Our Move

We left North Carolina at 4:00 am Friday, July 23rd, but we had been up since 1:30 am.  Hugh drove the moving truck, and I drove the van with the girls and Daisy. I was so worried about me being able to stay awake, especially during those dark morning hours.  We had worked so hard for days on end packing and packing and packing and whew...we were so tired leaving N.C.  I can’t tell you how many times I slapped my face, blasted the frigid air temps, pinched myself hard, prayed for people, sang (quietly because the girls were supposedly sleeping) etc.. I would call Hugh and tell him that I am afraid to blink, because I didn’t know if my eyes would open again, but instead drift off to sleep and not know it. I had precious, PRECIOUS cargo and there was NO WAY I was going to let myself fall asleep. Scary for sure, but once the sun came up, and I had a huge McDonald’s coffee in hand, I was golden.  The excitement of our arrival to SC and the closing of our house was what kept me awake. We were sooo excited!

I wanted to thank everyone who helped us in our last move from North Carolina to South Carolina.  We were so tired when we got to South Carolina, so much so that words just cannot explain. I was really wondering how in the world we were going to get all of our stuff unloaded.  But the Lord knew, and we had TONS of help in both locations and some people were friends of friends that we did not even know. How amazing is it that people will give up a few hours of personal time or time with family and come help people, that they don’t even know, move into their house. On the receiving end, we experienced the beautiful Body of Believers in Christ serving the Body.  While in Seminary, I got to experience first hand the importance of serving the Body, either by receiving meals or making meals when a baby was born, when there was a hardship in the family, or when someone was sick. When we were leaving North Carolina, we were asked over and over if we had people lined up to help us move. We told them that as of that moment, we had one person lined up, since our church was down in Tampa, FL serving with Covenant Life Church plant.  And can I tell you that we had so many people here it’s was mind-boggling, thanks to Matt Rogers and his amazing ability to network and motivate people to serve. Thank you Matt! Ultimately, we thank the Lord for His providence.

I didn’t have my camera on hand during the move, but here are the few pics I did get: 

Here’s Mattie sitting in front of all the boxes that were about to be loaded. 

Here’s some of the crew that helped us load the truck. These guys really worked hard, and we can’t thank them enough. Hugh took them to the closest place to eat, a Chinese Restaurant, to fill their bellies after working so hard. Thanks guys!

I’m smiling here, but not because I’m happy, but only because Gi was taking a picture of me.  Stick a fork in me; I was done! So exhausted. Here I was bathing Laney and feeding Mattie in the bathroom of all places. THE BATHROOM! We should have been long gone by this point and already on the road, but we were behind, and before we knew it, it was dinner time, and then bedtime for my sleepy girls.  ALL of our stuff was packed, but thankfully Mattie’s seat was still out. We planned on eating on the road, so there was no food in the fridge or cabinets, and I sure enough didn’t plan on bathing the girls after we had cleaned the bathroom, but we were waaay behind schedule. Thankfully, the Justin and Gi Hime offered to feed us hot dogs, veggies, and some sweet tea. We were STARVING. Thank you Himes for saving the day!

Laquita, Christina, and Laney. Christina works at Renewal, our church, and I can’t wait to hang out with her more. She is so sweet. And Laquita coming to watching the girls for us while we unloaded the truck was the greatest blessing to us. She served us well, bought us dinner, and loved on the girls. I really can’t thank her enough for coming. I don’t know what we would have done without her.

Matt, Hugh and the guys in the moving truck. This was round two. We had already unloaded one full truck, and what you see here is the truck being unloaded from all of our stuff that was in storage down  in South Carolina for three months.

Laney hanging out at the bottom of the moving truck ramp. She wanted to go up there so badly! 

So glad the move is behind us and the unpacking is...well....not quite done yet, but we’re in the process of unpacking still. So happy to be here in South Carolina. Laney misses her friends and our “old house”. She keeps asking, “Who is going to come to my house to play?” We are thankful for Corrie, Matt and Sarah’s daughter who is Laney’s age. They are on staff at Renewal as well.  And we pray that God will bring new friends into her sweet, little life. We miss you NC friends!