where to begin??

I am online! In my own home! Boy, I have missed that. I have started to feel Mennonite! No phone, no computer, no tv, and until 2 days ago, no washer and dryer. Even my cell phone I couldn't use. We were so far over our minutes even with 12 months of rollover minutes to use as well. Now I feel connected to civilization again!

I last left off last week with all the painting. On Wednesday, the movers arrived. With three big trucks full of crates. Trucks so big they could not get up our steep and curvy driveway. Thankfully, there is a back gate at the back of the property and they came in that way, but it was still crazy seeing those big moving vans sliding on the gravel trying to back down at the end. I did take pictures, as soon as I find my card reader I will post those.

With the 3 moving vans, came 10 men. Ten. Way to many! They moved way to fast. EVERYTHING has a color coded sticker on it and we had to check each different color. They had to yell the color and the number and it had to be checked off the master sheet before they could move it inside. One man is yelling "RED 56", another man is yelling "Yellow 99" while another man is yelling "YELLOW 124". It all started to blur together, sounding like "REYELLDOW 5916124".
At the same time, the rest of the men are asking, "Ma'am, where does this go?" I had nicknamed the rooms, but there were so many of them they I kept having to show them. I seriously do not remember how many times I ran up and down those stairs. Collin was outside with one color coded sheet checking off the numbers, and Kaitlynn and Sam swapped out with the other color, while Sam also inspected everything for damage. It was truly nuts. It was truly fast. And I was truly exhausted by the time they left. Our goal was to get everything in, get the beds all set up, and sleep there that night. We made the goal. They were supposed to come back the next day and do a partial unload, but I told them no. I was to exhausted to deal with them again. What would I do with 10 of them in the kitchen unwrapping 145,000 sheets of wrapped paper?

We crashed. Everyone was a bit jittery in a new house. It is DARK here. No street lights in the country. Kaebrie was up at the crack of dawn, as soon as the early morning light came through her window. I HATE daylight saving time, I would MUCH rather have my sunlight at the end of the day.

My goal for Thursday was the kitchen. It took me all day, but I got it done. Filled every cabinet and drawer! It is so nice to actually have all the kitchen stuff in the kitchen and not have to go out to the garage every time I need something.

Friday's goal was our bedroom. I have always done all the kids rooms first, but usually someone is so little that they need a safe place. Our bedroom is always the last to get done. Not this time. They are old enough to wait! It took me all day, but I finished it. It is a beautiful room and it is so peaceful and relaxing. I have never had a big master bedroom before with a big walk in closet. I LOVE it!

Saturday I worked a little in the big den. Since we have no furniture for that room, that is where a lot of the boxes were piled. I didn't feel like I made a dent. My new washer and dryer arrived and were hooked up and I could finally catch up on all the dirty clothes that were piling up! I am still amazed at how much they will hold and fast they wash and dry it all. This will cut down laundry time immensely!

Sunday we did nothing at all in the house. Sam's first sermons went very well. Everyone has taken such care of us. The amount of food being brought over is incredible. We have been to several homes for meals as well. We had lunch in someones home Sunday afternoon, then I came home and rested until it was time to go back to evening church. Honestly, it is weird to have evening services again. I kind of liked AWANA on Sunday nights, where all the kids were actually out of the house for an hour and a half.

Today, we tackled and finished the rest of the boxes downstairs. Whew. Next, the upstairs, and it is a DISASTER!

Sam has worked really hard this week. Breaking down all the boxes and removing them, power washing a lot of the outside bricks, columns, carport and driveway, unpacking, and still getting two sermons done. He was "off" today, from church. But he worked around here all day very hard.

Cable men were supposed to be here before noon, they showed up at 4:30.

That was the diary of how we have spent our time.
I am really loving this house. The drive up to is is so pretty. Windy roads with wood fences and colorful leaves surrounding you, no houses or cars are visible from the road because of all the hills and greenery, the sound of the bugs, ect. The house itself is perfect for us. I LOVE having all the kids upstairs, love having space to move around in. We were all standing in the kitchen tonight and Kaitlynn said, "Mommy, look we all fit. No more two person limit rule for the kitchen!" :)

Kind of a long and boring post, but that catches us up to today except for pictures.

Where O where did I put that card reader???????