House photos

Okay, you asked for them; here they are.

The front, which is actually the side, but it is where we go in and out all day, and I think it seems more like the front. (got that?)



The kitchen, which I LOVE.



The dining room (I'll be getting new doors and paint for the cabinets and a cushion for the window seat. I'd love to do something about that blue, too, but I'm not sure what.)



The lower cabinets on one side of the dining room have these GREAT drawers built in. The top drawer is divided for holding silver, but since I don't have any silver, it works great for markers, colored pencils, etc. The next several drawers are deep enough to hold placemats without folding them. I use the ones on the right for placemats, and the ones on the left hold the kids' coloring books, sketch pads, construction paper, etc.



The living room (The rolled-up rugs and plaid love seat are not staying.)



The music room. I love the little built-in corner cabinet (you can barely see it in the pic); it has triangular drawers at the bottom. I want to change the rug and drapes, but they came with the house, so for now ($$), they stay.



The master bathroom.



The third floor is a giant playroom. I'm embarrassed to post the picture, but trust me, I spent almost THREE hours cleaning/organizing this room on Friday. (The boxes of toys are ones I am getting rid of.) However, last night we had six kids ages 3-6 playing up there for hours, so it's in need of a little work today. (You can't really tell in the picture, but there is a little alcove on each side of the room, and there is a twin bed in each of those, so this doubles as a guest room.)

Ten things I love about our new home

1. The mailbox. It's on the front porch right outside the door. You know, the kind that are attached to the house and have that cute little top you just lift up? It's so cute, and I can just reach out the door and grab my mail. I love that the mailman walks to deliver the mail.

2. Rooms! Our old house had an open floor plan where the great room and the kitchen were sort of all one big room. It was nice for being able to watch the kids while I was in the kitchen, but after awhile it began to feel like we were just always on top of each other in the same space. Our new house has eight different rooms, not including the bathrooms or laundry area. I love rooms!

3. This whole being able to walk to the library and the park thing is still really blowing me away. It's awesome.

4. The privacy hedge. We have tall shrubs lining the entire front and side of our property, which is very unusual here. The privacy it provides is great, but even better is that added layer of protection between my kids and the street. It's better than a chain-link fence because of the aesthetic element and better than a privacy fence because it allows us still to see people on the street. You know how I like to be neighborly.

5. The built-in storage. Pretty much everything we own is put away now, and there are still cabinets and/or shelves that have nothing in them.

6. My kitchen. All of the lower cabinets (and the tall pantry cabinets) contain pull-out drawers, so I don't have to get on my knees and dig for things EVER. Plus, the corner cabinet has a lazy Susan for pots and pans.

7. My bathtub. 'Nuff said. (Although I don't like that there is a giant circular window just above my tub, so when I get in and out at night I have to do my Hunchback of Notre Dame impersonation to keep from flashing the neighborhood. My husband is supposed to be working on doing something to make that window non-see-through (to use the technical term), but he's also supposed to be installing carbon monoxide detectors and taking out the trash, so we'll see.)

8. The music room. It's actually just another living area; I guess most would call it a living room or a sitting room, but since it houses the piano and David's trumpets, it has been dubbed the music room. There is a loveseat in front of the window, and it's my favorite reading spot. Other than my bathtub, of course.

9. The window seat in the dining room. I just need Renae to come make me a cushion!

10. The playroom. We have never had a playroom before, so the toys have always been housed in the kids' rooms . . . and the living room . . . and the master bedroom . . . and the kitchen. I love how neat and tidy I can keep their rooms when almost all of their toys have a room of their own now. In fact, they have a floor of their own. Even better.

Twenty-two hours

That's how much actual driving time it took us to get from our former home in Georgia to our new home in northern Pennsylvania.

I brought new human beings into the world in less time than that.

Here's a partial breakdown:

Saturday: Pack until almost midnight and spend the day searching for our cat, knowing we won't be able to find him when we leave at 4 am.

Saturday, 11 pm: Decide to leave at 5 am instead of 4 am.

Sunday 6 am: leave . . . without our cat whom we were never able to find

8 am: stop for Lauren to throw up

9:30 am: stop for Ethan to throw up and PRAY it's not a stomach virus

11 am: stop because Ethan is nauseated and thinks he's about to throw up again. He doesn't.

12 pm: stop for lunch and feed cheeseburgers to my two children who just threw up. Yeah, I'm brilliant.

Surprisingly, they are both fine and have no more nausea/vomiting episodes. Apparently, they just both got carsick despite neither of them ever having been carsick before. This seems even more odd given that they got carsick in Georgia but not in West Virginia, which has more curves than Dolly Parton.

7 pm: decide to stop for the night when we get to Pittsburgh

8 pm: find out it's 3 more hours to Pittsburgh and decide to stop for the night in Flatwoods, West Virginia because we see a hotel. That was all the reason we needed at that point.

Monday 10:15 am: leave hotel two hours later than planned. There was a huge breakfast buffet; what more can I say?

It took us another EIGHT hours on Monday to finally reach our new home.

We new we were getting close when the mountain roads got steeper and the wildlife got stranger. Two hours out, we passed a HUGE truck full of pigs. About 90 minutes from town, an eagle almost flew into my car. It could have been a hawk, but until I find proof that they pump the mice full of steroids here, I'm sticking with my story that it was an eagle. Then about 45 minutes away from town, we passed a llama farm. We knew we must be getting close.

Finally, at 6:15 Monday evening, we arrived at our new home.

We knew we were in the right place because we saw a sign as we entered the county that said, "Potter County, God's Country." That was a real relief because we had passed Prosperity, Pa several hours back, and I was a bit concerned that we had driven right past it.

I figure God's country trumps prosperity, right?

Is this the promised land?

Our new hometown is lacking several things that I will miss: Target, Veteran's Parkway Burger King, a movie theater with stadium seating (and more than one screen). But, there are some things I will not miss. Taking more than three minutes to get anywhere, having to dial the area code every time one makes a phone call, and fire ants.

There are no fire ants here.

Ethan had an ant on him in the yard yesterday, and he started to panic. I explained to him that the ants here are not fire ants and that they do not bite. Joshua apparently overheard this because later in the day Lauren was running from a bee, and Joshua called out, "Lauren, don't worry . . . the bees don't sting here!"

We have arrived

I really want to write about our trip. About how it took us 22 hours and started with children throwing up before we even reached Atlanta. About how seven wonderful women from our new church came over and cleaned my new house from top to bottom before I arrived. About how I LOVE my new house. About what an amazingly fantastic job my husband did decorating our house and how he slept on the third floor until I got here because he knows how much I love fresh clean sheets, and he didn't want to spoil them. About how much the kids love, love, love their rooms and their yard.

But, I'm tired. So for now, just know that we made it here safely, and we miss those of you we left behind. We got the internet up and running today (well, in our house anyway . . . unlike Al Gore, we aren't really responsible for the rest of the world's web access), so I will blog about all the details soon.

T minus 15 days until Departure

The countdown has begun.  I wish I could say the same about the packing.  I had a dream that someone threw a surprise packing party for me, and it was awesome . . . there were like 10 people here to help me pack up our stuff.  But, you know, an even more awesome surprise would be a packing party that was held with me in abstentia.  Just in case my dream was prophetic, I'm gonna head to Barnes & Noble for awhile tomorrow.  Did you get that? Barnes & Noble from say 10-4.  (I expect it to take awhile.)

I know what you're thinking: I really love you, Beck, but I don't relish the idea of packing your kids' 812 pieces of clothing and 47 pairs of fake crocs.  Understandable.  

Fret not, I have another way you can help.  You wouldn't mind bringing our cat to Pennsylvania for us, would you?  You could drive him or accompany him on a plane, totally your choice. Because I'm laid-back like that.

See, here's the thing.  When David and I made this drive in January, it took us 17 hours without kids.  Given that the kids required 7 stops on the drive from here to Disney World (normally a 7 hr drive), I'm estimating it will take us approximately 6 weeks to get to Pennsylvania.  I suspect that could be a problem for our cat.  

I took Sebastian to the vet Tuesday (because he has conjunctivitis), and the vet gave me some kitty tranquilizers to use during the trip.  I couldn't help but notice, however, that he said to give Sebastian 1/4 of a tablet each day, yet he gave me 3 tablets.  I can only assume it was because he astutely noticed the three children I had with me and how they were all trying climb onto the counter to eat doggie treats.  I'm pretty sure I caught a wink-wink nudge-nudge when he handed me the three pills.  I'm just sayin'. I mean, it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good tranquilizer, right?

So, the vet says that if we sedate the cat he can probably make it 6-7 hours without having to pee.  I'm guessing that should get us at least to Atlanta. 

It Doesn't Seem Like You're Coming

Lauren has said this to me several times recently. For example, a few days ago:

Lauren: Mommy, come see what I made.
Me: Okay, just a sec.
Lauren: Mommy, come seeeeeee.
Me: I'm coming.
[Long pause as I do not stop what I am doing and head toward her room]
Lauren: It doesn't seem like you're coming.

Given that she's three, I found it pretty cute. She's three-going-on-twenty, so I am often surprised by the phrases she uses.

The more I think about this one, though, the more I realize how much I can relate.

David and I, as you've heard ad nauseum, are in the process of moving to Pennsylvania. Or trying to, anyway. First David had to find a job. Check. Then we had to sell our house. Took awhile, but check. Now we have to find a place to live. No check yet.

I believe very strongly that God has directed our hearts toward this small town in the Allegheny Mountains. I have felt His Spirit stirring in me a sense of hope and excitement that I never dreamed possible. Six years ago the thought of moving there caused only fear and trepidation and more than one bout of hyperventilation.

But, God proved faithful. He kept us here just long enough for doctors to save my life. He provided a job for David just when it became clear that he needed to get out of the job he was in. He brought a buyer for our house at exactly the right moment.

And, now here we sit; Ready to close on the sale of this house in less than four weeks, but with no home to which to move. I find myself thinking like Lauren. "God, it doesn't seem like You're coming."

I am continually amazed by how my spiritual perception shifted when I became a parent. It's like God took my own spirit out of me, put skin on it, and called it my child. So many of the things my kids say and do are exact expressions of my inward spirit.

They whine. They're ungrateful. They worry. They forget the good and dwell interminably on the bad. They have no idea how big the world they live in really is. They are self-centered. They want it their way, and they want it now.

Sounds just like me. When will I learn? God is not only coming; He's been here all along.

Back from the frozen tundra

It had to happen. At some point, I had to return to the real world and begin anew taking care of my kids and keeping house. (I know what you're thinking: "Becky? Keeping house?" Trust me, it happens on occasion.)

For the past week however, David and I have lived a life where we could do as we pleased without thought of babysitters and bedtimes. No being responsible for feeding someone or resolving a quarrel. No time-outs or disciplining. Yes, my parents had the kids for five days while David and I scoped out houses in Pennsylvania and were able to do anything we wanted.

Well, if there had been anything to do, that is.

The town we are moving to is, um, quaint. It's like a modern-day Mayberry, except I'm pretty sure in Mayberry a person could buy socks and that they didn't get excited over the heat wave that drove temps all the way into the high 30's.

I'll save that post for another day, though. This time I'm going to tell you about our trip.

We left with directions from both GoogleMaps and MapQuest, as well as the handwritten directions my neurotic brother couldn't help but provide for me. (He has a pathological need to plan things out whereas I prefer to head out the door and drive in the general direction of my destination, forget the atlas, and stop at a convenience store to spend $15 on yet another atlas to add to our ever-growing collection because I always forget them.) Of course, we also had my father-in-law's suggestions as to which route we should take.

David gave input from time to time, but given that he got lost on his way from the mall to Dick's Sporting Goods in Columbus, where we have lived for the past EIGHT YEARS, I gave his input only the brief consideration it was due. (ie, none)

The drive turned out not to be too bad. Altogether it took us about 17 hours, though I think if we had not made a foolish choice around midnight in Morgantown, WV, it probably would have taken us only 16.

Before we left we assured everyone that we had no intention of driving on icy, snow-covered, desolate roads late at night. When it got late and dark and was time to get off the interstate, we would stop for the night.

So the plan went, and as we got further and further into West Virginia, we weren't even sure we would make it to our goal of Morgantown so heavy was the snow coming down. Once we reached Morgantown, however, the snow had stopped, and we suddenly had a renewed sense of purpose and ambition and decided we would keep trekking on.

Bad idea.

It took only moments for us to realize that we should have listened to my father-in-law. (Do you have ANY idea how much I hate realizing I was wrong?) Ten minutes off of Interstate 79 and we found ourselves breaking pretty much every rule we'd set for ourselves:

1. It was almost midnight
2. We were on a desolate road with literally NO other cars whatsoever
3. It was snowing
4. It was 8 degrees
5. We had less than 1/2 a tank of gas
6. We were lost

Fortunately, we eventually reached what looked like civilization - a McDonald's wherein I found a nice elderly security guard who questioned why we were where we were given where we were trying to go and then kindly directed us to a local hotel where we could stop and resume our travels the next day.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, but there was one thing I found interesting during the drive through WV and PA. These signs:

This is the type of ramp to which the signs refer, but the signs show up about a mile or two before to let you know a ramp is coming. If you can just manage to control your runaway truck for another mile or two. (This is a picture I found on Google and not one of the actual ramps we saw (clue #1 - no snow). It's similar though not as steep):


I don't know why, but these amuse me. The signs let one know that up ahead is a steep gravel-covered ramp whereby runaway trucks can apparently save themselves from imminent disaster if they can only make it that far. Never mind that a.) the ramp is so steep that the truck would probably have been better off taking its chances on going through a guardrail, b.) the ramp is currently covered in snow and ice, and c.) the ramp is 1 mile ahead!
Would you want to head up that thing if you were in a runaway truck?!

Fortunately, we did not have to use any escape ramps. We are glad to be safe and sound and back to reality.

When a child cries tonight, it will be mine, and I can no longer ignore the sound and go back to sleep. When someone needs breakfast in the morning, I will have to fix it. Now that I'm back in a town where there are actual things to do, I, of course, will not be able to do them.

But, hey, lucky for you, I can always blog. Tomorrow I'll tell you all about the pros and cons of moving to a minuscule town in the middle of snow-covered mountains. I'll leave you in suspense as to which list will be longer.