Moving Day(s)

Moving... Where do I start...

It took us a long time to decide to buy a home here, for many reasons. And then it was whether to build new or not to. After a year of going back and forth and all over the place, we decided to build a new home and we also decided where. We felt really good about our decision, and very excited to own our first house.

Since we were building brand-new we went to the "design studio" to pick out things for our house. Later, when asked how we liked the "design studio," Daniel would say, "I hated it." The 'home' people would look shocked. Daniel would explain that it made him spend more money. For example, do you want these faucets, OR do you want THESE much BETTER faucets? Do you want these boring doors, or do you want these nice paneled doors? Do you want this florecent tube light in your kitchen, or do you want recessed canned lighting? (Each bulb costs extra too, by the way, and one is not enough light.) So, we had to really decide what we needed/wanted. Like rain gutters? It rains A LOT here. And do we want rain gutters in just the front or all around the house? Everything was more and more money. Cha-ching, cha-ching!

Getting pre-approved for the loan was no problem, but going through the whole process and getting to the closing day was no fun and very stressful. I think since it took a few months to build the house they had even longer to monitor our bank accounts. If we would have bought a home that was ready to move into the process may have been faster. They wanted to know everything. Like, "where did that $10 come from? And why did you deposit it into your account?" And many more things like that. It went on and on. Even to the day of closing. It was getting absolutely ridiculous and is a really long story that I don't feel like talking about anymore.

So, we finally closed a few days late because the weather in Texas was colder then usual and apparently no one could go to work (It was like 29 degrees at night). We closed on a Thursday at the last minute. I was totally unprepared. I didn't think we would end up closing until the next week and was not ready to move. The kids and I had been sick for weeks. I was knocked out for a week and blah, blah. We got home at 6:00pm that Thursday after signing and getting the keys, and some friends of ours were at our house at 7:00pm, ready to move us. Our wonderful neighbor lent us his trailer and half of our stuff was moved out that night. By Friday night we were in our new house. Exhausted. And it was a disaster. It took us a few more days to get the rest of our junk out of the rental and get it cleaned.

I took some pictures of the downstairs after we got the kids to bed at 10:00pm Friday night.

The dining area.

The kitchen.

The living room.

Unpacking was hard because the nights we were moving the kids got real sick again. Staucie had croup and threw up. All four of them had some really awful colds with coughs and runny noses and fevers. It was miserable for all. Daniel and I ended up with colds too. All day long I held babies and wiped noses. We went through so many boxes of tissue. They also weren't sleeping well. I think the boys were also nervous about being in a new house. We were getting no sleep.
But, oh how happy we were to be in our NEW, CLEAN house!

We are also so grateful for our friends we have made here. This was our first move without our family helping. We felt very blessed to have the help from friends who took such good care of us. Friends who helped us move all of our things, friends who provided us food and dinners. One couple was there from the very beginning and stayed until the very end and made sure we were all set. It makes me cry with gratitude every time I think of it. We also had friends offer to watch our kids while we packed and unpacked, but I felt guilty and declined. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and for the friendships that we have made.

Although, we were glad to leave the rental house with its years of dirt, dust, mold, BUGS, etc., we really enjoyed the street we lived on. We had wonderful neighbors who were very welcoming when we moved in and always watched out for us. We are so grateful for great neighbors and sometimes I think we will never be that lucky again.