Crazy Days

I don't even know where to begin.

This blog began as a way to share all that we were learning about French culture and living in France.  It morphed into recording family memories on several posts.  And, now it feels like an appropriate way to finish documenting this chapter of our lives.

I know there will come a day when we will want to remember all that the Lord brought us through.  There are so many details which have just 'fallen into place'.  We know that this is all His doing.  He has been so good to us!

So, I will just record what has happened in the last week or so.

We got that official call letting us know that our shipment had arrived in Minneapolis.  They said, "We have your shipment and we can deliver it tomorrow.  Would that work for you?"  We shrieked!  "Uh, not exactly,"  was our answer.

The shipping company was planning to unload our stuff into a house, unpack it (to verify there was no damage), and then remove all the boxes and paper.

We asked if they could move everything out of the shipping container and put it into a Budget Rental truck instead.  Thankfully, they agreed to that plan when we said we'd waive all possible insurance claims should anything be damaged when we finally unpack.

So, on April 23 and 24, we moved all of our stuff that has been stored in Mark's Dad's office storage space to Mark's parent's garage. 

April 25th, we picked up the 24' rental truck and drove it to the mover's place where they put our stuff into the Budget rental truck.  We then went to Mark's parent's home and loaded up the stuff in the garage.  Then, we took the kids out of school an hour early on April 25th and headed towards Indiana - Mark in the Budget truck and the kids and I in the van.

We made it to Madison thoroughly exhausted.

To make sure nothing fishy happened during the night while we slept, we found a very creative way to park the truck.  Between the padlock and the brick wall, we were pretty sure no one would get into this truck and walk away with anything!  (Oh have we heard horror stories about this happening at hotels!)

April 26th we got up and drove the remaining 6 hours to Marion, Indiana.  We had until 5 p.m. to get to Indiana Wesleyan University to get the key to the rental house.  We made it by 5:05 p.m.  Thankfully, the gal with the key knew we were coming and waited for us to arrive before going home that night.

We stayed that night in a hotel in Marion - once again we were totally wiped!

April 27th we met the movers at the rental house at 8:15 a.m.  They unloaded the truck into the rental house.  We returned the truck by Noon. 

Next on the docket was lunch, getting cell phones, setting up a bank account, visiting the city utility office to set up water and trash service, and shopping for basics for the rental home.  Then, we went back to the rental house and proceeded to search for bedding and basic kitchen supplies to make this rental home work for Mark for the next month or so.

Meanwhile, the kids rode their bikes all over the neighborhood.  Can I just say HEAVEN!!!!  They found kittens, baby birds and kids with a trampoline to entertain themselves for hours.  They came home filthy and full of stories.  And, they already know the names of just about everybody who lives on the alley.  Gotta love how kids break the ice in a new neighborhood!

April 28th we met our realtor at 10 a.m. and looked at houses all day.

April 29th we looked at more homes and then went to the realtors office to write up an offer on a home that we just LOVED! 

Then we drove to Iowa to my parents home.  We arrived at 9 p.m. 

April 30th we chatted with my parents during the morning, but left before lunch.  My parents gave us a car which Mark took back to Indiana while the kids and I drove the van back to Minnesota.  It was so sad saying good-bye to Mark! 

May 1st Mark started his new job and the kids went back to school.

So, if you made it through that entire explanation of our week last week, do you feel tired?  Can I just say that it was EXHAUSTING!!!!  But, the Lord sustained us.  Everything went like clockwork.  It's just simply incredible how everything is coming together.

Yesterday we signed the sellers counter offer on the house.  We have an accepted offer!  We will be homeowners again by the end of May.  I'll share more about the house on another post.

All I can say is that we don't deserve all the blessings the Lord is pouring on us right now.  Mark is beyond thrilled at his new job.  The new house is far too nice for us.  We are being so well taken care if here with family and friends in Minnesota.  All I can say is that the Lord is good.  He is very, very, very good. 

Well, I must go to bed now and so I must stop.   Only a few more posts left before I close the "Go Fish France" blog.  I've got to share about shutting life down in France.  It's just a crazy story!  And, I will definitely post about finally landing in our new home in Indiana.  After that...the new adventure!  (Don't worry, if you like reading my blog, I'll be continuing but with a new blog.)

Bonne nuit!