Moving Update #1

This weekend: wow. It went by in such a blur. Cleaning, grocery shopping, calling people who have rental listings, narrowing down moving companies, packing boxes. Only 3 weeks to go! Yikes.

It's a bit overwhelming, but I can already see the pieces falling to place. Tonight we're showing our house to a couple from our small group who's interested in renting it. They currently have a one-bedroom apartment and wanted to upgrade when their lease ran out to a two-bedroom. We offered our three bedroom house with a screened in porch and large backyard to them for the same amount that they'd pay for a 2 bedroom apt. We had to come down from our original price to be realistic. After talking with our realtor (who was actually the listing agent for our house last year when we bought it), she confirmed what we already knew: that the market is pretty sucky right now and we should rent out until it turns around. She gave us some ballpark figures of what homes in the area are renting for, and when Gregg told her what this couple wants to pay she immediately said, "Take it!"

I'm kinda bummed we have to settle for less than our original amount, but will be very grateful if Robby and Andrea end up renting our house because we know they'll take good care of it and we'll at least be able to cover our rent and utilities up in PA. I'll be so happy to get that settled this week. After getting several quotes I think we've chosen a moving company, too. King Street Church told us not to pay a cent out-of-pocket for it, either. They are picking up the entire tab and giving us a $500 stipend for any incidentals, such as moving boxes & supplies, gas and hotel stays along our way up there. That is such a huge blessing!

Gregg started packing the "storage room" and the guest bedroom on Saturday, while I cleaned and organized to get ready for the showing tonight. It's amazing how quickly boxes get filled. We went to Sam's Club and bought 30 to get us started. No doubt we'll be going back soon to get more. But, this time we are expert packers! Having done this only a year earlier we pretty much have it down and will (hopefully) be even more efficient.

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary of working here at my job. Yeah, just in time for me to leave. My last day will actually be on the 20th. I'm spending the last two days training the woman who's replacing me, and I've catalogued a lot of the tasks I do on a daily basis so she can reference back to it. I'm hoping and praying to get a really good job where we're going. This one has been okay. I've learned some skills I can take with me. My boss said that I've been a great employee and asset to the company, and he's sad to see me go which was very nice to hear.

Yesterday and Saturday as we were driving around, I took note of how beautiful and green everything is. I will really miss this area; it is so pretty and we were so privileged to live here. I am really looking forward though, to seeing the seasons change. I love autumn and I'm so happy we'll get to experience it again!