Saying Goodbye to Omaha

Phew!  So we have been bouncing around the country the past few months.  I'm going to take a minute to rewind and go back to leaving Omaha, which was really really hard!  I miss it so much! Leaving was really emotional.   We grew to love our community and ward so much.  When we were in Idaho and referring to Omaha, we would say the term " back home" which is silly because we are both originally from Idaho, but in all reality Omaha had become home to us.  

Here is a little recap.  We were suppose to be in Japan the second week of March, two weeks before we were suppose to go, I found out I needed surgery.  I said goodbye to my dance students and colleagues the day before I went into surgery which was one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever had to do, teaching at ADC was so rewarding and it was hard to leave.  I received the surgery and for about a month it was touch and go as to whether or not we would even be able to go to Japan.  To say this whole experience has been a trial would be accurate.  This has been one of the most anxiety driven experiences of my life.  When we found out we were in fact going this time, everything went so fast.  Things fell in place at the last minute.  When I say at the last minute I mean the last minute.  Movers came to our house with barely enough time to let us clean, our temporary storage people never showed up, and we had to arrange for some friends to watch movers load stuff up from one storage unit just to transfer it to another.  Poor Sean had to paint garbage Rising View walls on his birthday.  In the end, we survived.  We made it out.  It was like Omaha didn't want to let us go, and I was holding onto it as well.  

I would be doing several of our favorite Omaha people an injustice if I didn't take a moment to mention them.  We had an awesome Ward out in Omaha.  When some friends of ours from the ward heard our predicament they offered to let us stay with them before our final out inspection from our duplex.  We would not have made it without these amazing families who watched our pets and let us  crash with them for a few days. 

 When I say crash, I mean breaking through the walls of their home in the most ungraceful way possible.  We did not have it together when we "moved in" to the L's home.   We forget to send our movers with several things, including a whole load of laundry that we left in our washer and dryer that we decided to leave behind, so we had/ still have way more clothes than we originally anticipated on having.   I had boxes full of toiletries that  our movers wouldn't pack, we had garbage that we couldn't find a dumpster for, items that just sort of blended in that was basically just junk.  We were a mess and these awesome people basically let us just bring it into their home until we could get it together (which only marginally happened during our time there).  

During our time with the L's Sean described it as it being like we had been friends with them forever, but in reality this friendship sort of blossomed in the few days that we were there. 

They have a baby that is around the same age as Ely,  and they are in the same phases of life that we are.  Both of them have been to Japan, so they made us some Japanese food and taught us a few words and gave a grammar dictionary.  They fed us some amazing food in general while we were there and provided us with such generous hospitality.   Sean's birthday ended up being the day before our final move out day, so we were still in Omaha waiting to move.  We had a really fun birthday celebration with them the night of his birthday.  

  They are such great examples of disciples of Christ.  They were an answer to our prayers.  I had several moments where I went, I want to be like the L family.  Giving of their time, talents, and basically all they had to people they sort of knew.  We had an epic Family Home Evening with them that lasted a long time.  Even though it was long, we had some really good discussions.  It was so appropriate for what was coming next for us.   It was based on being more outgoing and friendly to those around you so they would feel comfortable learning about the Savior from you. Through some of the experiences they shared, I made it a goal of mine to be more outgoing at our next base, to be like the L's and take all of my neighbors cookies (stuff like that terrifies me) and generally be more friendly and to make friends!  It took me a LONG time to make friends in Omaha. I blame that partly on Sean being my best friend, being newlyweds and only wanting to spend time with him.   I also could be more outgoing and friendly.  The L's are a good example of how to do that.  I will be eternally grateful for them and what they did for us in those few days.  I know, without a doubt, that us staying with them was a part of Heavenly Father's plan.

While we were staying with the L's, we had another group of friends watching our cat Converse for us.   We figured that the L's family doubled in size when we moved in for a few days; a mom, dad, baby, and another dog.  We all decided it would be best if Converse stayed elsewhere so the dogs didn't gang up on him.  Our friends D&J said they could watch him for us, which was quite heroic of them regarding the circumstances.   It was during D's final's week, and they have 2 other cats, one of them being quite territorial.  Somehow they made it work in their 1 bedroom apartment.  They have saved us more times than I can count.   They moved to Omaha at the most perfect time,  Sean was deployed and I was in need of some company.  When Sean came home he and J hit it off right away and I would say now are the best of friends.  They were there for us when we had our baby, have watched the pets for us a number of times, and done so many random acts of kindness for us.  We are going to miss them.  I'm glad we had so many adventures together.  I'm glad Heavenly Father brought them into my life when he did.   Here are some pictures from our last hoorah. We miss you guys so much already!  

   Until we meet again!