Then and Now

I just realized we have now officially been in Oregon for nine years.  Wow!

I remember our very first day here, very confusing.  We were all really nervous about this huge thing we had decided to do.  

Lots of tears and craziness later what has changed?

Lets see we will start with George.  First day officially "pushing" dents out of cars, he hated it then and he hates it now :(   He is so good at his job though, it really is an art and he has the magic touch. Still loves a good movie though :)   He has changed in many ways and I think he is glad he has moved here, some days I think he really misses riding in a tractor though.

I remember being terrified of everything, I didn't realize how much I used the mountains in Utah as reference points.  Every time I left the house I had to really memorize every street name and hope I could find my way back home (no gps back then).  I was terrified to send my kids to school, because what if they needed me and I couldn't find them, yeah not a happy time for sure.  Now, there are still certain areas I hate to drive to,  mostly in Portland but I am not as scared as I used to be.  I gleefully send Tayler off to school everyday. I have made some really great friends that I can't imagine my life without.  I have learned so much about myself and others here, I kind of feel like my life in Utah my brain was in a fog so I'm thankful I have woke up.

Hope:  My goodness when we moved here she was 11.  She of course turned 12 shortly after.  I remember her birthday party, all these strange kids coming over :)  She has grown, moved back to Utah. Became a dental assistant. Worked for a year, lived in a trailer :)  Fell head over hills in love.  She got married!  Has been widowed........She has moved back to Forest Grove and I pray for her constantly.  She is tough, she is strong and she has taught me so much.

Jackie:  Was 9 and had a tough time with the move.  Who am I kidding all of the kids had a tough time.  She made some fun friends pretty quickly and some of them she is still friends with today.  She likes to hold on to her friends.  She is grown, moved out of the house.  Went to BYU-I.  Fell in love, is living in Utah and will be married before I know it.  Wow, time flies.

Tayler: Was 6.  I sometime think that we really needed to move here for him.  He always struggled with reading and well pretty much all school.  It was horrible and I questioned myself and him and everyone all the time.  Well in our ward we had some great optometry students and we were blessed to have one as our home teacher.  One of the times that he was visiting us I mentioned that Tayler had a hard time reading.  He told us to bring him to the school because the students always needed  new eyes to look at.  I thought it would be a waste of my time because I had already had his eyes looked at in Utah and he had 20/20 vision so what was the point.  I did it anyway and found out he had  really weak eye muscle, good vision but he couldn't focus fast enough.  So for three years every Tuesday or Wednesday he had vision therapy and tons of vision therapy homework.  I think we have done well.  He still likes to read even though we had years of tears  and frustration. He is a Sophmore and is looking in to going to PCC ( a community college) next year. He loves a good movie and has a group of great friends.

Emma: Was 5 when we moved here, what was I thinking.  She was soooo small, so sweet.  I feel bad sometimes because she was always quiet and didn't cause any problems so she kind of just shuffled along with all the kids.  Eighth grade was an eye opener for me, I found out that I need to keep her a little closer.  I  pulled her out of school and she is doing her school work online.  Connection Academy.  She hates it, I love it!  It has been a huge adjustment for both of us.  We are working on things and hopefully the future holds great wonderful things for her.  She is such a sweet person with some much to offer the world.

I often wonder where we would be if we had stayed in Utah?  Where would my kids be?  What would be different?  I know it doesn't matter, we are here and this is our life!