change is hard

Hello, Zuko here.

Well, I know it's been a long time. But lots of things have been happening with me and my family lately and I just kind of wanted to give an update to you all.

So a couple of months ago my parents made the decision to sell our house. The reasons were purely financial; at the root of it all we just can't afford it anymore. It's sad and it really sucks, but it's happening.

At first I didn't know what to feel. It took a couple of hours for it to really sink in, and when it did I just broke down and started sobbing. I was sad and confused. My parents told me that I would eventually get used to the idea of leaving the only house I've ever lived in, but truth is I didn't want to get used to it; I didn't want to leave at all.

About a week later the sad feelings left and were replaced with angry ones. I was mad at God for doing this to me and my family. I was still confused and very upset, and I just wanted to know why this was happening. After talking to my friends and having them pray for me, I felt much more at peace about the whole situation.

I'm still confused, and I still don't know why God is doing this. I don't know what could possibly come out of this huge change, but I can hope that it's good, and that it will be good for me and my family.

We found a house in La Crescenta (yes, we're staying local, thankfully) and we're going to start moving sometime in late May. We'll be completely moved in by June 1st.

I've been trying to count my blessings and make a "pros" list for moving. Here's what I've come up with so far:

• I still get to have my own room.
• I get to paint it whatever colors I want to.
• (which are the colors that my current room is now.)
• I get to take my door.
• (which is really awesome since I painted a T.A.R.D.I.S. on the back of it and was going to be really sad if I had to leave it behind.)
• We're across the street from CV Park, which is great because I love running there and it's super huge and pretty and yeah I'm really happy about that.
• I'm ten minutes away from a lot of my friends.
• I get to have packing parties!!
• (dude I'm actually really excited for that negl.)

At this point the hardest thing for me to do is stay positive, and I've actually been doing a pretty good job of that so far. And I have great friends that are helping me be optimistic about this, and my family has been helping me too. We're all helping each other.

(awww how sappy and cute awwww)

I'd appreciate any prayers for me and my family during this difficult transition. I know that God's got this and this isn't for forever.

See you on the flip side :)

--Mel