Montana Farewell

The start of May was bittersweet for our family. The time had finally come for us to move. While we were excited about the new life that awaited us in Texas, we weren't at all looking forward to saying goodbye to our Montana friends. Our last 2 weeks were filled with quite a few farewell events...

Amy held a piano recital with her piano students at a local memory care facility. The staff and residents there really seemed to appreciate the students' songs, and the large room was perfect for fitting the students' cheering sections. Here are my youngest 2 students, a sweet brother/sister pair that lived just down the street from us.

My six students each played 2-3 songs for the recital. Their playing was just marvelous. I was very proud of them all!

My Bible study group was a difficult group to say good-bye to! These ladies have given me such a wonderful spiritual encouragement and social outlet every Tuesday night for the last six years. They have all been amazing confidants, friends, and prayer warriors who have walked through all kinds of life adventures with me. On one of our last gatherings, they presented me with a "Montana Memories" binder, a book that they had filled with affirming letters and funny tidbits about Texas. I will miss these ladies dearly! 

These Bible study ladies also attended a girls' night that was hosted by my dear friends Jenn and Jenna the weekend before our move. This was such a beautiful evening! Jenn and Jenna had decorated our church's new youth center with fun spring decorations. All of the ladies brought a tasty array of food.

How fun it was to sit around and visit over a meal without ANY little ones running around!

I have some pretty amazing friends. These ladies wrote encouraging words for me on these flower petals below....

...and presented me with a framed copy of this Montana print (below). Jenna and Maggie had worked together to take photos of things that would be meaningful to me and that would spell the letters in Montana. (In case you're interested, here are the letter meanings: M=the Montana state highway sign; O=a bowl of chili for our annual young adult Chili Bowl/flag football event; N=Trinity Church sign; T=Trinity church steeple; A=Aries street sign on our cul-de-sac; N=Welcome to Billings sign; A=Walsh park sign, our closest and often visited neighborhood playground). All of the girls signed special messages surrounding this print. What a creative, thoughtful memory!

In addition, the ladies pooled money for a nursery gift card so that our family could buy plants and flowers for our new Texas home. Later in the evening, the women gathered in a circle around me and prayed for our family's transition. Talk about an emotional prayer! Afterwards, the intent was to watch a movie, but we all simply enjoyed the child-free visiting time. What a wonderfully uplifting evening! I love these ladies!

Meanwhile, between these social events, our home was gradually becoming emptier. We actually spent 2 1/2 days living out of our home with just a handful of furniture-- our bed, the boys' beds, one TV, and the tabletop pictured below. Most of our meals were eaten off this small white shelf as we sat on the floor around it.

Our boys had a heyday (at least at first) running around the empty home, marveling at their echoing voices, and being creative with extra empty boxes (this one served a dual purpose-- a drum and a slide).

Our kindhearted neighbors saw the moving van being packed up and came over with an armload of toys for Jaden and Cody. This was amazingly helpful! Our small pile of unpacked toys definitely would not have entertained the boys throughout the weekend in an empty home. The boys were thrilled to play with the Discovery toys, the homemade tent, and the Thomas train set. Be sure to remember this "toys-on-loan" idea if you ever have neighbors or friends going through the moving process!

Our last farewell event was a "Schleicher Sendoff Supper" held at the school. It started off like any good Lutheran gathering-- with a delicious potluck.

Then, there was a short program with various congregation members (our pastor, principal, a youth board member, a teen from Jason's youth group, and some dear friends) who spoke about our time in MT. We were so humbled by the words that were shared and by the large turnout of our church family.

At the end of the program, Jason and I each gave a farewell message (neither of us made it through without tears!), and then Jason played a "farewell blessing" song that he had written. (You might be wondering why we are short two people in these photos. We lined up a few teens to watch our boys on the playground during the program so that we could listen without interruption. Jaden and Cody had a ball!)

This event will forever be a beautiful memory for us both. God blessed us mightily through this congregation. It was very difficult to say goodbye to a church family that we love so dearly!

After the program, we stood in a receiving line of sorts to give personal farewells. Here we are with our sweet little goddaughter Ella.

Jason's youth group had already given him a couple of large group farewells earlier in the week, a pool party and a dinner out (paid for by the youth!). Here, a few youth stuck around to visit with Jason after the program. It was obvious that he's a well-loved DCE!

The next evening, our last night in Billings, our house was officially empty, so we stayed overnight at the home of our church secretary. She had set up a whole city of toys in her living room for Jaden and Cody. This thoughtful gesture made our boys' initial transition so much easier! Jaden and Cody couldn't wait to go over to Connie's house! :) 

On our last morning in town, we awoke to find a flock of plastic flamingos in Connie's yard. Late night "flamingo flocking" had been one of Jason's youth fundraisers during our time in Montana. So, this particular flamingo group had been secretly planted (by some youth board members, we think) and arranged in the shape of a heart as a final farewell to our family. So sweet!

Thank you to our Billings friends for all your many gestures of love and care during our final days in Montana. We love you and miss you!