And Some Beautiful Hellos

The last few days, I've been showing you glimpses of when we packed up to say goodbye. Now I'm ready to show you our first hellos at our new home!

When we made our final trip to the new house, I took Lexi in the car with me, because her crate takes up a lot of room, and Ryan took Braeya in the truck with him, because her crate is much smaller! :) When we arrived at the house, we decided to introduce them to the new space in seniority order, so Braeya went in first. She hopped right out of her crate with no hesitation. 

And though she has never done this before when we've moved, she immediately started stretching and exploring. I've said before that this house has a lot of similarities to our Kokomo home (in its layout and feel) and I don't know if she noticed that or not, but there was never a single minute when she acted like this wasn't absolutely home. She owned it from the start. 

Ryan and Tim had brought the couch over prior to our final move, so it was already sitting in the living room and she seemed glad to see it - AND glad that she had a window to look out of while she sitting on top of it! (Check out our pretty mud yard back there!)

Lots to see!

She spent most of our first day right here, happy as she could be. (The picture is blurry, but you get the idea.)

Speaking of blurry - that would be ALL of the pictures of Lexi meeting the house, because she was SO EXCITED that she just ran in joy and is basically a fluffy blur. We did not anticipate any issues with her in a new space, because all of the world was created for her enjoyment, and this was no exception. (This is truly her life. She loves every location she visits and every person she meets.)

He could not put her down fast enough. 

And then she just ran around sniffing it all! She was SO HAPPY to see the couch. The one thing that did freak her out was our empty apartment. I think part of it was because it was so echo-y in there and part of it was because there wasn't anything soft to sit on anymore. Just a hard floor. But she reunited with that couch in a fat hurry! 

SO MUCH TO SEE!!!

Cracks me up that they're all so blurry - but that's Lexi on the move for you!

Ryan and I stood back and tried to figure out what to do first. Isn't that the worst? When EVERYTHING needs done and you don't know where to start? Ryan decided to hook up the washer and dryer because we needed to wash our bedding so we could sleep that night. :) And I started unpacking boxes for the kitchen - so we could eat!

But first...an official first picture in our new home. We were exhausted. Can you tell? (Spy Braeya back there?)

And a big hug for my new pantry. It's a dream. 

NOW to the unpacking:

And Ryan worked on the washer/dryer.

Took a break in the afternoon to make some coffee. Ryan got his a little too full. 

Lexi helped assemble the sectional. LOL!. 

This might make you laugh! Our home came with a microwave and dishwasher already installed, but it did not come with a refrigerator or stove/oven, so we had to purchase those. Our refrigerator came a couple of days after we moved in, which made it fun to try to eat in the meantime. Our local friends stored all our refrigerated food at their house, and we stuck our upright freezer in the refrigerator space. What do you think?

Braeya and I took a nap. 

Note about the nap: one of the things I was very intentional about as we made this move was to do at least one thing every single day that was restful. Napping without awakening to work texts or doors opening around the building was high on my list, and I started IMMEDIATELY. It was glorious.

We worked hard all day, and that night we sat down to a celebratory glass of sparkling grape juice. We didn't have internet, clothes unpacked, or much idea where the spare toilet paper was, but we did have our pretty glasses!

A grand start to a new chapter, and we were grateful. 

Last Goodbyes

 March 28th was our last day on duty at WillowBridge. It was a strange feeling to know it was THE last day. 

I started the day alone in the WillowBridge office with my coffee cup - where I've started many days in the last 20 months. I sat quietly, pondering and waking up. (We had no furniture in our apartment by this point, so if I wanted to sit anywhere, it had to be in the office or community room.)

Ryan and Lexi joined me, eventually, because again - no furniture.

Pretty much the only thing I could do that day was take notes. Everything else was already shifted to Sean and Sarah at that point. 

We met up with a Gateway coworker for coffee, and while we were gone, my friend Julie and her mom came over and gifted us an apartment cleaning. We were SO grateful. 

That afternoon, we said goodbye to our tenants. This one was so sad to see Lexi go. 

And then we were done. We had dinner with Sean and Sarah (it was Sarah's birthday) and then we did last pictures with our empty apartment.

March 29th was our final moving day. We woke up and walked over to the coffee shop for one last breakfast and coffee date.

One last picture with WillowBridge. 

And then our final goodbyes to Rob, Cordin, Travon, Sean, and Sarah. Sean and Sarah prayed over us, said goodbye to Braeya and Lexi, and then it was time for us to go!

We have no photos of the move itself. Ryan and I were both crying, and so was Braeya. Lexi barked most of the way to Bluffton. We were all kind of a mess, and it felt representative of life, a bit, I think. But come back tomorrow, because I'll have some beautiful firsts for you! 

A Little More from the Moving...

Can you handle a few more stories from the moving days? I'm just so excited to have my pictures back so I can finally share with you! :) 

As we prepped to move, it was also time to prep to move another very important family member: ABBY!!!!! She'd been all bedded down for the winter, and about a week before we moved, Ryan took off her cover and put the batteries back in her so we could take her with us!

I hadn't been inside since last fall, and it was SO GOOD to see her again. I missed this girl!

We've had some people ask us about her. While we are not unable to have her at our house (like there isn't an HOA that prohibits having a camper, and several people in our neighborhood do have them), it appears that it will be challenging to keep her here because of a level ground issue. Campers have to be kept level, and our driveway is too steep to level her out appropriately. Fortunately, our friends offered (before we could even state a need) for us to let her live at their house, so that's where she'll be! We are grateful for their kindness and hospitality. 

The first day we took things over to our new house was LITERALLY the only nice day of all the days we moved. It was chilly, but so sunny and bright, and we were grateful for that! 

This was a day off for us, and Ryan was so happy that he had everything situated just how he wanted it!

Headed over to the new place for the first time (with stuff)!

And ready to unload! No casualties!

We unloaded it fairly quickly, actually. 

And then, since it was the only nice day in the forecast, we headed back to load up furniture. This was the day we did the loading on our own, and I'm so serious: it was only the grace of the Lord that gave me the strength to help Ryan with this. I look back and still do NOT know how we did this. But we did it. 

Yes. I am wearing winter gloves, because it was the only way I could handle the sharp corners of the furniture. 

We took that load over and carried it all off the truck too (in the rain, but we were able to just unload into the garage, so it was okay!) and then it was back to packing. It was right about this point in the game when I got so sloppy. I was just throwing things in boxes. We had less than a week at this point, and I couldn't afford to be too picky anymore. 

My labeling game became this: 

While I packed, Ryan patched walls at the apartment:

We were thankful that Tim came over one day and helped carry the furniture that was just really and truly too much for me. THANK YOU, TIM!!

If you've never taken apart a table with a puppy's help, it looks something like this:

Yours truly prepping to pull out of the parking lot with a car full of stuff!

And that brings you up to our final day of goodbyes and our last trip over! When I look back on these days of packing, transporting, loading and unloading - while still working - I really don't know how we did it. It was completely stressful, and a few times I feared I may end up having a stroke or heart attack or something, but we got through it no worse for the wear. And here's to NOT moving again for a good long while!!