Packing - July 25th & 26th

Well I didn't have quite as many photos as I would have liked during this process, and that would be for two reason, (1) it's a little crazy when trying to pack up your entire household of belongings into one moving truck, and (2) I was seriously too emotional! 

However before I get too far into the packing day stories, I should recount the "pickup of the moving truck story" And it is a STORY! Thankfully it was just Alex and myself who were able to experience this set of pleasantry's as Emma and Ethan were having fun cookie decorating and nerf gun fighting at the King household! We dropped them off at Lisa's around 10:30 am and then headed out to Polk City to get the truck...we pulled up to the place and Alex and I literally took a double take on the truck and then looked at each other in disbelief.  I wish I had taken a photo, but we KNEW our stuff was NOT going to fit in that tiny truck (it was a 14 footer). So thankful that Uhaul worked with us and upgraded us to the 16 ft truck at no additional charge. GOD IS GOOD! :-) So off we went to the 98 North location, where there was a sign in the window that said "gone to lunch, be back in 30 minutes". Ok, breath we can do this, we'll grab some snacks and a drink and wait. Oh did I mention we were STILL in a rental car for the 2nd day in a row at this point? Yeah, that's another story! LOL! So we ran to pick up Carlos who was gonna help for the afternoon and headed back, I think their sign was a little off since we sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes after they should have returned. So another phone call to U-Haul ( I was, well, um hot at this point!) and we drove to South Florida avenue. THANKFULLY they had the truck we needed, and by the grace of God and bc His ways are not our ways we signed for our 20 ft UHaul truck which just happened (not really!) to be one of the newest in the fleet therefore would get the best possible gas mileage. Thank you Jesus for reminding me that you are in control! :-)

So off we went. It was beginning to get a little surreal at this point as I followed Alex home while he drove the U-Haul truck. Alex and I had completed most of the packing and boxing up ourselves but were so blessed to have some dear friends come over on Tuesday afternoon to help us out. Shawn, Mel, Carlos, and David did the "heavy lifting". Believe me guys I went thru some pictures of ya'll lifting you would have not appreciated so this is the best shot! :-) That cursed piano, I pray it's the last time we move that sucker!

We also had a little bonfire fun  (to leave the paper trail behind...I mean, um burn some important documents - LOL!) and by now Alexis, Kari, and Addi had joined in on the fun. We seriously couldn't have done all we accomplished without everyone's help. Dawn, Jordan, and Tristan joined us for dinner of Pizza and then Emma and Ethan went home with them for one last sleepover. After a long night of finishing up some packing Alex and I headed to Grammie & Papa's and stayed the night with them and Caleb. It was so much better than an air mattress in a half packed house. And an added bonus is always lovely to have Papa cook breakfast! :-)

It's so wierd to see all your belongings packed tightly into a truck....

 ...altho not quite tightly enough because we had to go back and rent this little trailer to add on to the back of the UHaul for our antiques.

 And below is a photo of Wednesday morning. We felt like we still had a ton to do, but knew we had to get a roll on it to finish up!

 Emma and Ethan came home from their sleepover (altho from what I heard there wasn't much sleeping involved) at the Davisons and couldn't believe it was all packed up! They were so excited!

 While Mommy & Daddy cleaned the kids took one last nap in their rooms on their cool pillow mats Aunt Angela made them, they were whooped after staying up all night the night before with their friends!