Move In Day!

Boxes, packing paper, boxes and more packing paper. I've been swimming in this stuff for three weeks. I think we've made a lot of progress - the main two floors are free of boxes and the garage is organized (we can put both cars inside!!), but the basement remains. The guest room and the kids' playroom are in the basement. Our guest bed wouldn't fit down the stairs, so we are having to find a split box springs for our queen guest bed before I can set up that room. We got some great toy storage for the kids toys, but I have yet to get it all organized. And all of the boxes that held things that I wasn't sure what to do with or that won't work in this house got taken down to the basement. Those boxes are my next big hurdle along with getting things on the walls. I thought that I'd be a lot further along after three weeks, but I guess I underestimated what I could accomplish with two little ones running around the house...not to mention the minor setbacks from all of the things that seem to go wrong with a house when you first move in. I feel like there is still so much that I want to complete before our baby arrives. (And let me mention how excited I am to meet this baby!!) I'd love to be done with everything, but I know that isn't realistic. Last night, I had a little bit of a meltdown just from being overwhelmed with all that Adrienne thinks needs to be done. I really just want life to return to normal. I miss our normal. I miss my routine with the kids. And even though it feels like we'll never have normal again, I know that we will. I felt this way whenever I was pregnant with Allison and we moved into our home in Oklahoma...and things did return to normal. I've been thinking about how I want this baby to take its sweet time developing within me because I need all the time I can get to finish things around the house and to spend some quality time with Jason and the kids before we go through our next life-changing event. But last night when my mind was so overwhelmed, I found myself hoping the baby would come early because then I wouldn't worry about all of this other stuff because it wouldn't matter anymore. That's when the light bulb went on! If it wouldn't matter anymore once the baby is here, then why does it matter now? It doesn't! My dad is always telling me, "Adrienne, you are never going to be caught up. There will always be things on your to-do list." He's right, of course, but I seem to have such a hard time accepting it. I should give myself a little grace. Four major moves in the past four years plus having three kids in less than five years definitely makes life a bit more challenging!

Three weeks ago, our delivery truck showed up with a truckload full of our personal belongings. I had been looking forward to that day for a long time. Half of our stuff had been in storage since we left Oklahoma in July 2010. The other half had been with us in Alabama. I was so thrilled to get everything and to start getting my family settled before our precious baby arrives. Since the middle of July, I had been in close contact with the organizations responsible for getting our stuff to us. The moving industry was completely overtaxed this summer and it was taking a long time for them to get personal property delivered to people. I knew the day we were moving into our home and I was hoping that we could arrange for our stuff to be delivered as close to that day as possible because I'd only have six weeks to get unpacked before arriving to my due date. I was on the phone for days trying to make sure everyone had the right information and was on the same page because our move was so confusing to them. (The Reserves moved us from Oklahoma to Alabama and then back to Oklahoma (even though we didn't really move back to Oklahoma...just our stuff did), and then the civilian side of the government moved us from Oklahoma to Utah. This was important because different pots of money were responsible for different parts of our move.) At first, I thought that we'd have to receive our stuff in two separate shipments even though it was all at the same location in Oklahoma, but after talking extensively with them and Jason making the point that it would be a total waste of the government's money to send two separate trucks to us, we were able to get them to agree to send everything on one truck. We told them when we'd like to receive our stuff and they gave us a ten business day window to work with. Once the carrier had been assigned, I could try to get the window a bit smaller and closer to our move-in date.

About two weeks before our move in date, the carrier told me that they would deliver our stuff one, two or three days after our move in date. Seriously?! Awesome!!! Thank You, Lord!!! Now, I could buy my dad's plane ticket and he could be here to help us out. (The previous ten business day window was way too big to plan for my dad's arrival.) We bought his ticket for him to arrive the day before we moved into our house. Finally, something seemed to be going well.

The day before he was supposed to arrive - the week of our move-in - I called to make sure everything was going okay. I was not prepared for that phone call. They told me that when they went to pick up our stuff, there was some confusion and they only released half of it. They got it figured out and were going back to pick up the other half on Friday (the second of the three days that they said they'd be delivering our stuff). What!?!?! That meant that it could be another one-two weeks before we received our stuff and my dad would be back in Houston by then. I was so upset and mad and frustrated that I got choked up while talking to the man on the phone. I could not help but ask of the Lord, "God, why is this happening? Why can't anything be easy? You know my situation. Can't You let this work out? Why are You making me go through all of this?" I explained my situation to the man on the phone- that I've bought plane tickets for my dad to help me, that I'm 8.5 months pregnant, that I have nothing to cook with until they get my stuff to me, etc. And then I asked him why he had to wait until Friday to get the rest of it. If they had everything worked out, why couldn't they pick it up today or Wednesday? He told me that he'd call me back. I called Jason at work, who was very busy with a suspense, and cried and cried. Then, I called my dad to tell him what was going on and to ask him for help in understanding why this was happening. I was so upset and confused. I know that I don't exist for life to be easy for me, but I sure did need something to go smoothly. I waited for his return call. When he didn't call by late afternoon, I called him because I needed to know what to do about my dad's plane ticket and I didn't want the man leaving work for the day without telling me what was going on. When I called, they told me that he'd left for the day. You're kidding, right? Not much later, he called me and told me that he'd been working my case all day and that he'd have my stuff to me on Saturday. Are you serious?!! I was so grateful and shocked and surprised. I asked him how that was possible and he said he pulled some people off of other jobs to get this job done. That made me feel terrible because I didn't want to affect another person's life. But he assured me that it was about priorities and that a pregnant woman nearing her due date with two small children took precedence over someone needing their Corvette delivered. I, of course, agreed and thanked him over and over again.

So my dad flew in on Wednesday. I was so happy to see him. There is something very comforting about having one of my parents with us after what's been a long and stressful summer. My dad has a great way of bringing things into perspective, keeping us positive, and encouraging us that everything will work out.

Jackson and Allison were so happy to see Papa. The first day, they couldn't get enough of him. They both wanted to sit by Papa, be held by Papa, have Papa get them out of their car seats, etc. It was so sweet. As the days became more unsettling because we were moving once again, they both became a little clingy with me and Jason, but they were still so happy to have Papa around. I was forever questioned with, "Where is Papa? Can we wake Papa up? Can Papa watch me do this?" I wish my kids got to be around their grandparents. They are so blessed to have three amazing people who love them so much and are so good to them.

Having my dad with us on moving day has become a bit of tradition. He was with us when we left Germany. He was with us when we got our stuff in Oklahoma. He was with us when our stuff left Oklahoma. And now he was with us again in Utah. August 20th was a wonderful day for the Exum family, especially when we saw this:

My dad is our official bingo sheet checker - the sheet that inventories all of our stuff with numbers for everything that comes off of the truck. Here's a photo of him checking off numbers while enjoying the great Utah weather.

As stuff came off of the truck, Jackson was so excited. There were specific things that he was asking for. His electronic train was on the top of his list because he hadn't seen it in a year. Our stuff that had been in storage for a year came off first. When his train box came out, he went immediately down to the basement, opened the box, and tried setting it up. In his excitement, he bent something on the engine that caused it to constantly derail. That was a huge disappointment but also a learning opportunity. He came back up to watch the guys unload everything else. It's no surprise that this little guy was super pumped about seeing all of our lawn equipment!

He was also thrilled to see his truck. (This was the best photo I got.)

Allison was so busy exploring everything and she was very happy to have her "pink car"...

...and Jackson's red car too.

The little white thing she's holding in her hand is a recorder that goes with their musical keyboard and mixer. There was a recording of them singing on it and she carried that thing around all day playing and replaying the recording. It was hilarious. We called it her little iPod.

We had no chairs for a long time. My dad kept waiting for our black folding chairs to make it out of the truck. He has bad knees and sitting on the rocks or the steps leading to our front door will wear on a person after a while. I think the movers got to our house just before 9 that morning. I clocked the time when the first chair came out.

Four hours later, he was in heaven!!

By the middle of the day, Allison was disgustingly dirty. Whether it was from food, dirty boxes, or playing outside, she was a sticky and dirty, but very happy, mess. I wish this photo showed how dirty her feet really were.

As the hours rolled on, we decided to decorate my dad with the numbered stickers. Dad, thanks for a job well done!

And we let Jackson have the honor of removing all of them once the movers were done.

Dad, we were so grateful to have you with us. We can't thank you enough for all of your help but most of all, your encouragement and soothing presence.

Jason and I have made 7 major moves plus 3-5 minor moves (depending on how you look at it) in our 13 years of marriage. For two of those major moves, I was 8.5 months pregnant - once with Allison (42 days before my due date) and now with Baby #3 (45 days before my due date).

Our family sitting on the steps of our what we hope is our home for the next 3-5 years. We are so grateful to finally be settling.

I think the movers left around 4:30 or 5:00 that afternoon. Everyone was pretty tired, especially my dad who didn't really sleep the night before because he thought he'd left his medicine at our house and we slept on base. (When we got ready to go to the house that morning, he found his medicine where he'd put it so that he wouldn't forget it or lose it - in his shoe!) Regardless of how tired I was, the unpacking had to begin. I was so excited and ready to start getting things put away. Somehow, I actually enjoy unpacking...at least in the first stages!

We unpacked all day Sunday. Allison found silly bands in a box in the basement. She was quiet for a long time so I'd gone looking for her. I found her putting every single one of them on her ankle. When she finished, she came up to show everyone.

She was so proud of herself!

Monday morning, when I left to go to the chiropractor and to get things set up for our cable and internet, Jason snapped this photo of Alli. She fell asleep in the recliner! This was amazing because I think we could count on our hands the number of times she's fallen asleep without me. She must have been exhausted.

My dad stayed with us until Friday, the 26th and then we sent him back to my mom to enjoy the weekend with her and to celebrate his birthday on the 30th. Almost all of our time with him was spent unpacking and dealing with all of the setbacks that come with moving in, but we did manage to take a mountain drive on Thursday morning and then another drive to Park City on Thursday night.

And since I mentioned setbacks, here are some of the things that happened in that first week:

• The only tub in the house was completely clogged. Turns out, the drain stopper had fallen into the drain and was plugging it even though lever for the drain was open.
• The toilet in the same bathroom was running continuously, even when we shut off the water.
  
• Since we couldn't fit our guest bed in the basement, my dad slept upstairs in Jackson's room. He was so tired when he went to bed that first night, that he didn't understand that the toilet was not clogged but just running continuously. When I woke a little before 5:30 in the morning, I heard a few loud noises. I thought it was squirrels running on the roof because that's what they did in Alabama and it sounded just the same. Turns out, my dad had fallen down the stairs when he was trying to go to the downstairs bathroom (thinking the one five steps from his room was not working)!! We didn't realize it because it was our first night, but the house gets super dark. There were no lights on, he couldn't see, and he was a little disoriented from being so exhausted from no sleep the night before. He somehow missed his step, fell down the first section of steps and then someone his body turned the corner and he fell down the second section of steps breaking the banister. We felt so bad!! He wasn't hurt, thank goodness, but we felt horrible that he fell because he thought our toilet was clogged and because it was too dark in our house.
• Allison managed to find her way into the furnace room and flipped the switch that controls the air conditioning. It was 82 degrees in the house when I realized something was wrong with the AC. We had to make a service call because we couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. (I had actually gone down to look at the furnace, noticed the switch but didn't know what it was for, turned it on, and then turned it back off when nothing happened because I figured I should leave it the way I found it. As it turns out, I didn't leave it on long enough for the AC to kick back on. It turned out to be a good thing because the AC unit was super dirty and our landlord had it serviced because of what we thought was a problem. It needed cleaning desperately.
• The garbage disposal wouldn't turn on. It took us a while to find the switch because it's under the sink cabinets (not on the wall) along with the disposal. We tried flipping the switch but it wouldn't turn on. Turns out, it was plugged into an outlet that we couldn't see because of a big pitcher that I'd put under the sink and the outlet just needed resetting. Easy fix but one that took us a long while to figure out.
• The shower handles broke in the guest bathroom where my dad was showering.
• No matter what we did, we couldn't get the internet or cable to work. We had to call the cable company to come out and they had to completely rewire everything because it was all wired for satellite.
• The gas was shut off and when they came to turn it back on, they didn't actually open the line. My dad and I read the manual for the hot water tank several times before I called the gas company and realized that they didn't open the line. Again, easy fix but it took forever to figure it out.
  
• The previous tenants had two huge dogs in the house. There was hair everywhere even though they had had the carpets professionally cleaned. And the house was dirty everywhere. Having to clean before you can move your stuff in makes everything take so much longer. And I'm still cleaning three weeks later.
  

I'm sure that there are more things that my brain can't think of at the moment, but those things were enough to make our first week memorable. My poor dad always seems to go through this with us. We are ready for him to come and visit us at a time that's not so stressful and when we are more settled. I'm so grateful to finally be moved in. Our neighbors are amazing. We've met everyone in our cul-de-sac and even some families behind us. Everyone is so nice. We are slowly, very slowly, getting back to normal. The past several days, I've cooked what I call "real" meals and it's made my family so happy. I'm thrilled to be back in the kitchen again! Bible study starts this week, and I can't wait to get back into it. I have a perfect little corner in our living room that I've set up for prayer and Bible study. There are three big windows next to my chair that look out at the mountains. It's been such a peaceful place to go these past three weeks. I'm so grateful.