"We made it home" - Part 1 - The Blahs

The sweet 3 story townhouse with Pizza Hut & Dominos right next door!

The House on the Hill...wild berries in the back, 4 years old's bowling alley in the front

And...the million dollar mansion in Khandalah, New Zealand.
Tomatoes, strawberries, and LOTS of room to roam!

4 hotels, 5 houses, and 1 basement later...
Whoa!  The last 5 months have been one, crazy ride.  But we made it though...

Did I ever think that we'd move over to a new country and be homeless for the first 100+ days?
NOPE!

Would I have changed the situation?
MAYBE?  IT HAD IT'S blahs AND hoorays!


Not gonna lie, I am soooo glad we are happily settled into our New Zealand house.  It's been 3 weeks.

And now that I have time to reflect, smile and giggle about it all.  I  came up with "3 Blahs to being a nomadic homeschooling family for 100+days."  Just in case you were curious...

The Blahs

1) It felt like a LONG vacation.  And you ALL know that Mom's never truly get a vacation.  With each different house along the way, came new procedures.

"Please remember to pick up your dirty undies and put them in the laundry basket!"  ~me, in my loving mommy voice
"But where is the laundry basket at in THIS house?" ~said everyone but me

No dryer, no problem!  And there's the laundry basket!

Some kids are still at the stage where they need me.  For example, #2 and #3 still need me to help them with their shoes, but it's hard enough to find any shoe in our house.

You all know how it is in hotel rooms or at your in-law's house.  So frustrating!!

Just think of the chaos in a week vacation without the structure and procedures your life at home...and add a few months to that.

2)  We stayed, as guests, in many different houses in NZ.  They call them Baches and you book them.  https://www.bookabach.co.nz/ Very similar to Home Away and Airbnb.
And when you are a guest with 3 rowdy boys, you say "DON'T TOUCH THAT!!!" or "GO FIT THAT!" a lot!!!  Boys break things and dig holes in yards, just because!  They literally climb walls!

Looks like Stranger Things 2, right?

  

Now, they did have a great, life lesson on respecting others things (which would go on my hooray list).
But constantly being on guard for the owner's things...It just wore me down.

3)  Never getting comfortable.  Don't you love the feel of home?  Your home.
I love the way our coach feels when I am reading to the boys.  I love the smell of our home.  I love the comfort of my bed and my pillows.  It just never got comfortable at these homes.  But the kitchens were fun! (hooray!)

But now, I'm gonna get mushy on ya...

I have time to look back on it all.  I can't help but think this...

God sent us through a family boot camp starting in 2016 with our first Road School trip.  Everywhere we'd go, whether it be the beaches of Florida or the mountains of Colorado, God was just preparing us for this exact moment!  He kept reminding me that "we made it home" then, so we can do it now!  Train them up!

 

Every night, I'd walk up the stairs at the Million Dollar Mansion and before tucking in the boys, I had to close a curtain in their room.  And this is what I would see.  #godwink and a sweet reminder that someday soon...
"We made it home!"  (celebratory voice)