Somehow we manage survive our move. We pulled off this move on the hottest week of the summer with four kids and two dogs while I was 28 weeks pregnant! We did the last packing on the house Friday afternoon after family left town, continued Saturday morning while Michael attended his last PhD class at Drake, packed most of the moving truck Saturday afternoon (which we sadly had to finish Sunday afternoon for an hour), and cleaned Saturday night and Monday morning. The new owners literally arrived about 20 minutes before we were done cleaning, and we waiting for us to get out of the way. It was chaos! Just writing about it makes me tired.
It was exhausting, filthy, long, hot, sweaty, hot, (did I mention hot!?!) work, but we made it. I know the only reason we made it was because the Lord poured tender mercies over our family. We could have never done this one on our own.
Tender mercy number one: Jamie
Aunt Jamie is the number one reason this move was successful. She decided to come help us move instead of coming out for Hazel's baptism. She sacrificed her time, vacation, and probably her sanity for our family. And, this is the second time she's helped us move. Jamie is that incredible of a person!
She worked so hard packing, cleaning, helping watch the kids, packing and cleaning some more. She put up with Michael and I being the most highly stressed, unfun hosts of all time. She also made sure to work in fun moments and celebrate the final moments in Iowa. There are not enough words to thank you Jamie!
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| A toast to surviving moving out of our old home! |
On the drive out, Jamie suggested we stop and visit the site where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed. Like I said, she made sure we did a few fun things too! I really didn't want to go out of our way, but I'm so glad we did. "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!"
Tender mercy number two: Grandpa Jones
Dear Grandpa Jones helped us out so much as we prepared for our move. At 70 something years old, he helped fix a few things around the house, hauled boxes, and expertly organized our moving truck (we paid less for each foot of space we used so this was a huge blessing!). He reminded our kids over and over how loved they were, how much they'd be missed, but also how wonderfully they'd do in Kentucky. We miss him terribly!
Tender mercy number three: The Boone Ward
Our ward family in Boone was wonderful. We had never lived far from family before Iowa, but they taught us that family is never far when you have the church. They loved our children and us so deeply. They cared for us, and encouraged us. When we had to leave, they worked and sweated with us to get us on our way. From the men who loaded the truck, to the sisters that helped clean, we couldn't have done it without each of them. Sweet Linda Lee cleaned with me late in to Saturday evening, then seeing how much we had left to do, agreed to come back Monday morning and stayed for over 3 hours to help us get out the door one time! I will always cherish the lessons in faithful discipleship I've learned by watching members of the Boone ward serve. Thank you!
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| Expertly packed truck! Family of 6 in just 15 feet of space! |
Miscellaneous tender mercies along the way
Tender mercies continued as we made our journey: no one got heat stroke, my 28 week pregnant body did everything I needed it to and then some with only minimal discomfort, cars worked as expected, we traveled safely, the kids were so, so, so good the entire weekend even though they were overly tired. I could go on and on and on....
Tender mercy number five: We have a house!
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| Our new backyard! |
At the last minute, there was a glitch in our mortgage paperwork. Long story short, our bank decided to require an inspection of our septic system which was difficult to set up, not to mention costly for us. (In the end, it was a tender mercy in and of itself because we ended up having to pump the tank before the inspection. It badly, badly needed the cleaning, but otherwise is in great condition. I know this is something we would have put off for a long time not wanting to spend the money, but I'm so thankful we had to do it and avoided very expensive repairs down the road.) The septic inspection caused a delay in the underwriting process so we were not going to be able to close as scheduled.
We were going to be stuck without a house for several days after we arrived. Our wonderful sellers knew we had kids and agreed to let us move in 3 days before our closing at no charge! It was so kind of them, and such a huge blessing for us!
We arrived Tuesday with just the items we had in our car. Cheryl Robinette from Boone had packed a small box of dress ups to give the girls and it was a lifesaver once we got here. Having new dress ups kept them entertained for week while we waited for our truck to arrive.
Tender mercy number six: The Berea Ward
Our new ward has been incredible. It's one thing when dear friends help you, but when complete strangers serve you it's simply incredible. And the ward really went above and beyond. Without being asked different people brought us a hot, homemade meal three nights in a row! They arranged for a group of men to unload our truck (again in the blazing heat and humidity). They made sure we met our closest member neighbors, and overall gave us a wonderfully warm welcome. We have felt so loved from the moment we arrived!
Moving is hard. It's hard to say goodbye; it's hard physically; it's hard logistically; it's hard to settle in a new place with so much unknown; it's just plain hard. But I can't help but feel so blessed. It's been hard, but we've done it. We have hurdles ahead as we settle in, make new friends, and find our groove here in Kentucky, but it will all work out. When this is in your backyard, it's easy to remember great things lie in store!
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