We made it!!!!

Just so ya'll know, the drive from Utah to Indiana is a piece of cake. The drive from Indiana to Virginia is awful. But maybe I just feel that way because I was the one who had to drive from IN to VA. I seriously drove in heart stopping traffic for 14 HOURS. Laugh all you want, but I was praying constantly that we wouldn't die or that I wouldn't lose Lohn (He was driving the UHaul behind me, and I was the only one with GPS). And if I wasn't praying, I was singing primary songs to help me calm down. Looking back, I'm not sure what the big deal was. I mean, I'm a good driver, so what's my problem??? Virginians drive crazy fast though. In many a construction zone where I am surrounded on all sides by orange barrels, I would be a hazard if I was driving the speed limit. EVERYONE drives at least ten over. And bumper to bumper. And weave in and out of traffic. Ugh. I NEVER want to do that again.

We spent a blissful 4 hours at my beloved Village. We had to stop there to empty our storage unit. My kids melted right into the crowd on the playground as if we had never left, and I soaked up Village conversation. That was a happy day. I miss it especially now that I am in a place where I don't have any friends (I'm not asking for pity here, just stating a fact. But yes, it's a little pathetic).

I like my (rental)house. It's at the end of a cul-de-sac, cozy, with a fenced in back-yard. Squirrels dart in and out of our yard collecting acorns, and there is some kind of a songbird perched in our trees. It really is lovely here. I will be posting a tour soon as I have the house presentable.

Lohn likes his new job (phew!). And he leaves at 7 am so he can come home earlier to be with the kids. He likes his coworkers, and finds his work to be interesting.

The kids started school. They were nervous. I took them the first day, and all three had wobbly chins when I left them with their teacher. Gunnar yelled to me as I walked away, "Mom am I going to sleep here?" Poor kid. He asked me that when we went to dinner at a members house this week too. I think being homeless for so long took it's toll on him. He has a sweet young teacher. He will love her. Ander's teacher is a grandmotherly sort. Very warm and inviting. Tamsyn's teacher is a singer and a dancer. Literally. I dropped Tamsyn off and I could hear her singing before I left. Tamsyn says she's a little crazy, she teaches while she dances and sings. Lohn and I couldn't be happier. If she is singing and dancing, then she won't be yelling. Tamsyn has had her share of yellers, and I am grateful for a bouncy, happy teacher. I think she will love her. All the kids like school, even Gunnar. I really debated on whether or not I should put him in school. I wanted to keep him home for one more year, Lohn wanted him to start. I hope we made the right decision.

The garbage people couldn't bring us a garbage can for a week, and do you know how messy moving in is??? I had bags of garbage in our house, and 20-30 cardboard boxes in our backyard. Our situation was getting desperate, and I couldn't find the dump because we didn't have internet for a week either (How did people survive without internet???). My super sweet (old) neighbors let me stuff my garbage in their can, and told me that recycling was picking up the next day too, if I wanted to get rid of our boxes. So in one night, I got rid of all our stinky garbage and all the ugly boxes cluttering up our back yard. I am SO making Don and Mary bread and taking them jam. Tomorrow. They also gave us a swing for the backyard.

Thats all for now. I am happy, prone to homesickness for a place familiar, but grateful everyday that Lohn got a job he likes, income, health insurance, a home of our own, and resilient kids. I know we will love it here, and I am grateful God led us here.