A Series of Unfortunate Events...

Have you ever heard that saying that bad things happen in twos and threes? I'm really hoping the Bad News Fairy will only visit us three times, because I'm begging for mercy already. I am devastated to tell that our sweet conure Marley passed away unexpectedly over the holidays. I had left her with some neighbors and got a call a few days after Christmas. She didn't even know what had happened, which was very unsettling. Marley was only about 4 years old and her breed usually has a 40-50 year life span. While I felt awful my neighbor had to call and tell me, coming home to pick up her empty cage and her body was heartbreaking. We came home after being in Salt Lake for over 2 weeks and I had to take down Christmas decorations and unpack and for 3 days I couldn't even function. Marley was such a happy, cuddly bird and she and Claire had become close in the months before we left. One morning I was crying and Claire came up to me and put her little hand on my face and said, "Crying. Marley. Gone." I was shocked that she could understand! 

The next week, my brother-in-law Bruce had a massive heart attack. Bruce is the husband of Dan's oldest sister Christa. They live about 45 minutes from us and we hadn't seen them in 9 years. Christa moved out of Dan's house when he was 3, so they don't even know each other very well. I had been wanting to get together with them since we moved to Colorado this summer, so I felt awful that the first time we saw them was in the hospital where Bruce was in a coma. Dan's Mom flew in the day after and stayed for a week and Dan's nephew Mykle came, so we were able to be together a few times that week. Bruce woke up on day 4, but has a long way to go. We are praying very hard for his full recovery.

During this crazy week, our landlord called and told us they want to sell the home we're living in. We have a lease through June, so this is not at all what we planned! On one hand, I'm not sure I'm completely sold on Erie. I really hate living 15-20 minutes away from a grocery store, our ward and the bank. I feel like I live in my car sometimes and being so far away from almost everyone in our ward and feeling like an outsider really really really stinks. On the other hand, the thought of packing boxes, uprooting our family and starting over again so soon just gives me the hives! We showed the home to their realtor and one family already and woke up to a For Sale sign and lockbox on Monday morning. We knew we'd have to show the home about a month before the end of our lease, but this is NOT what we signed up for! I'm not sure where we want to go yet, but I'd actually be surprised if this house sells soon. It's an amazing house, but the market is so slow. So, for now, we're not looking too much. I want my kids to be able to finish the school year and enjoy where we are.