It has been a very busy week / 10 days, and I finally have a free moment before going to be bed to reflect on what has happened.
A week ago this last Thursday was my last day at CARFAX. It was hard to say goodbye to a company that has treated me and the family so well (more on leaving later). I did go back in on Friday to have my free Friday lunch, as well as say goodbye to a few additional people. Summer worked a night shift on Thursday, which in retrospect was a bad idea (I had encouraged her to do it before we knew that the house was going to sell), so Friday was spent with me watching the kids.
Saturday was truck loading day. I had reserved a truck from Budget Truck Rental (over $100 less than the other guys), and arrived early to get the truck. The truck had been serviced the day prior, and it turns out the ABS was not working. The clerk was being very helpful, but I had 5 guys at the house already waiting on me. So, I canceled my reservation and hurried over to UHaul. Thankfully they had a big truck available, and I got home right around the time that I had originally said that I would. Chris, Collin, Craig, Shaun, Mary Frances, Doug, Bob, Pete, Joetta, Brenda and Susan all showed up to help us load the truck and do some final cleaning. Silas was doing pretty well at the very beginning, but quickly started to freak out. Thankfully, Shaun and Mary Frances kept him busy and even took him to their place.
While loading the truck, it became clear that 26 ft was not enough to hold all of our stuff. I had planned on driving the truck down with the Prius in tow, but those plans quickly changed when Chris and I went to get a 12ft trailer. The Prius is still sitting at the Smith’s house, waiting for us to go back in a few weeks to take pictures for a wedding. The 12 ft trailer was almost completely full, and Craig and a few others hung around to show me how to properly back a truck and trailer.
We were all done around 5, with just enough time to go to the Smith’s for a quick shower and then we were off to the Calix’s house to watch the Mizzou game. We spent the night that night and the following at the Smith’s.
Sunday was our last official day at Eastside. Just like leaving work, it was very hard to leave a congregation that has been so good to work with. We have left many friends behind, but know that there is always Facebook and the occasional wedding to attend / take pictures at. We had a going away party after services, and turned it in early that night.
I left Columbia around 4:30. It was my goal to beat STL traffic (didn’t happen – around 270 things got slow) as well as to get to Nashville early enough to do some initial unloading of the truck. I actually made it around the time I wanted to – 2:00 – and met the landlord as well as a guy from church. While on the road, I had called the preacher at the Franklin Church of Christ to let him know that I might need some help, as I had not heard back from work on if I would be getting any assistance (I was told that typically 6-12 employees show up to help new team members move in). Since I had to do a walk through with the landlady, he went home to mow his yard and came back around 3 to help me unload the stuff from the trailer that wasn’t going to storage (it would have been soo much easier if we had known that we needed the trailer, then we could have just put all of the storage stuff in there and not in the truck). Around 5:00 people from work started to show up, and between then and about 7:00, a total of 6 guys from work and another 6 from church showed up to help me unload the truck.
So, where was Summer in all of this? Her great-grandmother passed away a few days before we were to leave, and the funeral was on Monday. She and the kids went down to the funeral, and stayed in a hotel on the road on the way to Nashville.
Tuesday and onward was a busy week of unloading boxes. We actually did unload every single box, though it would appear that one is missing. Some clothing and a few random screws and power cords are MIA. We rented a storage unit about 20 miles away, as it was half of the cost of the ones 2 miles away, and made a total of 7 trips out there to take boxes and things we really didn’t need to keep around the town home.
On Saturday we were able to relax a bit more, and were able to listen to most of the Mizzou game.
Sunday we visited two different congregations: Brentwood Church of Christ and Woodland Hills Church of Christ, which is where Shane Scott preaches. We actually know a few people at both, and both were very friendly. We even met a fellow Mizzou fan at Brentwood.
Well, thats about all that I know. There still remains work to be done around the town home, but the important thing is that it is temporary. Hopefully in the next year we can save enough to make a significant down payment on a house next year. Prayerfully our house will close in two weeks, and we will be free of all physical debts.
Thanks to everyone who has helped and prayed for us during this stressful time. We miss all of you in Columbia, and hope to see you in a couple of weeks!