Mid August Chris flew back from a week in Oregon with my family on Sunday and closed on the house on Monday.
Early Tuesday he was on a flight from Colorado Springs to Dallas to pick up the van – the closest place the army would ship it. Once he had the van then he picked up his Dad from the airport in Dallas and they drove 10 hours together back to Colorado Springs. Del volunteered a week of his services to help us move in and it was greatly appreciated.
The kids and I left Vancouver and arrived in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, August 14th – minus Ryan who was already here doing the High School Soccer camp. Chris picked us up from the airport and we went straight back to the house. I stood at the end of the driveway and took it all in.
A full summer of checking it out in pictures, and I was finally here in person to see it completed. The kids ran through it in a matter of seconds. I could hear distance squeals and shouting but it was easy to tune out as I focused on the front door, the hall, the walls, the arches, the floor. It was so fun being slow. Chris stayed by me the whole time anxious for my reactions. Whenever I made a statement he smiled and said he had remarked the same thing before. I won't go into details of the whole thing... but it was better than I had imagined it would be (I had some major anxiety seeing the pictures during the summer) and that made us both so happy.
After an hour walking around examining every detail, we brought in all the suitcases and told the kids to start unpacking their suitcases into their closets. We didn't have any furniture yet but every closet had shelves and Chris had picked up some hangers so we could start to get organized. 11 weeks in suitcases and we are ready to just give our suitcases away and never go on a trip again... well, almost.
About 5:00 the blue skies disappeared and it started to hail. Huge quarter sized balls of hail. Proof that Colorado Springs weather really is quite unpredictable. Then back to blue skies.
By the end of the night the suitcases were down in the storage room and our closets at least were organized. We borrowed bedding from a friend, Emma, and slept on some of the new mattresses Chris had purchased from COSTCO the week before.
Our stuff was divided into four groups.
1) The stuff we brought over from Germany in our 18 suitcases for the summer.
2) Our big shipment from Germany.
3) Our small 'household goods' shipment from Germany -- basically all the most essential towels, bedding, pots and pans.
4) Our stuff in storage in Columbus, Georgia.
Oddly enough the first to arrive was our storage from Georgia, which came the morning I arrived. It's everything we've lived without for 3 years so it certainly didn't seem like it should be the first to go in. Other than our living room furniture which went straight into the front room, the remainder just stayed in their boxes and filled up the 2nd and 3rd car garage.
Thursday morning our big shipment from Germany was delivered. There were 7 or 8 workers and it was quite the process to keep track of them all. Chris stayed in the garage and crossed off box numbers on our inventory sheet as they were uncrated. I stood in the hall or wandered around the house telling them where to put things. I had previously labeled each of the bedrooms so that if I said, 'boys room' they would know exactly where to take it.
At 9:00am I took Katie over to the middle school for some 8th grade testing to see where she fit. Then at 11:00 I met her back at the school for an appointment with her counselor, who was just about the nicest most wonderful person ever. I successfully choked back tears several times as she talked to Katie, got her schedule and electives all set, told her all about the school and pumped her up for the best year ever. She even had it all set up for a volunteer 8th grade girl to show her all around on the first day of school and sit with her at lunch. Very impressed. Katie and I picked up Marco's Pizza for the movers and brought it back to the house.
My friend, Emma (who lived by us in Germany but had moved the year before) came over to check on us and brought us milk and cookies. The movers finished about 3:30 and Chris, Emily, Megan, Luke and I walked down to the Elementary school for the 'Meet the Teachers Ice Cream Social.' I am beyond impressed with the school. We ordered our school supplies through the PTA, picked them up and carried them to each of the three classrooms. Emily (5th) has Mr. Newell for her teacher and moves between 3 classrooms and teachers for her curriculum getting her ready for middle school. Megan (3rd) has Mrs. Scarbourgh for her teacher. She loved that she got to pick out which desk she wanted. Luke (PM Kindergarten) has Mrs. M. She is just the cutest Kindergarten teacher. Chris glanced over at me after we met her and she was talking to Luke and I again had to fight back tears. All three of the kiddos are thrilled and so excited for school to start. Our friend, Megan, brought lasagna, salad and garlic bread over for dinner. That night Christina and Brett from our new ward came over to see if we needed anything, and then later the Bishop and his wife walked over to say a quick hi. By the end of the night my kitchen was completely unpacked.
It was a great first day except for one small catastrophe. Megan, thinking it would really awesome to slide along the wood floors on a pillow, split her chin open and headed straight for the emergency room with Dad for stiches. Now we officially know where the closest emergency room is.
Friday and Saturday were major unpacking days. Chris worked on Friday but Del helped put things together in the garage while I tackled things inside and we got a lot done. By the end of the weekend we were pretty functional but still didn’t have our ‘small household goods’ shipment BECAUSE IT WAS ACCIDENTALLY SHIPPED TO HONDURAS. It’s true. When Chris hadn’t heard about an arrival date a couple weeks before closing, he called to check on it. That’s when they figured out that it had been sitting in Honduras for over a month. Just sitting there. So much for having your towels and bedding come early. Luckily for us, we were able to borrow those things from Emma for a month until that shipment finally came.
The kids were so excited to see their bikes and scooters again and spent lots of time enjoying our empty cul-de-sac when they weren’t helping unpack. You can see how packed the garage is still…
View from our bedroom window…
Saturday night the Abbotts (new neighborhood and church friends) invited us to the annual neighborhood pig roast put on by several streets worth of people north of us. It was a huge event and so fun to meet so many people in the neighborhood.
Sunday was our first time to church in the Cordera Ward. Chris had been there multiple times over the summer by himself and was so excited to finally be bringing his entire family with him. We were warmly welcomed and it was fun to meet people. Seems like a great ward.
Before Church we gathered in our front room and Chris offered a special prayer for the dedication of our home and then gave all six kids their Father’s Blessings since school started the following day. All the kids were excited to sitting in the chair up front and receiving a blessing… even Matt who gets one even though he’s not in school. Then I got one and because Chris’ Dad was there with us, Chris got one too, which was very special. It was a really neat morning with lots of emotion and a great spirit. Perfect timing to combine those meaningful prayers into one morning. We’re all set for a great year.
