Where we are at, and what we are doing....
I guess it's time to fill you all in on what has been happening to our family this summer.
It has been a bit crazy at times, but we're hanging in there!
May 24: A day I had been anticipating for a long time. Ben was flying home to help me pack! I took the day off, and picked him up at the airport. We had a nice lunch and after Ben spent some much needed time with our dog Lucky, we began packing. Ugh. I hate packing! The girls got home from school and were elated to see their Daddy after 6 weeks.
Our plan was to do as much packing as we could that weekend, and be prepared to move the weekend after the girls finished school. They were to get out on June 5, Lydia's Birthday. :) (a 13 year old!) Ben was scheduled to fly back to Dallas on the 28th, and we were going to make the best of our time.
May 26: We found out that Ben's stay was going to be extended. His work was installing a sign at the Blank Park Zoo, in Des Moines, and instead of flying up someone to install it, Ben would just stay until the 30th and install it.
May 27: Had an unusually early phone call from a friend in Amana. One of the Amana Farms employees had alerted Mike to the possibility of our home being in the path of the flooding that the area was experiencing. At the time we were told that the potential of the flood could be worse than in 2008, which was a 500 year flood, that no one thought could ever be repeated.
We made the decision then that our goal was to have everything packed that week, in the truck, ready to be driven to Texas. We were uncertain of how all the details were going to shake out, but we knew we needed to get our things packed up. ASAP. We packed, sorted, thew away, and repacked all day Monday.
May 28: We called in reinforcements. Dear friends and family came and helped us pack. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.
Ben's Dad found us a truck on short notice and brought it out to the house. We then had a group of guys from our church come and help us pack the truck. Shout out to Veritas Church! We love you! We had the truck packed and ready to go by 8 pm, all while watching the river rise behind our home. It rose a lot that day. The river is about a mile behind our house, on a normal day, but by the end of the day on May 28, it was about 1/4 mile away.
With our home packed up and in a truck in our driveway, we had nowhere to go. My hope was for the girls to finish as much school as they could, so our dear friends and distant cousins who live in Amana, Mike and Tracy Williams, let our family stay in their home. We stayed there for 2 nights. We are so grateful for them!
May 29: Finished up some things and began moving things like kitchen cabinets and such upstairs. We also ran some errands and such. Luckily the buyer of our house was wonderful and understanding. We worked together to get everything on the upper level of the house as we continued to watch the water rise. By this time the water was lapping closer. Here is a picture:
.JPG)
.JPG)
It has been a bit crazy at times, but we're hanging in there!
May 24: A day I had been anticipating for a long time. Ben was flying home to help me pack! I took the day off, and picked him up at the airport. We had a nice lunch and after Ben spent some much needed time with our dog Lucky, we began packing. Ugh. I hate packing! The girls got home from school and were elated to see their Daddy after 6 weeks.
Our plan was to do as much packing as we could that weekend, and be prepared to move the weekend after the girls finished school. They were to get out on June 5, Lydia's Birthday. :) (a 13 year old!) Ben was scheduled to fly back to Dallas on the 28th, and we were going to make the best of our time.
May 26: We found out that Ben's stay was going to be extended. His work was installing a sign at the Blank Park Zoo, in Des Moines, and instead of flying up someone to install it, Ben would just stay until the 30th and install it.
May 27: Had an unusually early phone call from a friend in Amana. One of the Amana Farms employees had alerted Mike to the possibility of our home being in the path of the flooding that the area was experiencing. At the time we were told that the potential of the flood could be worse than in 2008, which was a 500 year flood, that no one thought could ever be repeated.
We made the decision then that our goal was to have everything packed that week, in the truck, ready to be driven to Texas. We were uncertain of how all the details were going to shake out, but we knew we needed to get our things packed up. ASAP. We packed, sorted, thew away, and repacked all day Monday.
May 28: We called in reinforcements. Dear friends and family came and helped us pack. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.
Ben's Dad found us a truck on short notice and brought it out to the house. We then had a group of guys from our church come and help us pack the truck. Shout out to Veritas Church! We love you! We had the truck packed and ready to go by 8 pm, all while watching the river rise behind our home. It rose a lot that day. The river is about a mile behind our house, on a normal day, but by the end of the day on May 28, it was about 1/4 mile away.
With our home packed up and in a truck in our driveway, we had nowhere to go. My hope was for the girls to finish as much school as they could, so our dear friends and distant cousins who live in Amana, Mike and Tracy Williams, let our family stay in their home. We stayed there for 2 nights. We are so grateful for them!
May 29: Finished up some things and began moving things like kitchen cabinets and such upstairs. We also ran some errands and such. Luckily the buyer of our house was wonderful and understanding. We worked together to get everything on the upper level of the house as we continued to watch the water rise. By this time the water was lapping closer. Here is a picture:
May 30: We had decided that this was the day we were leaving. Our moving truck had to be in Texas by Saturday evening, and Ben was going to Des Moines to do the install anyway, so we got the girls out of school early on what was their last day. We said our goodbyes to our school family and friends, and Ben's mom who had come over to say goodbye. We loaded it all up, and pulled away from a home that was a home to us for 6 months. We love that little house in Amana. It did our family much good. Ben had to be in Des Moines by 4, so off we went. Ben finished the job in Des Moines and we plodded forward until we could go no further. We stopped in Kansas and slept.
Here is our rig:
.JPG)
Yes, I pulled a trailer! Ben drove the big truck.
May 31: Up at the crack of dawn, hoping to get to Dallas quickly. The kids were so great, they travelled so well, chatting, singing, and generally being champs. I love them!
We arrived in Frisco around 4. Ahhhhh... Now to unpack all of our belongings in a storage unit, and get to Amanda and Steve's. And while I am at it, I really have the most amazing family in the Finley's. They have been the picture of grace and service to our family. We love them dearly and are excited to live life alongside them! Love being close to them! Love to have someone to list as my emergency contacts for the kids school registrations :)
June arrived with excitement and a Birthday. Lydia Grace turned 13. We celebrated the day with a lunch date with Mom, to our favorite Tex Mex place, Salsa's, and a Starbucks. I made her meal of choice that evening, Daddy brought her flowers, and we gave her some cash for her big 13th Birthday. We had a fun time honoring our Lydia.
.JPG)
We have tackled the summer with fun, swimming, sharing life with the Finley 7, and visiting family. If you do the math, our 7 plus the Finley 7, living in the same house, plus 2 dogs, equals a lot of fun!
We have settled in at a Church Home too! Genesis Metro, in Frisco, is giving us much in the way of community and spiritual encouragement. We are really enjoying meeting and making new friends there. Jonah and Lydia are enjoying the youth ministry, called FUSE, and we are excited to start a life group this fall!
We also found a home! We were set to close on the 26th of July, but the underwriting hit a snag of some sort, so we are still waiting to close. We will be living in a town called Little Elm Texas. It is a cute community, and we are looking forward to settling in.
I will post more as soon as we move and settle in. I am anxious to let you all know about our new home, and also fill you in on Ben's job!
Comments