our new residence in Washington!  It seemed like a dream because I think we were both in such a fog with so much happening in the last month, but we were now starting a new phase of our life!  We had no idea what the next years would be like, but we were very excited to be closer to family, which this would definitely accomplish!
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When we got into Washington, we headed for the entrance of the airport and with the lateness of time, we thought we would hurry and grab our luggage and head outside to meet Kent or Natalie who would be taking us to their home until the truck arrived.  To our absolute delight and shock, there was Ethan and Ella with a "Welcome Home" sign!  It brought me to tears!  So thoughtful--and I guess that's when it finally hit me, this was now my home!!!  And now we had some family around us again!  Yes!!!

After staying a couple of days with Kent and Natalie, OB and Candy arrived in Washington with the truck and cars.  Kent had arranged for people from his ward, plus the new ward we would be moving into, to help unload the truck!  What wonderful people!  Many who barely knew us--but so willing to help out!  Moving into a small 1,200 square foot duplex seemed impossible, but Kent had arranged for a big storage unit literally two minutes away, so we just kept putting things one place or another until we finally had it all unloaded.  

So this is our new home we are standing in front of with the Bakers.



From our front drive way, we look across the street at the "Fair Weather" Airport.  Only very small planes can leave from here, including this hang glider which we see practically every morning.  I understand the guy attached a lawn mower engine to his hang glider and has a merry-old time!

Our backyard adjoins a pasture which has lots of goats, a pony, a cow, and a couple of new calves.

 George loves to try to get the animals to come over closer.  But after trying in vain and only getting them so far, he looked down and saw there was an electrical wire about six inches from the fence to keep them away.  Ohhhh . . . So disappointing for George, but he can still look out and talk to them from afar every day--even on Sunday before we left for church!

With only two bedrooms, we decided one must be an office.  George loved his comfortable office at the district, so I was determined to try to duplicate it here in this house.  I think we duplicated it pretty well, and George seems very happy in here.  Trouble is, he now has also taken over my computer and we have to share time on it!  Hah!

And this is our one and only grocery store.  It reminds me of Harvey's in Green Cove Springs?  Wait a minute--yes, that's the one that went out of business.  Never fear, I just have to go 15 or 20 minutes one way or another to the next little town to find a Walmart and even a Costco.  So, if I plan well enough I can still be organized on the shopping.

One of the best parts of the location is that we are only a half hour from the Richland Temple!  We are so excited!  Our plan is to attend once a week.  This is such a great difference because it used to take us 2 1/2 hours to get to the temple in Orlando.

OB and Candy really wanted to attend a session there with us, so we gladly took them up on it before they left.

It was a gorgeous day and we had such a great time!

I don't know if you can find more Christ-like people anywhere!  They have always helped our family out so much!  We dearly love them and their friendship!

So, all in all, we have made the transition pretty well.  Family, housing, temple, ward family--we are very happy with our first few weeks here.  Yes, I think we're going to like it here.