The New Residents

We did it! We are here! We are ready for "the good life"! 

What a long awaited process and yet it seems to have happened so quickly! After our first visit we were on the road within two weeks of Kyle accepting his job offer! That's crazy. It was pretty simple to pack up and go since a majority of our stuff was sitting in storage from when we moved out of our most recent apartment into Kyle's parents basement. I don't understand why it is we always end up moving in the winter but that seems to be a reoccurring theme in our lives. The most daunting process of packing up the Uhaul was because its was snowing all day this past monday so we went at 8 am to try to beat the "worst" part of the storm and with a little help from Moochie (my mother in law) and
Kyle's best friend Ryan, we got all the stuff out of storage and on the Uhaul within an hour! Not too shabby if you ask me! My biggest concern was making sure it was packed tightly and efficiently so nothing bent or broke! I ended up using ALL of the blankets Uhaul provided for us in covering the nice bedroom set we have (that we officially just paid off praise the Lord!). Very thankful that we simplified our life the best we could before we moved out and just decluttering. Just trying to keep only the necessities.

We officially waved goodbye to Rhode Island on Tuesday! This is probably the longest I have ever been in a car in my entire life! Kyle actually just made this road trip bringing his other friend to Missouri last year so he was already prepared for the long drive ahead.

I was so excited for this adventure though! I have had such a peace about this trip and change in our lives that I was just ready to attack the road! Now I would be a liar if I told you I had no worries about this trip. We had the past four years packed into one 20' truck, a trailer attached with Kyle's 2013 Mazda towed behind us, and I'm not supposed to worry about anything??? ALSO, it's kind of

hard not to stress over the possibilities of what could go wrong. We were traveling 1,400 miles through 8 states in a truck that wasn't our own car, that could break down, get a flat tire, and all other sorts of problems! Bad weather, traffic, sickness, and yes granted this was only a 2 day trip but a LOT can happen in two days! Oh how I kept praying that nothing would be damaged but in the end I kept telling myself "they are just things". I need to practice what I preach and remember that nothing in that truck behind me I can take when I die anyway. I really stopped when I remembered God is in control! He has orchestrated all of this and when I was letting God lead I knew I had nothing to worry about! The first day was long. We left at 12 in the afternoon so I was planning on hitting SOME sort of traffic but we didn't end up going through New York City so we didn't hit any traffic. BUT NONE? REALLY? NO TRAFFIC? How is that even possible! I mean I knew that the further west we went the less traffic there would be but we literally were not standing still once on this road trip. AWESOME. Pennsylvania and Iowa were the worst states to drive through because they were both so stinking long. BEAUTIFUL but long. PA was full of hills that you're literally driving through. Made you feel real small but gorgeous! Through every state, I was really trying to stay off the phone (which is already always so easily distracting me) and making sure I was taking the time to admire every state. This country is so big and I think we sometimes get all excited to go see other countries in the world (which I hope to do and encourage) but we already live in a great country too with so many things to see!

NEW YORK

OHIO

We stopped around 8:30 Tuesday night to get some dinner at a truck stop. Once we headed back to the truck, Kyle noticed that the trailer lights weren't on and you obviously cannot drive on the highways if the trailer attachment with his car on it wasn't working properly. We called the Uhaul roadside assistance and they had someone out there at such a reasonable time (which made things a lot easier). We could have come to worst terms so quickly but we both remained calm and just let whatever be, be. Turns out a fuse popped and just needed to be replaced. Bing bang boom within 14 minutes of the worker showing up we were back on the road! We stopped at a hotel around 2 in the morning and slept. Woke up Wednesday and DROVE. When I say drove, KYLE DROVE. He was ready to be there that day and be done with the Uhaul. No more driving! I was definitely getting cabin fever and we were both a bit crabby towards the very end of the drive but I will admit I was just relieved to get "home". We arrived at 4:30 AM (Thursday) to beautiful NEBRASKA! It was so nice to pull into Omaha and realize we were getting out of that truck soon! We found a hotel and slept until 2 in the afternoon Thursday. It was beautiful. Needed. Refreshing. We both made it a point to get massages once we were officially moved in because that truck had no lumbar support, and my neck hurts, and we were going to be lifting boxes up 3 flights of stairs today so yeah. Massages sound great.

SO TODAY, Friday the 13th, though most may be superstitious about today, I am SO THANKFUL that everything is coming together. The things that could have been SO STRESSFUL and anxiety inducing went VERY SMOOTHLY. The truck didn't break down, Kyle's car stayed on the trailer, my car was finally picked up and is now on it's way to Nebraska, from the looks of the truck nothing shifted during the road trip, there is just so much to give God the praise for. We arrived to our apartment to sign our lease at 9am and were rearing to get our crap into our new home. We hired three movers for 200 dollars. As Kyle would say: best 200 dollars every S P E N T. Which I couldn't agree with more because I just told them where to put things as I started unpacking and they were so kind. We also live on the third floor so they also brought up the heaviest things! Kyle was also happy about that! There was only one thing that broke but I can't even remember what it was right now so must not have been that important.


Finally, I am sitting on the couch, enjoying homemade corn chowder (so simple to make and good after a long days work) and watching Avatar in front of our cool fireplace. VERY happy to have my home. Still a good amount of unpacking that needs to get done but to have a place of our own, to have everything go so smoothly, I am thankful, I am happy, I am tired. Best thing happening this evening is having my own bed back and boy am I excited to sleep!