Thursday, July 29, 2010

A crazy summer!

What a crazy past few months we've had! We literally haven't had a chance to catch our breath, and there have been some really great developments in our lives. So, to start at the beginning, we found out in April that Courtney is pregnant with our second child! She is due in mid-December. Clancy isn't quite sure what to make of it, but needless to say, we are thrilled!

In mid-May, literally the day before Todd was scheduled to drive to Jacksonville, FL to start his new job, we received an offer on our Texas house. We had a signed contract within 24 hours, and our movers came and packed us up within a week. All three of us were on the road to Jacksonville 10 days after the offer came in. It was a whirlwind last few days in Texas with lots of goodbyes, especially for Courtney as she was expecting to spend the summer in Corpus Christi. We met up with some good friends for our last night in town while Clancy hung out with Madilynn at her house.

A very welcome sign, even if it meant Courtney and Clancy had to move a little earlier than planned, it was nice to all make the trip east together.

Clancy got a chance to play in our Texas yard a few more times before the movers came. We loved our first house that we purchased together; there are so many great memories that we will cherish from our 3 years in Texas. It was definitely a bitter-sweet move to Florida.



It was a relatively easy trip to Florida and Clancy was a great sport spending so much time in the car. We spent the better part of two weeks staying with cousins Jim and Anne; they were great hosts! Clancy had so much fun playing with "Uncle" Jim and we hated to go, but we were fortunate enough to find a great house in a neighborhood that is in a perfect location (for those familiar with Jacksonville and know how spread out the town is, we are 20 minutes from the beach and downtown). It is an easy commute to work for Todd, and best of all, it has a pool! The house backs up to a nature preserve, so it's quiet and there are tons of trees.


Granny came down to Florida and was a savior and took Clancy to North Carolina for a few days so we could unpack and put the house together. Todd had a work trip to Virginia where he was able to get together with a bunch of old friends he hadn't seen in a few years, and then it was off to Emerald Isle, NC for the annual Jessup family trek to the beach. It truly felt like a vacation this year after all the stress that goes along with a move. Clancy had a blast with his cousins and absolutely loved the ocean and the pool. It was a great week and went by too quickly.




Once we returned home from North Carolina it was only a quick turnaround before we were back on the road again. This time, Todd headed back to Texas for C-130 training in Fort Worth while Courtney spent a week in San Diego with the Nichols family. Clancy had a great time with cousins Avery and Kate, and got to meet Uncles Jim and Tom and Aunts Darlyne and Fran. Todd was even able to come out for a weekend to see everyone.

We are looking forward to finally settling down in Jacksonville and getting to spend some time with good friends we left behind when Courtney moved away five years ago! It has been an incredibly busy and rewarding summer. We have been reminded so many times how blessed we are and that everything has happened for the right reasons. We have one more trip to Hilton Head in August for a friend's wedding, and then it's on to the next adventure!