This is not for sissies

Yesterday afternoon a bird hit the window above our front door with a loud whap! and died on the doorstep.

It felt like a metaphor for our life.

We're all a little war torn.  Our house is a wreck.  We are wading in boxes and can't get our air conditioning figured out.

Our kids start school tomorrow and they're nervous.  Their nervousness manifests itself in surliness mostly.  And then there was the deer in the headlights look Emma gave me when I left her at orientation today.  It is physically painful to have sad/nervous/anxious children and not be able to fix everything.

We're not used to the heat, altitude or dry climate.  Mark left sacrament meeting with a bloody nose yesterday.

It's all been really lovely.

There are bright spots though.  Quite a few.  First and foremost are Ammon and Melanee.  They have treated us to their adorable children which we have loved.  Also, they have been superhumanly helpful.  Ammon and Melanee were here ALL day on Saturday, the day our stuff arrived (except for when Melanee took her little ones home for a nap).  Melanee brought us food and made us lunch and dinner and then dinner the next day as well.  She helped me decide where to put things in my kitchen and she unpacked boxes.  Ammon unpacked and carried and unpacked and carried and unpacked.  He reached the tall shelves and then went about fixing things.  He looked for things that needed repairing and then did just that.  He is amiable and generous and incredibly good at fixing things.  I can't believe how lucky I am to be living near them.  I need to quickly get some talents so I can repay them.

Our house--once we get it a little less like a tornado, and figure out the AC--will be lovely.  The view knocks me flat.  I love it.  I love the mountains and the sunshine.  We've had a few neighbors stop by with gifts of bread.  Everyone at church was really kind. 

We will keep buggering on.  And we will get this figured out.  Fingers crossed.