Adventures in Moving

Think epic adventure. Grand scenery, wind blowing, trees swaying, and your very own soundtrack playing as you step into a new home, which turns out to be Cinderella's castle. Got that picture? Because yeah, moving is NOTHING like that!

Adventures in moving for the Stumbo family included lots of moments where we stood around a room packed with boxes, with a few hundred more things to do and still wondering in despair, "What am I supposed to do next?" But we got it done.

It began with great blessings and also great sadness. Our church family gathered around us and helped us. Some by taking our girls so we could get things done. Others by coming and helping us pack boxes. Still other were brave enough to come and tackle a few house projects that we had put off for...many years. You know when you buys a house and you think, "We can fix that later" but it never gets done? Yeah, those types of projects. And when the projects are all done you are sad that you could have lived in a really nice house. But the real great sadness came as we had to say good-bye. We have many dear friends that have become family, people that we got to do life with and saying goodbye was so very difficult. Yet, how sweet that God extended our family and we now have great friends for a lifetime.

Lots of sweet friends came and helped pack our moving truck, and to top it off, two of our friends came with us last Monday when we moved to help unload. But like I said, moving comes with many adventures.

1. As we arrived to our new home, Andy and I had to run to the bank and close on the house. By the time we arrived the truck was unloaded. Yeah, pretty sweet, yet, it feel like we should have been here for that part.

2. Words to the wise. If you are moving and have 3 children ages 5 and under, it would be wise to hire a babysitter for the day...just saying.

3. My biggest fear is to loose Nichole. You see, children with Down syndrome have this tendency to run and wander. You can imagine the fear I felt when I heard a man yelling, "Did somebody loose a little girl?" I had just left Nichole for a few minutes with a bag of chips and watching a show, she was happy, so I ventured to help Ellie get something ready in their room. Not even 5 minutes and Nichole had left the house...easily, since the doors were taken off so we could move furniture inside. Nichole made it 2 blocks away until a nice couple biking spotted her and stopped her. The wife stayed with Nichole and the husband had been trying to find the parents. I cannot describe how it felt. Had they not found her, we would have had to call the police on our first night home. The doors were installed shortly after that!

4. Words to the wise. If you are moving and have 3 children ages 5 and under, it would be extremely wise to have a babysitter for the day. Wiat, did I say that before? Well, I think this is worth repeating!

5. Yes, even in a bigger town people might still know ahead of time who is moving next door. We have met a few neighbors who have asked if we are the "new minister" or the "new minister's wife."

6. You might find out that grocery shopping is in fact an adventure. One worth getting excited about. This town has a pretty sweet grocery store like no other I have seen before. Think warehouse, think choices, and think huge!

7. It is hard to get settled when you have little girls, especially 2 that require extra attention. While the process is slow, after a week all the boxes are almost gone from the upstairs. Yes, our solution right now is, "take it to the basement" but at least our main living area is looking pretty decent.

As for some prayer requests.

-Andy begins his new job on Wednesday.

-Please pray that we sell our house back in Iowa.