Well, I thought I was doing good getting in here, but here it is a month later.

We got moved.  I flew out on 9/27 back to Phoenix.  I helped my husband pack up the house, and we finally pulled out of Phoenix on 10/4 (Wednesday) and arrived in Georgetown, FL on Saturday.  My husband drove the 26' Penske truck with the dog (Max, our yorkie) and towed our van.  I drove the car with our two cats. Trust me, David had the easy job.

Our girls were thrilled when we arrived with the pets.  They eventually welcomed us too. (just kidding, sort of)  One of my long time friends from Florida, Louise, rounded up her husband, daughter and son-in-law and they drove an hour to meet us when we arrived and helped unload our truck.  They were such a blessing, and it was her idea- we had never asked for help.

The following Tuesday, 10/10, we brought Mom's husband, Bob, home from the hospital.  He was so glad to be back in his own bed.  The doctor, nurses and even the hospice nurse were not thrilled with our decision to not provide a hospital bed for him.  They all said that it would be better and keep him from aspirating. I stood behind Mom's decision.  Bob wanted to be in his own bed, and that was what we were going to do.  We bought a "Mattress Genie", which is sort of a "poor person's" adjustable bed.  It goes under the mattress and raises the bed up to a 40 degree angle.  It worked great.

Sadly all of our efforts only lasted a short time.  Friday evening, after having the energy for the first time to let us help him get up to use the restroom, he went into distress and then passed away at 9:25pm.  Fortunately our girls were at the neighbors house for dinner, so they missed the actual passing.  They were home shortly thereafter and said 'goodbye' to Grandpa Bob.

We are all in shock at this point.  We really expected to have a few months with him at home.  My husband thought he would be caring for him a while, and not just 3 days.  Mom is trying to be strong.  It is very tense. 

We don't regret our decision to move here.  We love being out in the forest, and I am glad that we are here with Mom.  I don't think she would be doing as well alone.

We are trying now to get back into the routine of normal household maintenance and schoolwork.  Mom will be able to walk in a few weeks (it has been a month now since her 2nd ankle surgery)  Bob's memorial will be 11/10 (he wanted to be cremated and no funeral)  Soon family will be coming in, so we are just doing light school work.  We are still moving in!

I feel exhausted just telling you all about it!  We have joined the Putnam Plus Homeschoolers, which is the only homeschool support group I have found here in Putnam County.  They are a nice group.  We have found a 4-H group, Girl Scouts, Awanas, and something called "Princess Class" which seems to be a girl's Bible Study at another local church. There is a drawing class once a week at the public library in Palatka, which takes 45 minutes to get to. I think that is enough activities, and we will probably weed out something.

We have found a nice church, and it turns out that they are starting a homeschool support group in the next few months.  We will be checking that out too.

Anyway, that is about it.  Soon I will talk more about homeschool, our schedules, and such.  Oh, November 1 starts NaNoWriMo ( www.nanowrimo.org ) National Novel Writing Month.  I think we will be focusing on writing next month. : )

Talk to you soon!

Cara in Florida