Settling In, Sort of

Our first two days back to Winnipeg were very full. On Saturday, after breakfast with Judy, we all got back into the van for the short drive to our house. It was 10:30 and we were expecting our Heppner family to show up any time. The kids were excited about being in the house and immediately went over to say hi to our next door neighbours. It was amazing to me that in just 10 short months, Joel now seems old enough to play with Sara and George Jr., who are 2 and 4 years older than him. Man, he seems to be getting bigger so fast...

Carl and I started to carry bins in from the garage and began the long process of moving in, well sort of. I guess you can't really move in when you are moving out in a few months. But in the meantime, I didn't want to live out of boxes and suitcases. I was done with that for a while.

Mom and Dad Heppner arrived mid morning, then Byron and Kristal and the boys came over. Mom had brought stuff for lunch and it was much appreciated. I don't know what I was thinking that I would be able to quickly go to the store and pick up a few things for lunch. John and Caroline and Lucas came just in time for lunch and we all found spots to sit, either on the couch or the floor. I guess we were a bit short on chairs.

After we ate, some of us continued to bring in bins from the garage and unpack them. We still had an entire basement room of stuff downstairs, where my toaster, dishes (oh, who knows what I packed away) were. My main goal was to unpack enough stuff so that I could use my kitchen, find my toothbrush, and have our bed made. I have this thing when you come back from a trip that you have to unpack EVERYTHING and get all the laundry sorted and everything in it's place before you go to bed. So you can imagine the potential distress with the endless stack of boxes piled in every corner of the house. But I was fine. I have realized this year that I'm extremely task oriented, but this was one task I knew I couldn't complete anytime soon.

Wendell and Shana had come by mid afternoon. Shana read almost the entire library of books to Kezia; it's like Kezia was trying to make up for the last 10 months. Soon it was time for supper and Carl and I decided to order pizza. We all ate, this time on a few more chairs that Carl and Byron had picked up from Nelson's place. After supper, I went upstairs to unpack the bathroom.

I realized at that time, as I was pulling stuff out of the bins and arranging them, that I am not used to having so much commotion in my home. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm an extreme extrovert that is energized by other people, but for the last 10 months, my home has been my quiet sanctuary, sometimes too quiet, but I've gotten used to it. And so I needed to escape into my little task completion mode.

By 8:00 everyone was heading home and I was feeling like we had been able to sort through at least some of the bins. I went to bed fairly late and didn't sleep too well. I think because I was still feeling out of my element and I could sense that Kezia was too. Joel spent most of the day next door playing with the neighbours, but Kezia roamed around and wasn't herself. I hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be too overwhelming.

The next morning came too quickly, but for the most part we were all feeling pretty rested. Asha had a good sleep in her own room, even though she got up twice. Hey, that's one less time than usual! We got ready for church and I was excited about seeing our friends. I asked Shana on Saturday if she could be available in case Kezia or Joel or Asha got overwhelmed to take them out. I knew a lot of people would want to hug and kiss them and after Saturday, I wasn't sure how they would react.

Well, Joel was in his glory. He was acting goofy (I think it was a coping technique) but it amused everyone. Kezia seemed a bit out of sorts, and Asha was just fine. It surprised me, but I was relieved that she didn't make strange at all.

The service was so good. It was so awesome to hear familiar songs and see our youth worship team leading. Ron preached and I really enjoyed it. Everything seemed like it was, and it was comforting to be in that place.

After church was the church picnic and I had the opportunity to reconnect with people. With some, we just caught up on each other's happenings, but with others, we got passed the chit chat and shared how the year really went. Some tears were shed, and it was heart warming for me to hear that we had been missed. I realized that I missed being needed.

Of course, just like ol' times, we were one of the last families to leave the picnic. It was frightfully cold and it was a wonder that I didn't freeze to my lawn chair! If it wasn't for the great conversation, I could have been pretty cranky. It was funny though, because I don't think I really complained as much as everyone else. Maybe because I knew it would be awfully insensitive of me, coming from sunny California. Or maybe it's because everyone knows that all Manitobans complain about the weather, either it's too hot or too cold, or the size of the mosquitos. I think everyone was trying to make me feel more at home!

After the picnic, we decided to stop in at home for a bit before heading off to Steinbach to my aunt and uncle's place. They were having a Father's Day get together with extended family and invited us to come. I felt so bad because weeks ago I had made my father's and grandfather's cards for Father's Day, but forgot about Carl. So I went to Hallmark with the kids in Calgary and we all picked out a nice card for him. We all signed it, I put in my suitcase, and then on Sunday completely forgot to give it to him. He was quick to forgive me and reminded me that gifts etc. aren't as a big deal to him as they are to me. Whew! And I guess considering the circumstances, I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

We stayed at my aunt and uncles' place for a few hours and visited a bit. There were a lot of people, and so I was getting more and more tired. Kezia looked like a zombie, Asha was flopping all over the place (but refused to sleep in the playpen) and Joel was crying even when someone else got hurt. So we figured it was time to go. We'll get together another time with each of my family members and have a more intimate visit.

What a crazy two days! Our whole family was exhausted. This night we all slept a bit better. Asha only got up once (hallelujah!) and Kezia didn't have any more bad dreams. It was such a treat to sleep in on Monday. I stumbled out of my room to gaze upon the stack of bins in the hall, in the kids' room, on the stairs. I was jolted back to reality, and to my problem.....so many tasks, so little time.....