A beginning and an end

My heart is full tonight. Full of emotion. Happy and sad. Overwhelming emotion at all the changes around us right now. You see, our family is moving. We are moving. My in-laws are moving. My kids are growing. My business is growing. Things are changing. And it feels like they are changing at a rapid pace right now.

I will get into our family's move in another post. There is a lot to talk about there and this post is going to be long enough on its own:)

First the happy news. Emerson. Is. Finally. Swimming!!!! In typical Emerson fashion, she had to wait until she was ready and then it is like a switched was flipped on overnight and here we are with a little girl who LOVES to swim. LOVES IT. Tonight at the pool she would jump and swim to daddy and demand to do it over and over and over and over again. Just like I did when I was a kid. And the pride in my heart just overflowed. It makes me teary just thinking about it. I was truly worried that her fear of the water could turn into a life long fear. But now I know it won't. Instead she is just beginning her life long love affair with water. And my heart is happy.

Her brother on the other hand, he already loves the water and seems to think he can swim. Looks like I need to get that boy in some swim lessons:)

Just jumping right in to swim to daddy.

Love how proud Steve is of her.

Ashton jumping in and "swimming" to Steve.

And she is so proud of herself too!

And my heart is sad tonight too. My in-laws have sold their house here in Fort Worth. They will have another one someday but for now we are back to being on our own. We have always been on our own but with them having a home here it always felt like a little part of them was here with us. And when they would come visit it was almost always an extended stay. My kids always felt like it was their second home. They had their own room and beds there. To nap or spend the night.

We have so many memories in that home. They originally bought it for Emerson. "Emy's Digs" they nicknamed it. And Emy did fill it with so much love and laughter. We had Steve's 30th birthday bash there, TCU tailgates and Ashton's baby shower there too. We watched TCU win the Rose Bowl there. We swam in the pool countless times. Emy got her first bike and learned to ride there. We hunted for Easter eggs inside and out. Emerson learned to swim there.

Ashton always loved it there just as much as his sister. He loved to sit on the swing out front and watch the cars go by. Whenever we pulled up to their house he would shout "GaGa" (his name for Karen). And as soon as I got him out of the car he would run for the door...Normally to be greeted by someone waiting there with open arms.

Tonight when we went to swim the house was empty. The movers have already come and gone. The kids bolted in the front door only to stop in their tracks. Emy said, "It looks funny in here". They then proceeded to run around screaming and making sounds echo in the emptiness.

We swam and had a blast and my heart was full of pride for Emerson's accomplishments but was also heavy. This is probably the last night we do this as a family here. As we were leaving, I could not help but take a picture of the (now) blue door. It is the end of an era. But, as Karen said, "the beginning of something better. With God, the next chapter is always better." And I know she is right.