THE MOVE!

Okay, well I guess it's time to recap the move and how it went for all our friends. If you were at our house in Lexington, you know how quickly the truck was packed. But let me start at the beginning. Tosh and I did our best to pack up everything we had -but man! It's amazing how much STUFF you accumulate in such a short period of time. On Thursday my parents came up to help us finish packing and then load up the truck. Once my mom and Dad arrived, we were packed in no time -- but of course there is a lot of stuff that I don't know where is or where it went to. I'm sure I'll find it in time when we unpack somewhere in a new house.

So we got most of everything packed up on Thursday and then Friday we finished packing up some things. Needless to say, Punkin did not do well. He was freaking out because he has only known that house with what was in it. Not much else. Let me tell you about God's provision through all this. The Uhaul moving truck was hopefully going to be in Lexington but the guy didn't get a 26 foot truck in so I got a text message saying we'd have to drive to Lynchburg to get the truck at 9am on Saturday morning. (Did I mention everyone was coming to pack the truck at 8:30am on Saturday morning?) Yeah, so that didn't work so well. I started calling around and trying to find out if we could find an alternate location that was closer than Lynchburg and it worked out there was a place in Waynesboro. They even gave us free extra milage to get up there and get the truck. And we could pick it up on Friday at 3:00. When Dad and Tosh got there, the two fellows were really great. They had Christian music playing in the background and one guy had on a Christian T-shirt. They also gave us about 100 blankets for FREE because they had too many and needed to get some to a different location. Oh and did I mention the Uhaul truck only had 3300 miles on it? Brand new truck. It was all part of God's plan!!

Friday evening we spent some time with the VMI Theatre folk over at Joellen's house for a lovely get together and then it was back to the grind of packing. Tosh's Dad and brother, Matt, showed up later on Friday evening and we played musical beds. It was the first time Tosh and I had slept in the kitchen! It was the only place the air mattress would fit since the living room was packed up. And it got COLD that night too.

Early rising on Saturday morning we all headed to Berky's for breakfast. It was good and then we got back and people started showing up. It took us about 5 hours to load the truck and we were done around 1:30 or so. I've never been in so much chaos. Trying to move the cat from room to room where more boxes were and he wasn't. Throwing last minute items into boxes and marking them STUFF. I've never moved like this before so it was definintely an experience! Let me tell you who showed up: Jeremy and Sidni, Tim Nicely, Jeff Matteson, Walt Baker, Glen was there for awhile, and I feel like I'm missing someone else. It was a ton of people carrying stuff and moving boxes like you wouldn't believe. My Dad, Coy and Tosh were loading the truck as fast as they could. I was inside trying to get last minute things together and telling people where to go and what to get, etc.

Once loaded, we had to take a break. We had sandwiches and chips for lunch and that was a nice time. Then the very last thing was getting the fish tank and fish out and coordinating where and when we were stopping. We hit the road and weren't together at all. We all eventually caught up in Christiansburg.

Once we got to the back country part of VA we had to go a bit slower. Tosh did great driving the moving truck. I had the cat and was driving his truck. Mom had the dog and was driving my car. Dad was driving their vehicle and Coy was in his vehicle. Quite a caravan! We stopped a lot and God blessed in another way too -- the cat never cried hardly at all on the trip. He usually howls like a maniac and pants and pees all over the place-- none of that. He did so good. God's grace once again. The drive back was exhausting. I thought we'd NEVER get here. A trip that we can do easily in 4 hours took well over 6 and 1/2. It wasn't easy but we did it and it was overwhelming how much I felt the love of God from all our friends and family. I literally had my cup running over with God's blessing and provision.

On to Sunday-- while you guys were probably in church, we were having my Mom's biscuits and gravy and unloading the truck. Let me tell you, the piano came off much easier than it went on. I'll post some pictures on the loading portion. My Dad and Mom and cleaned out the basement and we had tons of help here too. My brother, uncle, brother-in-law, Matt, Coy, Tosh, nephews, it was great. They unloaded that truck in about 2 and 1/2 hours. The tough part was trying to stack and put things in locations that you'd be able to find again (should you need them- like clothes). But we got it all to fit and have a walkway thru to boot!

After that we got to stand around and chat and just enjoy being with family. I have to say -- it's good to be home. I feel like my sister does -- she said she felt like she should be on some sort of holiday break because I'm home. I feel like I should be leaving in a couple days (which I am technically) to go back to Lexington. But I know we'll be staying for good after the 29th. It's an odd feeling. It's great to be here but you keep wondering, "Was this the right choice? Are we ready for this? What next?" I believe that God wants us to continue serving in some capacity here. I am praying He leads us to the church He wants us at so we can fill that hole. We will surely miss WOL and LBC. I think that's the toughest part.

It's now a little after 7pm here and I've enjoyed an evening with my parents and husband. I was very sad when Tosh left to go back to lexington and considered going with him. But what would I have done for two days in an empty house? Not much. I'll be heading back on Wednesday to meet up with him in Wythville to go back for the weekend. The next couple days I'm going to spend making some arrangements here.

And that is the move. Now on with the rest of our adventure from here on out!