Life in Lake Park

We are saying goodbye today to our home and neighborhood, and I'm processing this the best way I know... by writing and reminiscing.

2003

2016

When we first moved in we just had these 2 little munchkins:

 We set out to get to know our new neighborhood just like this almost every day.... for years I pushed strollers through the streets of Lake Park!

 Eventually we brought home a new baby...

 .... and then another new baby a couple of years later:

We've enjoyed our neighbors....

.... and hosted Back Yard Bible Clubs, Back Yard Explorers Camps, Cousins Days, etc.

We've loved the traditions of Lake Park, like the Fall Festivals, the Kite Days, and our favorite, the Bike Parades:

We've enjoyed hosting parties, for Pete's students and for friends:

 We've loved the random wildlife we've seen here... horses, goats, sheep, giant turtles, trumpeter swans, herons, humongous flocks of birds...

....and the occasional random adventure, like when the hot air balloon came down.

Season after season has been beautiful from this vantage point!

In our "baker's dozen" of years that we've spent here, we've experienced new life, death, loss, silliness, great adventures, and many, many celebrations -- all of the things that make a house a home.

 The Lord has blessed us in our home in Lake Park!

Let the Moving begin!

We're stretching out our transition between houses for over a week, to try to prolong the painfulness for as long as possible, or something like that.

Today, though, was the "Load the Big Truck Day."

A.K.A. "A Day to Appreciate the Fact That We Have 4 Helpful Kids":

They all worked long and hard on this hot and sweaty day.

At one point I saw Miles -- who insisted on only carrying the heaviest things he possibly could and got mad if I asked him to pick up something rather light -- carrying a bed frame out to the truck.  I told him I was amazed that he could do that.  His response was, "Mom, 'MovingBedFrames' is my middle name!'"

We also recruited some help from around the world.... Roman from Russia and Joel from Rwanda!

Much got done, but still much to do!

New house

We bought our new house on Friday.

Colsen was reflecting yesterday, "You know, when we first went through that Ivy Hill house I never thought we would actually BUY it!  I mean we never actually bought houses; in all my 9 years we've never bought a house!   But we did!  Little did I know that when I first walked through that house, it was my new home."

He summed it up well for all of us.  :)

Front

Back

We are moving from a street address of 6605, where we became a family of 6, to a street address of 7325, where we will likely become a family of 7 in just a few short months!  This will be our third family home and we look forward to the adventures the Lord has already ordained for us in this house.

4th of July

This was our last big Lake Park 4th of July Celebration as residents of Lake Park.  I'm so glad we got to have one more, and that it was such a good one!

As it turned out, the Frank family had their best showing yet in all of the contests/races ever, coming home with some ribbons:

 Strider came in 3rd in his age group for the 5K, Rayna came in 3rd for the bike decorating contest and 2nd in the hat decorating contest, and Colsen came in 1st for the hat decorating contest.  (Miles had a very strong showing in the 1K race, but they don't do ribbons for that race.)

The Dreschers came for the 5K as well, and Ellie and Branson both won their age groups!

It was a festive, fun celebration and we found ourselves grateful for our lives in Lake Park -- and America.