TaDa!The Long-Awaited.....(drum roll)........Moving Post!!

ef="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CThea%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">

Today is the one-year anniversary of our family moving into the farm house! Yay! In honor of this momentous occasion, I've decided to post the "moving blog" that y'all heard about so much early last year but, surprise surprise, I never actually got posted. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the long-awaited post about our moving day!

***

Saturday, January 19^th 2008, we were up early and ready by the time the moving crew came. Three families were at our house in town at nine o’clock. I’d thought we’d gotten a lot packed already, but the moms tore into the packing with a fury while us kids and the dads hauled boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. We ran out of boxes about halfway through the day and I went dumpster-diving with some others behind a Dollar General for good boxes. Liz was actually the only one who got in the dumpster.Unfortunately we have no photos from that adventure. Enjoy the rest of these pictures, though.

Dad heading to the house

Mrs S and Josh the "pack rat"

Mom & Dad's room minus bed and nightstands

OK, so now where do we fit this stuff? (from left Wyatt, Lisa, Uriah, and Alex M)

Loading the S's GMC. We made two trips from the house in town to the farmhouse. The first time, we used a big truck, two trailers, two GMCs, our car, and two minivans. One the second time we used Owen C’s car plus all of the above. It was amazing how much we got done. We basically stripped the upstairs of everything but the kids’ bedframes and the bookshelves in Mom & Dad’s room and afew things in the kitchen.

Sarah S and A;ex M

Who else but Hannah?

Bunch of kids loading stuff

Guys loading the entertainment center. Wow, I don't envy them that job!

Movin' out with the truck and trailer!

OK, now I know there's room for just one more tiny thing. (Kristin S)

Taking a break for a minute. At this time, we’d just finished moving the last load of the night in. We did it in the dark, tripping over rocks, on the coldest night in the year (I kid you not!) Everyone was frozen, adding in the fact that our house didn’t yet have the geothermal hooked up (we were running on our “back-up emergency” system that we ended up running on for five weeks).

Colin and Rachel C dropped by to see how it was going. (from left, Chip S and Colin C)

What Dad and Chip got done while we moved stuff

Mom and Mrs S: The first bed to be made in the new house!!

Joe M and me chatting, standing around, and generally mking ourselves useless

Dad and Chip working on the flooring

The next day, the 20th, the Ss brought Colin's younger brothers Arlen and Kellan over to help us finish moving out. This is packing the kitchen.

Our wonderful crew-of-the-day. Hey, lazybones, WAKE UP!!!!!

Oh hello, Miss Anna

Home Sweet Home!

Our first meal in the new house.

Thank you, everyone who helped us! It was so muc fun!

Yorkie & Me

So, I promised I'd write a post about the 21st of December, when one of the biggest events so far in my life happened.
It didn't have anything to do with writing. I didn't get a book contract, a poem published, or a $1000 offer for a short story.
I didn't get my dream car.
And no long-lost rich great-aunt died and left me a fortune. :0)
However, what happened was much more important than any of those. Mom and Dad woke me up in the morning at 8:30 am. I wasn't too pleased about it at first, seeing as how I'd been up late the night before, then I realized it was probably something serious because BOTH of them woke me up. Dad told me I had to be semi-coherent to understand the question. Once I semi-sat up, he asked me, "What do you think of Mr. Justin?"
Lots of stuff ran through my brain in about 0.5 seconds. Hilariously funny. Good at Frisbee. Honest and open to his friends. Dedicated to his school and work. Loves God. Severe weather nerd (his words, not mine!).
What came out of my mouth was,"Uh, he's a good kid."
"Justin has asked to court you," Dad said.
I snapped awake faster than I ever have before. But I still couldn't formulate an answer for several minutes,and when I finally did, it was really lame. "That's weird."
I'd been trying for several months to figure out exactly what I felt toward him. As we emailed and talked in person, I'd been puzzled by my feelings toward him. I knew it wasn't a silly, childish crush. I also knew that I didn't regard him as just a brother figure either. It was something I'd never felt before.
Then, as my parents and I talked some more, I realized what it was. I loved Justin. As I thought about the last couple of months, everything made sense, and I felt a peace in my heart as I contemplated this feeling. I knew, with a surety that could have only been from God, that I loved Justin and wanted him to love me. It wasn't weird at all--it was right and good and God had blessed us with each other.
Mom and Dad had asked me because it had come to the time where they needed to know if I had the same feelings toward Justin as he had toward me. I don't think they expected an answer that quickly. :0)
After we talked...for two hours (and Dad thought it would be a 10-minute conversation)...we told Josh and Hannah. Hannah squealed and gave me a big hug. Josh smiled, gave me a hug, and said that he'd thought something was up. Then Mom and Dad left to go to Springfield. One of their reasons for going was to meet Justin and Mr and Mrs T for lunch at 2. So I nervously waited around and, at 2, started praying. Praying for my parents, praying for Justin and his parents, praying for Justin and me.
3:15 or so, Mom called me. "We have someone following us!" she said. "We'll be in there in about 30 minutes."
Josh and Hannah said they've never seen me fly around straightening things up that fast. When Mom and Dad got here, I came out to the living room and said hi, with butterflies...no, make that some kind of butterfly-bat mutants...fluttering around in my stomach.
"Hello, young lady," Justin said as he walked across the living room toward me.
"Hi," I whispered.
And we stood there, not saying anything. Mom finally had to nudge us out the door with, "Justin, you can take her for a walk if you want to!"
"That OK with you?" Justin asked me.
I nodded as I ran to get my coat. On the walk, we talked about several different things, but the best part was when we stopped at the end of our driveway, near the road. At that time, Justin asked for my permission to continue with the courting relationship. I just nodded for a minute until I could croak, "Yes!"
It's been hilarious to tell our friends. Some, like Mary and Monica, have said, "Oh yeah, we've seen that coming."
The first question out of Joy's mouth was, "What can I do at the wedding?"
Joanna H wouldn't believe us at first.
Josiah's eyes got absolutely huge and he was excited for the rest of the night.
The best reaction we got was from Mary's brother, James and Caleb. Justin and I were sitting together at a table at the Hs, playing a game with a bunch of other people. Josiah snagged the P boys as they came in.
"You need to ask Justin a question."
James stopped and looked at Justin funny. "Is is about that YouTube video?"
"No, no, no," Josiah said. "Ask Justin how life has been lately!"
"OK. How's life been, Justin?"
Justin grinned. "Life has been great!"
"OK...."
Justin finally had to give me a hug. James and Caleb's eyes got big. "Ooohh. Cool!" I had the hardest time trying not to laugh. :0)


So...now you know why I've been preoccupied the last couple of weeks. :0D Love ya, Justin!
Oh, and "Yorkie" from the title is Justin's nickname because of that trick the Ts pulled on me at the medieval feast that involved a York Peppermint Patty.
Up next....who knows! Orchestra starts up again on Friday, so maybe I'll post about it...from a spectator's view now, since I quit choir. Can't wait to see my choir director's face when I tell her one of the reasons I quit! One thing you can bet on: more than likely my next post will involve a certain tall, dark, and extremely handsome guy. Until then! :0)