Haven't updated for awhile. That's because we are still embroiled in the move through hell (if not the move FROM hell). Put it this way: I've been in a Family Inns motel room with my 80-year-old mother and my pregnant wife for over two weeks now. Not only is the motel expense killing us--the cost of the years of therapy that will result from this will be overwhelming.

To make what could be a very long and sorry story short, the bureaucrats have had trouble getting all the little yellow pieces of paper lined up in the right order, and we have yet to get the power turned on (although we've had water for a week and a half now). Finally, today, they are digging up our yard preparatory to connecting the house to the grid.

Alas, it comes too late in some ways. Mom somehow decided that it is like this in our lives all the time (as opposed to being extraordinary circumstances) and is bailing on us. She is moving back to West Tennessee, specifically to the Harlan-Morris Retirement Home in Trenton, leaving behind broken dreams of finally getting to spend time in relationship building and learning about my family history. I can't think of any other way to say it. I am crushed and exhausted. The upside is that at least we are in a house that is much nicer and much more appropriate for a family our size. The downside is that our financial burden has more than doubled, even with some financial support from Mom because she recognizes we wouldn't have made this move into this size house in the first place except for her.