The first days of June

June. Such a simple word. It's only a one syllable month, but we packed (ha! and unpacked!) more than I would have ever thought possible into its first few days. By June 9th, our oldest child had completed kindergarten, our entire house had been emptied by a team of fast-paced movers, we handed over the house keys to the new owner, and we'd hosted a joint party to celebrate both of our children's birthdays with Iowa friends (Alexa's a little early, Brody's a little late). By June 15th, we had said goodbye to some great friends at a thoughtfully thrown farewell party, experienced our daughter's first dance recital, sent our children to Texas with the grandparents, and arrived at our Ohio home. Or what will become our Ohio home. As a military spouse, a line from one of my college roommate's poems seems even more applicable now: "home is a place that suddenly needs defining."

Friends and memories are made at each location, making each place we've lived thus far feel like home when it was time to go. The saying, "Home is where the Army moves us" may be true, but for me, a better definition is that home is where my husband is.

I also feel like I maybe have a little better understanding of Hebrews 11:13-14 where it discusses the people of faith and how they admitted they were strangers on this earth, longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Moving frequently means that while emotional ties may run deep from place to place, we never exactly develop "roots" in one location. Attachments to physical items, like a house, are broken fairly easily, and I begin to realize that our short stints in various states, which will continue until Billy retires, may be symbolic of our lives here on earth. A true sense of "home" may never be realized until we have reached our final heavenly home with our Creator.

Too philosophical for my light-hearted family blog? Guess that's what happens when I stay up too late to play catch up! Anyway, here are the photos from the whirlwind first part of June:

Alexa's Last Day of School

The House we said Goodbye to

The Birthday Party

The Farewell Party

I somehow didn't do a very good job of taking photos at this -

Iowa friends, if you have some, please email them to me!

The Recital

Alexa is the on the front row, third from the right in both photos