Drive of Faith to FoDiDa

We had some fun "see you later" parties with family and friends. And they were all very fun.

Then we put everything we own in a rented trailer and hit the road.

I had heard of people doing that in young women's lessons and stuff, but I never realized how scary it would really be.  We have a 10 year old car and a 9 year old van.  And we expected them to drive us safely across the country.  We first stopped in Salt Lake City.  A whole 2 hour drive to test out the trailer and get a few things done.

   

Then, a night in Denver before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's.  

 At Grandma and Grandpa's, we learned that we all like fireflies. And we had a great time with E's parents.  We went to the zoo, fishing with Grandpa, and even played at a park E played at when he was little.  Much fun, but I was anxious to keep going.

Our next stop in Georgia was a little too far for a 1 day drive, so we spent a night in Nashville, Tennessee before heading to our last imposition stop.

We once again found great hosts.  Invited ourselves to Aunt D's birthday party and left a stomach bug that I had while we were there.  You are welcome.

We made it to Florida and celebrated by eating at Steak and Shake.  Yum.

Then we piled into a hotel room for another 2 nights.  

We had arrived safely.  I was emotional.  Over 2000 miles in 2 cars with a heavy trailer and 3 kids without incident.  I felt (and still feel) SO blessed.

Then R puked in the doorway of the hotel right as we were taking our stuff in.

At least it wasn't inside the car.

We quickly found a place.  After looking at several, we decided to move into one that is a large, open 3 bedroom 2 bath on a second floor. The community has a lot of what we wanted, but what sealed the deal is we could move in that day, they had a 99.00 deposit, and 1st month free.  

Welcome home.  To celebrate, R said we should have a special dinner of Hot Dogs, Potato Salad, and Fruit Salad.  So we did.  He was pretty bummed that it was just us.  I don't know who he thought we'd be inviting.  But it was just the first of many times reminding him we still needed to make new friends.  :(

Besides, we sold our dining room table, and we don't have much room for company.

The day after we moved in, the check engine light came on in the car and there was some weird smoke stuff coming from the engine.  We were carried here on prayers and faith. For real.  Quite a testimony builder for me. 

We are in our new home and settling into our new normal.  It is definitely hot and humid.  There are bugs and we don't have much stuff or money.  But we are together and I am SO happy to be here.