THE NEW SEASON.....

Packing!

That pretty much sums up what we have been doing around our house lately! I'm glad we didn't completely unpack from the last move so this time it has been much easier.  We had just unpacked what was necessary to live temporarily and we have taken the time to repack some things for the long distance move.  We have also donated a few more things in the process so that helps!   It's a good thing that I'm one of those people who really doesn't mind packing at all. Unpacking is a whole different story though!   I am praying for special grace to be able to get all of that done quickly and easily when we get to our final destination.  The challenge will be deciding what to unpack there, as well.  We only have a 6 month lease there and having rented it without really seeing it, we are not sure that we will extend it  past the 6 months.  It's going to be a great place to spend the winter though and we are looking forward to the new season in our lives.  The season of doing something different in a new place and of course, the season of winter, as well!  After the brutal summer we had down here in Louisiana, the winter snow will be a welcome relief!

 

This temporary home that I dreaded so much has been such a blessing to us in so many ways.  While it never became home for us, I became pretty comfortable there once I got it cleaned up.  The house was built for someone who had disabilities so those accommodations have been so helpful in the moving process. The ramp on the door and the super wide hallway made moving furniture and boxes so much easier! 

We got the moving truck on Friday and I must say that it looked sooo huge!  I am so glad that David will be the one driving it instead of me.   I'm riding shotgun to help him watch out for other cars.  This is where we will be spending the next few days...

David got a few things loaded on the truck on Friday night; but he really hit it hard yesterday morning.....

David was able to get the heavy stuff on the truck and then rearrange everything on there so that it fit perfectly well.  It's like putting together a puzzle to decide what fits where.

 

I must say that, when he was all finished, he did an excellent job at getting the truck packed this time and I think it's all going to ride very well.  Like I told him....worst case scenario?  Something breaks.   So what?!  We will deal with that as it comes.  There is nothing in the back of that truck that is going to steal my peace!

The logistics of making a cross country move is quite complicated. The first time I made a move like that, I threw some stuff in the back of a Geo Prism and headed out. The second time that I made a move like that, I packed up some stuff in the back of the same Geo Prism and sent the rest of the stuff via UPS. This time we had to rent a 26' moving truck to hold all of our "stuff". That is after a yard sale last fall, giving stuff away to friends and family and multiple trips to the dump and multiple trips to our favorite charities to make donations. How crazy is it that we have so much stuff?! I'm going to have to do some major adjustments if my "Airstream Dream" ever comes true. In all fairness, some of the stuff that I had was not all mine. I had some items that belonged to other family members and those items needed to be disposed of in some manner, as well. But still.....

How do we collect so much stuff?? We need to take a really hard look at everything once we get to our new home and see if we can make some adjustments to what we own. We will really want to do that once we have to carry all of it upstairs to our new home!  

In addition to deciding what to take with us and how we were going to get it all across the country, we had to decide how to get our two vehicles to our new home.  We really wanted to make the road trip together and not drive separately so David did some research and we decided to pull one car on a car carrier and ship the other car.  

 

  It  was a weird feeling to see our car get loaded up on a trailer and driven off by these two men that we didn't know.  David was careful to take pictures of our car from every angle and the license plate and markings on the truck and to take pictures of the two guys that drove off with our car.  He told them that his wife blogs so they were happy to pose for the photos!  So just in case we ever have to I.D. them, here they are....

The car hasn't made it to our new home yet; however, my mother-in-law said that she received a call and it should be there tomorrow.  ~whew~  I was beginning to think that photo was going to be evidence.

It has been a bittersweet time for us.  On the one hand we are so excited about our new adventure; but, on the other hand, we had to say goodbye to my mom and stepdad and goodbye to so many dear friends.  If you're reading this, remember....we love you all and hope to see you soon!

I'm sure we will be back here to visit and we have had several friends promise to visit us.  We will be looking forward to those reunions!

It's time to get some rest for the journey. Thanks so much for stopping by to see me.  I hope to see you here again soon.

Blessings!