We made it!
It is such an amazing, almost surreal feeling to wake up in Louisville this morning. After nearly a year of dreaming about and preparing for this move, the adventure is at last in full swing!
The last week has been hectic and very near exhausting. With finishing up work commitments, saying "so long" to beautiful friends and family, packing all of our earthly belongings, and driving across the country with 3 kids and a moving truck, we have had very little down time. All of the time spent with people and all of the tedious sorting of our things to ensure that we only brought what we want to keep was well worth it. I am overwhelmed by the blessings of our send-off from our previous home. The Father is so gracious to us!
Let me just say that I am so thrilled to set up our new apartment and make it our own. Chris and Hannah Davis have gone above and beyond in helping us work out getting into the apartment they just moved out of and making us feel welcome in our new home. I absolutely love that everything we brought does not even fill up the whole 17' truck we loaded it into! I'm excited to have the time and availability to unpack and order our home myself this time. I feel all grown up and on my own, free to fly like a baby bird leaving its nest. I have been blessed with great teachers and I feel like I'm ready! (You might think, Finally! But if you know me, you will realize this is kind of a big deal because I have had my mom and other wonderful, loving people doing a lot of the ordering and organizing in my home and was a bit lost and lazy at times.)
The whole process of packing and traveling has been kind of a big deal. Especially for the mini people. I just want to brag about them a little: They have been awesome! Watching all of their things be packed in boxes and seeing it all in the moving truck and waving "see you later" to everyone and everything they have ever known was a lot for such small ones. They took it all in like pros! They cried some. They got frustrated a few times. But seriously, they have been wonderful! I was a bit concerned about driving the van by myself while Tom drove the truck, but it went way better than I had dared hope. They certainly have been equipped for the call the Lord has placed on our life.
Some great moments and quotes from the last few days:
When my mom expressed her joy for knowing we are in the Lord's will but her "selfish" desire to keep us with her, Kylee said, "It's not selfish, Grammy; this is what Jesus asked us to do!"
As we were nearing the end of the drive and finally only a couple of hours from the city, Chloe exclaimed, "Look out Louisville, here we come!"
Josiah can now say "Louisville"! It's pretty cute. :)
As we drove over the Ohio river into Louisville, I was telling the girls we were in the city and asking them what they thought, Kylee whimsically sighed, "It's so beautiful!"
Gosh. I just love these kids!
We were honored to stay with some beautiful people in Colorado Springs Wednesday night and some more beautiful people in Kansas City Thursday night. What a blessing to connect with precious friends in the Kingdom across the country!
About 40 miles from Louisville we drove into an impressive thunder storm complete with torrential rain and strong wind. That made for an exciting drive into the city! As we were driving down Bardstown Road to our apartment, all of the power on the street went down. We ran through the rain and big puddles to get to the ever darkening apartment as the light faded in the sunset. Several people from the fellowship at Destiny Church came to help unload some essential things like beds and towels from the truck, which was such a blessing. Because of the weather and lack of light, though, we decided it would be best to hold off the unloading and get a hotel for the night. We even had people bring us some essential groceries. How beautiful to be greeted by such willing, loving, serving hearts!
Staying in the hotel turned out to be kind of nice and refreshing. I finally got a shower and feel human again. :) Now we are gearing up to enjoy a nice breakfast in the lobby before embarking on today's plans of unloading the truck and attending our first Destiny Church weekend gathering as a family!
What a fabulous life we have been given. :)
