All Moved In

Horrors! It's been about a month since my last post! I apologize for wasting everybody's time--not having anything new to read whenever you've taken the time to check my blog. We've been deep into packing and moving, but finally we are here in our HUGE, beautiful new house (new to us, anyway!).

Last week the big white parsonage up the road from our old house became "ours" when Pastor Tad and June Sandford left for Thailand. We spent several days painting the kids' rooms. That in itself was a huge task, trying to do it in the evenings, and with one room needing wallpaper removed. One night Lindsay, Amy Partin, and Cherilyn Bright came and gave generously of themselves to help me. The night before we were scheduled to move in I still needed to add another coat to the boys' room but had absolutely no energy as I seemed to be fighting some kind of bug. Well, around 9:00 a.m. I went over to the house to pick something up or drop something off and heard voices upstairs. Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered Lindsay and Amy putting the last coat on! I burst into tears at their kindness. I think they had some idea of what a blessing their gift of time and energy was, but I can never repay them.

Two others who were a Godsend were the Fulones, who took Tucker for the day we moved in, and Cherilyn, who watched Chloe and Jed for six hours. We couldn't have done it without their help, and it was reassuring to know they were all in loving, capable hands.

Derrick, Wesley, and several guys from our church came in the afternoon to help Evan with the heavy stuff. Moving the trampoline was the biggest adventure of all! Rather than trying to dismantle it, the five guys hefted it on their shoulders and carried it across the big field between the old house and new! I wish my camera had been accessible, but it's certainly a mental picture I'll never forget.

So, since moving in we've been loving all the extra space! We went from a two-bedroom house (with a third finished room in the attic) to a six-bedroom house with a den. The kitchen is a dream to work in, the kids have a lovely playroom . . . I could go on and on. Not so nice is the mouse who got into my expensive rice flour in the night last night, but Evan is going to see what he can do about it tonight. I guess mice tend to come with the territory in old houses like this one. So far I'm not too impressed with our cats' rodent-catching ability. It's tempting to stop giving them food. Then they'd have to hunt for it! But that would be cruel. Don't worry, Kristi, I won't be doing that. :-)