I'm sitting in bed resting my poor, exhausted feet and legs, looking at a very box-y, just moved in looking bedroom. Pandora is playing soothing tunes, and Blueberry is (thankfully) snoozing blissfully in her room.
The last few days have been exhausting, stressful, crazy, glorious, and insane all rolled into one.
Saturday: We did the amazing and moved our entire house into the U-Haul in 3 hours. Can I say a HUGE thank you to the 14 wonderful people who came and helped us load the truck. Particularly my brother who saved me from having a nervous break-down when Chris came to me early on to inform me that he didn't think we could fit everything into the U-Haul. I probably could have done the Tetris game myself and made it all fit, but my job was supposed to be inside directing action from the inside (and playing hide from Blueberry who would freak out and want me whenever she saw me, but then was ok as long as she couldn't see me). And my version of the game probably would have involved a few moments of tears in frustration! The end results of the truck was an impressive packing job.
The rest of the day we finished packing up the car boxes/bags, checked into our hotel (we decided a good nights sleep was invaluable), having a few laps in their pool to sooth our aching muscles, and had dinner at my brother's house. The Last Supper as it's commonly called in my family (given the number of "Last Suppers" we've had in our lives, one would think we should really come up with a new name).
Sunday morning started bright and early as we met my sister and brother-in-law at our house, worked hard at fitting the final boxes and bags into the two cars (wound up not quite fitting everything--discovered later that we didn't pack any jasmine rice; I think I might die if we can't buy it in town--and also couldn't fit my indoor plants. Hoping they can come at a later trip), and by 9am we set off.
My sister and I and Blueberry drove on ahead of the U-Haul (Chris driving with Calista in the front seat--apparently she did pretty good the whole trip other than sitting up at the most inopportune moments and blocking his line of sight) and the second car (driven by my new brother-in-law). 5 hours later, we pulled into the driveway of my new home. I knocked on the front door, was greeted by the temporary house parent, handed keys, met our 4 current girls (2 age 9, 1 age 10, and 1 age 11), glanced around our new apartments, and started unloading the car. Moments later the second car and U-Haul pulled in, and the big move started. The teen girls house and then later the teen boys house came to help us unload. We were completely unloaded within 2 hours.
I will fully admit to having one breakdown in the middle of the unloading. To much helpful advice regarding the unloading process coming to late to be of any use and truthfully just being frustrating. But the intentions were good. I was just to stressed (and sweaty and gross) to handle much of anything gracefully by that point!
Later that evening we made a short escape to Heather and Brian's house which they've barely got set up themselves. Food made a world of difference to my mood, and getting a chance to talk about what we're going to be doing, the schedule for the next few weeks, all such important things was helpful.
As their cottage (normally elementary boys) has only one resident, he has temporarily moved to a slightly older boy's home, and our girls have moved to them for the week while we train and settle. Which, while I'm anxious to get to know the girls better and get started, is a huge blessing as having the house to ourselves is nice for now. Plus knowing Heather and Brian as well as we do (Heather's just happens to be one of my best friends!), talking about how to handle the girls, coordinating elementary children schedules (our relief parents alternate between our two houses), rules, and other such concepts will be easier as we're not doing the whole "we're complete strangers having to learn to work closely together in a very quick amount of time" dance.
Last night we got Blueberry's crib set up, our bed, and unpacked cold food. Not much but enough.
Today involved a lot of meeting people. Basically we're learning what goes on around here and all the different house parents and personnel who work on campus and how it all comes together. Had my first adventures in the dining hall. The chef was very nice and quick to accommodate; although, I will probably still wind up doing a lot of my own cook just to simplify matters (and to low risk factors further).
At the same time, we're trying to get settled into our new home. I've barely even looked into the main cottage; although, there is work that will need to be done on that too. For now, just trying to get out of our boxes as quickly as possible. Blueberry's room is unpacked. Not decorated, but the boxes of extra toys/decorations/pictures are in the closet and everything else is functional. I felt it important to give her some normalcy as quickly as possible. The kitchen I can move around in. Stuff is getting into cupboards. Probably not in permanent spots, but at least out of boxes and in somewhere. Our room I shoved a lot of furniture and boxes around this evening (Chris was out training, but one of us had to stay home with Blueberry, so I worked on unpacking), so here too there is at least space to work in.
I'll post pictures when I can find our camera (heh heh) and actually get around to taking some. In the meantime, we're settling slowly. Excited and nervous. I'll feel much better when our stuff is arranged and I feel "home".
The rest of this week is lots of meetings with other people, "shadowing" other house parents, and unpacking. Then starting Monday the girls are ours. One week after we start with them, they all go back to school which is nice as we'll get straight into school routine right off the bat.
OK, much more to share, but I've rambled on long enough for one evening. And as Chris just got back in, I want to catch up with him and then crash. Hard.
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