The Final Stages of Letting Go of the Alabama "Home"

Our house in Alabama has sold.  It is someone else's shiny new adventure.  The home where our little family started to blossom has become firmly planted in our history, not our present.  While it is a huge blessing to be relieved a mortgage for a home we are no longer living in, there is a good bit of sadness over knowing it is gone.

Jason and I scheduled a babysitter for Friday night to have a little time to process the big change.





It was lovely and just what we needed to remember that we are just where we are supposed to be.

And then I found this unfinished post in my drafts and it seemed the prefect time to post about how we said goodbye to the fair city of Birmingham.

So without further ado: Our Farewell Tour 2013.



We have had two summers of sort of leaving Birmingham, so we have had a few tries as figuring out what we would miss.  During our last few weeks we tried to hit all the high points.  You will note that most of our  high points involve food.  That is pretty accurate and there is no need for a further explanation.

Kona Ice a a local country festival, where the boys complained about how hot they were.  Ha! Missing Alabama summers has made us all weenies.


See, country...
 

Milos.  Grilled onions, extra sauce to dip the fries and a large sweet tea.  It seems this is one thing only appreciated by those of us born and raised in Birmingham. Oh, how I pray they remember and love it as we do.


Our neighborhood had a great walking trail with lots of things to discover along the path.  It was often my solution when we needed to get out the house but did not want to load up in the car.


Also, the sunsets from our front door were spectacular almost every night.


Chick-fil-a with the great-grandparents.  There is a Chick-fil-a about 45 minutes away from our new house, so it is different than the one on every corner in Alabama, but much harder is the distance from the grandparents and great-grandparents.


Blessed children to be loved on by so many family members.





Cousins, who they love so dearly.  They daily discuss having them move here.



One last fried green tomato BLT from Edgar's and lunch with these two friends who make my heart swell and hurt all at the same time.


Vulcan's best side, because obviously.


Dinner at the Depot in Helena.  Our favorite burger spot with the kids.


Not pictured: ridiculous amount of trips to Jim and Nicks, Dairy Queen drive thru, one last creme brûlée from Fox Valley, absurd number of Zaxby's chicken fingers and drinks over crushed ice, Joe's Donuts on more than one occasion, and the list goes on.

Eli really wanted to make on more trip to Moe's and the McWane Center.  We just didn't have the time, we will have to hit those the next time we are in town (which is already feeling close as fall and the holidays approach).

Back to the house: No more Easter pictures outside this front door.





Of course the good news is that we brought the stars of the pictures and their younger siblings with us.  So our sweet family will continue to blossom.  We will continue to take Easter morning pictures, and we will be thankful for the houses and towns we are given the opportunity to make home.