Pink Jobs vs. Blue Jobs

We found a friend for Homer.

I don't think this is quite as big as Homer over at Marine Wife's blog, but I sure was surprised when we walked out the front door this morning.

In our home we have blue jobs and pink jobs. Pink jobs are jobs I usually do and blue jobs are jobs P.K. usually does. Getting rid of creepy crawlies would fall under the category of a blue job.

Momma's Table

Our new dining room set arrived yesterday afternoon. It really fills the dining room, but I love it. It has a 24" leaf so we can easily seat eight. Maybe not easily. We won't be able to put chairs on the ends in this dining room if we put the leaf in. But remember this house is a rental for one year. I plan to keep the table. Which leads me to the real story behind this post.

I have a lot of memories attached to "stuff." For instance, the last time I visited my Grandma I came across this salt shaker.

When I saw it my mind was flooded with childhood memories of holidays and family gatherings. My cousin and I sat down to look through all of my Grandma's pictures and we came across one of my Grandpa sitting at the kitchen table and there was the salt shaker in front of him.

P.K. took all the kids to the YMCA with him last night. I asked him to call me when he was leaving so I could have dinner ready when they arrived home. Aaron had an informational meeting for scouts but I wanted to eat at our new table first.

The family arrived to the new table set with my fine china. The dinner menu included grilled steak, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus and homemade cheesecake for dessert. We took pictures of the family and our first memory at our table. The kids were so polite and kind to one another.

In my mind I was picturing all the times family and friends would come to visit and we would sit around that table. I thought of the first time one of the kids would bring a special someone home to meet the family. I thought of our grandkids sitting around our table. I thought of a time when my kids would discuss who should have Momma's table with all the precious memories.

Then reality set in. The kids came bursting through the door yelling, "We're home. Where are you?" I said, "I'm in the dining room. Look, I have dinner ready." It was actually cheesy chicken and pasta with veges. Aaron walked in the room, looked at the table and said, "That is gross. I'm not eating that." I told him he had eaten it before. I picked out as many of the cheese covered veges that I could and he could just eat the pasta and chicken. He opted for the strawberries I had put out. Did I mention the veges were covered in cheese? You couldn't even taste them.

After several complaints about the dinner being served, I told the family a story I had heard a minister sharing on a radio program this past week. In his story a mother had prepared a new meatloaf recipe for her family. When the family came to the table they immediately realized this wasn't their usual meatloaf. The complaints came. The mother was exasperated. After all she had worked hard planning and preparing a nice meal for her family. She picked up the platter with the meatloaf, walked to the back door and gave it a pitch. I didn't listen to the entire radio program so I'm not sure what the minister's point was, but I asked my kids what they thought the moral of my story was.

Rachel was sure it had something to do with Aaron being a picky eater. Hannah let us know she didn't like "fried" broccoli and carrots. They weren't fried. They were gently boiled. She only likes them raw. Then before we realized what was happening, Rachel said something about Aaron that had him in tears. She has been asked several times over the last couple of weeks to try to be extra kind to her brother since he is having a hard time adjusting to our new home. As Aaron ran off to his room to cry in solitude, I gave Rachel a good talking to and P.K. excused her from the table to go sit on her bed and think about what had just happened.

I didn't take a picture of us during our first meal at our table, but oh what a memory!

Updates

-We are starting to make noticeable progress on unpacking the boxes. Tomorrow will mark one week since our movers unloaded our shipment. Today I unpacked the living room, family room and playroom. I lined the cabinets and drawers in the master bathroom and the cabinet in the kids' bathroom. I can't believe it has taken a week to get this far. I usually wipe everything down when we move into a new place, but this one needed more deep cleaning. It takes a bit longer because I have to move boxes to clean around them and then unpack. But I felt like today was very productive.

-Yesterday P.K., Hannah and I found a very nice mall a town over. We took a different route home to explore. We discovered a Target Super Center, a Super WalMart, Kohls, Home Depot and various other stores less than 5 miles from our house. The WalMart and Target we had used earlier in the week were farther away than that. It is the little things that make this girl happy.

-Rachel is loving school. She has a list of friends already. I knew she would make friends quickly. She is very outgoing. Her teacher issued me a written apology regarding the "less than warm welcome" and followed up in an email to see if I found the note. During my morning quiet time I try to read one chapter from Proverbs every day that corresponds with the date. The kids' started school on August 19 so I read chapter 19 that day. I haven't been as faithful with my morning quiet time the last couple of weeks, but when I went to pick the kids up from school that day I read the chapter while I was waiting in the pickup line. Verse 11 says, "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." Needless to say, I already felt convicted to forgive her and give her a second chance.

-Aaron hasn't really made friends the way Rachel has. He is much more reserved. I am like that. I know I don't seem shy, but I hate new situations. Once I warm up I am fine. I can relate to the poor little guy. He says recess is his least favorite part of school because he doesn't have anyone to play with. What I have discovered this move is that the things that bother my kids the most regarding the move are the things that break my heart. Although I can't wait to make a true friend here, it would make me much more happier if Aaron would make just one. He did come home today with a paper to sign up for an after school Spanish language program at their school. It is a thirty week program. He will start on Thursday. He also received a paper for Scouts. I know he is anxious to get back into that.

-I appreciate the prayers and although we have had several unexpected things to deal with here, I have been at peace. That is from the Lord. One specific prayer request I would like to throw out is that we will find a church we love. We tried one on Sunday morning that was nice, but it wasn't the one. We attended a different church on Sunday evening and I went last night and signed up for their Women's Bible study which will be on Tuesday morning. They have a good program for children, but just Sunday School. We really want a church that has a program for the children during worship. We also want it to be one where they are learning not just coloring pictures.

-P.K. got his work schedule yesterday. We knew he was going to have to work every Sunday because he is the chaplain and services are offered at the prison on Sunday. We found out yesterday that he also has to work on Saturdays. He will be off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and doesn't have to be to work on Thursday until noon. That will be nice.

I guess that is all the updates I have for now.

First Day of School

Rachel and Aaron started school at their new school this morning. It took forever to jump through all of the hoops to get them enrolled. We had to take their shot records to the county health department where they also performed a hearing, vision and dental screening. Now this can also be done with your family doctor as long as said doctor is licensed in our new state. The other states must be severely lacking (please hear that with all the sarcasm you know I can muster). We tried to get this taken care of when we were house hunting, but with the school rush they only hand out 100 numbers which were gone by 7:30 a.m. The lady I spoke with that day said if we came once we had moved it would be much easier since the school rush would be over. She also told us that that particular branch of the health department was the closest to our new house. When we returned yesterday morning at 8:30 we were given #38 and told to return at 12:30 because all the morning slots were full. It took us about 25 minutes to get across town. (This is where I began my mental list of why I will miss living in a small town.) P.K. asked for a list of the other locations and luckily the first lady was wrong and there was one closer to our house. If I ever run into said lady again, I will not take her word as gospel.

Once we arrived at the other branch we had the privilege of sitting in "Germville" for an hour and a half. The kids' shots were up to date and they let me give them $54 to let someone shine a flashlight in the kids' mouths, have them read an eye chart and listen for the beep in the little headphones. I wanted to let them and the school corporation and anyone else involved in blessing us with this little field trip know that my family was perfectly healthy when we entered the facility, but I have to question what we picked up in there. I was never so thankful for hand sanitizer in my life.

Then in addition to our lease, we needed to produce a utility bill. Since we just had our utilities put in our names on Friday, we had to go to the utility company to pick up a letter stating we live where we say we do. Nice. (Again, sarcasm.) I can understand why the school asks for what they do, but I don't understand why there isn't a grace period.

We have had so much fun this summer and it is always hard to see it come to an end. This year was especially hard because I am so nervous for them being the new kids. We registered them yesterday afternoon. The secretary is really sweet and the assistant principal made a point of introducing herself and welcoming the kids. We took them in this morning a bit early to meet their teachers and walk them to their classes.

Rachel's teacher will be referred to as Ice Lady until the conviction to forgive is very strong in my heart. (You all may need to pray for me on this one.) The secretary walked us to her classroom door and said to Ice Lady, "Rachel is here." To which the teacher replied, "I don't have an extra desk." She says, "Hi" to Rachel and walks us to a table in her room. She looks at the secretary and says, "Do I have the lowest enrollment in my class?" She still has not said anything to either P.K. or me. I am trying to make eye contact with the lady to introduce myself. We had a similar scenario at the beginning of school with Rachel's teacher last year. This made last year's episode seem nice. Anyway, she comes to me and says, "I'm sorry I don't have a desk for her. They usually put the new kids in the class with the smallest enrollment." I reply by extending my right hand and telling her my name. She sat down with Rachel and seemed to be able to relate to children. I'm sure Rachel didn't care. At least I hope she didn't because she was so excited this morning. I'm praying that today goes well. I told her it was cool that she got to sit at the special table for now. I just wish Ice Lady would have greeted her and just said something similar. As soon as we left the room the secretary immediately apologized for the "icy welcome." I told her I noticed.

Aaron's teacher was wonderful. She greeted Aaron first and then P.K. and me right away. She even took time to speak to Hannah. She had Aaron's name on his desk and handed me a stack of information. Last year the Lord saw fit to make me the head room mom in Rachel's class. I think it was so I would have to learn to work with her teacher. I hope I don't have to relearn that lesson and work with Ice Lady.


Rachel's first day of fourth grade and Aaron's first day of second grade. Hannah just likes to have her picture taken. Yes, that is a spot on Aaron's shirt where he spilled his milk. It dried before we got to school. Why change? What a mom!

The following are some moving odds and ends. Enjoy!

Each of the kids has a "treasure drawer." They can put whatever they want in it. When we moved we packed each drawer individually and I let them unpack them when we arrived. Aaron is carefully unpacking his treasures.

Hannah has always been able to fall asleep anywhere in any position. We were cracking up at her asleep on the hardwood floor with her feet inside the pillowcase. She was watching t.v. Just to prove she does have a bed...

The girls had red metal bunk beds which we sold before we left the old house. We have bought them each a new bed. Hannah decided she wanted a jungle room. I have no idea where she came up with that idea. Her bed has butterflies at the top of the headboard. You can't really make them out in the picture. While I was at Target with Rachel and Aaron shopping for school supplies last night we found this comforter. It has some butterflies on it which Hannah apparently associates with the jungle. Then we found the cool raffia bed skirt, the crocodile rug and the jungle animal wall decals. Rachel, Aaron and I decorated her room and then surprised her. Thankfully she liked it because she has seriously been eyeing a lot of leopard print stuff.

This is Rachel on her new bed. The walls were already that peachy orange color and Rachel loved it. She chose her own new bedding which works really well. This picture makes her room look really small, but this is basically half of it. We bought her a large bed with the plan of her room being a guest room when we have company. (Yes, Shannon, your days of sleeping on the futon in the living room are over!)

Now, back to those boxes!

Another Move Update

It is official. We have moved. In less than three weeks P.K. has received a job offer, we went house hunting, packed ourselves for a long distance move and are now at our destination. It has gone so quickly that it is all a bit fuzzy in my mind.

We had all the kids' toys packed up by Tuesday. That left them with very little to entertain themselves. Here are a couple pictures of what we had them do.

They are using markers to decorate our "first night" box. I learned this little tip from another military wife somewhere along the way. The "first night" box contains everything we will need to make our first night in our new house comfortable. I let the kids decorate that box so it stands out from all the other boxes. Packed inside are sheets for the beds, blankets, a pillow (the kids and I took ours in the car with us so just one for P.K.) towels and washcloths for showers the first morning, glow sticks to make the kids' first night fun, toilet paper and a shower curtain and hooks.

We didn't have to deep clean the house before we left, but I wanted to leave it nice. We gave the kids Lysol wipes and had them wipe down the walls. They really do enjoy this and will often ask to do it but with old toothbrushes and buckets of water. I'm going to take advantage of it while I can. It won't be too much longer before they figure out it is work. It isn't perfect, but they can't hurt the walls. Most of what they wipe off is stuff they managed to get on there. This kept them all three busy for well over an hour.

We spent time saying good-bye to friends on Tuesday night. Kari has a post on her blog that tells the story of our friendship. She mentions that we were standing in my driveway crying and hugging as we said good-bye. She left out the part where she threatened my very being if I didn't update my blog on a regular basis. :) She and her family made scrapbooks for us. I laughed and cried looking through mine. She also gave me a Bible verse to put on my new frig. What a great gift!

Our movers were supposed to start loading us between 8-9 Wednesday morning. They finally showed up about 11:00 a.m. Once they were there, they were pretty efficient and had us loaded by 5:00 p.m.

I took one last picture of the kids at our house in front of the empty garage. I walked through the house and said a final good-bye. It has become such a familiar place. As I stood in the doorway my mind was flooded with images of walking through the door a thousand times and thinking, "It is good to be home." We spent some time talking about memories we made at that house.

We got on the road at 7:00 p.m. and drove until midnight to knock some travel time off of the trip today.

We met the new landlord here...

to pick up our keys. We even met some of the neighbors who told us how much they love the neighborhood. I'll post some pictures of the inside later.

We greatly appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming. We have a busy couple of days ahead. The movers will unload tomorrow and I have to try to get the kids enrolled in school. In case you are wondering, that apparently takes an act of congress in our new location!

I'm posting from the hotel tonight. I'm not sure when our internet will be connected or when I'll be able to post again (Sorry above mentioned dear friend). Stay tuned!

What's Your Anchor?

Whew! We are in the midst of a whirlwind of activity. I've had several blog worthy moments but I haven't managed to post them. In addition to moving sooner than I had expected, I am working through two Bible studies. One is "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter and the other is "To Live is Christ"' by Beth Moore. I'm doing the Kelly Minter study with my bloggy friend Kristy. We post our comments for each other to read every week. I'm doing the Beth Moore study with my friend Becky. Becky is a Navy wife I met while we were living in Great Lakes. When her husband got orders to Washington we decided to do a Bible study by phone each week. Some weeks have been busier than others and we've had to postpone our phone date, but most weeks we get to talk and work through our study. This past week we decided to email each other our comments since I would be caught in moving chaos. Ideally I should have had these done around Monday, but didn't get them posted until yesterday (Saturday). The Minter study is subtitled "Confronting Our Modern-Day Idols." It deals with things in our lives that we make into idols and allow to come before our relationship with God. We don't plan to make them idols, it just happens. With that in mind, I felt like I should post my Bible study comments before I took time to post on my blog. Of course, tomorrow is Monday again and am I ready? No. Sorry girls!

To catch everyone up, we did find a great house in the new area. It is has four bedrooms and a full finished basement. The kids will each have their own rooms this time around. We have four bedrooms here, but we use the fourth as an office. Having the finished basement will give us the extra space for that. We took some pictures but the owners are in the middle of cleaning up after the last tenants (four college students) who left the house in less than desirable condition so the pictures don't really do it justice. I will however share this one of the foyer from the top of the stairs. I think it is beautiful. (I may not once I have to clean it.)

We will arrive at the new house on Thursday and the movers will deliver all of our stuff on Friday. I'll get some better pictures and post them then. When we were moving to our present house from Great Lakes, a friend of mine was praying for me. I remember her praying that God would bless me with a house that made my heart sing. I thought that was such a sweet prayer and the words have stuck with me. We have made some wonderful memories in our current house and it has been our home. The house itself has given my heart more of a hum, but the house we are moving to has my heart singing. I can hardly wait to make it our home and build some new memories.

As I was packing up our kitchen, I took down some verses I had written out and put on the refrigerator. Moving here had it ups and downs. At times it seemed like there were many more downs than ups. I know the Lord has used our time here to teach me some valuable lessons. One being what it truly means to lay everything at His feet and trust Him to work it out. A couple of my friends have pointed out that I am a bit of a control freak (I'm not sure where they get that idea) so if you agree with that perspective you can understand how hard this lesson has been. Trusting God doesn't mean you let Him handle the things you don't want to handle on your own, it means total surrender.

One of the verses is from John 14:27. It says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." One day I was listening to Moody Radio and the speaker asked the question, "How do you know you are in the will of God." The answer he gave was that as long as we are walking with God we will be in His will. This past week in the Beth Moore study she said "a sense of peace will virtually always accompany His will and direction. Christ is the Prince of Peace." As I move on from this season of my life, I have peace.

One of the other verses is from Hebrews 6:18b-19. It says, "We who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. " The Lord is my firm and secure anchor. Wow!

In the same Beth Moore study she was talking about a season in the life of Paul where things were good but it was time to move on. There are countless good things about our life here, but it is time for us to move on. As I removed these scriptures from the refrigerator where they have hung for almost two years, I wanted to pack them away to hang up at my new home. Then I felt like God was telling me that this season is coming to an end and He will continue to be my anchor, but I could let those scraps of paper go.

I can't go to sleep tonight until we are totally packed so that will be enough rambling from me. I have a few more travel/moving tips so watch for those in the next couple of days.

We Have Arrived

It has been a long day. By the time we loaded everyone and got fuel it was about 5:00 when we headed out of town. Mapquest gave us about a 10 hour travel time. I had already planned the route I wanted to take, but I wanted to see what Mapquest had to offer. I have found errors in the directions given by Mapquest before. Specifically directions to my house. They leave out an important turn. Anyway...I figured with potty stops it would take us about 12 hours. Yep, I figured in two hours of potty stops. Let's face it. Public bathrooms are disgusting. Luckily, we had a Cracker Barrel about every 10 miles on our journey. Their bathrooms are usually pretty decent. Twenty to thirty minute potty stops are part of my travel tip for the day. When anyone in your traveling party calls for a potty break, everyone traveling has to try to go. Adults included. My family is use to this rule and everyone cooperates. This does take extra time at the actual stop, but you don't have to stop again 10 minutes down the road. Besides Cracker Barrel having clean bathrooms, there is a bit of room to stretch for a few minutes. Don't rush the potty/stretch breaks. It will make for a more enjoyable ride.

So our 12 hour trip turned out to be a 15 1/2 hour trip. Traffic in general wasn't bad. There was a bit of congestion in one major city, but it was flowing. The problem was two accidents. We crawled for an hour while the first one was cleaned up. The second one blocked both lanes and involved 3 vehicles. We came upon that one right after it happened and as emergency crews were arriving. I have a picture, but my camera got left in the car and I am not going to go get it at this hour. It was pretty messy, but thankfully everyone involved in the crash was walking afterwards. We sat for an hour and a half. P.K. and I were entertained by all the people who couldn't stay in their vehicles. They were walking right up to the accident sight and asking how much longer it was going to take to clear the accident. Each time the police and other officials would tell them to return to their vehicles. I'm sure the officials wanted to say, "Oh. We didn't realize you were tired of waiting. Please feel free to fly right over the pile of mangled vehicles!" It was a good lesson in patience. We were very thankful that we weren't directly involved.

After all the potty/stretch breaks at Cracker Barrel, it seemed only fair to everyone to have lunch there. That took an hour, but it was yummy. Something we have done in the past which didn't really work with Cracker Barrel is to let the kids run around while we eat and then let them eat in the car. It works really well if you come across a McDonald's or similar restaurant with a play area. We have also done this at rest areas. Rest areas are perfect because they usually have large grassy areas. You can give the kids a bottle of bubbles (which don't take up much packing space) and let them chase after them while you eat. Eating in the car will entertain them for 15 minutes. Can you tell I am about every entertained, whine free minute I can get in the car.

Move Update

I really should not be posting right now. My list of things to do is about 3 pages long. At the top of that list is to finish packing so we can be on the road at O'Dark Thirty in the morning. We are off to check out our new stomping grounds and hopefully find a new place to live.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it on the blog before, but I love family road trips. If there is a road side attraction or oddity to see, I will stop. (One of these days I'll have to post about the "live" buffalo we stopped to see after seeing signs for them for seriously 100 miles before. Yes, the signs said "live" buffalo.) I prefer to leave early instead of driving late. I'm not a chipper morning person but I function better in the morning.

My kids are great little travelers. I have learned a few tricks over the years. Since some of you who regularly check the blog have young kids, I thought I would pass along some of my traveling tips I have learned and used with the kiddos over the years. As I post our adventures this week, I will add a new tip. Some of you have traveled more miles than our clan. Please feel free to add your tips in the comments. I would love any helpful ideas. Here is my tip for today with a picture to explain what I am talking about. First the pic...

Other than showing you that the kids need some lotion on their knees, I would like you to notice their comfy clothes. On trips where we plan to leave extremely early, I have them shower and sleep in the the clothes they are going to wear the next day. Now before you all think I am an awful mom, I only do this when we are going to be in the car all day. They go straight from the shower to bed. Once we have the car totally loaded, the last thing we do is wake the kids. All they have to do is go potty and get in the car. When we take our first rest stop, I fix the girls hair and they are set. We usually visit some good friends in Virginia each year. Since I know they don't mind if I do laundry there, I wash the kids traveling clothes. The night before we leave to come home, they sleep in their comfy travel clothes. That can be considered a second tip because it makes less to pack. This trip we will be staying in a hotel so I packed comfy clothes for the return trip.

Please keep us in prayer for safety as we travel, ease at finding a new home and ease at getting the kids enrolled in school. I'll be posting updates. Now I really should get to bed since we are scheduled to pull out of the drive-way in less than six hours.

Kumbaya Follow Up

My friend Kari and I were at the park the other day. She mentioned that she kept watching for an answer to the Kumbaya post regarding whether or not Rachel sang Kumbaya at camp. I wouldn't want to leave anyone in suspense, so I thought I would let you know.

When Rachel came home from camp she was very excited and gave me a complete rundown of her camp adventures. Her favorite part was the zip line. She had to make it to the top of a climbing wall to go on the zip line. She said it was hard, but she was determined to make it to the top.

I actually have a mental picture of the moment I asked her about singing Kumbaya. We were driving down the street right before we turned on our street. I said, "Did you all sing Kumbaya." To which she replied, "Huuuuhhh?" When Kari and I were at the park, Kari asked the same question and got the same response. This leads me to believe that Kumbaya is no longer a camp favorite. Bummer...

One Down...A Gazillion To Go

I have successfully packed the first box of "stuff."