Opening the box!

Four years ago today, the UPS man delivered my 28-pound package of puzzling joy, and yesterday marked the four-year anniversary of starting this blog!  Wow, it’s hard to believe that I have been doing this for so long.  Click here and here to see those historic posts once again.  🙂

This puzzle entitled, Life: The Great Challenge, has certainly been a metaphor in my journey with this big, beautiful beast.  Here are some of the many Life challenges / highlights from the last four years.

1. Derek, my oldest son, was 5 months old when I got the puzzle.  He’s now getting ready to go into pre-K!
2. My husband quit his job, then took us to southern CA for 8 weeks to do consulting work.
3. We put our house on the market, packed up all our belongings, and moved to Atlanta, GA for a new job opportunity. 
   

   Status of Section 1 at time of move to Atlanta, GA.

4. We lived with Randy’s sister and her family for 5 months while waiting for our house to sell.
5. We lived with great friends for another 6 months while waiting for our new house to be built.
6. We moved into our new house in mid September and 2 months later hosted Thanksgiving for about 20 people.  
7. After 1.3 years of neglect, I was finally able to pull out the puzzle and work on it again.
8. I got pregnant with our second child.
9. I finished Section 1 on April 2nd, 2013 – 2 years, 8 months, and 10 days after starting. 
   

   Section 1 finished!

10. I gave birth to our second son, Cole, on July 30th, 2013 – 3 weeks earlier than planned. 
11. I finished Section 2 on April 13, 2014 – 1 year and 11 days after starting (I’m getting better!)

Section 2 finished!

12. On July 1, 2014, I got this “brilliant” idea to join a group puzzle project with my friends from the Flickr Puzzling group I belong to….yeah, everyone but me finished within 10 days!  LOL  What was I thinking?!
13. Goal date for completion of Section 3 is October 18, 2014.  Wish me luck!

Section 3 status as of 7/23/14.