the BIG move

It's no secret that my family is moving out here. We (me, Amber, BJ) have been begging them for a while now. We miss them and want them here with us. The past few years (or ten years) have been very hard on them and I hate being apart from them when things go wrong. Well, it's happened. Right now, the six car caravan including
Travis hauling the moving truck and trailer,
Craig in his car,
BJ and Jeremy in BJ's truck hauling a horse trailer,
dad in his red truck hauling a trailer,
and mom with the boys and DOGS in the van
is somewhere in Texas making the trek to Arizona. I have been in turmoil for weeks. We all have. Our family is closer than most I know. When one cries, we all cry. When something bad happens to someone, we all feel it and are affected. I haven't slept in weeks because of the worry and stress I feel for my parents. You see, they are moving here blind. When they get here, they've got no place to go. Of course we are here and they are welcome here, but there's not a ton of extra space in our little house. They will park trailers and immediately look for a place to live. We've been searching for months now but one house after another has fallen through. It's been a little disheartening. Another thing you should know about my family is that they (my dad) has almost the worst luck of anyone I've ever met. Not in the family sense, because they are very blessed to have us. (haha!) But in the -- everything that can break will break and everything that can go wrong will--sense. For example:

Among other things, the following have happened to him in his lifetime:

he has been run over and tangled in the propeller of a boat
has been in a fatal car accident
has broken and/or torn pretty much every bone/ligament in his body
has fallen off a cliff on a horse
has fallen off a cliff on a four wheeler (multiple times)

the week of the move, all of these things happened:

broken oven
broken microwave
truck died
dad threw out his back
dad tore tendons in arm
dad had first tire blow out on big truck within first hour of travel to AZ
second tire blow out in the second hour

and that's the general idea. He is now walking around with a torn ACL, a thrown out back, a limp arm and numerous other injuries that he can't/won't take care of. :)

I think about the worry I have been feeling and cannot imagine how my mom and dad are handling things. They have withdrawn Zach and Dustin from school and have no idea where to enroll them out here, because they have no idea where they will live. They have no place for the horses. They have no work. They are starting all over. It is heartbreaking to watch and I so wish there was something I could do. Again, I realize how fortunate we all are and how blessed we are to be healthy and safe and to have our family supporting and lifting each other up. But this SUCKS. Bad. I hate seeing my parents cry and suffer. I hate that they are leaving their dream home. It is their little piece of heaven and such a nice place to retreat to. I'm so glad they will be close, but a little sad at the same time. They are leaving the home that all of my childhood memories are from. I'm sad that I won't be able to take my kids there anymore to visit. That they won't remember it. That I won't have an excuse to fly out there to see my best friends. That when we visit, it won't just be us and one on one time with grandma and grandpa. I'm so grateful that they'll be close and know that we can and will make more memories out here together, but I'm sad at the same time. I didn't think their leaving Texas would affect me so much, but it has hit me this week now that this is all actually happening. I know the end reward will be fabulous. We can have Sunday dinners together, my kids will grow up having both sets of grandparents close by, they will get to watch my kids play sports and be baptized and just BE. I'm more excited than sad, by a long shot. I am going home to Texas in January for my brother Kris's open house and for Nick's farewell talk, and then that's that. Someone else will (hopefully) be living there and making memories there.
When they arrive tomorrow, I know it's for good and not just for a day or two visit. Despite the sour tone of this post, I really am so very excited!! I'm sure our GG is thinking that it's about time!! :)