Mike learned we'd be moving to Maryland somewhere around October 15th, received the orders October 20th, and we were officially out of our Grovetown, GA home on November 3rd. We had hoped we'd be home for Christmas for once in Mike's military career. After learning where his next assignment would be, Mike discussed the timeline with the superior that would be filing the paper work. It was agreed upon that he would put off the filing for a bit so that we would be able to take leave around the first of December and then arrive in Maryland sometime after Christmas. Said superior's superior got ahold of his paperwork somehow and processed it through quickly (the way things are supposed to be done). Therefore, we were home for both Thanksgiving and Hayden's birthday (Nov. 28th) instead of Christmas.
Hayden was blessed with a classroom full of boys his age in his Sunday morning/Wednesday night bible class. Their mommies knew I had wanted to have a birthday party for him sometime in November before we left town. When we got the orders much earlier than expected, they threw us a surprise early birthday party at Odynn's house. The theme was puppies, one of Hayden's favorite things. Odynn's mommy made a puppy cake and she and Ian's mommy ordered pizza. His buddies Ian, Odynn, Aiden, and Miles were there, along with the older siblings of Ian, Odynn, and Aiden. They had a great time and we have some great memories. In leu of presents, they got Hayden a Target gift card for us to take with us and use later (since all of our household goods were already enroute to a storage facility in VA). Thanks again for blessing us!
We left for Texas on the evening of November 3rd, took turns driving overnight, and arrived in Mt. Vernon, TX early November 4th. We stayed the weekend with Aunt Sue. Mike's cousin, Amy, and her 3 yr old, Amanda, arrived Friday and were also there most of the weekend. Hayden had someone to play with, and Aunt Sue let me help her quilt the latest project on her quilting rack. I'm now inspired to start quilting again. I've had some unfinished projects in a box for a few years now. Sue taught me how to hand quilt about 10 years ago. I finished my first hand quilted quilt (king size) about a year and a half later. I put off hand quilting for several years and took up rag quilts. I made a few of those. I finished the last rag quilt in Hawai'i. It is cranberry/floral flannel with denim. An un-air-conditioned house in Hawai'i for 2 years wasn't really conducive to lap quilting. A baby who spits up for the first year of his life is not conducive to lap quilting, either. I think Hayden is old enough now to learn that needles hurt when they poke you, so it's best if you leave mommy's quilting alone. I doubt I'll be able to do any quilting while he's awake, anyway. Here's a link to the quilt Sue let me do some quilting on. She finished it a couple weeks after we left. She donated it to the Providence Cemetery to raffle for fundraising. Scroll down to the quilt with butterflies. http://providencecemetery.org/fundraiser
We spent the rest of the month of November in Leander and Burnet with our immediate families. I worked part of the time at David's office. Hayden got to play with his cousin Avery a few times and we took them to have pictures made. They turned out amazing. Here are a few. If you don't have facebook and you'd like to see the rest, let me know.
We got to meet Hayden's newest cousin, Huck, who was 1 month old. Cousin Josiah got to bring his parents for Thanksgiving at the Browns'. Hayden, Josiah, and Huck got one professional picture made together, too. I don't have a digital copy of that one yet, and I haven't had my scanner.
We got to spend a day shopping and playing in south Austin at Cabella's with Zeke and Ollie and Avery. Hayden and Avery got to see stuffed versions of all of Texas's wildlife and more, and I got me some great boots for the cold weather up north.
We had a family birthday party for Hayden. All of his cousins got to be there, Josiah, Huck, and Avery. Mary made a chocolate cake and with some help from Callie and a tiny bit of input from me (and I think my mom may have helped when I was gone?), it turned out to be a beautiful classic Ford truck. Hayden got lots of good presents.
The Brown extended family generally gets together every December for a big family dinner and "white elephant" gift exchange. We had it at the end of November this year instead since all of us were in Texas at the same time for once. Hayden got to open many presents in November, and it's been great having them all as we are now in Maryland waiting for our house to become available.
We left Texas November 30 and drove all the way back to Grovetown to pick up Mike's truck. Our friends from church (the Drake's) let us leave it on their property while we were on vacation. Every inch of our car was packed full. While in Texas, we found a great sale at Sam's Club on a portable DVD player that attaches to the seat for Hayden. I think it was our saving grace on that 18 hour drive. We drove overnight again and arrived in Grovetown just in time to retrieve our mail that was on hold before the post office closed. We went to church (it was a Wednesday evening) and stayed the night with a generous friend who opened her home to us. (Thank you Pace family!!) We got up early Thursday morning, had breakfast at Waffle House, weighed both our vehicles full, and hit the highway for Maryland.
Enroute to Maryland, we stopped in Fayetteville, NC to visit Charla, Thadd, Wren, and Emeline. These are army/church friends that became dear friends to us in Hawai'i. We had a very long lunch with them at Carolina Ale House and finally got back on the road around 4pm. We arrived in Frederick, MD around 11:30pm. We all slept very well. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn. Friday morning, we had an appointment to view on-post housing. We saw both the old townhomes and the newer (2005-2006) townhomes. We were offered the option to move into old housing that day or wait until January 12 for a newer unit to be available for us. We decided to wait on the newer one. Though it's not as wonderful as the single-story house we were spoiled with in Georgia, it's very nice for housing in our price range here in Maryland. There's a VAST difference between the newer housing and the older housing on post, especially when it comes to the much needed storage space. (Have you ever seen the amount of army gear these guys have to keep up with?)
After staying in the Fairfield Inn for 5 nights, we were able to find a fully-furnished 1 bedroom condo for rent until our house is ready. It has been a relief to be able to cook meals here instead of dining out for every meal. Hayden has his pack-n-play set up in the dining room, and he has done very well here.
Mike checked in to his command on Dec. 6th and spent that week in-processing, going to all of the offices he has to register with on post (medical, dental, his company, etc., etc.) He then was granted 10 days permissive TDY (Temporary Duty). This is given to soldiers for house-hunting time. Since we already know we're staying on post, it's just been more vacation time. It has been very cold and windy. We didn't get any snow until the day before yesterday and it snowed nearly all day. We've been busying ourselves mostly with shopping for propper winter attire (i.e. snow boots, hats, scarves, coats).
Hayden had his first doctor's appointment here the other day, his 2 yr. well-baby check-up. He is 35.25 inches tall and 27.6 lbs.
