Manic Moving to Moses Lake

Moving has been a blessing for us, oddly enough. Still don't plan on doing it again any time soon, but the blessings have been pouring in, right along with the pain.

We first came to Moses Lake January 10th. We met Dr. Creviston and spent 3 days working like crazy to find a house and get to know the town. We did find a house. We left. The stress and roller coaster began. The house was a short-sale, so we knew it wouldn't be perfectly easy, but the initial interactions with the sellers seemed like there was really great potential. Then we found out there was a 'negotiator' involved...and that WE were being asked to pay for him, and that banks DON'T lend for that kind of thing (understandably). I fought the best I could simply on the ethical side of it...no one in this market should be turned down with a reasonable offer just because the sellers think some third-party guy is going to sell the house better than dealing with the bank directly. Just when it looked like we were going to win, someone else came in and acted the part of an idiot...they were willing to pay for the negotiator (8 grand later, I hope they aren't that stupid all the time!).

We found this out Friday, February 12th.
That was the day life became a blur.

We had been waiting to figure out the house situation in order to decide what was going to be the best day to move. The 12th was when we found out we were not going to get the house at all. We also found out that day that the next week was pretty much the only time for my mom to help us make the drive to Moses Lake for the next three weeks because of her work schedule.

I hadn't packed a single box.
Genius.

That Friday was Josh's last day of work. Blessing.

We packed like crazy. I hated every minute of it. Not because I hate packing, but because I had nothing to look forward to...no house to move into, no friends, no family...nothing. Just Moses Lake, whatever that is.

I had been searching like crazy for a rental place to move into. After lots of phone calls, one finally came through. So, at least we had a place to go, and our wonderful realtor had even checked it out for us.
Blessing.

By Wednesday afternoon, the 17th, we were on our way. Such a simple way to express 5 grueling days of exhausting work.

Luckily the drive was absolutely fine. Blessing. Nothing notable to add here, except that we got a great deal on a Holiday Inn hotel, thanks to Kathy (Josh's mom) doing priceline for us over the phone.

We arrived in Moses Lake at about 3 in the afternoon. The adventure began yet again.

I went to the rental house and while signing papers and such the land lord discovered the carpet had not been cleaned...AND there had been a dog in the house. Results of that: we had a group of men from the ward coming that night to help us unload the truck....and instead of getting a house put together, we were emptying it into the garage and would have to situate ourselves all alone.
Fabulous. (Blessing-in-disguise)

We couldn't even stay in the house that night because of how allergic I am to dog hair.
Great.

The next day, as I was putting the kitchen reluctantly together, trying to breath through allergic lungs, our Realtor called and said there was just one house she wanted us to see that day.
Funny feeling.
I didn't have to think very long, I wanted any reason to run an errand and not smell the wet dog hair from the carpet being cleaned.

The house was perfect. The timing was perfect. We signed papers in the home that evening. The next morning we found out they accepted our offer as we offered, and they were hoping to be out of the home by March 1st, after which we could move in...likely.

Blessings just kept rolling out of heaven.

We put a few things together in the house, and waited. (That's why it was a blessing we hadn't fully moved in the day we arrived!) I also vacuumed the rental house a lot...every room came up with a vacuum full of dog hair....couldn't get out fast enough.

Well, in the mean time, I took Parker to what I hoped would be his first day of school at the elementary he'd be going to once we moved into our new house. Unfortunately they require a day to inform the teacher, etc., and we also had an issue because we were not living in the boundaries of the school. After leaving the school with a bleak outlook, I decided I'd go over to Discover, the 'charter' school, which everyone I talked to said was the best school in town, especially for accelerated learning. I had a thought that morning that perhaps there would be an opening for a little Kindergartner and Parker could someone just get in...that easy...even though people wait on a list for years because it's a lottery school.
Upon meeting the principle, I found out there was a Kindergarten opening, Parker's name would be in the draw, and they'd let us know the next day if he got in or not. As we were leaving the school, I asked Parker which one he wanted to go to, he said, "Discover."
(This is when you pray a whole lot, but in the back of your mind you kinda think, "YEAH RIGHT!!")

The next morning Parker answered my cell phone, "Hello, this is Parker." He runs into my room, "Mom, it's my principle!" And sure enough, it was the call to tell us his name was basically drawn out of a hat and he could start the next day. Out of 12 other kids. Parker. Really?

Blessing.

March 1st came, the Hills moved out of their beautiful home.
March 2nd, we came in the morning and cleaned it up so Sis. Hill wouldn't have to. We wanted them to know we were willing to do something on account of them letting us live here before we close. (HUGE blessing) We can't so much afford to do anything monetary, since we still have to pay rent for the other place (small not-so-much-a-blessing situation).

And in all of this time, I forgot to mention, that we had been waiting for Josh's license to practice in Washington to show up. Still are. It won't be here this week, pretty sure.

If you stop working in one month, and don't start again for at least another month...you pay rent in two places, your student loans are automatically deducted and you move, oh AND you are saving every little penny for a down payment....pretty much you don't have money.

And then your kids get the flu and your baby is super sick and you ALSO don't actually have health insurance in place quite yet, because they had to have proof of residency before they could accept you.
Yep, that's what happens.

No money. Sick kids.

Spencer (7-months) had RSV. I know because I did take him in. I've always told myself that it didn't matter how much money we had, I was always going to take my kids to the doctor when they needed it.

So with a very sick little guy, and three other pretty sick kids, we started the move into our home. NOT FUN.

I repeat. NOT FUN.

Spencer whined all the time. Unless he was trying with all his sad, boogie-nosed little might to eat, or snoring and coughing to get sleep, he whined. That is the hardest thing on a mother...a baby whining and nothing you can do to help......PLUS a million boxes to unpack.

Then I found out we hadn't paid our tithing for Josh's paychecks this year!!!

Are you kidding me.

Dang straight we got that paid the very next Sunday. It was A LOT of money too (I guess Josh makes a lot of money, but we don't so much see that except in our tithing check.). Then Dr. Creviston called and offered to give Josh an advance for the last part of the month because he knew he'd been out of work for a while now and that it'd be hard financially.

Heaven rained on us again.

So we're fine. We're blessed beyond all reason. We love this home....mostly (it's got hardwood floors and tile, and a lot of it, so you can hear EVERYTHING so loudly that you can't actually make out what you are hearing unless a person is right next to you. I'm in the market for large rugs and possibly a tapestry or two!).

Spencer is doing much better, I'd say he's almost back to normal and he'd like to be mobile! However, still being on an antibiotic, he's turned into quite the poop-machine, to put it mildly. He's mastered the art of soiling both pants and shirts and anything else along the way like no baby I've seen before. It's payback for being an every-three-day 'goer' before this. I really hope he goes back to his old ways.

Parker is happy to be in a good school, going to lunch at school, and is super excited to start 1st grade because he'll be able to be in choir and higher reading groups. He LOVES having a BIG play room, a BIG bedroom, AND a family room to play in...but that doesn't stop him from leaking toys and shoes and socks all over the house!!

Tyson is patient. He misses Parker not being around until 1 in the afternoon. He doesn't have any friends yet, and doesn't know what to do with himself. He helps me and Josh a TON though, he's such a good kid. He's also working on his reading skills, since he's got time.

Kaden is as turbo as ever...and a little more so. This move has caused a bit of tension in that boy, and he was already intense. We're trying to be consistent with time-out, to see if that'll help, but instead, when we go to get him out of time-out, he tells us to 'goway' and just sits by himself some more. Ahhhhhh, parenting.

Josh is very helpful too. I couldn't have survived if he had started work yet...so it's truly a blessing even though his not working is adding so much stress. Taking care of all 4 kids is quite tricky, and then unpacking on top of that is slightly impossible. Together we've been able to feed, clothe (usually), bathe (occasionally), and love the boys while we've almost unpacked every single box! We had just a few more to go, and life will take on some semblance of normalcy. Hopefully.

I have no fear of the future. And if it hadn't been for all these blessings and a few people who also heeded promptings, I'm not sure I would still be in Moses Lake. I now know this is where we are supposed to be. It's been a really tough move, but the blessings make it all worth it.