Rent House Adventure

8:50 AM


1998 opened with some pretty big changes for our family. My Dad found out his job was moving from South Austin to Round Rock. Not long after, my childhood home sold. God’s timing was once again perfect.

Sarah saw this as a grand adventure. She didn’t understand that hardship of her seventeen-year-old sister, Nicole leaving behind her friends and basketball team. She didn’t understand her parents dread at looking for a new church, a new home, and all that. She excitedly helped back boxes (which no doubt had to be repacked). Enjoyed it when the two Rath boys (who were about Nicole’s age) came and helped us pack up our van and truck and didn’t mind kids running around them.

All the Holman kids, except for Nicole, couldn’t remember living in the city. We were shocked to discover that we had a very, very tiny yard. Imagine our surprise when some neighbors just walked into ours. We were easily scared and quickly decided that indoors was good.

Mom and Dad both slept in a lot of mornings. They were very tired and let us watch more TV. What we didn’t know was that Mom was having horrible pains that the doctors couldn’t explain. We now believe that they were caused by gallstones. Dad had come down with a bad case of bronchitis during the move.

Nicole, even though the move had been hard for her, took us to VBS and to the near-by pool sometimes. She also helped me learn how to operate the TV so that I could turn on Donut Man movies and such in the morning.

Mom and Dad gave Rose and I a huge party for our birthday’s that year. We had a tea party that people remembered for years later. I still remember loving it. It was a dress-up tea and I was a princess and Rose was a ballerina.

We went to a small church that was pretty awesome, though it is the first time I remember getting into a big trouble in a kids group. Rose was obviously autistic. She didn’t get some things. However, I was quick to protect her. I do know that I jumped in sometimes when kids were picking on her and I ended up getting in trouble. Some of the teachers told my parents I was a troublemaker. I also remember that my parents were proud of me. While they always told me to be respectful of the adults and tried to teach me kinder ways to deal with things, they also didn’t want to discourage me from defending Rose.

I was shocked that adults were calling me out as the troublemaker and not the mean kids who were picking on Rose. I was surprised to find that most people were not like my parents. My parents valued a peaceful home, but never at the expense of any of us bulling another. If there was an issue, they would take the time to get to the bottom of the issue, not just punish the loudest kid. As I was tall for my age and possessed a good set of lungs, people assumed I was the one who had instigated the disagreements with the other kids.

More changes were on the horizon for our family in the second half of 1998



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