Sunday night I dropped Hubby off at work, so they can all head to JRTC for the next month.  It was hard to say goodbye.  It felt like I just got him back from the last 5 months of training.  I know this month will go by quickly, but it’s hard not to think ahead and realize that in a matter of time he’ll be saying goodbye again and heading out for a year.

I stayed strong as I consoled Emily on the way home.  She was sad to see her Daddy go, but also so brave and understanding all at the same time.  Once she was in bed though, my tears came.  Not so much about this next month, but the next year.  I’m not really scared, it’s just that I know I’m going to miss him so much.  I just truly love being with him.  We have so much fun together doing just about anything.  He makes me laugh all the time.  He’s my other half.  He is my partner in all things.  I’m still madly in love with him, and can’t imagine going to bed without him for a whole year.

After a few minutes of my own pity party though, I stopped and prayed.  I know that fear is not from the Lord, and neither is feeling lonely.  He wants me to depend on HIM.  I know that the God that created the stars in the sky is watching over my husband and me at the same time.  This training and deployment were not a surprise to God.  He knows the future, our future.  So, I prayed and I asked God to help me to trust him more, and He reminded me of the following scripture.

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”Deuteronomy 31:8

God also tells us that he has a plan for us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”Jeremiah 29:11

Of course I’m going to miss my husband…my best friend…my partner.  I’m going to miss him like crazy! But I also want to make the best of this time and see what blessings God has in store for me.  I want to grow the way He wants me to grow.  I don’t want to miss that!  I can choose to stay holed up at home, moping and eating bon-bons, or I can get out there and explore this city, make new friends, and turn our new house into a home!

All the way!

I’m a bit behind getting all this posted, but better late than never!  Almost 2 weeks ago now….after our super fun last night in our old house, we got up the next morning and hit the road!

We went through Arkansas and Tennessee before stopping in Memphis for the night.  After our night in Mephis, we stopped in Nashville for lunch with some great friends. Then, along the way, we stopped for pit stops both for the humans, and for our cat!

At the end of the day we arrived in beautiful North Carolina. I was bummed that I totally missed getting a picture of the NC state sign though!   Also, our hour long drive through the Smokey Mountains all happened at night, so I saw nothing but shadows.  I can’t wait until we can go back for a weekend trip sometime!

Both nights on the road, we stayed in hotels with a jacuzzi tub!  This was TOTALLY worth it to help Emily burn off some extra energy after being stuck in the car for an entire day!  If it were summer, we could have just made sure the hotel had a pool, but at 30 degrees outside, this was the better option.  I highly recommend it for anyone traveling with kids!

And of course, what road trip would be complete without a stop at Waffle House?  This is a favorite of Rob & Emily!  I do like their waffles, but otherwise I’d just as soon start my day with a smoothie.  Just not a big breakfast eater first thing in the morning.  Judging from all the ones we saw, I’m pretty convinced you could travel all the way across the southern states and eat only at Waffle House!

They also had a cool old jukebox in the restaurant – can you believe Emily didn’t even know what this was?! Made me feel a little bit old!  It would be so fun to have one of these at home! Expensive, but fun!

After a good breakfast, we drove a few more hours till we got to our hotel / home for 2 weeks!!  We decided on an extended stay place with a full kitchen so that we could buy groceries and cook real meals each day instead of eating out.  Keeps the costs down, and makes us all a bit more comfortable.  We are here for 2 weeks, so we want it to feel like home.  Hubby and I have a separate bedroom and Emily has made a bedroom out of the living room / sofa bed.

Last Friday, the movers arrived with a giant truck!

Emily couldn’t wait to check out the inside!

Loading the truck went very much like Packing Day.  We watched other people do all the work.  We had some friends stop by to pick up our old playhouse, we hung out chatting with the neighbors, and my parents came by to pick up their new (our old) fridge! We passed ours on to them since we wouldn’t need it in our new location.

Hubby and my dad did all the work with the help of an appliance dolly…that thing is HEAVY!  Never mind the funny looking front – it does have handles, but they had to come off to get it through the door.

While they were here, they visited Emily in her hideout – Party in the closet!

Finally, the truck was loaded and our stuff drove away!

I think it took them about 6 hours to pack our household goods from our 1500 square foot house, and about the same to load the truck.  At lunchtime, I went out to pick up pizzas to feed the hardworking movers (and ourselves) – they were working so hard for us, it was the least we could do.

It was a great day! It felt a bit weird to not help with anything, but I think I could get used to it if I have to.  Ha Ha!

In the middle of our settling in we found a little extra time, so we stopped for some fun at a park & playground on post.  Emily was so excited and had the best time! She even wanted a souvenir from the park (pinecone and pine needles) – not quite getting that we live here now and she would probably visit that park weekly!  Too cute!

Never too old for these fun things! Look at that view behind her!

She’s finally getting the monkey bars! She struggles with weak hand muscles, so this was HUGE!!! She didn’t make it all the way across yet, but she’s sooooo close. We are going to have so much fun here, and we’re already talking about meeting Daddy at the park for picnic lunches!

Thursday, the packers arrived to pack up all of our belongings.  It was a team of 3, and they came prepared with all the boxes and packing paper anyone could ever want! They were amazing! In about 6 hours, they had our entire house packed and ready to go.  We just hung out, stayed out of their way and relaxed.  After several days of late nights purging, organizing, and getting things ready it was nice to just sit back and watch other people do the work for a change.

Prior to the packers arrival, I had spent several weeks purging through our stuff, getting rid of all the things we hadn’t touched in the 4 years we had been in our house.  Then I organized our stuff into piles around the house.  Books in one area, picture frames, games, movies, homeschool supplies – all in their own spot so the packers would pack similar things together. 

The day before the packers came, we separated the things we were moving ourselves and put them in our room or loaded them in our van.  These were things like our pictures, keepsakes, laptops, external hard drives (our photo backups!), important files and anything else that was not replaceable…just in case.  We also included things we need to live on for the first couple of weeks.

We separated the Do-Not-Pack load even further.  We had a couple bags with things we needed for the 2 nights we would spend in hotels on the road.  Just the basic of basics since we’d be arriving late at night, sleeping, then hitting the road in the morning.  A change of clothes for each of us, toiletries, pillows, Emily’s “must have to sleep” items, and supplies for the cat.

We also had suitcases and plastic boxes filled with things we would need for our 10 days in the extended stay hotel – more food, more clothes, books for Emily, even our printer so that Hubby could print out important papers or I could print things for Emily’s school. 

Lastly, we packed clear plastic boxes with things that we would only need once we were in an apartment while we were waiting for the movers to deliver our stuff.  Things like a toaster oven, microwave, more pantry food, pots & pans. 

I had read advice about following the packers around and making my own detailed notes on the boxes so that I would know exactly what was in each one.  I didn’t do that.  Instead I welcomed the opportunity to relax for a change.  Since we will be limited on space and storage, I know that we will need to unpack each and every box anyway so that we can get things put away.  I figure I can see what’s in each box as I pull it all out.  I’ll let you know later if I’m happy with my decision, but I suspect I will be.

Emily’s Safe Place 

Another thing we did was set Emily up with a “safe place” for her to go.  We knew it would be stressful having strangers in the home going through all of our stuff and moving it around, and we wanted to avoid any unnecessary anxiety for her.  We had a lot of our “do-not-pack” items in our bedroom and closet, so what better place to put her? We created a little space for her in the closet complete with books, stuffed animals, a blanket and the iPad.  We told her that she was welcome to be out with us or watching the packers if she wanted, but that she also had this space to go anytime she wanted to get away from it all.  After checking out the packers, and watching a little bit – she spent the majority of the day in the closet playing and reading.  It was crowded, but she was surrounded by her favorite things so she loved it!

This is what we did all day while the packers worked hard

What things looked like when they left

I wasn’t sure if they would just tape up my “Drawers ‘O Stuff”, or empty them.  As you can see, they emptied every last one of them.  That’s where I had all of our school/craft supplies all neatly organized – scissors, paint, glue/tape, markers, pipe cleaners, math supplies, science supplies, sensory items – all in their own place.  I guess I’ll be redoing that in a couple weeks.

All in all, it was a very smooth process.  I won’t lie and say it was easy because it was a lot of work leading up to this day, but it went smoothly.  I was very impressed with the packers and the way they worked, I was thrilled to sit back and watch for a change, and I was so proud of Emily and the way she handled it all like a champ!

Moving Day details coming soon!

We are now safe and sound in North Carolina! After 2 days of packing and loading our household goods, & 3 days of driving…we are here!!  I really want to write about the process and share pictures with you all, but I have to admit that my brain is fried! Hang in there with me for just a couple more days and I’ll update you on the whole process!

I’ll tell you all about the packing, the moving, the 3 days of driving, the hotel, the new city, and our process of finding an apartment! Oh, and our 2 hour drive around post looking for the commissary (grocery store)! Yep, 2 hours! The map and the signs were both wrong. 

We’re having a great time and loving it here so far.  I can’t wait to share it all with you.  I have to brag on our daughter! She has been AMAZING this entire time! We really worked hard to accommodate her sensory needs during the drive and throughout the entire process and it worked so well.  I’m so so proud of her for the way she’s handling all this change in her life.  She’s actually having a great time!

Tomorrow, we are hopefully going to submit an application for an apartment, take Emily to a playground or two, get on the waiting list (6-12 months) for on-post housing, and find the other commissary on post – there are 2!

I’ll be back tomorrow with pictures for sure!

We’ve spent the last week hanging out with friends and family, saying our goodbyes.  Thankfully we’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my parents, Hubby’s mom, his grandmother, and great friends before we go.  We also ventured a tiny but out of town for a couple days to spend the night with some of our dearest friends before the packing/loading/moving starts.  It’s been nice to have the time to just talk, laugh and play with everyone one last time.  Of course, we’ll be able to keep in touch, so it’s not like we won’t see them again.  We’ll get Skype once we settle in our new place and we’ll be able to video chat with friends and family.  The wonders of the internet will help keep us all close. 

Emily has been saying her own goodbyes.  Last week we had a playdate with one of her very best friends.  They are going to become pen pals to help ease the transition, sending pictures and letters to each other.  She’s also been saying goodbye to her play structures in the yard, and our giant oak tree, and other favorites.  We’ve decided not to take the play structures because we are going to rent an apartment for 6 months or so until we can get a house on post.  We don’t want to pay to store them, so we are passing them on to others to enjoy.  It’s sweet – one of the play houses was given to us a few years ago when Emily’s best friend moved away.  Now, we are able to give it to one of her friends when we move.  Circle of life and all.

We’ve made sure to take lots of pictures of her with friends and any toys that aren’t going so that she can look at them anytime she wants.  Over the last couple months, we’ve also made a point of visiting her favorite places around town like the museum, the carousel at the mall, and the bookstore.  We’ve also talked to her a lot about how exciting it will be to go on adventures to find the fun places in our new city.

Saying goodbye can be hard, but we are also looking forward to seeing what’s ahead.  We know that God has a church home for us, friends for all of us, and a place to live all just waiting for us to arrive and find them.  We’ll find new parks, playgrounds, stores, and things we can’t even imagine yet.  I’m looking forward to getting involved in the community and in Army life.  Hubby has been in the Army these past 5 months, but it’s not as real for me yet since I’ve been in our same house, going to our same church, with my friends and family, all while living far away from a military community.  It will be nice to be able to really embrace it and become a part of it.

I’ll post as soon as I can with pictures and updates from the road!