A Full(er) House?

While my MO Sis was here in January, we sucked up as much time as we could. Even though we don't talk as much as we'd both like, we are pretty close. She's mentioned a few times that they'd talked about moving here, but the idea of looking for jobs wasn't appealing, plus my nephew is in high school and was pretty settled in with his friends and his basketball team and after many years of struggling, he was finally getting good grades. So she didn't want to mess that up.

Well, late last summer they moved and my nephew would have had to change schools because of the boundary lines. Instead, he had a friend whose dad offered to let him live with them so that he could stay in his school. So that's what he's been doing for the whole school year so far, but just before Christmas, my nephew and that dad had some issues and he decided that he couldn't keep up the arrangement. So my nephew stayed with another family through the winter break and at the beginning of January, but they weren't able to have him stay permanently. He would have to move back in with my sister, but he'd have to change schools. When my sister mentioned to him that she really wanted to move to CO, but that she hadn't so that he could stay in his school, he told her that he'd rather move here than have to go to the other school. So, plans started being made- pretty fast.

I got a call from my mom while Eric & Jake were still here, saying that MO Sis had given notice at her work that she wouldn't be there after February 17. Her plan was to get her taxes filed and as soon as their refund arrived, they'd move. They would need the money to rent a truck for their stuff. My mom told me that she thought my house would be best for them to move into, since I had the basement already set up as a room, plus they'd be bringing their dog and her chihuahua doesn't get along with other dogs. I was so mad that she just assumed that doubling the number of people in my house would be a better idea than adding four to her current two. After venting and ranting to Shell and Eric and freaking out about adding more people to our house and onto our already tight expenses, I calmed down when Shell said that it would be okay with her, but that maybe instead of having all four move in with us, perhaps my nephew (who is 16) could stay with my parents while the two adults, four year old, and dog live with us.

Since I hadn't talked to my sister yet, I called her and asked her what she was expecting would happen with this move. She said that they really didn't want to live with anyone, but that if they couldn't secure jobs before they came (and the likelihood of that would be slim), they probably wouldn't be able to get an apartment right away. She said that living with my parents was not appealing (and I couldn't blame her), so I mentioned having my nephew go to their house and having the rest stay at ours. She agreed that it would make it a little easier that way, so we called it a plan.

So today is February 17, her last day of work and the plan is moving towards completion. My nephew has already been here since Sunday, he flew out so that he could get enrolled in school and get started. His first day was yesterday. My parents are already making him a little crazy, but I hope that will die down a little as they all get more settled. The truck from MO should be here sometime next Sunday, so this weekend we are going to move my boy's stuff from his basement room back upstairs to his old room, which was turned into my office to work on schoolwork. We bought a desk and small bookcase for that room, so we'll need to rearrange our bedroom to make room for them. Our house will be very full, but we're doing what we feel is the right thing to do. We want them here, and have for a long time. They want their own space as much as we do, so I feel that they are motivated to find jobs and get their own place as soon as they can. We'll be inconvenienced for a while, but it will be worth it. And we'll get to know my sister's fiance and their daughter much better now, which is a huge bonus. Collectively, I've spent less than a month with my niece since she was born and I am really looking forward to spending lots more time with her.

Once again, life is moving in its typical crazy fashion.