Move Day Update

I have often been exhausted and embarrassed on move days in the past  but this time I was extremely humbled and grateful as well.

On Friday night we got a call from one of our new friends from church, Devon, asking what time we were picking up the truck because he wanted to help Glenn get it. That was a huge blessing and surprise, especially when he found out that we were going to be picking it up at 7am!

Well, at 7am our door bell rang and Glenn and Devon went to get our 26' Uhaul. The kids and I started hauling the locker bins outside while they were gone. Devon (with his magic moving bag), his wife Kate (armed with donuts, bagels & OJ), and his friend Dan (who we'd never met but was a huge help!) were early help. Karl (a friend of Glenn's from Christian Medical Fellowship) and Nick (our small group leader) both were there early and helped load the heavy stuff. As the morning wore on others came by to help including our neighbor from Roosevelt Brad and his kids, Dawn (a friend from small group who did lots of cleaning and making sure rooms were empty) and her son, Emily (a homeschooling friend who hauled a lot of stuff out to the truck and brought donuts & an orchid for us) and her kids. Even the extra kids (including a neighbor girl who came over to play one last time) were a help hauling for part of the day.

It was a long day and as the day went on I noticed a few areas (like our closet!) that hadn't been packed so I spent most of my time inside getting things finished packing (the REALLY yucky stage) while Glenn and a bunch of wonderful people packed the truck. Many hands make light(er) work and I am so grateful for the many hands that God provided!

Nick and Dawn stayed to the end and were a huge blessing. We finally called the landlord at 2:30 to let him know that we were done and to inform him of a couple of things and we were on the road (with the guys in the uhaul and the girls in the van) headed north by a little before 3.

We arrived here in Lowville a little before 5 and found out that the keys were not waiting for us at the hospital (not sure what happened there!) but, thankfully, the neighbor had a key so we were able to go in and check out our new place and look around (figure out who was going to sleep in which bedroom, etc since we'd only ever seen google drive-by pictures of the duplex before). I had an opportunity to be humbled once again as I stepped out the back door and there stood Richard (a sweet, amazingly strong 82 year old man - if I live to be 82 I want to do it as well as he has!!) who looked at me and said, "Well, I guess I'm the first one here." I wasn't sure what he was talking about but I introduced myself and within minutes Anthony (the pastor of the local Baptist church), and two of his daughters were here to help unload along with Dan (one of the doctors that Glenn will be working with). Anthony apologized that there weren't more people to help but many people from their "Baptist Moving Crew" were gone because of spring break. A few minutes later John & Michele (friends of ours from Tennessee Temple who are currently living near Watertown) & their kids came to help unload as well. Lots of stuff went into the basement and then lots of stuff went inside. It was wonderful to have so much help unloading! Being a part of the bucket brigade getting stuff into our new home was fun. I've honestly never seen a bucket brigade work so well! Everything was unloaded sometime before 8 and we headed off to return the truck. (Side note: the main reason we picked Uhaul was bc they had a drop off spot in Lowville, unfortunately, since that location was not open on Sundays, we had to take it all the way to Watertown to return it). John & Michele & crew came with us so we could grab a bite to eat afterwards. After trying, unsuccessfully, to find the Uhaul place for quite a while due to wrong directions we called uhaul and found out there was another drop off place just a stone's throw from the WalMart parking lot we stopped at - PTL. We dropped it off and hit Taco Bell where 12 starving bodies ate at WAY too late at night. (side note: while we were there, besides the many soldiers that were there another family with younger kids came in and Michele and I both thought "What on earth are you doing feeding your children at Taco Bell at this ungodly hour!" LOL) We finally made it home and collapsed on our mattresses at close to 11.

We had 25 people help us on move day ages 2-82, several of whom had never even met us before. It took about 10 hours total of hauling stuff out and hauling stuff in. It's the first time in a long time that we've actually completed a move in one day and I couldn't imagine how sore I would be today or how long it would have taken without all that help. I'm embarrassed to ask for, or even need, help but I am SO GRATEFUL for all the help we got!

Thank You Lord for providing many hands and feet to help us on Saturday! Please bless those people and heal their bodies, help us to remember what You've taught us through them and give us opportunities to be Your hands and feet in the future.


NOTE: I will be adding pictures to this when we get internet at home, I'm posting this at the library :)