Wednesday, December 29, 2010

We're HERE!

Well folks, we made it!!! After a long but very good trip, we've made it to Syracuse! We enjoyed a great trip down south, visiting family and ending with Mark and Sherry's beautiful wedding! Then we headed north, again spending time with friends and family who showered us with wonderful hospitality! Thank you all for making us so welcome!

The kidos did well on the LONG trip, though we definitely had our rough spots where they had just HAD IT with the car seats! But we made it and for the most part, they did great!

And so, we're here. Ok, I admit, it's been overcast since we got here, and very COLD and there's a fair amount of snow on the ground. However, it's not too bad. We'll likely learn some tricks about how to dress in this weather, and hopefully we'll see the sun before too long... and we should be fine. :-)

We've settled into temporary housing in a Resident Inn. Stephen's company has put us up very nicely in a very comfortable furnished place that has two bedrooms and two baths. There's also a kitchen/dining/living room. Even has a fireplace! Does it get any better???!!! Oh yeah... we haven't actually used the fireplace yet... but still, nice to have it! :-) It's so great to have a place to settle into! We are currently have house hunting and other errands. You can pray we'll have widom in the house hunting!

Stephen is due to start work on the 4th! He's been looking forward to it! It's a blessing though to have a little time to get situated, look at rentals, etc. before he starts.

Thank you for all your prayers for us along the way! Have a blessed New Year!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Life has sure been full! We arrived safely home last Tuesday night after a wonderful time with my family! What a treat is was to get to spend a whole month with them!!! They are so special to me and I miss them! Saying goodbye was hard... even though I have my brother's wedding to look forward to!

We got home with less then a week before the movers were scheduled to arrive. And whoosh! The week is already gone! The week was full with things to do before the movers came, our last young peoples Bible study, the chapel Christmas banquet, and goodbyes to many dear friends who have been sooooo good to us during our two years here. At the Christmas banquet, friends from the two chapels we have been involved with here gave us a very touching, encouraging and heart felt send off. Thank you so much all! We greatly appreciated it! You have been such dear friends!

Monday morning the movers arrived. We were still desperately trying to get things done. I had been feeling very overwhelmed and frustrated that last night with all there was left to do, but the LORD worked things out and got us through it. As far as packing goes, all we had to do was pack together the things we want for the trip and the time in temporary housing. The packers packed the rest, which was SUCH a HUGE blessing. And would you believe three guys were able to pack almost the whole house into boxes in ONE day???!!! That would have taken me weeks! Today, which is Tuesday, they did a bit more packing and then loaded up the truck. They left at around 2 in the afternoon. So all in all, they packed up our house in 1 1/2 days!

Last night and tonight we are staying at the home of our dear friends who are out of town. What a blessing it has been to have a place to go and crash or let the kids play! Some other friends blessed us by having us over for dinner last night and we are going to meet up with them again tonight! Thank you so much to each one of you dear friends who have given so much love and care to us throughout our two years here!

Tomorrow should be busy with some last errands and we plan to take off either later in the day or possibly the next day. Thank you for all your prayers as we embark on our new adventure!

Tomorrow morning, Lord willing, after a few more errands, we hit the rode. The plan is to slowly make our way down south to my brother Mark's wedding, visiting friends and relatives along the way. After the wedding our goal is to make a leisurely trip up toward NY, again, visiting relatives!