Here is the blog post that I started on day 2 of our journey north from Florida. As you can see, I didn't get very far.
You see, I was driving a vehicle for 3 days straight. And in my vehicle were 3 children. Lots of snacks. Some luggage. Lots of books and toys and stuffed animals. And a golden retriever who mostly watched Florida disappear out the back window but occasionally faced forward and drooled on Lilly. There wasn't much time for blogging.
My eyes were focused squarely on the lovely red Chevy Avalanche in front of me loaded with precious cargo that we didn't want to entrust to the packers: The "good" bikes. The computer. The TV. And my amazing man.
Then we arrived to our destination. Our lovely new home in Oak Hill, VA.
Physically, it felt good to get out of the car and stretch. Emotionally, we were each mourning losses from what we'd left behind, but also eagerly and, perhaps, somewhat anxiously anticipating what might lie ahead in this new place. And mostly, we were tired. But we had only just begun to move.
Less than 12 hours after setting foot in our new, empty, lovely house, the BIG TRUCK that had taken away all the boxes and furniture just 3 days prior showed up with a team of great guys to unload and fill up this new house.
Boxes surrounded us yet again.
That was nearly 2 weeks ago. And I'm not sure what happened to all the days in between then and today, except that we've been unpacking. And registering at new schools. And researching new swim teams. And driving the marching band carpool (thank GOD for carpools...and new friends for Jared right off the bat here.) And playing with new friends on our street. And swimming in the community pool that we can walk to (but don't have to clean and balance chemicals as we did in Florida!!). And shopping for all those things we need for the house as we set up and spending hundreds of dollars to attempt to restock the pantry to a functional level.
Let's see, what else have we been doing?
- Rejoicing at getting our I-797 approval from the US Department of Homeland Security so we are nearly ready to send our dossier to China for Isabel.
- Continuing to give Lilly 3 doses a day of potent antibiotics to hold off her infection until we can see Dr. Campbell in Philly.
- Awaiting assignemnt of a primary care provider so we can get a referral for an ENT specialist for Anna to get a hearing aid for her left ear.
Moving is most definitely like giving birth--you forget the pain until you're in the midst of it again. So here we are...reminding ourselves that it usually takes us 6-12 months to truly feel at home and settled, both in the house and in a new community.
Until then, I am trying to be at peace with the chaos.
