It's Official...We have a new Zip Code!

Guess it's been a month or two or almost FouR since I've posted...sorry about that.
I really should have kept my journaling up because, there are so many stories to tell about the last 4 months.  I'll share a few...but some will just not be told.
My momma & daddy taught me...if you don't have anything nice to say...just keep it to yourself.
Well, I didn't totally keep them to myself...we shared with family about our frustrations,
but we'll just look to the positive of where we are now...

Which is MAN-Hattan, as our grandson says it!
This whole process started about two years ago.
And when it all started to come together...it seems like life just went into high gear!
A little before Thanksgiving the communication with Steel & Pipe Supply increased and
on Christmas Eve morning, Randy accepted a newly created position with the company.

(Here are the pics of our home in Hutchinson...
before we put it on the market and right before we left town.)

I had already begun to see the writing on the wall and
began the process of decluttering our home.
I went through every drawer, closet, box and cupboard.
Purging things I no longer loved or felt others could use better.
Lots of things saw the trash can too!
I did that for about two months and then began to get our home in Hutchinson ready to sell...

Randy started working in January for Steel and Pipe Supply.
His first day was flying to Italy to look at machinery
with the President of the company and his boss.
That left me at home to sort and prepare the home for showing.

 We didn't like him being gone all week...only coming home on the weekends.

The good thing was...he could live with his parents and not in a hotel.
It got to be a big joke with his parents...telling their friends that they were the 'in' generation...
their 50 year old son was living in their basement...LOL!!

Although it seemed like forever...
and there were a few teary goodbyes on Monday mornings...
the whole process went fairly quickly.
These pics are from the day before our house 'officially'
went on the market...on a Monday afternoon.

Our realtor showed it to one of her clients that had been looking
for a house in Hutchinson for about 5 years.

They looked at it on a Tuesday afternoon...called that night with an offer.
We countered...and they countered.

We let it sit overnight.
Wednesday morning we had the realtor's tour.  Lots of great compliments on the house.
Randy was in Houston that day.
Our realtor called wanting to know what we decided about the last offer.
We countered one final time...

Our realtor called the buyers...
before I could finish chewing the bite of lunch I had taken after I hung up with her...
She was calling me right back saying they accepted our final counter offer.
Less than 36 hours on the market!  A-MAzing!!

It was bittersweet....we really liked our home in Hutchinson.
And we had made some really great connections!

But, even though I'm missing my friends greatly...
I was ready to leave Hutchinson.
I had come kicking and 'crying'...I never thought I'd leave our home in McPherson.
It was filled with family & friends.

I learned a lot in Hutchinson...
about myself...
a whole new hobby that is turning into a profession...(maybe?)
and made many great friends!

I'm soooo gonna miss this space.  I'm missing crafting...it's been since November!
(But, in the next few weeks...they are starting to finish a new space for me here!  WooHOO!!)

It was a long and often lonely process since Randy was gone...
packing this house up by myself.

I quickly started packing the house as soon as it was sold.
I knew that I'd be back and forth to Manhattan so I had to be efficient with my time.

I would have much rather been crafting or taking photographs!

Or out spending time with my friends.

It seemed like things were just starting to fall into place....

and then the rug was ripped out from underneath me.

This time...I go more willingly.

I know that I will survive the changes...

I will make new friends....

But, I don't want to forget the old ones....

I know that the relationships will change. 

It just seems to happen that way when you don't live in the same town.

And you can't see each other all the time.

We loved this house!

It had just enough space for us...

and all the things we liked to do.

It was homey...

But, already...it looks different.

It will always be one of my favorite homes.

For us...it's not the house...or even the things in it that are important.

It's who crosses our threshold...

And what we do in the space of the walls.

The rooms are empty...they don't feel like ours anymore.

Everything feels like it's in limbo...

These rooms will house a new family...with three young children.

We were both so excited to learn that a young family was buying the home!! 

Children running and playing in the yard like our grandson and my nephews...

Rolling down the hill in the backyard.

They came by a few weekends before we moved out.

To go over a few things outside with Randy and to let the kids see their new rooms. 

It was so much fun to see their excitement and hear the giggles.

We wish them so many memories and wonderful times in their new home!

I enjoyed shopping for a few fun things for the kids to do while they were moving in.

Except...it rained the whole time they moved in!  

I also gave them a bird feeder and food.

Feeding, watching and photographing the birds (and deer, turkeys and squirrels!) 

became a new hobby!

This house will always hold a special place in our hearts.

If we were building a home...it would be like this one.

No question...nothing fancy...just the right spaces for us.

We'll take the memories that we created here with us...

wish we could take all the friends we made too.

I don't want to say goodbye to the friends and the neighbors...

I wish I could pick up this house and our friends/neighbors and move it with us!

But, that is not realistic...

It's time to say goodbye to this house, our friends and our church... 

Time to shift our focus on the future... 

Time to say goodbye to this neighborhood...

 Say Goodbye to Hutchinson...

And open our hearts to what the future holds for us in Manhattan...

The best part is...the new house is bigger...more room for family & friends!!

To the future and all the new adventures, relationships and experiences it will bring!