Stuff, stuff and more stuff

The moving truck showed up Monday morning and immediately began working in a fury. We knew that moving from 2,100 sq feet to just under 1,100 sq feet would pose some challenges, but we had no idea how it would all work out. We planned to take advantage of the moving company's "unpack" option, but I set up post in the living room, unpacking one box at a time trying feverishly to keep up with them as they unloaded the furniture. I have to say, I did pretty well up until lunch time. Once the furniture was unloaded and somewhat in place, the boxes quickly became overwhelming and seemed never ending! Due to our tiny master bedroom and massive California king size bed, we opted for the master bedroom boxes to go outside on the porch. We downsized from two walk-in closets to one tiny closet...some (a lot) of stuff was going to have to go! Fortunately, we bought a shed and had it set up during our six weeks here without furniture and it quickly became the default for anything from the garage, yard, or otherwise miscellaneous.

The back patio loaded with master bedroom boxes.

The shed, all be it unorganized, loaded to the brim.

I am so grateful that Toby's dad stayed the whole week with us to help unpack and tackle the seemingly endless project list. My mom kept Haley so we could work without having to structure the day around nap times and early bed times. By the time Haley came home on Thursday morning, her room was finished and the rest of the house was in some semblance of order. She walked into the living room, took in her surroundings and then flopped on the floor as if to say, "I know this stuff...this is my stuff." Next, we took her to her big girl room, complete with all of her toys, books, new curtains and a chest full of dress up clothes and accessories. Again, she flopped on the floor with great relief and what seemed like understanding. In the days since, she has loved her big girl room and often plays in there by herself. While it was really sad to say goodbye to her baby days in Tennessee, it's kind of fun to think of her turning into a little girl here in this house.

After the movers unpacked all of our boxes, except those belonging in the master bedroom, we started to shove things in every nook and cranny our little house offers. And when I say the movers "unpacked" our boxes, that really means they took everything out of the boxes in a matter of minutes and piled their contents on any flat surface available. The chaos was ridiculous, but with many hands working it didn't take long before some vague sense of order was established. We quickly realized that all of our stuff was not going to fit in our new, tiny home, so we started a yard sale pile. What? It's good stuff, no need to throw it away when somebody else could find good use for it, right? Crazy that on Tuesday a friend came over to help organize and she mentioned that they are having a yard sale this coming Saturday. Ha! My sweet Jesus knew that was coming and He set up a way for us to pay forward our blessings. Just as we were so incredibly blessed by our friends in Knoxville with our yard sale in April, we were now in a place to pass it on here in Mobile!

I am very pleased to report that we have made monumental progress in the last week with getting our house settled. We have pictures on the walls and no more cardboard boxes inside, but we've still got a ways to go. Anybody that has ever moved knows that it takes several weeks to get things "settled"...shuffling the spatulas, knives and cereal in the kitchen cabinets, figuring out how to transfer the laundry from the washer to the dryer since they are on opposite sides here, and establishing a home for the daily mail to land in the afternoons. All of these things take time, but after being here for nearly two months, the unrest is starting to get to me. I'm ready for normal again and the establishment of a new routine. When do we do laundry and go grocery shopping? When do we have play dates with friends and run errands? When do we clean the house and meet Toby for lunch? This new normal is what I'm missing. Because we have lived in five places in the six years we've been married, we've been here before...this unrest, and I know that things will come into a routine in time. It's just a matter of patience.

My sweet Jesus used my sweet Toby to speak straight to my heart yesterday. Just as this unrest became stifling, there was a knock on the door. On the other side stood a woman holding two beautiful bouquets of flowers. Totally confused I asked her to set them down and I noticed that my name was on both cards. I opened them and read, "A little something to brighten up our new home," and "I hope you like your new room, sweetie. Your daddy loves you!" Toby even went as far as to get yellow flowers to match our kitchen and purple ones to match Haley's room. He told me later that Jesus told him to send them. For those of you that don't know me, I love fresh flowers. There is nothing else that makes my home feel more welcoming and settled than fresh flowers on the kitchen table. This gift was exactly what my soul needed on that dreary afternoon.