We made it to Indiana

Well we are here in Indiana. It was one week ago. last Tuesday, when we began our journey. We left Statesville, NC at about 12:30 p.m. (eastern time) after pulling through the McDonald's drive-thru for some lunch on the road. We arrived in Lynnville, IN at about 11:30 p.m. (central time) that night - so it was a good 12 hour trip. The ride here was nice. The kids all did well, taking turns to ride in the big moving truck with Daddy and helping me out in the van with Clara Bea. With our friends driving along with us and also helping us get one of our vehicles to IN it made for a fun road trip. It was a sunny, beautiful green day. The sights of the Tennessee and Kentucky hills were breath taking. Fortunately we didn't have to endure the boring part of IN because it was dark by the time we arrived here.

I saw the house for the first time that night when we got here. It was very hard to sleep that night, even though I was exhausted after the long drive. I woke up at 5 a.m. the next day ready to just get-on-with-it. John and I started unloading the truck by 8 and had about a third of it done before our help arrived. The unloading seemed to go smoothly and quickly. I was tired of hearing my name being called from room to room to answer questions about where to put something. I realized there was no way that John could have done it on his own - which was our original plan. The next couple of days are bit of a blur to remember. Our friends helped us get beds set-up, appliances running, and the major stuff put into place. By Friday, I decided that we needed to just do something fun - especially for the kids. So we went to the zoo. Evansville has a pretty decent zoo. The animals were good, however I will not recommend it for it's cleanliness. Eeww.

Saturday was a tough one. That morning we met our friends, the Larsons, at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and goodbyes. We had joked the night before about just standing at the overpass of our exit and just waving to them as they drove by, maybe we would make a sign that said, "honk, if you love the Larsons". But in reality we were just trying to laugh about something we knew was going to be hard. More than I imagined it would be. John got the idea to get some shoe polish and write on the windows of their van - so we did. It was a fun way to send them off. But as we hugged goodbye in the parking lot, the tears flowed and the uncontrollable sobbing began. Not once had I cried over leaving NC and the goodbyes to different people. Many times I had surprised myself, feeling the tears well up inside but then not shedding any when I was actually in the moment. Until now. All the pent up emotions finally released themselves.

It has taken me several days to recover. I have been extremely tired, yet I can't stop moving around, doing something whether it is unpacking boxes, washing laundry or cleaning around the house. Something about turning a house into a home becomes rather important to me when we move. I can't rest until it is done. My mind spins with ideas of where to put things and how to arrange the furniture. I have changed the arrangement a few times already to try and best suit the space or size of the furniture in question. I am also obsessed with the basement here. I have turned one corner of the room into a storage area - which is temporary - waiting on shelves to be built. Another area into a storage closet. One side of the room is my laundry area - which I am enjoying. And then another side into some kind of play area/ work space for the children. I have a list made of things to be purchased, like a carpet piece for the basement, different size curtain rods, different dresser for Emily's room, piece of furniture to house the TV equipment - just random things that will make the house work for us better.

There is so much more to tell but for now I will move onto another project. I am hoping to post pictures of our new home soon. We are all doing well and adjusting slowly. It is taking Clara Bea time to adjust to the new time zone - hoping that she will fall into a later awake time soon! Pray for us to not feel so lonely and that this town will grow on us quickly. It is wide open here - you can seen so far into the horizon.