The Move

After what seemed an elusive date on the calendar, the time finally arrived for the movers to load our stuff in the truck and close out our chapter down south. I found it somewhat ironic that after the horrendous drought we endured this summer, that the very day our belongings would be exposed to the world, the heavens opened and the rain poured down. Yep.

I don't know exactly what I expected, but I'm fairly certain that the guys who showed up to move our stuff resembled characters I'd seen on "America's Most Wanted". However, after feeding them 2 dozen donuts, they worked hard and got the truck loaded. After meticulously packing one million, four thousand and two boxes (or so it seemed), a good number clearly and boldly marked "FRAGILE", there were times I held my breath, said a quick prayer and had to look away as the guys stacked boxes marked "Do Not Stack", hauling them out the door through the rain, only to be stacked in greater piles. Yikes. I didn't know how much I'd have to comfort myself with how well we padded things, but it took every bit of cushion in the end. I am happy to report that only one table incurred any damage.

Once the house was loaded, Andrew and I set out to clean the place up. He managed his shop and I took to attacking the mud that had been so thoroughly tracked all over the floors. Admittedly I got a bit weepy as I scrubbed, thinking of how many memories had been made in that creaky old house. Despite my sentimentality, the place got cleaned and we were finally on our way to our new home. As we drove out of town my eyes welled up, sad to leave our dear friends and darling town, and welled up again as I looked out and saw a rainbow through the storm. God is so good and ministered to me greatly in that moment.

Arriving at our new place in the evening brought a rather comical moment that I won't soon forget. Andrew pulled into the driveway with the trailer containing our silly chickens (riding in their coop) and we needed to get them into the backyard asap. In order to perform such a feat we had to dig up a very large and brambly bush that was blocking a gate wide enough for the coop to fit through. I was laughing in-between shovelfuls of dirt, thinking how redneck we must have looked to any new neighbors.

"Oh look honey, the new neighbors are moving in. Umm...they're digging up the landscaping. And pushing a wooden ark looking thing through a gate. Now they're replanting... Umm, maybe we should wait a while for them to get settled before saying hello. A good long while."

This story has a good ending because the coop is in it's final place, the girls are enjoying their new home and popping out beautiful eggs despite the trauma of being transported and driven down the road at 70 miles an hour. What a ride!

We've only been here a few days and are really enjoying our new home. Boxes are being unpacked, belongings are finding their place, and order is being resumed. It's a good feeling. I'm itching for the unpacking to be done so that we can enjoy this advent season!