We made it

Oh my, where do I begin. Our last week has felt like a month. I'm trying to figure out how to share about all the happenings, literally too much to share here, but I'll hit the highlights of our week.

So after our few days of travel to and from Arizona we got started packing up the truck. Daniel and his cousin Paul packed up our 17 foot truck and it was stuffed!!! We couldn't have done it without Paul. He was the mastermind of efficient packing. So late Thursday we finished packing the truck and then Friday we worked our back ends off cleaning the house, carpets and finishing the packing. Wow, we were exhausted!

Early Saturday we headed out. Saying goodbye to Daniel's parents was excruciating and also leaving our neighbors, ones we have poured our lives into. As we drove thru the Valley early that morning for the last time we were feeling a bit numb, quite overwhelmed and totally exhausted. I hadn't slept much the night before and by the time we were an hour up the road I needed a nap! Thankfully caffeine was invented and it was my salvation that day.

Daniel was driving the truck and I was following in the car. We drove up to Redding that day, a drive that normally takes us 7 hours ended up taking us 10 hours. The last hour it poured rain and I had to fight my cars desire to hydroplane. Very scary. As we arrived we had difficulty getting a room at a hotel, so as that drama progressed we slowly felt our patience and peace ebb away. Finally after about an hour of drama we had our room and we have never been that exhausted. 

We went to sleep early but I woke up after 2 hours of peaceful slumber and couldn't go back to sleep the whole night!!! By the time Sunday morning arrived we were still exhausted and the weather was horrible. They had closed the pass if you didn't have chains, unfortunately we didn't have we would have to spend our gas money to get them and the banks were closed because of the extended holiday weekend! We were literally stuck!!!! Thankfully my parents encouraged us to stay put for another day. It was a great place to get stranded. We got to go to our favorite church there and really got ministered to at Bethel. The boys loved the Disney channel at the hotel and it was nice to hunker down and rest for a day.

By the next morning we had had amazing sleep and were ready to take on the roads. The road officials lifted the chain restriction and we were able to slip thru over the pass between storms. We had dry roads the after about 2 hours and no snow. We ended up getting a flat tire about a half hour outside of Bend. It was another blessing though because we were right by a city and were able to change to our spare, get air in it and then limp into Bend. If the tire had blown anywhere else we would have been stranded for another night!

We felt the hand of God all the way thru. Some have said, "wow, are you sure you were supposed to go? maybe this was God's way of telling you you should have stayed put" but I look at it differently. I believe that any change takes some struggle. The Bible says that we will have trials of many kinds but the Lord gives us the ability to overcome them all! We were worshipping him and just so grateful that he guided us here safely. Our gas money was exact, not too much, and not too little. We were safe and we have so much to be grateful for. 

Daniel is going to be doing work with my dad. As much as he can. The boys are so happy to be near cousins and have done a lot of playing with them already. We are getting used to calling this home, something that still seems surreal. 

Thank you all for praying for us as we've made this transition. One thing we've been so grateful about is the Lord has given us divine health, not so much a sniffle or sneeze, we've been totally healthy and that has been amazing for us!