there's no place like home....

Well, the time has come....

tomorrow the movers arrive and begin packing our

Forever*Cottage for our move home to Portland, Oregon.

I am a jumble of emotions....

don't get me wrong, mostly I am happy for the

opportunity to return home, where my babies were born,

my parents live and where I truly feel we belong - our place.

But leaving a place where we have established a life,

a good life, full of favorite places, good people, a school community,

friends, neighbors who have become like family

and a special cottage community that lives like it was

plucked from simpler times, is hard.

This week will be stressful, not only for me but

for my two girls who will say good-bye to special

friends and for my youngest, the only elementary school

she has attended.  I will encourage them to feel

their sadness, cause good-bye's for me are hard

and I hope that by teaching them to walk through

that sadness that maybe I too will learn to walk

through it better.

I will be absent from this blog for a bit.  After our

home is packed our family is heading out of town

for a little 'fun in the sun'.....a much needed

break from the stress of the relocation.

I will be back soon.  I can't wait to begin transforming

our new home into the cottage of my dreams!

Of course, you will all follow along, every step of the way!