Hey readers! I can't believe that it is July. 2012 is going by so fast. With today being July 9th I thought it would be appropriate for this post since it has been one month since the day we left Starkville to begin our journey to DC. I can't believe it has been a month since we pulled out of that gravel driveway of the yellow house on Critz Street. I still feel like that is home and we are going to be going back there soon. This month it is being occupied by the new tenants and it will be the first home of a precious couple getting married later this month. This house was the hardest to leave of anywhere we have lived... I guess its because we lived in that house longer than any other since we got married and its where we brought our baby home to. We have so many happy memories from this place...many that involve a lot of you guys! Not only in this house, but in Starkville as a whole. I find myself very homesick for our church, being close to our friends, being closer to our families, the good little life we had in Starkvegas and the comfort that brought. After talking to my friend Lindsay today, she reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3 about there being a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. I definitely think this passage speaks to our season of life and I am so thankful for a sweet friend to share this truth with me!
Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about this new journey we are on and for all that we will experience here. I'm anxious to find a church, to make friends, and to really settle in here. We just said last night that things are starting to feel a little bit more normal here. Today marked the beginning of the 4th week of Jesse's job, Turner is finally on some sort of a schedule, and he officially has a bedtime routine which makes bedtime easy and enjoyable. Who knew babies liked consistency?? Thats a word Turner didn't know until just recently. It's so so nice to put him to bed and have a few hours to hang out with Jesse at night.
Now, let me fill you in on all that took place in our lives just a short month ago... We got back from Hawaii on Monday afternoon and moving day was set for the 9th - that coming Saturday. We should have spent each day packing, but instead we spent them with friends.
The next few days had major highs and lows that I will do my best to explain. It's hard to put everything into words adequately, but here we go. My parents came into town on Thursday and the real packing began. We worked hard all day and stayed up late getting things ready to load the next day.
Early Friday morning Jesse's dad, Mr. Randy, came into the town and the two of them went to get the moving truck. My sweet friend Rebecca came over to help me pack up my bedroom! She was such a great help and I loved getting to catch up with her! When Jesse and Mr. Randy got back the loading began and all the guys worked hard all morning. After a lunch break, they started back at it. Mom and I made a Sonic happy hour run since it was so hot and when we got back, Mr. Randy was inside taking a break. He asked for some aspirin because his chest hurt a little bit. We told him to rest since there was no reason to push it. Their family has a history of heart trouble, and a few years ago he had to have stents put in his heart. After a while, he was still feeling bad, so Jesse took him to the hospital to get him checked out and it ended up saving his life... he was having a heart attack and didn't know it. Soon after they left for the hospital, Mrs. Terry, Kelley, and Trae showed up to help with the packing and loading. We filled them in just before we found out that they were flying him to Tupelo to go into surgery. Since we lived so close to the hospital we heard the helicopter take off. Jesse came back home and Kelley and Mrs. Terry drove to Tupelo to be there when he got out of surgery. We were very close to losing him that day. We are so thankful that the we were so close to the hospital and that he was able to receive such great care so quickly.
My parents, Trae, Jesse, and I continued to pack up the truck and got most of it done before the sun went down. The Wardens had us over for dinner that night, which was such a blessing. Mom and Dad spent the night and we got up early to finish packing. We ended up running out of room in the truck and had to rent a U-Haul trailer, which Jesse had to drive all the way to Louisville to pick up. Our friends Alex, Leah, and Mike came over to help with the final things and we were finished! The Wardens came over just before we left to say goodbye. We snapped a few pictures of Turner and Everett together before heading out. Jesse and I took one last walk through the house, we said goodbye to my dad, and Jesse, Mom, and I hit the road. We stopped through Tupelo to see his Dad and pick up Kelley. We are so thankful that we were able to visit his Dad one more time before we left town and are SO thankful that he was ok.
We took the trip slow, knowing that traveling with a baby would take longer than normal. We didn't set too rigid of a trip schedule, but had a goal to make it to Cleveland (just outside Chattanooga) on the first night to stay with Kristian, George, and Ashlyn. Jesse snapped a few photos of his view. He and Kelley were in the moving truck, and Mom, Turner, and I were in the X. This was my first time to pull a U-Haul trailer...not something I want to do everyday, but it wasn't too bad. **Hey Rachel, notice that billboard? We drove right past the hotel where we are staying for your wedding!**
Beautiful sunset on our way to Chattanooga.
We finally made it! I never got a picture with Kristian, but here is George and Ashlyn with Turner. Ashlyn looks adorable and Turner looks like an alien baby!
We got to visit our first baby while visiting. Maggie is staying with Kristian and George right now. We are waiting on her to go into heat and then she will be bred, have puppies, and then will come back to live with us. Just waiting on mother nature!
We got some much needed rest, a quick visit in, then hit the road. We had a total of 9 hours to go to get to DC so hoping to cover a lot of ground the next day...
...but that didn't happen. Instead this did:
Yep. The mother in me was scared to death being parked on the side of Interstate 81 with 18 wheelers FLYING by. I swear there were more 18 wheelers on this interstate than any other in America. Jesse called U-Haul, but because this was a Sunday, there weren't very many tire companies open to come help us. It would have been nice if they would have told us that this was the case, but they didn't. They just said to wait and someone would be there soon. I was so scared for us to be on the side of the road waiting. There was nothing we could do, but you hear horror stories of situations like this that end badly. You would think U-Hauls would come with a spare, but nope. They don't.
So we waited.
And waited.
Until this guy showed up. It took 3 hours for someone to come change the tire. 3 hours. I think he was in his 80s. We were really frustrated that it took so long for someone to come, but we were also really sad that this guy was still having to work at his age. I really thought we were going to watch him die that day because he was standing on the road side of his truck for a long time while the 18 wheelers were flying by. It scared us so bad!
After a total of 4 hours, he fixed the tire and we were back on the road again.
I was a lot more cautious this time because we didn't really trust the tire the man put on there. We stayed in the right lane the rest of the trip in case we had another blow out we could get off the road quickly.
We drove a little later than expected because we wanted to cover some ground, since we had quite an unexpected delay. Eventually we made it to Roanoke, VA to spend the night. Jesse, Kelley, and I went to Waffle House for a late snack while Mom kept Turner.
After a full nights rest and full bellies from breakfast we headed off to the car to get the day started. Our goal was to be to the apartment by bedtime. We were excited for a fresh start, only to see this when we got to our car:
Some jerk parked right next to our car. Seriously? There were beyond plenty of open spots that he could have picked. What I didn't capture in the picture was the car that was behind the trailer as well. Thankfully Jesse is very talented in driving a car with a trailer behind it and got us out of this tight spot...
...and we were on the road again. Very optimistic about our day!
Even though we hit lots of rain and got a little lost, we finally made it!!! There were times over these days that I wasn't sure if we would. Mom and I listened to Andrew Bird's album Noble Beast over and over and over again for 3 days straight because that is what kept Turner the happiest in the car. It's his favorite... especially the song "Oh No".
We were so happy to have made it and don't plan on making that drive again anytime soon...
Mom stayed until Wednesday morning and Kelley stayed until Friday. They were both such a HUGE help to us with helping with Turner, moving in our stuff, and just emotional support. There are those times that you really need your family, and this was one of those times. Mom and Kelley saw us through some of our worst times and saw our worst sides, but loved us through it all. That's what family is for, and we are so blessed to have such wonderful families to love and support us.
So, we have been here for almost a month now and are almost settled. Once we get fully settled, I will show you pictures of the apartment and of our neighborhood! The good news is that despite all that we faced a month ago, we are here and are happily beginning the next chapter of our lives.
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