Been a Bit Busy

Since my last post a LOT has happened in the Lang household. My head is spinning a bit slower now so I think the order goes something like this; we got an okay offer on our condo and decided to accept it, Mark was offered an exciting job in Kansas City, Dad/Merrill came to Chicago for Thanksgiving, Amelia turned four with a purple themed party, Mark accepted the offer and settled on a January 2nd start date, I quite my job, the girls had their last show at Rainforest, I got a job offer in Lawrence, the moving logistics got sorted out, we found a short term rental in Lawrence, Mark quit his job, we boxed up our condo, the girls baked Christmas cookies with their cousins and JuJu, Poppy/JuJu/GranAnn were all in Chicago for Christmas, we said a lot of painful good byes in Chicago, the moving truck came and loaded our condo, with GranAnn's help we made the drive to Kansas, we celebrated New Years with EE, our stuff arrived in Lawrence, Mark started his new job, we settled into our rental townhouse and Amelia started her new preschool. This coming week we will transition Juliet into her new daycare until a spot opens up for her at Raintree where Amelia is. Then on the 21st I will start my new job! And during all this and going forward I will continue stalking realtor websites in the hopes that our new house comes on the market!

I have never used the term bittersweet more than in the past month. We left family but are closer to other family. We left the best friends anyone could hope for but moved to closer to equally wonderful friends. We left the only home the girls have known and the only life they have known but are staying strong and helping them understand what we gained in our new home and new life. We left runs along Lake Michigan for runs that don't involve going through Uptown. We left stable jobs for new exciting ones. We left a vibrant urban center but gained the horizon. We left the city that was the backdrop to a decade of memories between Mark and I but gained a town special to us both. We left Mark's home but gained KU basketball. I could go on and on. We are still in a bit of a cultural shock which isn't a good thing or a bad thing but just part of adjusting. I can't always allow myself to accept that we actually moved away from Chicago and like our good friend Katie said, "I'm just going to pretend like you are on vacation." I still am in a bit of denial and feel like we are just on vacation away from Chicago. Deep down I do know that we made the right decision for our family and this phase of our life but it will for quite a bit longer remain very bittersweet.

Here is a photo dump of life since our last posting....